CHAPTER 2

SAMANYA KSHATI

Given that the focal point of this research is for the period 1960 to 1977, the crux of the study therefore begins at this point, with Shankar’s production of Samanya Kshati.

From this point on, the research is essentially based on primary resources which include photographs, souvenirs, pamphlets, brochures, and newspaper articles of that period; as well as open interactions and group interviews conducted with Shankar’s troupe members, who were associated with him in various capacities. Most of the performative narratives are based on the oral history gathered through the course of the interviews.

The year, 1961, was the birth centenary of the Nobel Laureate poet,

Rabindranath Tagore. The entire nation had geared up to celebrate the occasion. It was kickstarted in Mumbai on January 1, 1961, in the Prabashi Bangiya Sanskriti Sammelan, which the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated.1 Various artists on their own were also preparing to pay tribute to Gurudev, as Tagore was also known – in their own way, through their own medium. Satyajit Ray started working in 1958, on what was to become a 54-minute black and white documentary film titled Rabindranath Tagore, to be released in

1 “Tagore Centenary in Bombay,” Economic Political Weekly, January 7, 1961, Pg 3, accessed April 7, 2017, url: http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1961_13/1/tagore_centenary_in_bombay.pdf

1961. It went on to win the President’s Gold Medal in India and the Golden Seal at Locarno in

1961 and a special mention at Montevideo in 1962.2

Shankar, when he had come to India in 1933, for an interim period of 4 months, was felicitated by the Mayor of Kolkata in a public reception at the Town Hall in Kolkata, before he returned to the West. Rabindranath Tagore and his daughter-in-law Pratima Debi were both present at the function.3 The poet had invited Shankar and his troupe to perform in

Shantiniketan. On his return from Shantiniketan, Shankar received a letter from the poet dated

29th Ashar, 1340 B.S (July, 1933). According to the write up, “My Love for Dance” by Shankar, the souvenir of Shankarscope, the following lines from Tagore’s letter influenced Shankar immensely:

“You have made the art of dancing your life’s companion. Through it you have won

the laurels of the West. There are no bounds to the depths or to the expansion of any

art which, like dancing, is the expression of life’s urge. We must never shut it within

the bounds of a stagnant ideal, nor define it as either Indian or oriental or occidental,

for such finality only robs it of life’s privilege which is freedom…. there was a time

when in the heart of our country, the flow of dance followed a buoyant life. Through

passage of time that is nearly choked up, leaving us bereft of the spontaneous

language of joy, and exposing stagnant pools of muddy impurities. In an unfortunate

country where life’s vigour has waned, dancing vitiates into a catering for a diseased

mind that has lost its normal appetites. It is for you to give it health and strength and

2 Ratan Bhattacharya, “Satyajit Ray’s Documentary Film Rabindranath: A saga of Creative Excellence” European Academic Research Vol 1, Issue 6 (2013): 901 – 903, accessed March 11, 2019, url: http://euacademic.org/uploadarticle/62.pdf

3 Mohan Khokar, His Dance His Life – A Portrait of Uday Shankar (New Delhi: Himalayan Books, 1983), 75

richness. The spring breeze coaxes the spirit of the woodlands into multifarious

forms of exuberant expression. Let your dancing too, wake up that spirit of spring

in this cheerless land of ours, let her latent power of true enjoyment manifest itself

in exultant language of hope and beauty.”4

Both Tagore and Shankar were path breakers in their own fields. Tagore’s art forms, be it in the field of poetry, music or art, spurned the pure rigid classical forms. In the field of music, Tagore created a new genre of Rabindrasangeet. In his compositions, he was not only inspired by the ancient Indian ragas and Indian folk music, especially the melody and the philosophy of Baul – the folk music form of Bengal, but also by the lilting western melodies. Though at times his songs incorporated a given raga's melody and rhythm faithfully, at times, he also blended elements of different ragas and rhythms to create new melodies.

Shankar, like Tagore created a new genre in Indian Dance which did not exist before – the genre of Creative Dance. Just like Tagore’s social consciousness which is evident in his literary works as well as his dance dramas, Shankar’s sense of social responsibility is reflected in his compositions of Rhythm of Life, Labour and Machinery as well as

Shankarscope. Rhythm of Life reflected the struggle of a young man who battles various adversities of life to emerge with new faith and hope for freedom. Labour and Machinery illustrated the problems faced by industrialized nations, the economic atrocities of capitalist societies, and how men and women mechanically pursue their daily lives. But in the end, the victory of truth, justice and humankind is inevitable. Most of the items of Shankarscope were

4 Uday Shankar, “My Love for Dance,” Souvenir of Shankarscope (1970)

also a satirical commentary on the so-called modern society of the 1970’s, as will be evident during the course of the discussions.

Both Tagore and Shankar were humanists in their own right, and this is evident from the body of the work created by both of them. Tagore’s humanism becomes evident in a series of essays written in Bengali in 1909 – 1910, as a response to the swadeshi movement, which the he felt had given rise to xenophobia. Translated by Surendranath Tagore, the dismayed poet in Rabindranath Tagore writes, “This new India belongs to humanity. What right have we to say who shall and who shall not find a place therein?”5 Even in his poem and dance-drama Chandalika, based on a Buddhist Jataka tale, we find this humanism coming to the forefront in that one line which Ananda, the Buddhist monk, tells Prakriti, the girl from the untouchable caste, “Je manabo ami, shei manabo tumi kanya”6, the essence of which can be roughly translated to mean that both the monk and the untouchable were a part of the same human race and therefore there should not be any distinction between the two. In his book titled

Nationalism, Tagore writes that India’s challenge lies in its ethnologically diverse races that live together as a result of history in this land, and that the mission of India, is “to face it and prove our humanity by dealing with it”.7

The artificial divisions that Tagore so abhorred, which is repeatedly evident in his works, is also prominent in Uday Shankar’s body of work. In Kalpana, this becomes most pronounced when the appeal is made not to let the children hear divisive conversations based

5 Ramachandra Guha, Makers of Modern India (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011), 188

6 Rabindranath Tagore, Gitabitan (Calcutta: Viswa-Bharati, 1997), 714

7 Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism (London: Macmillan and Co, Limited, 1918), 4 on regionalism, which would make them enemies of humanity.8 Through a young girl as the protagonist in the sequence, he puts forth the idea that it is only the power of love and unity, that can save humanity. Even in the sequence on labour and machinery, the inhumanity that results from exploitation by the haves of the have nots, is also brought to the fore.9 Therefore, it is not surprising that when Shankar chooses to interpret Tagore’s works through his art form, whether it be Samanya Kshati, or the ballet Udara Charitanam, or Prakriti Anando, which are discussed in detail in this thesis, the recurring theme is the importance of being human.

Therefore, like Tagore, Shankar too was moved by the plight of the low caste people of Indian society. This researcher cannot help but speculate whether Shankar’s affection and respect for

Matadin, an untouchable from his childhood days in Rajasthan, who had inspired him to dance, in turn inspired Shankar to take up Tagore’s Chandalika, which tells the story of a girl, Prakriti, from the lower caste, for his production of Prakriti Ananda.

In the book, Makers of Modern India, Ramchandra Guha writes, “Tagore was a patriot, without being a nationalist.”10 He returned his knighthood in protest of the

Jalianwalabagh massacre, but the universalist in Tagore believed that India had much to learn from other cultures, including the West. 11 According to Tagore, “conflict and conquest is at the origin and centre of Western nationalism”.12 His universalism is closely associated with his idea of humanism as he believes that the idea of nationalism has led to divisiveness which

8 Kalpana, https://indiancine.ma/BKLU/player/01:18:53.761 (Accessed on September 12, 2019)

9 Kalpana, https://indiancine.ma/BKLU/player/00:50:58.667 (Accessed on September 12, 2019)

10 Ramachandra Guha, Makers of modern India (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011), 186

11 Ibid

12 Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism (London: Macmillan and Co, Limited, 1918), 17 makes each nation “virulent” since they are all focused on pursing their national interest. He believes that the First World War was a result of the pursual of nationalism by each of the

European Countries.

Shankar’s universalism was also influenced by Tagore’s idea, which was based on humanism; and this is evident when Kalpana, where the personification of Bharat Mata is seen to be lamenting the glorification of the motherland as it is a hollow cry since the evils of communal disharmony, poverty, exploitation, discrimination still continue to plague India.

However, this is immediately followed by the song Bharata Jai Jai, which is a cry for all

Indians to unite against all the evils created by artificial divisions so that the real challenges facing the country can be dealt with. Shankar’s clarion call is for a new India, which was beyond regionalism and provincialism; which has an egalitarian society, where discrimination does not exist – be it based on gender, race, caste or creed; where quality education is available for all, where unemployment is not a challenge, and an India which has been able to achieve food security. So, while his repertoires, as well as Kalpana, showcases and upholds the rich heritage of India’s regional art forms, it also showcases Shankar’s style of narrative, which was quintessentially Indian, without being ethno-geographic in nature. It has the finesse and perfection of the classical form as well as the vitality of the folk form. With beauty, simplicity and power as its hallmark, it is appealing and understandable by one and all. This universal appeal was achieved with a minimum usage of lyrics and mudras and instead was more focused on using instrumental music and body expression, for he always choreographed his pieces keeping in mind a global audience in mind.

Both Tagore and Shankar were deeply moved by the existing education system of the country. Now a Central University, by the Act of parliament in 1951,13 Viswa-Bharati was founded by Tagore in 1921. For its motto, the poet chose an ancient Sanskrit shloka, Yatra visvam bhavatieka nidam, which means, "Where the whole world meets in a single nest."14

Tagore’s school for children at Santiniketan, Brahmacharyasrama, was founded in 1901. A seven-acre plot had been allocated by Tagore’s father, Debendranath

Tagore, for the establishment of a retreat for meditation and a Bramhavidyalaya, to take forward the teachings of the Brahmo Samaj as well as a library. This was in the late 19th century.

In 1901, when the school started off, it had only 5 students. It was around this unconventional approach towards academics, that Viswa-Bharati came into being in 1921. In 1925, the school was renamed Patha-Bhavan, which roughly translated means, the house for studies. The school was a “conscious repudiation”15 of the system of education introduced by the British in India in terms of higher education, as well as by the missionaries in primary and secondary education.

Classes were conducted under the open skies in the amra kunja or mango groves, with a curriculum that focused on holistic education. Therefore, academics, along with music, painting, drama, were all an integral part of the programme. Teachers and students shared an integrated socio-cultural life and the focus was on developing thinking and questioning personalities.

13 http://www.visvabharati.ac.in/Visva_Bharati.html (Accessed on September 15, 2019)

14 http://www.visvabharati.ac.in/EDUCATIONAL_IDEAS.html (Accessed on September 15, 2019)

15 http://www.visvabharati.ac.in/History.html (Accessed on September 15, 2019)

Shankar too, had established the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora.

With a five-year programme in arts, including music, dance, theatre, lighting, set and costume design, and make-up, the institute was an “experiment in building a new national culture during the last years of British rule in India”16 The mission of the centre was “to develop a spontaneous expression of the student’s inner creative urge” and “to give a new interpretation” to “dancing, drama, and music”. Although the centre closed down in 1944, after having been founded in

1939, it nonetheless reflected Shankar’s concern for higher education in India. This concern was mirrored in Kalpana too, when the women, after graduating, voice the same lament in different Indian languages – that development cannot happen without quality education for everyone. They question their future as traditional mindsets were yet to change, and that they did not an education which would only burden them with their degrees.17

While choreographing his ballets, Shankar said, “I wanted to show that there was more to life than momentary satisfaction of a craving towards beauty.”18 Dance or any art form for that matter can be used as a powerful medium to awaken social consciousness among people, and Uday Shankar strove at it through his own innovative technique.

Much before Uday Shankar’s advent in the world of dance, Tagore had tried to uplift the status of dance as an art form and dancers in general, by having his dance dramas enacted in Shantiniketan. For his dance dramas, Tagore used mostly Kathakali to interpret the

16 Sonal Khullar, “Almora Dreams: Art and Life at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre,” Marg: Magazine of Arts Volume 69 Number 4 (2018): 14-31

17 https://indiancine.ma/BKLU/player/01:10:55.135 (Accessed on September 15, 2019)

18 Uday Shankar, “My Love for Dance,” Souvenir of Shankarscope (1970)

masculine form and Manipuri to interpret the feminine or lasya style. Some forms of folk dance like Candy of Sri Lanka was also used to portray certain characters. In fact, he had a Manipuri

Guru impart training in Manipuri Dance at the Ashram. But given the social taboo surrounding dancing which had by then been relegated to the kothas and baijis, Tagore chose to term these classes as exercise classes. Shantideb Ghosh writes “despite the desire to conduct dance classes,

Gurudeb could never publicly announce them as dance classes. He had to term them as classes where students of the ashram would exercise in keeping with the rhythm of the Mridunga” − the oldest of all drums in India. But even these ‘exercise classes’ were suspended whenever

Tagore was away from Shantiniketan. In fact, Tagore told Shankar, albeit humorously, that he had often been blamed for making youngsters from decent families sing and dance in his dance dramas, and so Uday Shankar should be ready for criticism.19

The Government of India invited Shankar to be a part of the celebrations to commemorate the centenary year of the poet. For Tagore’s birth centenary, Shankar chose to work on the poet’s poem Samanya Kshati. This was not a dance drama by Tagore, but a poem, which Shankar sought to portray in the form of a ballet. The inspiration to create a ballet20 based on Tagore’s poem rather than perform one of the poet’s existing dance dramas, probably lay in the inspiration in Tagore’s letter to Shankar mentioned above, where he wrote,

“I know you feel it deep within your heart that the path of the of the realization of

your dream stretches long before you where new inspirations wait for you and where

19 Shanti Bose, “Adhunik Bharatiya Nritye Uday Shankar Er Prabhab,” Desh Binodan Shankhya, (1987)

20 The term ballet has been used here to denote a theatrical dance in a specific, formalized dance technique, performed in combination with other artistic elements such as music, costume, stage scenery and other stage craft. Accessed June 25, 2018, url: https://www.britannica.com/art/ballet you must create in a limitless field new forms of living beauty. We hope your

creations will not be a mere imitation of the past nor burdened with narrow

conventions of provincialism. Greatness in all its manifestations has discontent for

its guide in the path to victory where there are triumphant arches, but never to stop

at, merely to pass through.”21

According to Uday Shankar, after Sir William Rothenstein and Anna Pavlova,

Tagore was “another great person”, who influenced his life.22

Image 21: The quotation from Tagore’s letter, as it appeared in the souvenir of Shankarscope in 1970. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

21 Uday Shankar, “My Love for Dance,” Souvenir of Shankarscope (1970)

22 Ibid

Image 22: A copy of the full letter from Tagore as published in the souvenir for the tour of USA in 1962. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

The preparation for Samanya Kshati began in 1960. Keeping in mind Tagore’s words, Shankar opted on a path breaking endeavor. Tagore’s works till then, had traditionally been performed on stage either by way of his dance-dramas or nrityanatya, dramas or natak and lyrical dramas or geetinatyo. This was the first time that an attempt was made to depict on stage one of Tagore’s most lyrical poems, based entirely on instrumental music, without the help of any lyrics or narration. In the ballet, Shankar depicted the poem entirely through a never before conceived concept nritya or the aspect of dance which depicts the lyrics of the song, and natya or abhinaya, which would translate to acting, as depicted in Bharatmuni’s Natyashastra.

Never had natya or abhinaya been used to depict instrumental music. In classical dance forms, whenever a dance item is composed to pure ragas in the form of taranas (Idiom / composition using musical syllables based on Persian and Arabic phonemes)23 or sargams (sol-fas, where

23 Glossary, accessed June 24, 2018, url: http://www.itcsra.org/glossary.aspx the actual notes are used in lieu of words or syllables), which do not have any lyrics, it usually takes the form of nruttya or pure dance, never nritya or natya.

In the souvenir of Shankar’s Tour of USA with his troupe in 1962, with

Samanya Kshati as the primary production, Shankar wrote:

“I have long been cherishing the dream to present through dance the beauty,

elegance, depth and spirit of Tagore’s ideas. The theme of Samanya Kshati inspired

me. I worked it out in the form of a full-length ballet, although I have been able to

capture only a fraction of all that fired my imagination. And in order to round off

the theme for the ballet I have tried, in my humble way, to visualize what would

logically follow after the poet left off.”24

24 Souvenir: USA Tour of 1962 Image 23: A page from the Souvenir of 1962, during the tour of USA, showcasing Shankar’s write-up for choosing to work on Samanya Kshati, and taking it beyond what Tagore’s poem describes. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

The poem, Samanya Kshati, as presented in the souvenir mentioned above, is given below:

Samanya Kshati

The cold wintry winds blow over the clear

water of the river Varuna, away from the city,

in the quiet proximity of the village.

To the paved bank of the river, skirted by

bowers of the champa flower, proceeds for

a bath, accompanied by hundered maidens,

Karuna, the queen of Varanasi (Benaras).

The path to the river has been cleared of

people through the order of the King.

The nearby hamlets have been emptied of occupants.

Quietly flows the deep waters of the river,

save for the singing of the birds.

A turbulent northerly blows today. The surface of the river is excited. The golden rays of morning sun scintillate on the wavelets like myriads of diamonds on the scarf of a danseuse.

The gleeful cackle of the maids puts to shame the murmur of the waves. Their rounded arms in exquisite movements send the waves into ecstasies. The air throbs with their frolicsome laughter and gaiety.

After the bath the queen and maidens come out of the water. The queen exclaims: “Oh, I die of cold. My whole body shivers. Maids, light a fire to drive away this chill.”

Maids hurry to the nearby bowers, to gather twigs. They rush like mad and tug at the boughs. Suddenly the queen calls them with a pleased smile.

“Come all of you. Look! yonder is a hut. Set it on fire so that I might warm my limbs.”

Malati, a maid, humbly says:

“What fun is this, oh queen.

Why destroy the habitat of some saint or some poor person who finds shelter there.”

The queen flares up and shouts

“Drive this great sympathetic soul away.”

Thereupon the harried maids, in the thoughtlessness of youth, make a mad rush and set the hut on fire.

Thick smoke begins to swirl up and swell.

Fire leaps up crackling and throwing out tongues of flame that appear to lick the sky.

Like tortured serpents the flames seem to gush out, raising their hoods to the sky, with thundery sound.

The joyous song of the morning bird turns to a plaintive wail in dread.

The crows in a group raise a raucous chorus as the northerly gathers fury and helps the fire to leap from hut to hut in a frenzy of relentless fury.

The small village burns down to a mass of charred wood and ashes. Along the emptied path, in the wintry morning, the queen, with her hundred maids, returns happy, clad in a red sari with a lotus in her hand.

The king was in judgement on his throne.

Grieved, shelterless poor subjects come in groups, crouch at his feet and in hesitant, trembling voices, narrate the rueful tale of destruction.

Flushed with shame the King leaves the throne and enters the queen’s quarters.

“Queen, what cruel sport is this?

What royal code justifies the wanton destruction of the abodes of the poor?”

The queen, piqued, replies,

“You call them abodes, the few rickety huts.

What loss can their destruction mean.

How insignificant for an hour’s joy for their queen!”

Holding his heart in distress the king replies in rage, “As a queen you will never know the loss of a poorman’s hut to the poor.

But I will make you realize.”

At the command of the King, the queen is divested

of her ornaments. Her regal red robe is pulled mercilessly

away and a torn beggar’s garb was given to cover the queen’s body.

Leading her to the street the King enjoins, “Beg from door to door

to raise the money to rebuild the huts you destroyed in the

thoughtless sport of an hour.”

“I give you a year. Return at the end of it and in the middle

of the court, in front of all, you will have to confess how

much of a loss the destruction of the

Dilapidated huts has really meant.”

Rabindranath Tagore25

25 Rabindranath Tagore, “Samanya Kshati,” Souvenir of tour of USA (1962)

Image 24: The poem as it appeared in the souvenir of 1962, tour of USA. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

For Samanya Kshati, Uday Shankar’s used stylized movements based on activities of daily life and then infused them in his choreography; and used it as a medium of narration for the poem. He had the gift of story-telling and this was based on the three principles he firmly believed in – simplicity, beauty and power.26

The ballet used to open with a scene of the King’s court. Light effects would give the impression of a day dawning. The male servants would be the first to enter the scene.

They would perform a few simple movements which made it evident that they were dusting and cleaning the court and getting it ready for the day. Once they exited, the chamardharinis or the women who fanned the King with special fans would enter and take their positions by the throne. Then entered the guards. Slowly the rest of the courtiers would arrive – the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister. A guard would enter while the

26 Uday Shankar, “My Love for Dance,” Souvenir of Shankarscope (1970) ministers were consulting and announce the King’s arrival and the prime minister would get ready to welcome the King when he entered the court.

Image 25: The court scene from Samanya Kshati as published in the souvenir of 1962, during the tour of USA. With Uday Shankar as the King. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose. Extreme left in Pranati Sengupta, and his then Ballet Master Pappu Raghavan is second from the right

The distinct hierarchy of communication that was maintained throughout the court scene was another example of Shankar’s observation of daily life – in this case protocol maintained in a court – something which he is sure to have observed as a child who had been exposed to the court of Jhalawar. Even the movements for the different characters were different in nature, so that they brought out their differing characteristics of the characters being enacted. The Finance Minister was shown to be an elderly experienced man. Hence his movements were slow and steady. The Defence Minister’s movements were bold and slightly staccato in nature. The Prime Minister’s movements were very graceful and dignified. The differentiation reflected through their movements was supplemented with the grandeur in their costumes, as well as the positions in which they stood. Their positions on stage, clearly demarcated their proximity to the King in the court.

The scene would then proceed on to an everyday court scene where the King is shown to be enquiring about the welfare of his people and state of affairs to the prime minister, who, after consulting the relevant ministers would respond to the King accordingly. Suddenly, an impression of a commotion would reach the court. The Defence Minister, after receiving orders from the King in the proper hierarchical order, would ask his guards to check what was happening outside. The guard would return to inform him that some poor villagers had come to meet the King. This would be conveyed to the King through the Prime Minister. With the

King’s permission, again conveyed through the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister would ask the guards to allow the villagers to enter the court.

The crescendo, the pitch and the overall composition of this bit of music, together with the differing reactions of the different characters in the court – all subtle and tempered, was choreographed to bring out the anxiousness caused by the suddenness of something unexpected, and it created an anxious expectation among the audience of what was just about to unfold. The scene then unfolded with the poor villagers, fearful and hesitant, finally relating to the King the cruel act committed by the queen.

This was entirely based on Shankar’s creativity, as the poem just says that the

King was in court, that too, towards the end. Shankar used flashback as a method to tell the story of Samanya Kshati. In the flashback the villagers would be portrayed to be making merry. The movements again told a story. A story of fun and frolic, a game of dice, a little flirting which led to a fist fight among the men, the village elderly who resolve the fight and finally where everyone again dances together. This narration through Shankar’s own creative folk- dance movements, told the story of the simple yet happy villagers. The movements of the folk dance could not be identified as belonging to any region or province of India, but was undoubtedly folk in its style, liveliness and rigour; and inarguably Indian in essence. This scene was brought to an end with the abrupt entry of the sentinels and their announcement that the villagers would have to clear away from the area as the queen would be coming down this path on her way to the river for her bath.

In the next scene, the sentry would be shown standing on guard. A hand-maiden to the queen would enter and ask the male guards to move away as the queen would be passing by. The slight coquettish glance of the maid and the response of the guards added a humorous aspect without the least any vulgarity to the scene. This knowledge of knowing where to draw the line, the fine balance between what would be overstepping and what would be evident, despite being depicted in an understated manner, is what made Uday Shankar the master that he was of his art form.

The next scene would depict the queen’s maids preparing the way for the queen to go to the river. Here, Uday Shankar added to Tagore’s description of the queen’s journey to the river with her hundred companions. To create an impression among the audience about the kind of pampering that the queen received, Uday Shankar, through a few simple yet unique movements depicted how the companions inspected, cleaned and smoothened out the path for the queen; covered it with petals so that the queen would not hurt her feet; how the queen’s female bodyguards preceded her. The queen would then make her entry with all her companions in tow.

Once the queen reached the banks of the river, her initial hesitancy in taking a dip in the cold wintry morning, the haughty behavior but with a touch of camaraderie that she shared with her maids, the frolicking – were all depicted through Uday Shankar’s own innovative movements. Some of the movements were taken from one of his earlier items called

Snanam, but most of the movements were new. Once they dived into the water, the movements of the scene − created based on all the basic strokes of swimming were again of a story-telling nature, and because of their simplicity, understandable to one and all.

Once the queen emerged from the water, she started shivering in the cold.

According to Shanti Bose, his troupe member at that time, who was to later become the Ballet

Master of Uday Shankar’s troupe from 1965, till the maestro’s end – Uday Shankar demonstrated the movement to portray the queen stepping out of the water to the river bank.

The movement was quintessentially feminine. In this one step, the queen and her companions were equal – they were all women in an enhanced state of shyness and consciousness as they stepped out of the water in their wet clinging garments. But once the queen had re-adorned herself in her regal finery, her movements changed into the previous royal and bold gestures.

This according to his disciples was an example of the kind of attention that Shankar paid to little details while choreographing.

Shivering uncontrollably in the cold northerly winds, the queen asked her companions to light a fire in order to lessen her chills. They go off in search of wood to the nearby forest and tugged down branches. Again, an uncomplicated yet powerful movement depicted the force with which the boughs are pulled down. But the queen in her impatience and thoughtlessness, asks her companions to light up a nearby hut. One of them, Malati protests and implores the queen not to indulge in such a callous whim, but is driven away for having the audacity to question a royal diktat. The queen then gleefully warms herself in the licking flames of the fire, which now, with the strong winds had engulfed the entire village.

The next scene was that of the fire dance. Probably one of the toughest and most rigorous dances in the ballet, this dance comprised movements which almost gave the feel of the fire spreading slowly and surreptitiously into a roaring uncontrollable rage. From a slow panther-like quiet, unsuspecting entry with a hint of the lurking danger, into a full- fledged

‘horse-step’ around the stage in a circle, to the dying out of the embers, depicted through small tinkering steps, this dance was probably one of Uday Shankar’s most novel compositions which gave a whole new meaning and embodiment to the term ‘dancing flames’.

Of course, Shankar carried out a lot of experimentation in order to achieve what was finally presented. For example, initially, the dancers used to begin the dance by lying on the floor on our backs with their heads towards the audience and would then slowly bring up both their hands in a shimmering movement imitating the rising flames. But Shankar was not happy with the effect and changed the entry to the panther-walk kind of a movement. In terms of dress too, the troupe members rehearsed the entire night before the first show as Shankar was not happy with their costume for the fire dance. According to him, it did not reinforce the imagery that he had in mind. After a couple of costume changes Shankar finally decided that the best look which would enhance the fire dance entailed a bare torso, red dhotis and white, square chiffon handkerchiefs. These square chiffon handkerchiefs were about one and a half feet on each side. They were tied to one of fingers of the dancers on both hands. This, together with the lighting and the projection of flames on background screen gave the effect that Shankar desired. According to his troupe members, as well as the audience, truly, along with Ustad Ali

Akbar’s sarod and Ustad Alla Rakha’s tabla, the entire dance took on a completely new form and ingrained in the mind of the audience the enormity of the massive fire and the colossal damage that left the entire village charred; and the poor villagers, homeless.

Image 26: Troupe members posing in the final costume of the fire dance of the fire dance for promo pictures of Samanya Kshati, 1961. Shanti Bose is the central figure in the picture. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

The next scene saw the villagers lamenting their loss. Some of the aggrieved villagers decided to report the queen’s cruel sport and merciless act to the King. Laxmi

Shankar’s humming and vocals in this scene, according to Bose, moved the audience as well as the dancers to tears.

Image 27: The villagers lamenting the loss as a result of the fire. Uday Shankar’s daughter, Mamata Shankar, is the young girl lying in the centre-front of the stage. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

The flashback ended here. The court scene would restart with sudden bright lights and continue from the scene where a poor villager was seen narrating the incident to the

King − seated at his feet. The King left the court in a huff – angered and ashamed by the act of his unfeeling queen. Uday Shankar used a single movement of the shoulder to express his anger. Nonetheless, it left the audience in no doubt of the emotion that was being expressed.

He did not resort to the use of mudras to express anger – but, used body language to express this emotion. The court scene then dissolved with the Prime Minister giving leave to the ministers and the courtiers and all others present in the court in accordance to their rank. This is another example that reflects Uday Shankar’s intimate knowledge of the functioning of the court.

The queen’s chamber is where the next scene was set. The queen and her companions are seen in a happy mood, dancing away, completely oblivious to the devastation their mindless and irresponsible action had caused. The choreography of this dance was very lively since it had to reflect that the queen was completely unrepentant and had not realized the gravity of her act; but the difference in the liveliness between the folk dance and this dance was brought about using very stylized almost neo-classical, decorative movements Uday

Shankar’s own creative style.

The sudden entrance of the King left the queen and her companions pondering over the reason for his untimely entrance. On hearing the King’s censure, the queen responded with a laugh berating the King for even considering those huts to be homes and adding that they were nothing compared to the price that was usually paid for an hour of the queen’s pleasure. Shankar enacted the role of the King in Samanya Kshati. His movements according to Bose, in this scene, was reminiscent of a dormant volcano. The restrained anger, when ordering the queen be stripped of her finery, the long walk to the palace gates from the inner chambers, and then finally ordering the queen to beg from door to door and get enough money to rebuild the destroyed huts within a year, were all very clear in their meaning despite the fact that many mudras were not used. Finally, the scene where the King stops the queen’s companions from accompanying the queen, is a unique illustration of how a dancer can use his body and express a complex emotion through a simple yet bold and powerful movement. The queen was then shown to leave the palace. There would be an interval at this juncture.

Tagore’s poem ends with this narrative. Shankar however, added to this narrative his own, and with his imagination, created a tale around what the Queen endured for that one year and concluded on a happy note, where the Queen returned to her rightful place in the palace after having rebuilt the huts that had been destroyed by her callous act. This latter part was however only staged in 1961 and 1962. It was not enacted when Samanya Kshati was later staged with Shankarscope in 1972.

After the interval, the ballet returned with the scene where the queen passes through a market. For the first time, she realizes the value of money. She is stung with pain when a thorn pricks her feet. She orders a passing woman to pull it out. The woman scorns her and tells the queen to do it herself; and leaves. The queen limps along. The dark, eerie night brings with it an experience of rising fear. Storm, thunder and lightning makes the night appear even more ferocious. Her dread swells to panic when she sees a dead body being carried away.

Exhausted and desperately hungry, she gets to eat when kind travelers share their food with her. She is shocked at the sight of robbers swooping down on her benefactors. She is aggrieved and breaks down. Destiny however drags her weary feet to the site of the burnt-down village.

The sight fills her with pain and despair, as she drops down from sheer fatigue. In her disturbed sleep, her tortured sub-conscious mind rocks her with gruesome visions of the past. She awakens. With a tormented soul, her assurance is gone. At the borderline of life and death, when she does not know what to do, a Sadhu or a Hindu monk is heard approaching. She throws herself at his feet. The venerable person consoles her, gives her spiritual solace.

The queen now develops a new personality with her humility and devotion, as she begins to beg. She goes on begging from place to place. Days pass, months roll on, but the queen sticks to her mission. The next scene sketches the night of approaching winter. Villagers are clustered near their burnt-down huts. The queen comes and observes their misery with an aching heart. They see her and become hostile when they recognize her. An old man bids them be silent. The queen then reveals that she has brought money to rebuild the huts.

The villagers build the huts amidst great rejoicing. As the huts rise again, the year is about to end. The queen wants to go to the court. The villagers garb her in their best clothes and lead her to the palace. The King and ministers receive the queen. She humbly confesses her realization of the great mistake she has committed in burning down the huts of the poor. What she had lost in her selfishness and arrogance, she now gains back through her humility – the warmth of everyone’s love and affection.

Image 28: Uday Shankar in the foreword for the souvenir of Samanya Kshati in 1961, stating why and how he was inspired by Tagore, as well as why he added his own imagination to extend Tagore’s poem. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

Image 29: Synopsis of Samanya Kshati as published in the souvenir for the tour of USA in 1962. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

Amala Shankar, portrayed the part of the queen. Apart from her enactment of the Queen whereby she reflected the grandeur of the queen, her skill as a dancer, her graceful yet powerful movements, and her capacity to light up the stage with her movements specially so, with her first entry on stage, after the companions had prepared the way for her, to go to the river – as Bose reminisces. A complete artist, she was also the one who designed the costumes, the background paintings for different slides for a couple of scenes which were projected on the backdrop as well as designed the cover of the brochure of Samanya Kshati.

Image 30: Amala Shankar’s design of the cover of the souvenir for Samanya Kshati in 1961. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

According to Bose, Ravi Shankar’s music was also perhaps equally important in making Samanya Kshati the success that it became. In Ravi Shankar’s own words,

“Poet Rabindranath Tagore’s works have always stirred me and provided spiritual

and aesthetic inspiration. And when Dada asked me to score music for the ballets based on Gurudev’s poems, I was fully aware of the great responsibility imposed on

the musical creation to maintain the dignity, grandeur and lyrical beauty of the

original. The results had, furthermore, to be achieved through the abstract medium

of music in the absence of words or songs, and through Indian instruments. I had,

however, to employ at places melodic and rhythmic counter-points to bring out the

conflicting emotional undercurrents, which should not be mistaken as usage of

Harmony in the Western sense.”27

Image 31: Write up by Ravi Shankar and Amala Shankar as published in the souvenir of Samanya Kshati in 1961. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

The guest musicians for Samanya Kshati included none other than Ustad Ali

Akbar, Ustad Alla Rakha, Smt. Laksmi Shankar and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (who was still a young artist in the making). Apart from them, Uday Shankar’s own team of musicians also worked very hard to make this production a success.

27 Ravi Shankar, Souvenir of Samanya Kshati (1961) Uday Shankar’s productions saw many a classical musician venture into experimenting with the creative form and later saw musicians par excellence like Shiv Kumar

Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia form the Shiv-Hari duo and deliver many a classic in Hindi films some of the more prominent ones being Silsila in 1981, Lamhe in 1991, Darr in 199328, to name a few. Even Pandit Ravi Shankar, who moved to Maihar to train in Sitar under the tutelage Baba Allauddin Khan29, because of his association with Uday Shankar, was always experimenting and innovating. We find his masterpieces captured in Satyajit Ray’s in the Apu

Trilogy of Panther Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar. His music is also immortalized in films like Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, Satyajit Ray’s Paras Pathar, as well as Hindi films like Anuradha, Godan and Meera30. He created more than thirty new ragas in Indian Music31.

His jugalbandis or duets with Yehudi Menuhin are masterpieces beyond compare32.

28https://www.bollywoodmdb.com/celebrities/filmography/shiv-hari/4061 (Accessed on March 15, 2019)

29 https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/697f8b9f-0454-40f2-bba2-58f35668cdbe (Accessed on March 15, 2019)

30https://mevidur.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/pandit-ravi-shankar-as-film-music-director/ (Accessed on March 15, 2019)

31 http://www.ravishankar.org/-music.html (Accessed on March 15, 2019)

32 https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-yehudi-menuhin-and-ravi-shankar- 1575503.html (Accessed on March 15, 2019)

Image 32: The souvenir of 1961 reflecting the guest musicians for Samanya Kshati. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

The stagecraft used Samanya Kshati was also a novelty in India. A huge sheet of black net, without a single stitch visible on it, was set up midway in the stage, parallel to the front curtain and the screen at the back. The net divided the stage horizontally into two parts and added depth to it. The court scenes were performed behind the net, giving it a distant surreal look. The other scenes were performed in front of the net. The court scene used to be ready behind the net at all times but the lighting was conducted so deftly that while the scenes in the front stage were being enacted, the court scene behind the net would not be visible. The beginning and ending of the flashback would occur instantaneously by merely lighting up the different parts of the stage.

Uday Shankar used his own lights for his productions. He used dimmers not only to begin and end of each scene with a fade in and fade out effect, but also to determine the power and strength of the lights that he wanted for each scene. The troupe used to rehearse with lights, and during these rehearsals, the dimmer controls would be marked, so that the required strength and power of light was always the same for every show, and would create the exact effect that Shankar had visualized for the scene. These dimmers and light controls were handled by his musicians – those who were part of his staff. The music of Samanya Kshati had been pre-recorded, as a result, the musicians who had worked on the music, were well versed with it, and knew the exact musical cue on which various lights were to be handled. In fact, the lighting for one of the scenes in the second half of the ballet baffled Tapas Sen − a master in the art of lighting in those times − so much, that he inspected the stage quite few times after the performances to understand the source of the light. The scene in question was towards the end of the ballet, where the villagers are shown huddled around a fire on a wintry night in front of their burnt down houses. The light that glowed in the centre of the small circle of villagers and reflected a warm red glow on the faces of the villagers, emanated from a portable light that was brought on the stage by one of the dancers. There was a thick, long, black cable attached to this light, but in the dim light on the stage, this cable was not visible to the audience. Once the dancers were seated in their positions on stage, the dimmers would slowly brighten up this red light. The effect created was that of the villagers warming themselves in the glow of a small fire.

Another impressionable scene was the one where the queen was tormented by her past deeds and suffered nightmares. The nightmares would be enacted in the portion of the stage behind the black net under a spotlight. Shankar, in the garb of the King would perform a few gestures expressing the King’s displeasure with the Queen – this was a nightmare that haunted the queen for never before had she had to bear the brunt of the King’s anger.

Samanya Kshati ran at Mahajati Sadan continuously for one and a half months.

There used to be one evening show on weekdays and two shows during the weekends, on both Saturdays and Sundays – one at 3 pm in the afternoon and the other at 6 pm in the evening.

The purpose of adding this detail is to highlight the popularity of Shankar’s art form in Kolkata at that point in time.

For the shows at Mahajati Sadan where Shankar first staged Samanya Kshati in

1961, the programme began with Tagore’s song “Prothomo Adi Tobo Shakti”. This was followed by another song by the poet, “Hey Mor Chittyo Purno Tirtho”. The third song would be “Jayo Tabo Bichitro Anando”. These songs were rendered by students of the State Academy of Dance Drama and Music, under the guidance of the then Dean, Faculty of Music, Ramesh

Chandra Bandopadhya and Maya Sen33, who was a Professor of Rabindrasangeet in the same university. But according to Bose, the best part of the songs probably lay in the way they were presented.

The songs were all pre-recorded. Nevertheless, a group of dancers, posing as singers would stand on the right and left balconies in the auditorium, flanking the two sides of the stage. The lights would first illuminate the group on the right balcony. They would lip sync to the first song. Immediately after they finished, lights would focus on the group in the left balcony. They would lip sync to the second song. The front curtains of the stage would rise towards the end of the second song, and once the second song finished all the lights would be dimmed and the third song would commence. This song was accompanied by a short film featuring Tagore and Uday Shankar together, shot in Shantiniketan. This film was projected on the back screen of the stage.

33 Souvenir: Samanya Kshati, 1961 These three songs were followed by a short ballet called Udara Charitanam based on Tagore’s poem by the same name. The original poem consisting of 4 lines reads:

Prachirer Chidre Ek Naam Gotra Heen,

Phutiaachhe chhoto phool atishoy deen.

Dhik – dhik kore tare kanone shobai,

Surjyo utthi bole tare bhalo aacho bhai?

Roughly translated, the poem tells the story of a small and insignificant flower that had grown in a crack of the garden walls. While all the other gorgeous and beautiful plants and trees of the garden treated it with disdain, the Sun in all its glory greeted it and asked after it in the morning.

The researcher cannot help but speculate whether this could again be a reflection of Shankar’s sympathy and empathy towards a down-trodden marginalized section of the community, for what else can explain the choice of this particular poem from the extensive collection of poems and songs that Tagore has penned!

The storyline of Samanya Kshati too, which Shankar chose, leaving aside all the existing dance-dramas and geetinatyas penned by Tagore, too reflects the plight of the masses of India, who are at the complete mercy of their rules or the political leadership for their welfare; and unless this leadership is a compassionate one, injustices on them would prevail.

Ravi Shankar composed the music for this ballet too along with Samanya

Kshati. This ballet would be performed solely by the women dancers of the troupe. This was followed by the staging of Samanya Kshati. But this format of presentation was only adopted for the shows at Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata.

Performances of Samanya Kshati were held for Tagore’s birth centenary celebrations at Radindra Kanan at Beadon Street. This is where Tagore’s birth anniversary celebrations were held originally, unlike at Rabindra Sadan, where they are now held every year.

After performances at Kolkata, the troupe went to perform Samanya Kshati in

Delhi at the request of the Indian Ministry for Scientific and Cultural Affairs, for their celebration of Tagore’s birth centenary. Performances at IFAX Hall was held over seven consecutive days. Present in the audience on the first evening of the performance was the then

President, Dr. Radhakrishnan, our Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi,

Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi as well as several other dignitaries.

Image 33: Seated in the audience from left to right in the audience for the performance of Samanya Kshati at IFAX Hall – three of India’s erstwhile Prime Ministers – Rajiv Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

Image 34: From left to right, for this image and the one below: Uday Shankar, Ravi Shankar, India’s then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and India’s then President Radhakrishnan, interacting, after watching the performance of Samanya Kshati at IFAX Hall. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

Image 35. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

Image 36: The cast ensemble of Samanya Kshati at IFAX Hall after the first day of the show. Courtesy, private collection of Shanti Bose

From Delhi, the troupe went to Jaipur. An incident in Jaipur during the performance showcases what Shankar’s team work was all about. While the performance was going on, the sound system went off due to a technical snag. The entire group on stage continued performing in the same synchronized manner that they normally would have, without any music until the curtains were dropped. Once the problem was restored, the show continued from where it had stopped. Not a single dancer left the stage during this mishap. They stood in their positions and resumed their dance from where the music began again. This was the level of professionalism, proficiency and discipline among Shankar’s team members – something that Shankar himself had learned from Pavlova and her team, and instilled in his troupe.

From Jaipur, the troupe returned to Kolkata and again performed Samanya

Kshati, but this time at New Empire, for seven straight days. Shankar and his troupe then began their tour of Western India. They toured for more than a month covering the cities of Bombay,

Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad. Once they returned to Kolkata, they began touring nearby places like Burdwan, Katoah, Kalna, Shiuri and others.

The reason for this researcher for going into such great detail in terms of how the dance drama was enacted, the participants, the performances and the technology adapted, is that none of Shankar’s performances, apart from those encased in Kalpana have been recorded, and therefore, have not been documented. Given that he and his troupe used stage performances as their primary medium, moving pictures would have not only taken away the magic felt through the live performances, but revenue generation would also have been affected. But this has resulted in the fact that posterity has little to go by and understand, what

Uday Shankar style of dance, especially during the last two decades of his life, entailed.