The theme “Sant Vani” (voice of saints) confined itself to just two women saints one from the north of India and the other diametrically from the south. Set to classical dance genre, the stark and simple canvas served the purpose. Essentially culled out of the pages of history when the wave of Bhakti that swept across the country through centuries, the lore of Andal in the extreme south and Meera in the north has been a favourite among most forms of dance.
Here Andal’s devotion was juxtaposed with that of Meera with the common objective of their devotion being Lord Vishnu in the form of Ranganatha/Krishna. Their philosophy was obviously that propounded in Vaishnavism — a sect that advocated subjective worship and total surrender (sharanagati) to Godhead as the ultimate goal of human life. Both these women saints left behind voluminous literature in the form of poetry as testimonials to their existence and spiritual pursuance.
Shreyasi Gopinath
Bharatanatyam artiste Shreyasi Gopinath chose to voice Andal’s devotion through extracts from a very famous set of poems attributed to the Saint-Nachiyar Tirumozhi (sacred words of Nachiyar, the one who reigns). The customary Pushpanjali later, she launched into the popular “Vaaranam Aayiram...”, wherein she succinctly brought out the story of Andal’s love for the lord which made her wear the garland weaved for the idol everyday to ensure it suited the lord. The detailed description of the décor for the impending marriage of Andal with her lord which is what her dream is all about was brought out by Shreyasi with finesse. The conversation with the conch (shank) a celestial symbol of Lord Vishnu and the dalliance with cuckoo bird — all part of Andal’s romanticising her passion for God which forms a part of Madhur bhakti one of the nine modes of prescribed devotion — was depicted with expressive, soulful abhinaya. The interlacing of jatis (by Karaikudi Sivakumar) underlined the dancer’s agility with her feet. Her lithe movements with the bird mudra to the sound of cuckoo in the nattuvanaar’s (Ragini Chandrasekhar) mnemonics was perfect. The only shortcoming that this critic felt in the entire presentation was the total absence of any single verse from Andal’s “Tiruppavai”, a composition of 30 verses — a metaphor for the spiritual sojourn of the soul (atma) towards the super soul (Paramatma). This, in fact, is Sant Andals’ Vani vis-a-vis the Nachiyar Tirumozhi verses which the artiste undertook.
With Meera, dancer Shipra Joshi just chose two songs from the saint’s anthology — one depicting her innate love for Krishna, fanned and fuelled as it were from childhood through an idol of the Lord to which Meera gets physically attached. Kathak was kept at its subtlest best with Shipra ably emoting the love-lorn Meera (”Mohey Gali Aaye Re Ghanshyam), besought by Krishna to the point of blind passion that defies cultural inhibitions. The shringar ras (mood) was amply fortified by corresponding footwork to bhol and her costume of yellow and ochre was suggestive of love’s journey from physical to metaphysical. The all-encompassing emotion of passion was brought out convincingly by the dancer within the confines of her medium. The second song is one where the saint attains spiritual maturity and the romantic emotional bond gets transformed into spiritual surrender. It was here that Shipra was at her artistic best being able to show the transformation with suffused devotional emotion that can see nothing earthly thereafter. The live orchestra served to enhance both the dances conceptualised by RK Usha at Sangeet Shyamala amphitheatre in New Delhi.
