A highly distinguished Mohiniattam dancer, guru and researcher, Bharati Shivaji, has been performing for almost four decades now. For years, she has been meeting old gurus in Kerala to hunt for extant literature on Mohiniattam, to collect the fragments of a fading regional musical system, also visiting temples to document the sculptural evidences and incorporate the temple and musical traditions of that State into the repertoire of the classical dance form to strengthen her work on the reconstruction of Mohiniattam. At the recently concluded International Seminar on Sri Chaitanya, organised by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, the Padmashree accorded danseuse was the speaker at one of the academic sessions and also chaired the one on the effect of Chaitanya’s contribution to the performing arts. In her lecture-demonstration, the Delhi-based dancer traced Sri Chaitanya’s devotional theism and the revolutionary Sankirtana movement of the ecstatic effusion of love for Krishna in the form of mass chanting, singing and dancing in the name of god.
In an interview on the sidelines of the event, the dancer expounded on the influence of Chaitanyadeva on Mohiniattam and her own work. Excerpts: How did Chaitanyadeva influence Mohiniattam?
Lasya, if you see, only pertains to shringara, and shringara is a predominant mode of Mohiniattam. Chaitanya’s influence is certainly there. Lasya is not just grace but also a lot of bhakti-shringara. Mohiniattam is nothing but a devotional dance form. So the femininity that you see embedded in Mohiniattam and the andolita movements that are predominant in the technique cannot but be most suitable for any devotional movements. This outpouring of love for the deity (Krishna) in the form of singing and dancing was propagated by Chaitanyadeva as the most natural and best sadhana for the seeker. Chaitanyadeva takes the seeker into the magical raas-world of Krishna and the gopis; a mystical dance of the soul, incomprehensible to the worldly mind. His contribution towards the spread of Vaishnavism throughout the country is perhaps one of its kind in the pan-Indian influence on the religious history of India. In Mohiniattam, the sangitam is bhavasangitam because sopana sangitam is nothing but bhakti-bhava. When the bhavasangitam is sung for Mohiniattam, it blends with the undulating movements and the dance gets embellished by it.
Then, this should be applicable to all dance forms embracing Bhaktibhava...
You will not get Chaitanya’s direct influence in Kerala as such but Jaideva and he shared the same philosophy of Krishna and Radha. That is the connect. He himself was such a follower of Jaideva that he listened to “Gita Govindam” everyday, admired and appreciated it and was dancing and chanting its music, was so influenced by it that he spread its music (kirtans) which became the favourite of the masses of Bengal and Odisha. Chaitanya toured all over India propagating “Gita Govindam”. That way, he was able to preach and influence Jaideva’s philosophy. Here was a unique example of bhakti-shringara depicted through “Gita Govindam” that has become an integral and significant part of the Mohiniattam repertoire.
Sometime ago, you worked with Tagore’s “Bhanusinger Padavali”. Could the Mohiniattam grammar fit in comfortably with the music, especially the taalas?
Yes! We took the original work of Tagore as the way it had been rendered but we didn’t have to do much. Since the music was so lyrical that it blended very well with the lyrical quality of Mohiniattam. So it appeared as if it was composed for Mohiniattam. It had never been choreographed in Mohiniattam before we did it.
Any other reason why you chose “Bhanusingher Padavali” in particular?
Because the music is very lilting, very beautiful, was the main reason. After the whole text was worked upon, we thought that since it was all about Krishna and Radha and is bhava-oriented, it suited Mohiniattam. We do a lot of “Gita Govindam” you know!
Can you name any other interesting experimental production you were a part of?
It was “Pariyapti”, in which we experimented with the dhak and edekka. We used white and red bordered saris to represent Bengali women in the production and white and gold for the Mohiniattam dancers. It also featured percussionist Mriganabhi Chattopadhyay from Kolkata who came down to Delhi to record it for us. It was basically Mohiniattam dancer Vijayalakshmi’s work. She always looks for a social relevance in whatever choreography she does. In “Pariyapti”, she tried to highlight the discrimination against underprivileged women in the Indian society as compared to the upper-class women.
I was staying in Jamshedpur for sometime where there used to be Jatras during Durga Puja and Vijaylakshmi, as a child, used to accompany us to watch them. One such Jatra was about the ritual of collecting dust from the door of fallen, down-trodden women, indispensible for the Durga Pujas (said to have been ordered by Lord Shiva to do away with the neglect of the marginalised women) which influenced Vijaylakshmi and we strung it with texts and scripts from different sources into a thematic presentation. The music was by Amitava Mukherjee.
Did you at any point move away from Mohiniattam or tried extending its boundaries?
I cannot say that I have moved away from tradition. I am only dealing with the tradition of Mohiniattam which was not done, which was not explored.
So what is your next step?
My next step is to see all my younger generation of dancers take to Mohiniattam in an innovative way with an open mind.
How do you see yourself in future?
(Laughs heartily).My future is that I will just live through Mohiniattam. It’s so funny and strange that I still keep getting some roles to play when it comes to Mohiniattam.
In some capacity or the other, one gets invited to choreograph a piece, etc. for a festival, or to do a workshop or speak on the dance form. Mohiniattam is one particular dance form where the dancer has to feel the intensity inside, you can’t cheat yourself here.
It’s so with other dance forms too...
No (emphatically).
In which way?
Suppose, we execute a graceful movement, it is not skin-deep. It’s not external. It’s an internal exercise. It’s the mind and body thing, and unless you completely surrender to your movements, it will not look graceful. You can’t cheat that, like the circular movements involves the chakras.
