If blue blood means anything, then the young and bright Bharatanatyam dancer Kumari Sruthi has it all. She is the great granddaughter of Bharatha vidwan T.P. Kuppiah Pillai on the one side and Bharatanatyam exponent Thanjavur S. Kamalambal on the other; she is also the disciple and granddaughter of guru K. Kalyana sundaram.
With such credentials, it was no surprise that Sruthi was a budding artist in her own right, with intuitive timing and confidence born of long engagement with the arts.
Her energy and agility were admirable as she was able to hold one-legged poses for a long time, but her dignity was her greatest asset. She performed recently at Kartik Fine Arts, Chennai.
Her bhava, however, needed smoothening in some places, especially in the sabdam, her narratives were like short dashes that required to be ironed out into a straight line. The repertoire was of little-known compositions, all of them traditional Thanjavur bani choreographies handed down through generations in the family.
A brisk opening with Arunagirinatha’s verses on Ganapathy led to an unusual sabdam (ragamalika, misra chapu) from Kamba Ramayana centered on Rama and Sita’s romance in Panchavati.
Inspired by the beauty in Nature, Rama notices Sita’s creeper-like slim waist and her swan-like delicate gait, and the way the swans move away when they see her walking so gracefully. Similarly, Sita is reminded of Rama’s beautiful features when she sees a blue lotus and notices how elephants are shamed by Rama’s majesty.
Buoyed by the excellent orchestral support, with Guru Kalyanasundaram (nattuvangam), Randhini (vocal), Ramanan (mridangam), Ramesh (flute) and Veeramani (violin), Sruthi breezed through the demanding padavarnam (‘Mukkannan Jyothi Arul Maindha,’ Suddha Dhanyasi, Adi, Alathur Panchapakesa Iyer), the Behag- ‘Adum Chidambaramo’ (Adi, Gopalakrishna Bharati) and a family-favourite, the Atana thillana in tisra eka tala, a traditional piece with no sahitya and no authorship available.
Kumari Sruthi is a rough diamond waiting to acquire the polish of time and experience.
The riveting octogenarian!
It was difficult to take one’s eyes off the sprightly and aristocratic-looking octogenarian wielding the cymbals. The legendary personality, guru K. Kalyanasundaram of Sri Rajarajeswari Bharatha Natya Kala Mandir, Mumbai, belongs to one of the first families of Bharatanatyam, with ancestry that can be traced back to Thanjavur of more than two centuries from the reign of the Maratha King Serfoji II (1777-1832) who patronised Venkatakrishna Nattuvanar, his ancestor.
Guru Kalyanasundaram’s father, Natyacharya Kuppiah Pillai, and grandfather, Panchapakesa Nattuvanar, were well-known as experts in abhinaya, the latter having written a book, ‘Abhinaya Navaneetham’ on the subject. Guru Kalyanasundaram asserts that the Thanjavur bani stresses both aspects – technique and emotion - the clarity of footwork and hastas being as important as the depth of emotion that is subtle, suggestive and going beyond literal translations.
The laya aspect was especially arresting - little rhythmic teasers sprinkled across most compositions, straight forward enough to be noticed, but complex enough to be hidden within the folds of the tala cycles. For example, even the opening Thiruppugazh, ‘Kai Thalam Nirai Kani’ (Nattai, Adi) had interesting sequences with half an avarthana in slow speed, and the other half in double speed, and another sequence in usi off-beats.
The padavarnam had many gems. The opening trikala jathi had a fairly moderate vilamba kaala, and when asked, guru Kalayanasundaram responded that his crisp intonation without dragging sollus might have made it sound faster; he also pointed out that the pace of the song may also dictate the speed of the vilamba. For example, the Khamas padavarnam, ‘Same Nee Ramannave’ can take a super-slow vilamba opening. The second jathi had usi sollus and sama beats ending with a shower of ‘kita thari kita thoms’; the third had adavus in pancha nadai woven into it, including one more pancha nadai in the closing theermana adavus of ‘dinginathom’. This list is not exhaustive- there was much more to the ingenuity of the jathis, the Guru’s unassuming delivery and his quiet mastery of talam and music. An uplifting experience.
