September for us in India, is mostly about the 5th, Teacher's Day. Named so after Sarveppalli Radhakrishnan, who was born on this day and when asked how his birthday should be celebrated, said, “by honouring teachers,school staff and principals.” The concept of the teacher is more relevant today than at any other point of time, a declining guru-sishya parampara leading to an increase in the value and volume of teachers.
Teachers play an important role in shaping our character at school level and then if we like them — or the subject they teach — these become a lifelong link or relationship. I became a history buff because my history teachers at school and college (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and later St. Stephen’s then Hindu College, University of Delhi ) were so good.
That brings up the name of the notable historian Romila Thapar. Listening to her at the Indian Institute of World Cultures on the History and Heritage last week, one could not but wonder at India and its layers of history. “Culture is not singular,” she stated, “but a composite of many cultures.” She also talked of relevance of inscriptions. And scripts. Some lost, some found, some being revived. “Had I not first learnt Sanskrit, I would not have deciphered the inscriptions of ancient India,” she said. “Without the knowledge of sources, I could not have done research. Without research, I could not have done my Ph.D,” she said.
In her talk, Romila Thapar elaborated on a concept, which I have held dear even in dance writing. Most dance writers today have no background in history as a subject. How primary source and secondary sources are important. How reconstruction is based on research, not a wikipedia search! Thapar reiterates: Evidence, sources, research, cross-checking and interpretation form the bedrock of appraisal. No proper Ph.D. or research paper can be written without this process. Forget critiques, which today are mostly drivel. At best space fillers and at worst, PR pieces. Blogs and social media have further diluted, if not trivialised serious, academic comment.
So, is the traditional teaching methodology, our Guru Sishya Parampara (GSP) on its way out? It is unique to India and was nurtured for centuries in our traditional knowledge systems and classical arts, as a worthy model of passing on an art form, but is facing new-age challenges. First being age itself. “When a self-styled guru is barely 25 years old, how can I take him or her seriously,” holds Kripa , an 18-year old learner in Baroda. “I am learning at college level. For me, the teacher is a teacher.” So, can our traditional arts be taught in universities? Isn’t it an anti-thesis? “Not really. I learnt from my traditional master in Kuchipudi village but today I'm a professor at Reva University because of my Ph.D. and hard work,” says Vasanth Kiran, an upcoming, smart talent with a dance faculty under his charge.
“Today youngsters want to learn items and get name and fame! In our times, we focussed only on learning. Even if we stayed with our guru, washed his clothes, our hearts were full of devotion to guru and art. Not interested in awards or rewards; shows or money,” said Pt. Birju Maharaj, while making the dance TV serial ‘Taal-Mel’ for Doordarshan.
Some however are not keen to teach. Like the Bengaluru-based Bharatanatyam artiste Aishwarya Nityanand, who says, “I am not qualified or ready to teach yet. Being a guru is lots of responsibility. I don’t know enough. I have a long way to go and wish to focus on my dancing alone.”
For older ones like Devjani Sen, who came to Bangalore barely a decade ago and doesn’t dance solo much, teaching is important. “Many Odias and Bengalis settled in this IT city wish to learn some dance and often not southern styles alone, so dancers like me, can share that with the others,” she avers. At her recent annual day-cum-festival, her new work, ‘The Jungle Book’ was premiered. It involved nearly all of her 40-odd students. The big ones became elephants and small ones, birds! It was a fun production and best-ever on stage in the Indian ballet form. It brought joy to spectators and enjoyment to participants. It also taught students team work. This is one production that can fit in any festival.
So has the GSP metamorphosed into something new? How do real gurus feel?
“All change is part of life. Only those most serious will learn properly. Others will learn for hobby or making some gain. Art is limitless,” responds veteran Guru Radhakrishnan of Mysore style. “So long as society learns an art form, it will be busy on productive work and not wasting time on streets and in violent activity,” notes G. Sundari, almost 90, former superintendent of Kalakshetra. “ Vidhya danam is more sacred than ganga snanam ,” says 88-year old guru M.K.Saroja. The 95-year old Valmiki Banarji still recalls his guru Gopinath fondly.
Indian arts are in transition. Core values are changing. Many fields are facing this. Why not dance? Look at music. We are now learning on skype. Why, even the UGC has come up with e-pathshala, a free, interactive dance learning tool. It is accessed worldwide.
September celebrates many birthdays too of important dancers — Indrani Rahman (17), Senior Kathak guru Pt. Jitendra Maharaj (who trained the Delhi Sisters Nalini-Kamlini, the latter heading Kathak Kendra as Chair, today) and Alarmel Valli (14).
Mastering many forms
Indrani first: Like a meteor she emerged and shone enough to not only become the first Miss India, but the first to make many classical forms popular abroad. She was the first female international superstar of many forms — Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and above all else, Odissi. It was the example of Indrani that conquered the West after Ram Gopal and Uday Shankar, both male dancers. Indrani was very generous too, shaping many careers by taking them abroad on tours and helping their art reach far when they were still coming up in the field — Deba da, Aloka Panikar, Raja-Radha Reddy, K. Shekharan. She helped many next generation teachers and dancers too, especially in New York and New Delhi.
Alarmel Valli has created a benchmark in Bharatanatyam, just like Yamini did once. She is a reference point for research (Sangam poetry), aesthetics, and high art. Add language skills in French and Tamil, apart from English and Sanksrit. These are tools that make her a complete dancer. Her disciples reflect the same quality, the same finish — Aparana and Ranee Ramaswamy 25 years ago, now settled in Minnessotta or Meenakshi Srinivasan.
Back to the sources: Modi the Script, is being promoted now by IGNCA and as you read these lines the first ever focus in the South, is happening at Bangalore IGNCA, over this weekend (September 7 and 8) with the top brass from Delhi, Mangalore and Maharashtra (Modi is a script which was in practice till the 1950s, used earlier in the Government records and manuscripts of south Maharashtra and North Karnataka before Devanagari became official). They will discuss this important script in addition to work on Tigalari, a derivative from Tulu, of Mangalore-Kasaragod coastal cultures. A diploma course in manuscriptology is devised and many new academic areas of research are being added to.
And speaking of the IGNCA, finally Mohan Khokar’s lifetime work, the massive Dance Collection, 136 trunks and boxes, stand donated to it for future generations to benefit from, once organised and digitised. September 17 being his 17th anniversary, we hope his soul is at peace that India cares for his lifetime sacrifices and monumental work.
The writer, critic and historian is the author of several books and edits attenDance, a year book
