Lakshmi Vishwanathan made an interesting and elegant presentation of the life and times of Bangalore Nagaratnammal at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan recently. A woman of great substance, Nagarathnammal spearheaded the building of the Mandapam near the Tyagaraja Samadhi at Tiruvaiyaru with her own money as well as that collected as donation.’ A singer, dancer, scholar and a social activist Bangalore Nagarathnammal was born into a Devadasi family in Nanjangud. Displaying prodigious talent even at a very young age, she was brought to Mysore as a small child by her mother and was taught dance, music and literature. Much later, she came to Madras and was a disciple of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar before she made up her mind to reach the heart of Tyagaraja’s birthplace, Tiruvaiyaru. Her journey was easy although she was endowed with fame and wealth.
The narration in English was simple and effective as there was a directness of speech that involved the audience in its telling. It was as if Nagarthnammal was talking to the audience, detailing the struggles and trials she went through without making it seem like a tragic tale. A lot was about how she came to sing the Pancharatna Kritis in Tiruvaiyaru. How she moved to Madras (George Town) and had a big house; how there was an attempt to kill her by poisoning; how women were initially not allowed to participate in the Aradhana; and how finally they became a part of the gathering on Bahula Panchami. It was Nagarathnammal, who encouraged other talented women to participate and sing at the Aradhana. She had to sell her jewellery and ‘big house’ to raise the money to build the Samadhi. Lakshmi described how she got fed up with all the attention and praise and yearned to make Tiruvaiyaru her final destination.
The presentation, of course, was interspersed with Tyagaraja’s kritis, including Raga Sudharasa (Andholika) Nidhi Sala Sukama (Kalyani), Enannalu (Subha Panthuvarali), Matada Bara Deno (Khamas), Sobane (Panthuvarali).
Lakshmi, in a multi-coloured checked sari, evoked an old-world charm, which is fast disappearing. Abhinaya dominated and nritta was taken care of by Aakshara and Aasharda, who performed with great understanding.
Bama Visveswaran and Chitrambari Krishnakumar on the vocals were adequate but a production such as this calls for what is absolutely sublime. Muthukumar on the flute, Shankar on the mridangam, Kalai Arasan on the violin and Sudharshini on the nattuvangam, were a great support.
