Vaishnavi Dhore brings Bahinabai Chaudhari’s rural poetry to life at the Jharna Festival, Chennai

This weekend, the scent of soil is all set to drift into Chennai’s classical dance spaces at the Jharna Festival. In A Woman Beyond Letters, Bharatanatyam dancer Vaishnavi Dhore reimagines the life and poetry of Bahinabai Chaudhari, a Maharashtrian farmer whose wisdom far outgrew the fact that she could neither read nor write. Composed between furrows and harvests, her verses are rooted in soil. The work questions what literacy really means because sometimes the woman with mud on her hands understands the world far better than those with degrees on their walls.

Vaishnavi Dhore translates Bahinabai Chaudhari’s poetry into Bharatanatyam with the recital with A Woman Beyond Letters

So, what drew Vaishnavi to the life and poetry of Bahina Bai Chaudhari? “I chose her poems because she was a farmer. She would compose while working in the fields. We have this culture of the jaat (the traditional grinding stone), where women grind grain, and during that time, to spend a few quiet moments with themselves, or with their daughters or husbands, they would recite poetry. They would speak, but in a poetic way. If you look at Bahina Bai, she worked in the fields almost 24/7. And while working, she would talk to nature. She would say the simplest things, just as she worked. She was illiterate; she never went to school, and yet she came up with such a deep philosophy. One day, her son sat her down and said, “You speak so beautifully; let me write it down.” And that is how her poems were preserved.”

Was it difficult to recreate the rural landscape on stage? “Yes, it was very challenging. Even with the costume, I chose a navvari sari because I wanted to present her as she was. I didn’t want to wear a typical Bharatanatyam costume and then dance to rural poetry. I felt her clothing would help me enter her character truthfully. I wanted to bring her presence to the stage, not myself, but her. Her poems are the heart of the production. In one poem she says, “Look at the beautiful nest carved by this little bird with such a tiny beak. What are you doing with two hands and ten fingers?” The philosophy is so deep. Everything else in the performance leads towards such metaphors; they are the highlight.”

She adds, “There is also a very personal element for me. As a teenager, I sometimes felt shy saying that my grandparents were farmers. It didn’t seem very glamorous. But that very soil has shaped me. I wanted to give back to that agricultural life, to say that there is intelligence there too. Look at Bahina Bai. She was not formally literate, but her wisdom was far ahead of many educated people. I was very clear about what I wanted to say through this production.

How did she embody the inner monologue of a woman who cannot write but feels so deeply? “There are books where her poems are preserved. I selected a few that felt relevant to today’s times and also suitable for dance. Some poems were beautiful but not easy to enact. So I chose three or four that could translate well through movement. Around those poems, I built my own narration, my own story, weaving everything together.

What would be the biggest takeaway for the Chennai audience, given that the work has Maharashtrian roots? “I wouldn’t say only the Chennai audience; I would say an urban audience. An artistic audience that comes expecting certain styles and aesthetics. You may arrive wearing an expensive perfume, surrounded by refinement, but there is beauty in a farmer’s sweat as well. There is beauty in rawness. That deserves respect. It deserves space on stage.”

She adds, “Bahina Bai was a philosopher, but she didn’t have the means or the platform. It took many years for people to recognise her greatness. We call ourselves smart, but are we really smart if we cut down trees without thought? She asks, “Why are you cutting trees?” She questions our humanity. In one verse she suggests that when humans behave inhumanly, even the grass responds. She urges us simply to behave like human beings. That is my message. The recital is not about me, not even about Vaishnavi. It is about Bahina Bai and her raw spirit. There is such devotion in her words. In one verse she says that she goes to the temple, but at the end of the day there is so much work to be done. If she does not work in the fields, how will she feed her children? She says that as her sweat falls into the soil, that itself is her offering. Why must she go to the temple when her body and labour are already a form of worship? She knew nothing but work, and within that work her spirit remained pure. I feel she was a soul seeking moksha. She lived that truth. I am very excited to bring this to Chennai. It will be pure Marathi poetry, but presented in a different way. I don’t know how it will be received, and that excites me even more.”

` 500, March 1, 7 pm

At Bharata Kalanjali

Taramani

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