Created by the renowned veteran danseuse Sutapa Talukdar with the dancers of her South Gurukul Society, Kolkata, the ballet “Bahana” was a cutting- edge performance told in dance, music, Sanskrit with English narrations. Presented at the Satyajit Ray Auditorium, at the Rabindranath Tagore Centre ICCR, Kolkata, the idea for this new choreographic presentation by Sutapa, a distinguished disciple of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, sprouted from the book, “Dev-Devi and their Bahanas” which she came across in the famous book market at Kolkata’s College Street. Thus was composed the spectacular ‘Bahana – Gativilas’ amalgamating classical Odissi, Chhau and Vedic mudras with melodious music by Pandit Subhankar Banerjee.
Lyrical ballet
The lyrical ballet presented 12 Gods and Goddesses from the Hindu pantheon with their respective vehicles or bahanas, typically an animal or mythical entities that the deities use and are often referred to as their mounts. Bahanas are their inseparable loyal companions. The presentation began with an introduction of the theme by a group of well-trained dancers, clad in white and gold in pure Odissi, introducing the different bahanas and their deities (Swabahana Aagachhatey).Vibrant dancing set a joyous mood as the bahanas entered one by one. Amidst a lot of applause danced peacock, the mount of Kartikeya, makara (capricorn), the mount of Ganga, lion of Durga and the galloping stallion of Surya clad in brilliant red. The qualities of the bahanas were expressed through arguments between different pairs in turns. While the swan of Saraswati and peacock of Kartikeya boasted and quarrelled about their gait, the owl of Lakshmi and the rat of Ganesha talked about their service to humanity. Likewise, bull of Shiva and buffalo of Yama fight out their strength.
The choreography revealed an extraordinary display of behaviour and movement of the consorts through a spectrum of dance movements, blending them with the appropriate sound.
Sutapa, herself a celebrated dancer, has added an explanatory accompaniment to the choreography by using patachitras” or paintings of the deities and the bahanas on circular cane plates held by two male members, as the deities and bahanas enter turn by turn, and a priest offering ‘aarti’ to another painting of the deity, all at one corner of the stage. The paintings changed as another set of deity and bahana arrived.
Embellished with imaginative props and stunning costumes tinted with the whole spectrum of the colour palette, the production boasts of a novel use of masks, rituals of worship of the Hindu deities and presentation style. Pandit Banerjee’s musical resources took the music to a level of piousness, marrying Hindustani Classical and Carnatic music with variegated percussive gems. Barun Chanda, with his unparalleled articulation and diction, modulated his voice as the narrator with the traits, presence and behavioural characteristics of the deities and bahanas. Sutapa mentioned that “Since there was a dearth of Sanskrit shlokas for the bahanas, two young Sanskrit professors (Saberi Rakshit and Sanghamitra Banerjee) came to my rescue and penned many of them.”
Largely underutilised , the role, the significance and the synergy between deities and bahanas were projected with magical lighting by Uttiya Jana, positioning of the dancing groups and improvised performance. There was a total absence of bhakti because the entries, exits and actions of the performers were too swift to allow the audience to linger over inner sentiments. Captivating dancing and visual pleasure overpowered the mostly familiar mythological content without monotony. What was informative were some of the hitherto unknown functions and synergies between the deities and their mascots. The high point of the production was that it was well within time, enjoyed by children and adults alike, and held the attention of audience till the end.
