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PAPER 5 DANCE, POETS AND POETRY, RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY AND INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE MODULE 21 REGIONAL POETRY IN SOUTH INDIA POST INDEPENDENCE COMPOSERS OF BHARATANTYAM Dance is a visual art and its prime purpose is to communicate a story or a message to the people. Hence it is very important to covey in a language which will be understood by the people. All dance forms in India have their poetry and songs in the indigenous language. Bharathanatyam is no exception. Bharathanatyam was known as th koothu / कू थु, aadal / आडऱ, etc till the 16 century A.D. The dance and music were performed in the temple premises and the royal families witnessed the arts in this background. Temples were the centres for active finearts. At this point the songs adapted for the dance were in the indigenous language Tamil to reach the rasikas. Historical background From the 15th to 19th century Tamilnadu was ruled by the kings with different language and culture. This brought in a versatile of songs and poetry in Telugu, Marathi and Hindi. The Marathas continued the royal language as Telugu after they succeeded the Nayaks. The Marathas were also great composers and encouraged all the art forms like the Nayaks. Tamilnadu saw an unprecedented growth in the field of fine arts and literature. Koothu which later came to be known as sadir had songs in the languages like Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Sanskrit. Telugu being the court language it gained more popularity. During this period the Tanjore quartet created the 1 Margam format for Sadir. The language used in the songs of the margam were in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit.The dance dramas were in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and sometimes Manipravalam / मणिप्रळालम. Kuravanji natakams were all in Tamil while the songs in Bagavatha mela natakams were in Telugu. This was because the Bagavathamela natakams were performed only in their respective temple premises and the audience in that area was comfortable with Telugu. Whereas the kuravanji natakams were performed all over Tamilnadu showcasing to the Tamil audience. Bharathanatyam, the name coined in post independent India is a medium where any forms of poetry or songs in varied language can be choreographed effectively. Hence many genres like Ashtapathi, Tarangam, Devarnama, etc. took a pride place along with the kavadicindu, keertanam, padam, tiruppavai, etc. in the margam of Bharathanatyam. There are various forms of indigenous poetry starting from Thevaram / तेळारम, Thiruvasagam / तत셁ळासगम, Thiruppugazh / तत셁प्ऩुगल, Divyaprabandam / दद핍यप्रबन्धम, Thiruppavai / तत셁प्ऩळाई, Thiruvempavai / तत셁ळे륍ऩळाई, Padam, Javali, Kavadi / काळडी, chindu etc. performed in dance. Many poets and composers like ु, ﴂच द / Muthu Thandavar, Marimutha Pillai, Arunachala Kavi, Neelakanta Sivan, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Subramanya Bharathi, etc. have composed songs on various genres and they are used effectively in the performance of Bharatanatyam. Kodhai Nacchiyar / कोड़ाई नाच यार and Karaikkal Ammayar / करैकऱ अ륍मयर are said to be the foremost among the women poets who 2 were prominent in propagating Bhakti elements of Vaishnavism and Saivism respectively. There have been many female contemporary composers some became prominent and many did not come to light. Many Carnatic musicians, nattuvanars and dancers have penned lyrics for dance repertoire. POST INDEPEDENCE COMPOSERS PAPANASAM SIVAN Papanasam Sivan was a prominent composer and a singer of Carnatic music who was born on 26th September 1890 and died on 10th October 1973. He was a famous composer and was also known as Tamil Thyagaraja. He has composed songs for Bharatanatyam and also many songs based on classical Carnatic music for films. He is the receipine of many prestigious awards. Papanasam Sivan named as Ramaiya was born at Polagam Village in the district of Thanjavur. Ramaiya used to be an active participant in the devotional music sessions at the home of Neelakanda Sivan in Thiruvananthapuram. Thus, he learned many of the musical compositions of Neelakanda Sivan and popularized them. He was a regular visitor to the temple at Papanasam, and he would smear vibhuti on his body and start singing songs in praise of Shiva. Hence, people began to refer him as Papanasam Sivan, the name by which he was to become well known later. Papanasam Sivan was more interested in the devotional aspect of music. He has composed many Keertanams based on Bhakti element. Varnams composed by him depict Madura bakti / मधुर भक्तत. His mudra is ramadasan / रामदासन. Almost all his compositions are in eloquent Tamil language, easily understandable which reached the 3 masses. These are used frequently in the present day Bharatanatyam repertoire. Sri Papanasam Sivan composed more than two thousand songs, mostly in Tamil. Eight hundred of these were for Tamil films. Around four hundred of his Carnatic music compositions are sung in music and dance concerts. Some of the famous compositions used in Bharatanatyam repertoire are: Keertanams on Ganesa: Mooladhara Murthy, Gajavadana Karuna Sadana, Sri Ganesa Charanam. Keertanams on Muruga: Saravanabhava ennum tirumandiram, Sri valli devasenapathe, Mayilvahana valli manamohana. Keertanams on Shiva: Kaana kan kodi vendum, Adum deivam nee, Idadhu padam thookki aadum, Ananda natamidum paadan. Keertanams on Ambal: Devi neeye thunai, Ma ramanan Uma ramanan is a unique composition praising Vishnu and Shiva. Enna thavam seydanai Yasoda is another composition in praise of Krishna. Kosalai pudalvanai panivay maname is a famous Sriramacharita gitam which is performed by Bharatanatyam dancers. Pada Varnams like Ni inda mayam, Swami nan undan adimai, Swami nee manamirangi arul tha, etc. DANDAYUDHAPANI PILLAI K. N. Dandayudapani Pillai was born on 14th July 1921 at Karaikal. He belonged to Isai Vellaalar family of musicians, nattuvanars, nadhaswaram players, vocalists and dancers. With a wonderful musical background his passion for music was nurtured from a very 4 early age. He always thought that people will appreciate dance better if the songs for dance were in a language they understood. During the revival of Bharathanatyam the nattuvanars followed the traditional padavarnams and padams performed in the sadir concerts which had Sringararasa as the main emotion. There were lots of young children showing interest to learn and perform. To suite them he composed songs with bakti rasa in simple Tamil language which the student could understand. He has composed ten padavarnams eleven jatiswarams, three padams, nine kirtanams, ten tillanas, and jathis in adi tala and rupaka tala . His composition “annayai maravenadi” a varnam in Abhogi ragam is specially apt for children. “Samiyai azaitodi vaa ” in navaragamalika is a beautiful varnam in which each line of the song has the name of the raga in it. He has composed a varnam “maa moham thane meeruthe” in nattakurinji ragam and rupaka talam which is in the form of a Swarajati . Some of his unique keerthanams are “arputa chirpiyadi” in ragamalika which describes the Lord of dance as the sculptor of the Universe. Another ragamalika composition “muttamizh cholayile” describes the dream of a noble lady about the glorious Tamil Nadu. Yet another song which is different from the usual dance songs is “ulagam pugazum naattiya kalaye”, a ragamalika composition set to Adi talam. This song describes the greatness of the art of dance. He has composed a song on dasavataram, on Mahatma Gandhi and on Jesus Christ. 5 SUDDHANANDA BHARATI Dr. Suddhananda Bharati (1897-1990) was born in Sivaganga in South India. He was a philosopher and poet. His teachings were focused mainly on the search for God in Self, through the Samayoga practice he created. He has composed many devotional songs in the form of Keertanams. Arul purivaay, Ananda natanam adinal, Aaro vandennai aasai kaatti, Aasai konden, En mugam paar, Eppadi paadinaro, Karuna Sagarane, Gaana reengaram seyum, etc. are famous among them in both dance and music concerts. BALAMURALIKRISHNA Dr. Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna was born in 1930 at Andhra Pradesh. He later settled in Chennai. He is a Carnatic vocalist, multi- instrumentalist, playback singer, composer and actor. He came under the tutelage of Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu who was a shishya of Tyagaraja. He was well versed in the raga classifications and has composed a number of songs especially in Telugu and Sanskrit. He has composed many invocatory songs, Varnams, Kritis and Tillanas for Bharatanatyam repertoire. He used muraligana / मुरलऱगान as his mudra. Some of the famous songs are: Varnam: Omkara pranava, Amma anandadayini Kriti: Omkarakaarini Thillana in raga Brindavani, kadanakudukalam, kundalavarali, dvijavanti, etc. 6 PERIASAMI THOORAN Periasami Thooran was a Tamil teacher, patriot, poet and a composer of Carnatic music. Periasami was born to K. A. Palanivelappa Gounder and Paavaathal on 26th September 1908 at Manjakattuvalasu, in the Erode district. He was greatly influenced and inspired by the revolutionaries like Subramaniya Bharathiyar and Mahatma Gandhi. A prolific writer, he composed over six hundred songs on national, spiritual and moral issues. A man with noble ideals, Thooran is an acknowledged poet and composer. Deep philosophical truths lay hidden in his simple devotional songs. Musical aesthetics are evident in his compositions. While he was not a musician, he had profound poetic talents. Sivaramakrishna Iyer who was a music teacher was his guru who set his songs to music. His popular compositions used in dance include Gananaathane, Kaliyuga Varadhan, Muralidhara Gopala, Muruga Muruga, Thottu Thottu, Thaye Thripurasundhari and a Kavadi chindu azhagu deivamaga vandu. N.S. CHIDAMBARAM He was a Tamil composer whose popular songs include Koovi azhaittaal, Kandu nee solla and Yaar adinaar ini evar aduvaar are used in dance concerts. He has also composed varnams such as Amma jnanam alikkum surya (a daru varnam). His famous kriti Needan thunai Neelambari is a Ragamalika with eight ragas. KALKI KRISHNAMURTHY Kalki Krishnamurthy was a famous novelist of yesteryears. His compositions in film Meera such as Kaatrinile varum geetam, Kannan 7 leelaigal, Vandaadum cholai thanile, Maalai pozhudinile, etc.

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