Art has also to address contemporary issues and when it concerns an ancient, mythological river like the Ganga and its de-veneration, it offers immense scope to explore through the medium of dance. Dancer-guru Rajeswari Sainath’s group choreography “Swaccha Ganga” (A River with a Soul), was presented as a tribute on the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sister Nivedita at Ramakrishna Mission premises in Delhi which also enveloped the nation’s concern about cleansing the mighty river Ganga off pollution.
The theme also brought the other two rivers — Yamuna and the mythological Saraswati — into the picture briefly to underline the potency accorded in the Vedic literature to these three rivers. The integration of Kalari (martial movements), a touch of the contemporary, dramatic element were fused into the ballet in such a manner that no creases could be discerned to mar the flow of theme either by way of dance or content or lyric. The merger was done at apt moments, in right quantity. It opened with a full-fledged invocation to the divine river Ganga personified as a pure woman and the dance by groups led by Vyshnavie Sainath and her mother Rajeswari Sainath, traced the origin and course of the river from beyond the realms of its earthly existence. In doing so, the dance movements and footwork patterns were made to recreate the illusion of a turbulent river in the beginning being tamed to water the earth through divine machinations and finally the benevolent Ganga who is the source of life for mankind. Barring a sloka (invocatory verse) in Sanskrit, the entire lyric was in Hindi which went down well with the august audience of the city. Rajeswari needs to be complimented on this aspect for bringing in a presentation that reaches out to a cross-section of viewers by way of its lingo too! Not many Bharatanatyam dancers take pains to do this as far as compositions go.
Flexibility and agility
Vyshnavie as always stood out as a dancer with ease and elegance, not to talk of tremendous flexibility and agility. Her teermanam (conclusions) were artistically unique. Her stylistic footwork patterns along with the group and off it also, in eulogising Ganga are worth a mention. The entry and exit of the group led by Rajeswari and Vyshnavie alternately was also like a patterned drawing in live to the lines, “Manogna Roopini...”. The highlight postures like Rajeswari atop her daughter who carried her on her bent back with ease; Vyshnavie mounted on two dancers to represent the statuesque Himalayas held the audience in thrall. The digital backdrop, the missing links through voice-overs in Hindi also went well with a section of viewers who were not exactly Bharatanatyam connoisseurs! Rajeswari by now, an established artiste in the purist tradition, danced with grace and vigour drawing applause from audience. Her pace and well-timed rhythm are well-known. Vyshnavie donned the youthful Krishna in Rasleela as seen through the eyes of Yamuna to “Brindavan Saranga...” The costumes of the group dancers were ideally suited to depict the vraj vanitha.
Rajeswari Sainath and Vyshnavie Sainath
This was followed by the current event — the polluted Ganga neglected and maligned by insensitive “us”. Rajeswari brought forth the “bheebhats rasa” beautifully depicting the abuse of the pure waters of this sacred river which later turns into pathos with an element of drama to show the scenic chaos (on digital backdrop) with Ganga becoming a dumping yard and then each dancer marching in with a placard that finally reads “Save Ganga” — this was a bit too naive!
Another eulogy of Ganga followed — more of a dance in aesthetics with the finale of Ganga aarti with diyas which began well but went into a fast-track bhajan mode that did not replicate the aarti at Varanasi about which the song spoke. The Jai Ho with the national ensign gave the ultimate touch to popularity and patriotism. Pre-recorded accompaniment was perfect in acoustics.
