Three-day ‘Thanjavur utsavam’ begins today

A three-day festival, ‘Thanjavur Utsavam,’ to celebrate the traditions of “Iyal” (Literature), “Isai” (Music) and “Natakam” (Dance and Theatre) of Tamil Nadu organised by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) will be held here from Friday.

Disclosing this to the media here on Thursday, IGNCA representatives, Atchal Pandya from Bengaluru Regional Centre and Arupa Lagiri from Vadodara Regional Centre, said that the events would be held at the South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC) premises.

While the lectures and workshops would be held during the morning and afternoon sessions at the SZCC auditorium, the cultural programmes would be conducted at the open-air auditorium, they said.

Apart from the workshops on topics such as palm-leaf manuscript preservation, making of bronze idols and others, two exhibitions related to the larger-than-life-multi-media project on Sri Brahadeeswarar Temple has also been planned.

The three-day event would be inaugurated on February 11 by the Prince of Thanjavur, Babaji Rajah Bhonsle Chattrapathi, preceded by the presentation of the festival’s concept by the iconic Bharatanatyam dancer and IGNCA Trustee, Padma Subrahmanyam.

At the valedictory function on February 13, a documentary based on research work done by Padma Subrahmanyam and produced by the IGNCA would be released, they added.