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.