A two-hour Bharatanatyam recital by Lakshmi Gopalaswamy at Peringode, off Kunnamkulam, sparkled on account of her abhinaya and enchanting dance sequences. Also, she adhered to the conventional ‘margam’ of the repertoire of the dance form.
She began with a Swati sloka, ‘Aaroode dina nayaka’ tagged to the Pushapanjali. Composed in Bouli, it was an invocation of the Sun, the perennial source of energy that sustains life and activity of all forms on this planet. The ingenious way in which she delineated the Sun that illuminated the entire universe seemed to light up the whole auditorium.
Thanajavur Sankara Iyer’s composition ‘Ranjinimala’ was an invocation to the mother goddess. Attributes such as ‘mridu pankaja lochani’, ‘manjubhashini’, ‘samagana vinodini’ and ‘sasanka vadana’ received commendable elaboration by the dancer, punctuated with crisp, pure dance sequences corresponding to chitta swaras. As indicated by the name of the kriti, it was composed of four variants of raga Ranjini – Ranjini, Sreeranjini, Megharanjini and Janaranjinji.
Swati’s popular varnam ‘Sooma sayaka’ in Karnataka Kapi, Roopaka tala was taken next. The sakhi conveys to the nayaka the plight of the nayika, who can no longer stand the pangs of separation. The dancer portrayed the right mood of the three characters and the evocative manner in which she did it brought to the fore Lakshmi’s histrionic dexterity in full. The jatis, gracefully coined, were most appropriate to the mood of the composition. Nrithya and nritta sequences were commendably balanced.
‘Baro, Krishnayya’ was an enchanting presentation. Composed by Kanakadasa, in raga Mandu, Adi, the piece is a fervent demonstration of his unparalleled devotion to Krishna. While the pranks of child Krishna and the playful mood of his mother are described in the opening lines, the denouement illustrates the legend about the deity at Uduppi. The orthodoxy prevented Kanakadasa from entering the temple on account of his belonging to a caste that was considered ‘low’ in the caste hierarchy. Kanakadasa started singing the glories of the Lord from outside the temple. The story goes that the Krishna idol turned to the side where Kanakadasa was standing and the wall of the temple collapsed, thereby facilitating him darshan of the Lord. The last charanam of the composition that mentioned this part was presented quite enticingly by Lakshmi. The mood of devotion it created was noteworthy. Again it was a Swati composition in Behag, ‘Smaradinu mam sadayam yadupathi’ from Upakhyanam that Lakshmi chose to present. Childhood memories of Kuchela unfold in his mind while he is at the gate of Krishna’s imposing palace at Dwaraka. The portrayal of ‘Balya sahayam kripana madhuram’ moved the viewers as Lakshmi enacted the various feats of help rendered by Krishna to Kuchela during those days.
She wound up with the Swati tillana, ‘Padmaraga manimaalamkrita’, set in Bhoopalam raga by Balamuralikrishna. A dance of exultation, its presentation was noted specially for her adavus of geometric perfection and graceful execution.
It was really laudable that Lakshmi, a non-Malayali dancer had dwelt mainly on Swati compositions for her Bharatanatyam recital, at a time when these compositions are conspicuous by absence in Mohiniyattam recitals.
The recital was organised by Kathakali Promotion Society.
