T. : The Whole World in Her Hands

This is a day in 1961. In Udupi (Kamataka), the sky is a pale blue, hanging over the shrine of the darkling god below like a canopy reflecting the radiance of his personality. Within the temple, it is a little dark in the sanctum sanctorum but, in the mellow light of oil lamps, the figure of manifests itself captivatingly in the form of covetous Mohini with a smile that tugs at the heart of the worshipper. The air is heavy with the fragrance of sandal paste, tula si leaves and burning incense, and the worshipper breathes it and feels the fragrant presence of the Lord within. The chanting accents the enchanted feeling and like the murmurs of Mesmer transports the men and women thronging the House of the Lord to a momentary heaven.

A Profile

By N. Pattabhi Raman with Anandhi Ramachandran

Krishna nee begone, baro.... The ever Krishna and the child comes to her. and she returns to her home in so sweet refrain of the famous song She chides him for eating dirt and Madras with her heart suffused of Purandara Dasa sung in a asks him to open his little mouth to with its continuing vibrations. honeyed voice begins to penetrate find proof. Krishna laughs and Entering her house, then in the consciousness of the pilgrims — opens his mouth... and To, it is not Egmore, she recounts her natives of the town as well as those dirt that the mother beholds — and "experience" to her mother come from far away pi ces — and the gathered pilgrims see — but the Jayammal. She exclaims: "Amma, dozens of pairs of eyes turn slowly Three Worlds. In a moment laden why am I still living in this world to see a dancer singing and miming with magic, Balasaraswati, now as after this experience? I wish Sri the beckoning song in the brighter Yasodha, now as Krishna, makes Krishna had taken me away." lit hall in front of the sanctum. The the awe-struck worshippers see the Mother Jayammal is deeply moved dancer is not a Mohini by any Blue God transform himself into and responds startlingly: "Yes, I stretch of imagination. She is not the very Universe and then become wish He had done it. How young, she is perhaps in her the playful child again. forties, built big, and is dressed in a extraordinarily fortunate would it pearl-white sari with emerald One man in the throng is not have been if He had...." She trails green border. She compels enchanted but enraged that anyone off, lost in the special feeling of the attention. Perhaps not many at the should have the audacity to dance moment, vicariously savouring her temple know who the miming within the precincts of the temple famous daughter's experience. any more, since that kind of matron is. There has been no prior As Balasaraswati recalls the offering had been legally announcement of the event. The incident for us, it occurs to us that proscribed. He objects but it seems dance is a spontaneous, spur of the such an experience could be had Caeser's civil law can't prevail in moment offering to Krishna by the only by a person for whom art is the Kingdom of God that is Sri woman who has made Krishna nee yoga, a sadhana, and whose Krishna's temple. He is taken in begone one of the most famous dedication has led her to practise hand quietly but firmly by a items in the dance repertoire by her art to perfection. It occurs to , quintet of worshippers, led outside her extraordinary miming of it. us, too, that the*remark her mother and left to rage there. The dancing made could only be a reflection of Krishna nee begone, baro.... The goes on. a love given for its own sake, singing is exquisite. The dancing Balasaraswati, whom none excels in untinged by possessiveness, and of stirs the imagination. Come hither. abhinaya or mimetic dance, now an attitude that enabled the mother Krishna, she sings. Come hither, portrays Krishna as conceived in a to see the experience from her Krishna, she portrays mother pair of other famous songs, jagado daughter's point of view. Yasodha calling her beloved. A dharana in Kapi and Naninne second voice joins in calling out dhayana in Kanada. She is possessed, the invitation, that of Gnana- Balasaraswati is excited when she it seems, by the idea that Krishna is sundaram, a working colleague of tells us about the incident, but indeed responding to her offering. Balasaraswati's. having told it, she lapses into a It is a thrilling experience for her reverie. Silence. She must have T. Balasaraswati, the enchantress of Bala with Lakshmi the dancing world, she is the matron who is singing and dancing. The pilgrims marvel at the many different ways she beckons Krishna. Unconsciously, the pilgrims turn towards the sanctum, to see if the god-child is answering the call. They think he is for who can resist when Balasaraswati beckons? Kasi peetambara..... The mind's eye sees Krishna, dressed in the finest brocaded silk from Varanasi, a diamond-studded flute in his hands, fragrantly anointed with sandal paste, wearing a beautifully strung mala or garland of vyjayanti flowers. Jagado dharaka namma, Udupi Sri Krishna.... Mother Yasodha calls to been thinking about her mother, much of it of her own improvisa- well these days and she has to for presently she says: "Do you see tion. Bala officiated similarly over pause now and then and regain her what kind of a woman my mother the "ceremonies" making the noon- strength. We look around and was? For her, music was God. time puja, during the evening recall our first of many visits to the When she sang, it was full of raga twilight hour and so on. "You house at Kilpauk, off the New bhava. And how many padams, know," she says, "I used to do this Avadi Road, in Madras. It is a how many javalis she could sing! six times daily. I still remember it Friday evening. Even as we cross Well, all of it was the gift of that all vividly." She smiles, with some her threshold, the lovely fragrance lady over there." She points to a inner satisfaction, and-then says of fresh jasmine greets us. We seat large photograph of her mother's with a sigh: "I wonder in what ourselves on the main sofa of the mother, the late Veena shape that house is now." living room ensemble; it is covered Dhanammal, framed and hung on in red fabric and looks and feels the wall behind the main sofa in "At that time, my mother made for comfortable. To our right is a her living room. me a Kunjalam set with stones," she large, framed photograph of Bala's continues. Kunjalam is a hairpiece mother Jayammal, daughter of Balasaraswati's dance began, consisting of a small, dome-shaped Dhanammal and a remarkable fittingly, as an offering to Sri pendulous drop made of gold or singer in her own right. On the Krishna. When she' was a toddler other metal and hung from a silken wall behind us is the photograph of two or three years old, her family cord. The drop is set with rubies or Dhanammal playing the veena. lived in George Town in Madras, garnets and other stones and Closer to the ceiling on the wall to on Ramakrishna Street. George completed with a circular row of our right is yet another photograph Town in those days was, as her pearls. The cord is pleated with the of Dhanammal, a product of the cousin brother T. Sankaran recalls, hair, so that the drop hangs at the late cartoonist Mali's craftsman- a veritable Sangita peetam or seat of end of the braid. Bala calls to her ship. It is a head shot, very close music and many a talented artiste darling grandson Aniruddha, up, printed on cloth and now chose to reside there. Dhanammal daughter Lakshmi's offspring, and deeply ridged and looking hereself lived there and held court when he comes to her she points to surrealistic. The photographs at every Friday evening in her own the fact that the Jittle fellow, fair of eye level are all festooned with regal way, even when she was skin and looking every inch a garlands of jasmine. Flowers are anything but affluent. On the potential dancer, is wearing the hung over the door frame also. ground floor of the family's same kunjalam now. He is also Jasmine, sweet-smelling jasmine. residence lived the house owner, a wearing his grandma's pendant of The garlands and the fragrance are veritable human antique by the rubies. As she looks at him with evidence of the fact that those name of Kamakoti Ammal, who tender affection, we wonder engaged in the fine arts like to was very fond of her "Balakutty" or whether she sees child-god Krishna surround themselves with fragrant little Bala. On all the four walls of in her grandson too. flowers and joss sticks and also the koodam or main hall of her wear perfumes. The greatness and place were hung a number of The conversation stops for a while purity of jasmine, we think, can be paintings rendered on glass, on because Balasaraswati is not very found in the art of all those who canvas and so on by the artists of may be called the legatees of the what is today known as the late Dhanammal's priceless Tanjavur School. A remarkable heritage. Is it possible that it is feature of this gallery was that their love of the flower's fragrance every one of the paintings depicted which makes their art bloom? Krishna. "I used to look at them with my mouth wide open," recalls To our right is a large glass case Bala. So many different paintings mounted on an elaborately carved of Krishna and many with semi- rosewood base. In the case is a precious stones in red, green and veena that belonged to the late other colours encrusted on them!" Dhanammal. Kept along with it is a The sun might fail to rise, but small-scale tambura. Kamakoti Ammal never failed to On another wall of the room, to call "Balakutty" every morning and our left, is a glass-fronted built-in ask her if she wouldn't come and almirah or shelf. Displayed in it are wake up Krishna. This was no several costume dolls from joking matter for the child and she different countries. As our eyes used to respond by quickly going move further on, we see a wide over to the old lady's place and door leading out to an open "waking" Krishna up to the verandah and a garden. At the far accompaniment of song and dance, end of the room is a large doll house set on wheels. The child in her health problems. The bhava of or even the "other woman" towards Bala is revealed by these various her singing, the emotions whom the heroine directs her articles. "Amma it is who has displayed through delicate jealousy. And in doing all this, the collected all these," explains gestures, the im'a.ges described by dancer has to mind the very strict Lakshmi. "She loves dolls and her long, tapering fingers all create grammar governing the various enjoys collecting them." a sense of wonder in us. Just sitting movements and gestures, the and talking in her living room, she On that first visit, Lakshmi tells us grammar and the nuances of a seems a greater artiste than many that Balasaraswati is averse to all highly refined and a stylized dance presently active on the stage. publicity. "She will not agree to language. But even as a writer, meet and talk with you. Moreover, Later on, writer R.K. Narayan while minding the grammar of his she is not quite well." She is polite makes a similar observation in chosen language, has room for but conveys the message quite remarks to us. In the nineteen employing his skills and firmly. thirties, it was Bala who made imagination creatively, the dancer many a young person, otherwise too has the opportunity to give We meet Bala too. She had been busy chasing adventure, realize expression to her creativity and resting and looks wan. "What's what a great art Bharatanatyam is. conceptions, provided she has the there to write about me?" she asks On a stage quite bare, with nothing skills to do so. and insists her dancing days are but a dim and naked bulb over and she wants no publicity. All through her career, Bala has overhead, Bala worked magic and We tell her that the profile we are offered ample proof of this. the curious became converts. And planning isn't intended as "Exponent is a word which can she worked the magic all by publicity, certainly Bala didn't more truly be applied to her than herself, drawing on her immense need publicity! We acknowledge to many other Bharatanatyam talents and aided by nothing the fact of her poor health but ask performer," Nissim Ezekiel wrote outside of her except the music how a magazine devoted to the in the Times of India many years provided by her mother and her classical music and dance of South ago. "What one comes across in her associates and the nattuvangam of India could fail to write about the dancing is something grave and her guru. art and accomplishments of the devotionally eloquent, weighty in great Balasaraswati. We offer to put With this or that popular dancer, content, lucid in perfection and up with inconveniences, to visit we may have room to wonder purity of intention, uncorrupted by with Bala any number of times and whether her reputation is fully mannerisms or eccentricity.... for brief periods so that our deserved or why she is even hailed The lesson to be learnt from her is interviews do not cause any strain at all. No such thought occurs in that there is no substitute for whatsoever. Lakshmi nods her the case of "Bala", as she is called perfection of technique and head but it is a nod of under- by the many who respect and love profundity of feeling. The classical standing and not of assent. her. To the cognoscenti of Madras, maintain its own." Eventually, weeks later, after we there has never been a greater have talked, in pursuit of our story, dancer than Bala, and there never What drew attention to Balasara- to a number of other persons who will be. If dance is Yoga, she has wati even when she was quite had known or worked wijh revealed the Ultimate Reality, the young was her great talent for Balasaraswati in one way or core of the truth about art and conveying a variety of emotions another, Lakshmi persuades Bala aesthetics. Today, when she has and feelings subtly through an to talk with us. Now we are again retired her limbs from formal infinite range of imagery, and the in Bala's house. dancing and put the past behind delicate use of the classical Bala has started talking freely. her, she is granted even more language of the classical dance. Conversation with her is a great respect and loyalty than when she "Her abhinaya is pure and serene, experience in itself. She may not be was in her prime. She has become a marked by all that is best in the on the stage, but her mind dances legend in her own lifetime. language of mime and gesture," a still, nuanced thoughts take shape ballet critic wrote long ago. "It is as in her abhinaya, aided by An important feature of Bharata- the result of more than knowledge, snatches of singing and vivid facial natyam, known fifty years ago as beyond technique and beyond and hand gestures which punctuate Sadir, is that a single dancer is conscious application. The grace her speech. She offers excerpts expected to portray two or even and the expressiveness of her art is from various padams. Remaining more personae and a variety of like the grace of a flower which seated in a chair, she mimes a few emotions, without the aid of opens up gloriously to the tender phrases or sequences. She recalls different costumes for the various beams of the morning sun. The... the poetry of Tayumanavar. She parts. In presenting a padam in the bhavas spring from the innermost talks about the pranava mantra. language of dance, the performer depths of her being. She is more She recalls the talents of various may have to represent the nayaka than a dancer, an artiste with the dancers of the past. She refers to as well as the nayika, sometimes the highest dramatic power. When she lady friend of the heroine as well, dances, she ceases to be a dancer and becomes one with the character she portrays. This is great art." As we carry on our conversation with Bala, we marvel at her accomplishments but also regret she has paid little serious attention to training anyone in India. "Balasaraswati's art will vanish with her," wrote Dr. Narayana Menon, who is the present chairman of the in New- Delhi, more than fifteen year ago. "There's not likely to be another like her. The kind of discipline and training that she had had and perfection of little details in dance would be very difficult for anyone else to capture. Other dancers may be younger, they may be more attractive, more streamlined, electroplated and so on, but Bala- saraswati possesses the real quintessence of Bharatanatyam." Balasaraswati's dance may be "a difficult act to follow," but that does not quite explain why she has been indifferent to training others. "You see," she explains when we ask her about it, "I didn't even teach my daughter Lakshmi for a long time because of my feeling that my art might as well perish with me. Only when I went to America and started teaching to American students did I decide to train Lakshmi." These words recall to us an ancient practice. When a king or queen passed on, his or. her prized possessions were interred with the Bala and Jayammal mortal remains. Such buried are glad to have seen it, even been made in the mid-sixties, but possessions have been unearthed though it does not do full justice to the project fell through for reasons centuries later much to the joy and Bala's art. No film of a dance can Ray never found out. Ten years enlightment of subsequent ages. offer us the same experience that later, Balasaraswati still had a regal But unfortunately the video we get from watching it alive. All the presence, as Ray put it, which took cassette has been discovered many films that offer us the great ballets his breath away. He noticed she years too late and the treasure that of West, even the best of them, only had lost weight — due to diabetes, was Bala's dancing can survive underscore this observation. This, he had been told — but had lost only in the memories of those who however, is only one drawback of none of her poise. Ray felt a twinge were fortunate enough to see her the Ray documentary. Another is of regret at having missed making dance in her prime years and only that, although the film offers a the film when Bala was in her prime. for so long as they themselves live. twelve-minute sequence of Bala He consoled himself, however, has, of course, made a doing Krishna nee begane, it shows with the thought that Bala filmed documentary on Bala, on behalf the great dancer past her prime at the age of fifty-eight was better of the National Centre for and in a beach setting where the than Bala not being filmed at all. Performing Arts in Bombay. The dancer has to clutch her billowing After seeing the film, despite our Institute of Film Technology in sari, thus adding a new adavu to reservations, that's how we felt too. Madras screened it for us and we her number. The film was to have The sad irony, however, is that Balasaraswati herself is the product mridangam and ghatam, for of a family tradition which example. emphasized the handing down of its priceless artistic heritage from With this background, it is not one generation to the next. She was surprising that music and dance born into a family which for a both acquired importance in Bala's couple of hundred years at least life. "Herself a musician of high had been involved intimately with order,"' a citation reads, "Bala the arts. That Bala is the grand- believes in rendering dance as a daughter of the great Veena poem in gestures." Dhanam is well-known, if for no "If someone without knowledge of other reason Bala herself proudly music performs a dance, how can we proclaims it. Dhanammal's accept it?" she asks, emphasizing grandmother, Kamakshi by name, that she herself attaches primary was a dancer in the court of importance to music and adds: "A Tanjavur in the nineteenth dancer will shine only if she is century. She had learnt Sadir from soaked in music. My mother used one Ganapathi Sastri who lived in to din this into my head even when an enclave near Tiruvayyaru; he I was too young to think." was an uncle of the famous composer-singer Patnam Mother Jayammal started teaching Subramania Iyer. Kamakshi was music appreciation to Bala when reputedly adept at singing too. the latter was barely five years old, Kamakshi's grandmother Guru Kandappa Pillai so much so, the little girl could Papammal also was a Tanjavur understand the language of music court musician and dancer; this was long before she could appreciate in the eighteenth century. of composer Tiruvottiyur Tyagier the import of words in songs. Papammal to her daughter and Fiddle Ponnuswamy. And he Jayammal had learnt dancing, as Rukmini to Kamakshi to her was related to Pandanallur had her mother Dhanammal and daughter Sundarammal to Meenakshisundaram Pillai. her aunt Rupavati. But because she Dhanammal to Balasaraswati — the another great Bharatanatyam had a wonderful voice, she had latter born in 1918 — the family teacher: the two were married to opted for music. And because she treasure of music and dance had sisters. and the others in the family had been handed down, let us see, for studied classical music properly six generations. Born in 1899, Kandappa Pillai was the product of this family of and well, they were all able to understand the attributes of A comparable treasure was handed nattuvanars and inheritor of a classical art and bring a sense of down again for six generations on great tradition. Nattuvanars in discrimination to Bharatanatyam as the side of Kandappa Pillai, Bala's those days were not merely well. guru. Over that span, his family specialists in teaching; they were had provided a chain of also masters of music and dance, Bala showed an aptitude for dance nattuvanars or dance teachers. capable of singing and dancing. from a very early age. If Kamakoti Kandappa Pillai's great-great-great Ammal who lived downstairs in grandfather was likely a Bala represents, in a sense, a their house egged her on, it was contemporary of Papammal. confluence, a sangamam of these Mylapore Gowri Amma who seems Among his forefathers were two great streams of music and to have given her the greatest Ponniah, Chinniah, Vadivelu and dance. Joining the confluence, as in inspiration to take up dancing Sivanandam who together came to Prayag, was perhaps another third seriously. be known as the Tanjavur Quartet stream, not physically visible, that and justly earned great fame for of Saraswati, the goddess of Gowri Amma was the daughter of a their contributions to South Indian learning. Bala must surely have beautv, Doraikannu Ammal, who classical music and dance. received her blessings: Bala herself danced for Siva at the Kandappa's father was Nellayappa has seen Saraswati incarnate, in the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Pillai who was thought of as the form of grandmother Dhanam. Mylapore. She had great respect finest teacher of his time. for Dhanammal and used to call on Nellayappa Pillai taught dance to Not only Balasaraswati, but her often. She too was dancing at Gowri Amma and Bala's mother brothers, cousins and other the Mylapore temple and had Jayammal. He was a treasure-trove assorted relatives all seem to have achieved considerable fame, of padams and javalis, including distinguished themselves in one especially for her ability to depict various emotions through facial the compositions of Chinniah of way or another, as vocalists or as gestures. Jayammal and her older the Quartet. He was a close friend players of veena, violin, sister Lakshmiratnam used to sing the padams during Gowri Amraal's performances. This was in fact how the practice of women singing padams at dances began. Bala was fascinated by Gowri Araraa. Besides visiting with her as often as possible, she would also try to imitate her dance movements. As she recalls those days, she projects a sense of excitement. "I used to dress up like Gowri Amma in ajenti or thuya sari, wear her own jewellery and try to dance like her. There would be scolding in the family and some raps on the knuckles too, but I couldn't be bothered by them." She explains that zjenti or thuya sari, popular among dancers because it wasn't expensive, was usually white organdy threaded with gold or silver.

Seeing little Bala's efforts to imitate her abhinaya, Gowri Amma suggested to Jayammal that Bala might be taught dancing. "Oh, no!" was Jay animal's reply. She was apprehensive about Dhanammal's' response to this suggestion, and she wouldn't undertake anything without consulting her. "One day she got up the courage to ask my grandmother," Bala continues. "Grandma, whose eyesight had weakened already, peered into space just for a trice and said No. She didn't budge even when Gowri Amma and Kandappa Pillai directly pressed the suggestion on her. But then she asked my mother one day whether her daughter, that's me, was squint-eyed. My mother answered in the negative. Next she asked if I had good, orderly rows of teeth. Yes, said my mother. Next question: is she good looking? My mother said that I was not a beauty but good looking all right. Finally she asked if I sang well. I had to sing to prove it. The test was over. Grandma finally gave permission for me to study dancing. Kandappa Pillai was then living just next door and I started learning properly. I was about four then. I guess my grandmother was afraid that if I studied dancing I might lose my interest in music, but she didn't have to worry." Not everything connected with dance that she saw in those childhood days appealed to Bala. In fact there was one aspect that really frightened her. This was the practice of some dancers who performed with various kinds of fruits and vegetables tied to their limbs and with knives in their hands. This must have been a contemporary gimmick. "With these appurtenances, they would dance... d'you know what., yes varnams in Ata tala, Viriboni in Bhairavi, in three tempos, no less," she recalls. "They would slice the vegetables with the knives while dancing. Both frightful and frightening, but the rhythm would be impeccable." Such experience notwithstanding, Bala loved dancing.

Jayammal arranged for Bala to study languages as well. She hired a lady named Radhamma, a scholar who new Bala Ramayanam by heart and various other texts as well, to teach Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit. Fortyish and very kind, Radhamma who lived in the same house, was an able tutor and Bala learnt Rangapati Ramapati Satakam, Telugu padams and how to do abhinaya using only facial expressions, that is, without using the hands. Her dance teacher was cast in a different mould. "Kandappan was a stern task-master and he did not believe in sparing the rod," Narayana Menon has written. "The child had to work for long, strenuous hours, starting in the early hours of the mornings. The study of music too was part of the training." Bala herself recalls that often there would be recitals to give in the evening. On such occasions, she would have an early supper and, after being made up, would go to sleep, on the shoulders of her mother usually, before the performance. The morning after the performance, Kandappan Vendors would be stopped at the appreciate his creative would review with Bala the end of the street and told that imagination. She tells us how Sastri previous night's recital very Amma was playing the veena and commanded her to "cast the critically and suggest corrections that they should return later." horoscope" of a Todi varnam one and improvements. Bala's fingers go to her lips as she day. "I did it without any Stern though he was, Kandappa describes the extraordinary scene repetitions. He responded by Pillai was wonderful teacher. In which was enacted almost daily. asking me to give it up and stick to her presidential speech at the She picks up the narration again padams! They're your family's Indian Fine Arts Society in..., she and tells us how Dhanammal heritage, he said and with someone paid a rich tribute to him. would react if some did talk within like your mother singing padams, the house when she was practising. you can have the whole world in "If today, a few people know Bala's cousin Sankaran had told us your hands." something about Balasaraswati, if about Dhanammal's acerbic wit Sastri would arrive early mornings, organizations like this Society wish and this is underlined by what Bala covered in a green shawl. He to honour her, the reason for it is tells us too. "Yes, if someone talked would spend hours teaching Bala. not alone the art my guru taught and disturbed her, grandmother He taught her songs from Bhama me, but that, even when I was would ask if anyone had noticed Kalapam and many other items. learning the art, he had taught me the culprit's great gnananu That how to face the fame I might would silence the person for a long Direct learning from competent achieve and accept the criticism I time again." instructors was aided further by a might receive. He used to whisk supportive environment. me away as soon as a recital was If Bala was subject to a regime of Musicians, great or otherwise, over, for he was afraid I might get strict discipline, she also had the would drop in frequently to talk to a swollen head from listening to benefit of learning soulful padams Dhanammal. Among those were praise." from her grandmother and from Dharmapuri Subbarayar whose Gowri Amma. By the time she was javalis earned him a great name, Bala remembers that her fifteen, she had learnt a very large flutist Tiruppamburam grandmother was also very strict. number of them. "My grandmother Swaminatha Pillai, Kanchipuram "After I started learning to dance, had learnt a great number of Naina Pillai, and Ariyakudi she wouldn't let me sit down for Kshetrayya padams from one Ramanuja Iyengar. Tiruvottiyur even a minute. There was no Balakrishnan who was more Tyagier, son of Veena Kuppier, question of resting or napping familiarly known as Baldas," was another. In fact, over and during the afternoon. Vidya explains Bala. "Gowri Amma had above conversations marked by wit duraanam nasukham nanidra, she reportedly learnt several padams which gave Dhanammal's place the would say. That is, those who from Padam Ponnuswamy. She ambience of the great European pursue the arts shouldn't bother used to do abhinayam for Tamil salons, there would be a mutual about comfort and sleep." padams, to sing herself while doing learning too. For example, Many great artists are full of hand gestures. Her singing was Ariyakudi would learn padams themselves. Not so the great marked by curves, glides and from Jayammal, says Balasaraswati. . Balasaraswati. What she likes to gamakam and full of bhava. My Tyagier, for his part, would talk about, time and again, is her mother would urge me time and request Dhanammal to sing his grandmother. Thus, after referring again to listen carefully." varnams and "give them polish". to Dhanammal's strictness, she Bala acquired considerable asks us if we know what kind of knowledge and skills from her Polish and a special glow were person Dhanammal was. And then contact with various others as well. what Balasaraswati herself gave to she proceeds to offer a glimpse. She learnt abhinayam from one padams and javalis she learnt and "When Dhanammal played the Chinnayya Naidu also. Even 1 sang. There was at least one veena, everything would virtually when she grew up, she didn't give occasion when a listener come to a stop, for there had to be up learning. Thus she studied later interrupted her song to shout that silence, total silence. In the with Vedantam Lakshminarayana she should leave the singing to kitchen, seasoning wouldn't be Sastri to gain new insights into Jayammal. Many did perhaps hold prepared because the popping of abhinaya. Sastri was an expert in the view that Jayammal was a the mustard seed would disturb the interpretation of padams. He better singer. But Bala has left no grandmother. The washing of spoke his own idiom. He would ask doubt about her own ability for clothes — entailing their beating Bala: "Can you do this varnam? creative interpretation, an ability on a stone — would stop. We would How would you cast its which manifested itself in her even stop walking around. The horoscope?" Tiruppamburam dancing also in a way that music people of the street would also Swaminatha Pillai wasn't greatly and dance were beautifully become quiet, without any of us impressed by Sastri's musical intertwined and integrated. asking for their co-operation. abilities, but Bala was quick to If some felt Bala was a bit slow on her feet, she has shown that her That would make it barely eight or festival in that town, musicians mind is quick and alert to utilise nine years after her arangetram. from Kanchipuram used to go. creative possibilities. For example, The debut had taken place in Enamoured of their music, she at the end of one of her recitals Kanchipuram when she was seven accompanied them to at the Music Academy in Madras, years old. She recalls the occasion: Kanchipuram and told a boy who Bala started singing and "My arangetram took place at the was playing hereabouts that she performing a Mangalam — Makula Ammanakshi temple in Chen- was going to reside here and monagu ikapara mosagina neeku gazhuneer Odai Street. Naina Pillai arrangements should be made to mangalam, subha mangalam — from attended it. The news had spread offer her worship musically. That's Tyagaraja's Nowka Charitram. that Dhanammal's grand-daughter why musicians get together every While some members of the was going to dance and a sizeable year to conduct a festival and give audience remained seated out of crowd had gathered." performances here." She adds that respect for the rendering of the a small platform in front of the mangalam, the others started to When we are in Kanchipuram to temple is where the musicians are leave. But to everyone's surprise, talk to Kuppuswamy Mudaliar, the seated during the concerts. It is the the piece didn't end quickly. The very old mridangam vidwan who platform on which Bala must have way Bala performed it was to go for forty years had provided made her dance debut. through all the upacharas that rhythmic support to Balasaraswati, Bala continues her recollection of would be performed in a temple, as also to Gnanasundaram, we the event. "When I was given an except she did it in the dance discover that the Ammanakshi award by the President of India in language. It was highly creative temple is situated nearby. We look the nineteen fifties, someone asked and obviously required not only in. It is a small shrine but me what memory came to my dancing expertise but also intimate apparently is the site of a big mind. I told her that I remembered knowledge of the traditional festival every year. Bala has helped the occasion of my debut, when I temple rituals and undoubtedly outfit it with electric lights. The was given an award by the also a sense of devotion. presiding deity has a kind 'President' of the music countenance. A lady performs community." Naina Pillai had The way Bala's interpretation of deepa aradhana and offers prasadam. given her a sruti box on that Krishna nee begane first took shape She says that the temple is very old occasion. offers another illustration. Among and, echoing something that Bala the visitors to her family home was had said too, informs us that A recital that she' gave in Madras a gentleman named Hayagreeva- • Ammanakshi had made it her soon afterwards was for all chari from Hyderabad. He used to abode "in order to listen to music." purposes a second debut. It had come down to Kanchipuram to see Asked to explain, she says: "Our been arranged by a great patron of Naina Pillai, and Bala's aunt mother Ammanakshi is a native of music and dance, Jalatarangam Lakshmirathnam Ammal had Puttur, really. For the temple Ramaniah Chettiar, who had been invited him home, and he visited more than once. Bala remembers Mvlapore GowriAmma that the children described him as Gurram kanta chari or one with a horse-neck. He it was that taught the family Purandara Dasa's Krishna nee begane. It was not part of* gala's dance repertoire yet when, in 1933 or 1934, Jayammal sang the song during a recital her daughter was giving at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha in Mylapore. Bala had a sudden inspiration to dance to the song and did so improvi- sationally. the audience applauded and that's how a great dance number was born. In the years following, s1*e h a s given it considerable polish and made it shine most alluringly, but for all its repetition, it has remained fresh. Bala was only fifteen or sixteen when she spontaneously composed ^N. the dance for Krishna nee begane. responsible for introducing many a These successful debuts notwith- an impressario by the name of promising musician to a discrimi- standing, there was opposition to Haren Ghosh. He introduced Bala nating audience in Madras. her taking up a career in dancing. to audiences in the north of India. According to T. Sankaran, he was a Many family members themselves Satyajit Ray has written about a remarkable person who had played counselled Jayammal against the performance in the now-vanished an outstanding and generous role move, possibly fearing that dance Senate Hall in Calcutta. "The year in fostering the fine arts. For Bala's had a bleak future. "Isn't music was 1935," he recalled in an article recital, he had gathered together a enough, do we really need dance?" published in the Quarterly Journal glittering audience consisting of they asked. of the National Centre ior musical stalwarts like Naina Pillai, Performing Arts in December 1976. violinist Govindaswamy Pillai, But there was encouragement too. "and the occasion was the All- Pakkiria Pillai, Marungapuri From Ariyakudi among others. Bengal Music Conference. I Gopalakrishna Iyer and Ariyakudi Many engagements came her way remember the applause that Ramanuja Iyengar. The and Bala danced with fervour and greeted Balasaraswati's first performance was reportedly an without stage fright. Yet she was performance — and the first outstanding success and left the still tender in age and not performance ever* of audience feeling that an extra- infrequently she would fall asleep Bharatanatyam in Calcutta.... It ordinary dancer had arrived. before a performance! Better, didn't take long after her Calcutta though, than letting the audience performance for Bala to turn into a Bala learning fall asleep during a performance. legendary figure in Indian classical The dancing damsel gathered dancing." glowing tributes as the years rolled Other dancing dates in northern by. The first half of the nineteen cities followed. Organizers of a big thirties saw her in her elements. conference in Varanasi {then She was dancing beautifully and known as Benares) didn't have the few who faulted her sounded Bala's address, so they contacted like sour-voiced soloists, for the her through the Music Academy rest had become part of the chorus which had already offered Bala its that sang her praise. prestigious platform. Bala Among those who became her performed in Varanasi, this was in admirers was , 1935 or 1936, she can't recall now, himself a dancer who had received but she does remember that Tagore acclaim for his creative inter- was among those who attended her pretation of the dances of India, recital. She also recalls something especially abroad. Bala was about else and wants us to put it down in fifteen when he came to Madras for the article. a series of dance engagements. He attended one of her public "Y'know, the story has been spread performances and then requested by E. Krishna Iyer [a dance critic — and was granted — a private of Madras in those years] that he it recital. He responded by throwing was that arranged the trip and that a lavish dinner party for he accompanied me to Benares. It Jayammal, Kandappa Pillai and has been picked up by others, but others of Bala's party at the it's simply not true." Connemara Hotel. There he Bala's brother T. Viswanathan, disclosed his hope that Kandappa who is present at the interview, Pillai and Bala both would join his adds that the false story was picked globetrotting troupe. Seeing Bala up by research scholars and it had dance had aroused the wish in him, now become part of the lore about he said, to propagate the great art Balasaraswati. The lie should be of Bharatanatyam. But Jayammal nailed, he says. answered in the negative. "Uday Shankar's dancing is different," she Bala continues. "When I had explained to the family, "it is also finished my presidential speech at group dancing. Our dance doesn't the Music Academy" — it was fit in with it. Perhaps we could when she was awarded the tide of make money, but our art would be Sangita Kalanidhi — "Krishna spoiled." Iyer's younger brother asked me why I had not mentioned Krishna One of Uday Shankar's friends was Iyer while paying tributes to many who had helped my career. I told made, a shadow of grief seems to only when Bala made a religious him that if I had to speak of cross her face, for Kandappa Pillai offering of her art at a Murugan Krishna Iyer's' contribution, it never did retufn to conduct Bala's temple. That's a story retelling would have to be about his snide dance recitals again; he died which must wait. What should be comments about my dancing on the prematurely in 1941, at the age of told here is the fact that when relief one hand and about his spurious forty-two. She feels faint and asks came, it came through the efforts of claims to have been responsible for Lakshmi to bring her some sugar two individuals, one a Dutch promoting me on the other. I told quickly. Lakshmi offers her a sweet woman and the other a dancer him that if he wanted me to say and, sucking it, Bala slowly regains from North India. The Dutch lady those things, I would go back to the her strength. was a research scholar by the name rostrum and ask permission to of Beryl de Zoete and the dancer The late nineteen thirties and the extend my statement." was none other than Ram Gopal. forties were really the dog days in Bala is not angry when she makes Balasaraswati's career. Physically Beryl de Zoete came to Madras at these remarks but it is obvious that handicapped, she was also in the the beginning of the fifties. Some she still feels strongly about the dumps emotionally. A young girl dozen or more years earlier she matter. In the course of our who had started her dancing career had studied Balinese dance and conversations, we have heard her as Baby Kamala, and who was now drama and published a book about speak warmly of the moral and entering the age where she was it. Her interest in Hindu dance and material support given by many being referred to as Kumari, was from Sastri and we get the feeling as she speaks now the darling of the dance- about this particular individual, watchers. As far as the general who has since passed away, that she dance-going public was concerned, would not have grudged him Bala was not quite in focus. similar acknowledgement if that This situation grieved many who had been warranted. admired and respected Bala- We are unable to discuss the matter saraswati as one of the greatest with Krishna Iyer since he is no artistes to spring out of the more. southern soil. The Music Academy On the day she talks to us about continued to offer its stage to Bala her visit to Varanasi — and a and one of its pillars, Dr. V. subsequent successful recital at Raghavan, helped to establish a Shantiniketan — she is extremely dance school at the Academy where weak. She had been quite seriously Bala could teach her art. He also ill the previous week and devoted worked with her on a book, Lakshmi is providing her tender published subsequently by the loving care on this her first day out Academy under the title Bharata of bed. She is feeding her a dosa Natyam. "These days, you need and a little bit of curd. Her feeble books for everything, don't you?" appearance provides a sharp Bala asks rhetorically, referring to reminder of the fact that the book. "The method of teaching- Balasaraswati has been dogged by learning has changed with the illness for the better part of her virtual disappearance of gurukula- life. In fad, her health failed in the vasam. Training in institutions second .half of the nineteen thirties. requires books, examinations and She haa a problem with her joints things like that. It would be all and her heart as well and perforce right if the learning is acquired she restricted hereself to over a period of four or five years, performing abhinaya. If this was as is the case in Rukmini Amma's not disappointing enough to a star Kalakshetra school. But what can I at her zenith, her guru Kandappa say, these days arangetrams are Pillai decided to go with Uday arranged after a training period Shankar after all. He joined lasting barely six months to a year. Shankar in Almora, in U.P. Some have completely lost their However, the climate there didn't way....When I was learning to agree with his constitution. He dance, it was examination every wrote to Bala from there that he day. We had to worry that we would return to the house where he should pass the test every single had learnt music. As Bala recalls day." this during an earlier visit we The doldrum of the forties ended account miss Bala, she did go and see the dancer in her Egmore home. "She received me warmly," de Zoete has written in her book, "and I was surprised to find her, though somewhat heavy in build, by no means elephantine, and very dignified and noble in bearing. She had not danced for several years in public, as she had suffered from rheumatism and heart trouble which had left her with a tendency to get fat. She told me she had spent a long time in hospital but nc dieting did any good, and she was depressed because no one any longer wanted to see her dance. I remembered the much older dancers in Seville (Balasaraswati is not much over thirty)... one is always struck in Seville by the true dance-lover's fidelity to great exponents of the art, even when they are really old."

The sympathetic visitor again met Balasaraswati a month later, this time in the company of Ram Gopal who was eager to get Bala to perform in public again. At this request, Bala agreed to dance one morning at the theatre where he was giving evening recitals. She kept her promise and de Zoete, after seeing her dance, became one of her ardent champions. Perhaps partly as a result of de Zoete's enthusiastic evangelism and partly because of Ram Gopal's recommendation, Balasaraswati performed in New Delhi. The its language of gestures had now free India was the gateway to Bala's capital capitulated quickly. brought her to the south of India. second career in dancing and Recitals, renewed recognition and By 1953, she had published a greater recognition and rewards. rewards all came in quick fascinating book entitled The Other succession. The Sangeet Natak Mind, in which she wrote about An eminent dance critic of Madras, Akademi gave her its prestigious Bharatanatyam, and "a real aficianado but not quite award in 1955. Officialdom also other aspects of South Indian unprejudiced" — who could that took notice and Balasaraswati was dance. During her stay in Madras, have been? — had told de Zoete awarded the "Padma Bhushan" in she encountered Balasaraswati, was that there was no point in seeing 1957. And the Rabindra Bharati impressed most deeply by her Balasaraswati, for she had become University in Calcutta conferred a dance and, with the collaboration "an elephant". But the Dutch doctoral degree, honoris causa. of Ram Gopal, later helped visitor wasn't quite convinced by Balasaraswati, the queen of dance, arrange'recitals for Bala in New this advice and when Dr. Raghavan Delhi. This capital city of the now had conquered India. The wider told her that she must on no world now awaited her.

(First part of a two-part article) Papammal (Tanjavur Court)

Rukmini (Tanjavur Court)

Kamakshi (Dancer and Musician)

• I I Appakkanu Ponnuswamy Sundarammal (Violin) (Violin) (Musician)

I ' 1 1 Narayanaswami Kutty Veena Dhanammal Rupavati (Violion) (Ghatam) (1867-1938) (Vocal)

1 r Rajalakshmi Lakshmiratnam Jayammal Kamakshi (Vocal) (Vocal) (Vocal) (Vocal)

Sundararajan T. Sankaran (Composer, Violin) (Tamil Isai School of Music)

I r Srinivasan B ALAS ARASW ATI Varadan Ranganathan Viswanathan (13 May 1918) (Mridangam) (Flute)

Lakshmi (Bharatanatyam) I Aniruddha "1 —I 1 1 1— Vijayakrishnan Brinda Mukta Kodandaraman Abhiramasundari Govardhan (Vocal) (Vocal) (Violin) I Vegavauhini (Vocal)

Balasaraswati's family

The Footprints Of Bala saw T. Balasaraswati dancing I in one of the Indian newsreels when I was a lad in school. Krishna nee beganey baro, although of short duration, had a tremendous impact on me. Since then I longed to see Bala dancing on the stage. But, as I was studying in a small place like Gadag and hailed from a poor family, I could not afford to go to any big city, like Madras, Bombay or even , to see her performance.

Therefore, I myself could not believe it when I took her feet in my hands and pasted them with red and blue paints for transferring her footprints on to a white canvas. Shirahatti washing Bala's feet This happened some 30 years later when I went to When I told her about my paste, she slowly got up and put Madras for official work and, desire to capture her footprints it on the canvas and then resumed at my request, Lakshmi, her in different colours on a few her seat on the sofa. When I beloved daughter, arranged for canvases, she was taken aback. removed her foot from the canvas, my darsan of this great dancer. I After a few seconds, she told I was overjoyed to see a beautiful reached Ramanathan Street in me with a broad smile that the footprint. It was no ordinary Kilpauk and, within a few feet of Lord Nataraja was all that footprint, but that of Balamma, moments, I was at the doorsteps mattered. But I repeated my desire the first lady of Bharatanatyam of Bala's house. When I stepped to have her footprints for my and one of the great dancers of in, I found I was in the presence records. She stared at me for a all times. Indeed a historic of Bala, in the presence of few minutes, then turned her footprint. greatness itself. Bala was in her eyes to the garland, the canvases Then I prepared for a print of sixties then. and the bottles with colouring matter that I had brought with her other foot. This time, she She showed me to a seat in me. At last she agreed and said I stood up and started dancing her drawing room and started could go ahead. I heaved a sigh slowly on the canvas. There was enquiring about my well-being, of relief. an old-world charm in her etc., in a very soft voice. The face movements. As I watched her reflected sincere interest— that Lakshmi brought a big basin dance, I noticed a rare quality face which by its different and water and I mixed the red of ethereal beauty all about expressions during performances colour. I took one foot of her. She allowed me to collect had superbly conveyed diverse Balamma in my hand to spread many prints. When I collected emotions, like love, compassion, the coloured paste. Oh! how enough of them, I took her hand anger, fear, etc.. Age had not, I wonderful it was to touch slowly and helped her to resume noticed, diminished the beauty of her foot, the foot of a great her seat on the sofa. I washed her expression. dancer! The touch evoked her feet and dabbed them with a memories of her great performance towel. Lakshmi watched this Thirty years earlier, Balasara- which I had seen screened years unusual event and, at the end, swati was Bala; now, she was earlier. brought us both cups of steaming Balamma and, in her gracious coffee. presence, I saw the face of When I had covered the sole Abhinaya Saraswati. of her foot completely with the While we were sipping the

45 DECEMBER 2002 coffee, Balamma recalled her experience with Satyajit Ray, who produced a documentary on her. She had great regard for him, she said.

Dr. V. Shivanand of the Kannada Department of Madras University, who was with me, asked Balamma which was the most memorable performance of her career. She was quiet for a while and then suddenly her eyes brightened. She turned her face towards Lakshmi and said that, in 1935 she had given a benefit performance for Pakkiria Pillai when he was ill, and that was a memorable performance.

After relishing the hot coffee Balasaraswati's footprints on paper

offered to me by Lakshmi, I garlanded Balamma to honour not only the artist but also the great art she had mastered. Then I entreated her to put her signature on the canvas and on the drawing papers on which her footprints were shining in different colours. She signed in English as well as in Tamil.

When I took leave of her, she put her palms together and bade me goodbye. Although I took leave of her, I strongly felt that she was still with me. When the taxi was about to move, she waved a hand— the hand which could speak the language of mudra-s beautifully— and I remembered the lines of Bazar Sobir:

Upon the green with me my love is dancing The daughter of the mountains raptly dancing, fust watch her tresses tossing, each lock is dancing my happiness made manifest is dancing.

G.M. SHIRAHATTI

46 <3nrti DECEMBER 2002 SPECIAL FEATURE

In the early years Bala, queen of abhinaya Bala appeared firm and unapproachable, but later on, from The legendary dancer T. Balasaraswati passed away on the 1970s, she seemed 9th February 1984. NANDINI RAMANI, one of her seniormost to me a very relaxed disciples takes Sruti readers down memory lane. person, who however, he occasion has inspired me to share a few thoughts became emotional at on her in this magazine, in which exactly 23 years times. As she taught ago, Gowri Ramnarayan interviewed me as a prime me, I felt a sense of T Sruti 5 disciple of the legend ( , February 1984). With Bala’s wonder standing in departure from the scene, the era of unshakeable, deep front of Bala and rooted faith in sampradaya, higher goals of art and utmost watching her flowing submission to the concept of the guru, have withered away. creativity. Seeing She was an inimitable exponent of nritta and the queen me stunned, she of abhinaya. Sangeeta Kalanidhi, Padma Bhushan, Padma always had a word of Vibhushan, Isai Perarignar, Sangeeta Kala Sikhamani, encouragement and Desikottama, these are the many honours my revered said: “Come on, you teacher T. Balasaraswati received in her illustrious career. can do it”. This year marks her 23rd death anniversary. As she taught, she For Bala, her art was her life. Her devotion to her guru could not stem her Kandappa was supreme. Her goal in life was to maintain extensive creativity. Bala her guru’s tradition in all its purity and dignity. She dare Many a time she just not change anything of her guru’s training. She was in indicated the crucial note of a sanchari. “How much awe of him and would not touch a ‘tattukazhi’ saying, or how little I give you should be on one side of your “My mentor is qualified to do so, not me”. Such was her mind. It is up to you to sharpen and polish the ideas”. total reverence for her teacher. Similarly, she had deep Such were the contrasting notes of advice — caution and affection for her teacher’s son, K. Ganesan, who came at the same time a certain liberty extended to the student under Bala’s care as a young boy and started accompanying to explore quietly. Students could not ask or choose her in her performances at a crucial moment in 1958 on items to be learnt from her. We had to accept whatever the instructions of her mother T. Jayammal. she taught. With maturity dawned the realisation that At 57, I look back through the decades of my association her emotional stress grew out of a certain possessiveness with this legend of Bharatanatyam. My father Dr. about her dance tradition. I learnt to cope with the V. Raghavan gave my sister Priyamvada (the first disciple process as it came from her. Probably that is were Bala of Bala at the school run by the Madras Music Academy), and I met with mutual ease and understanding. and me, immense opportunities to come under the wing Although Bala was very much a part of our lives for of this great artist. over three decades, I cherish the years between 1979 I remember seeing Bala when I was three years old. By and 1984, when she became emotionally attached to me, then she, along with Nattuvanar K. Ganesan (Ganesa particularly after my father’s death in April 1979. In the Mama), was already training my sister Priyamvada years that followed, Bala was saddened by disappointments who started learning in 1951. Officially Balasaraswati’s in her personal life and the changes sweeping the Classical Bharatanatyam School was started by The Bharatanatyam scene. I visited the Music Academy Music Academy in 1953. I joined dance classes in 1955. almost every day, and often sat with Bala outside the As a teacher, Balasaraswati appeared stern, but she building that now houses the Teachers’ College of Music. taught in a leisurely manner and did not pressure the With classes going on inside, Bala waited for me and then student to dance according to her expectations. Her began an exchange of information, on a day to day basis. outward appearance and the actual training process were Bala poured her heart out on many occasions, expressing contrasting. I have seen Priyamvada, who was her pet her deep emotions and views on the happenings around student, sitting on her lap in between classes. her. On one such occasion, she was in a sorrowful mood

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both of us to the upkeep of this sampradaya was proof of my father’s deep appreciation of Bala’s art. Many a time, I accompanied my teacher to Kapaleeswara temple in Mylapore after dance class in the evening. Bala’s favourite was the sannidhi of Goddess Durga. As she stood there, looking intensely at Devi, Bala’s face became charged with spiritual fervour. I often wondered if Teacher was having a transcendental experience with the deity. The next evening, the class would begin with that serene experience and Bala would ask me how I had felt “there”. She would describe in admiration the simple red garb of Goddess Durga, the red hibiscus on Her head, the soft, gentle look of her Devi, showering all her Bala (centre) with Priyamvada (R) and little Nandini (L) compassion on her. As Bala taught Trilochana Mohineem and tears were running down her cheeks. I was puzzled a Dikshitar kriti that I was preparing for the special and visibly upset at her plight. Wiping her tears Bala lecdem at the Music Academy’s annual festival marking looked at me and said: “You are a wife and a mother Dikshitar’s Bicentenary (1976), I could see Goddess and now you will be able to understand me much Durga, when the “tall, elegant Bala” stood up to better”. All I could do was to try and console her demonstrate “Chandika”. I watched quietly as I could saying “Teacher, don’t cry, don’t cry”. visualise in her majestic pose, the very form of the deity. At that moment Bala called out to me with her typical Every year from 1972 to 1982, Bala went on a tour of the smile, “Hey, you have been there, haven’t you?” knowing U.S.A., entrusting to me the responsibility of conducting that we had connected our vision of Durga at the temple. the dance classes at the Music Academy during that period. What an elevating experience! Her health started failing in 1983, from when I observed in her an adamant note in her attitude to life — not taking Bala always danced for the gods and that is why her dance her medicines and gradually becoming weaker by the bore such a divine quality. Her art rose to great heights. day. On one occasion, as I sat by her bedside I asked her: While in her early years Bala was masterly in nritta, her “Teacher, why don’t you go to the U.S. for better medical approach to abhinaya grew more intense in her mid-years. care?” She stared at me, although very weak, and made a As she once told me, it was the result of problems in her piercing remark: “Will you send your mother away like orchestral group, especially with Kandappa going away that?” and gestured pointing one finger down to say “This to Almora, and the ensuing changes. Then onwards Bala is my place, this is where I belong”. concentrated on her inherent penchant for abhinaya, which she enlarged and honed to perfection. She arose On another day, Bala made me cry. A stage artist (Komala, like a phoenix, reigning forever supreme as “abhinaya if I remember right), an old friend of Bala, was visiting Saraswati”. her. By then Bala was too weak even to utter sentences. Balasaraswati was as varied in her personal qualities as she She gestured to both of us and asked us if we knew each was in her interpretative skills. Her life at different stages other. Both replied in the negative. She then whispered to was influenced by people around her, bringing forth her Komala that my Akka and I would nurture her art well mixed emotions and reactions, which certainly had a strong (“Nallaa vecchupaanga en kalayai”). It was a memorable impact on us at various points of time in our own lives. But verdict in her last days. Coming from Balasaraswati, what stands out as most important for me is Bala’s utter known for her uncompromising, tough nature as a faith in Priyamvada and me, as her sincere disciples, which teacher, I felt it was a real blessing from a guru that has she demonstrated in so many unspoken words whenever given us the strength, courage and loyalty to continue she felt liberated in her thought and action. Those are the our artistic lives, putting away the varied interpretations soul-filling moments of life for a loyal student. pointed to us, and attempts to distance us from where we belong. It is, of course, a well known fact that my Priyamvada and I were fortunate to have her as our father Dr. V. Raghavan remained a strong pillar of guru — she from 1951 and I from 1955. It was a long support for Bala all his life, and she too had the greatest and memorable association for us with this legend of respect and gratitude for him all her life. Dedicating Bharatanatyam. „

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