The rain gods descended to watch the two-day Indian classical dance festival “Sare Jahan Se Accha: Abhinaya the soul of dance” {+t}{+h} August, 2010 at India Habitat Centre in the Capital, by eminent people from the art fraternity which also had the spiritual blessings of Chinmaya amma, who lighted the ceremonial lamp with other dignitaries. The festival, conceptualised and designed by Odissi dancer Ranjana Gauhar and her Utsav Academy of Dance, to commemorate the 63rd year of India's independence.
The festival began with an invocation from Nandikeswara's Abhinayadarpanam in raga Darbari, set to Jyoti and Khemta tala by Ranjana.
The music for this was composed by Bankim Sethi.
Renowned dancer and scholar Padma Subramaniam brought the stage alive with the depiction of three rasas, namely: shringara from the Ramayana, vatsalya from the story of Yashoda and Krishna, and bhakti conveyed through the immortal lines of Bhaja Govindam by Adi Shankara.
{+t}{+h} August, concluded the festival by keeping the audience virtually spellbound with their performances. Pallavi Krishnan's Mohinattam,
Alekhya Punjla's Kuchipudi, and Rani Khanam's Kathak added these artistes' individual tributes to the glory of Indian art through abhinaya.
