In step with the sacred

Classical musician Chandana Bala Kalyan’s melodious ragas, and classical dancer Amrita Lahiri’s vivid choreography, wove together mysticism and spiritual symbols such as Mandala artwork in a captivating blend of movement and rhythm.

The stage where they performed this was the Serendipity Art Festival 2023 in Goa to explore divine symbolism. Following the positive response they received at this 15-day celebration, the artists, along with their director Leela Samson, are set to tour other Indian cities. After staging the performance in Bengaluru and Chennai in November, they will be in Delhi on December 13.

Titled ‘Mandala’, this production is a path that traverses the many stages of love, from disappointment to separation, to eventually come to an understanding that we are all similar at our core. “Mandala art is about concentric circles, finally arriving at the core, the centre. This project’s journey is similar. It starts with a devotee and the outermost layer of devotion. It goes through themes of Shringara (love), Viraha (separation), Maya (illusion), and Aikya (dissolution),” explains Chandana, a multi-genre musician from Mumbai.

Understanding the divine

In this poetic journey, the protagonists are deities Alamelu Manga and Venkateshwara Swami. “Like everything, devotion starts with attraction. She is full of love. We start the production with an adolescent devotee’s longing for her beloved’s return,” shares Chandana. This stage is also the celebration of physical intimacy. “In tantric practices, physical intimacy is explored through washing the idol and applying chandan on the idol. Here, Alamelu Manga cannot help but experience the divine’s physical touch,” she adds.

The song Emuko Chigurutadharamuna by Annamacharya in the production describes the quality time the protagonists spend. When she returns, Alamelu Manga’s friends question her, ‘naluvuna pranesvarunipai naattinayaakonachupulu. niluvunaperukaga nannttina netturukaadukada’; meaning ‘Manga planted the arrows of her looks on the Lord and withdrew them suddenly. Hence the tips of her arrow-like looks bear the touch of blood. Therefore her eyes are red. Isn’t it?’

With a ‘love is in the air’ feeling, the teenage devotee’s relationship with God seeps into the next layer, Viraha (separation). Chandana puts the feeling into words, saying, “Here there is knowing and disappointment from Alamelu Manga’s part because the lord is not paying the attention she thinks she deserves. She seeks the help of a sakhi or a friend to whom she cries about all this.”

The audience too goes on this emotional journey with the artistes. “There is a moment in this production where Alamelu Manga goes to a temple and the door is closed. Chandana sings it so well that you latch on to that emotion,” notes Kuchipudi-artiste, Amrita. Calling this an unusual staging as the focus is on poetry, philosophy and the essence of Carnatic music, she adds, “You reach out for poetry, music, and dance at your most difficult times and it saves you.”

Timeless wisdom

Similarly, Alamelu Manga is able to withstand the separation by the thoughts of illusion. “Alamelu Manga thinks ‘Maybe I don’t exist at all or this love exists only within my heart.’ There are too many questions on the aspects of Maya or illusion, which we explore melodically, lyrically, and rhythmically, in the form of raga, swara, laya, thala, and the lyric itself,” Chandana expresses.

A few ragas employed in the presentation are Shyam Kalyan, Gopriya, Sindhu Bhairavi, Varaali and Senjurutti. Chandana notes, “The preparatory stage is a composition of Kabir where we realise that the god is talking to us, and we have not been listening all the while. Then the devotee understands what the lord is trying to convey.”

The composition ends with the devotee realising that there’s only one bright light and merging with the divine in an abhang. With this realisation, the devotee reaches the innermost core of devotion, the centre. This is called Aikya. “It is an understanding that we are nothing but the divine,” explains Chandana. Amrita’s guru, Leela, well-known for her interpretation of philosophical texts in dance, guided her to decode the lines by Kabir.

Under Samson’s direction, Chandana and Amrita introduce us to every emotion with narration. The prime focus is on the voice and then the movements. The poems by Mirabai, Annamacharya, Dharmapuri Jaavali Subbarayar, Kanakadasa, Kabir, and Soyarabai in Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, and other Indian languages will wbe presented.

Throughout history, these saint poets have emphasised that pleasure, suffering, joy, and hardship are temporary and will eventually pass. They remind us to appreciate life and live in the present while remembering that nothing lasts forever.

The 70-minute production will be staged at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Estate on December 13 at 7.30 pm.