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VOL. XXIII NO. 19, JANUARY 16-31, 2014
Resolving to make Natya respectable
(by Arudra)

(Continued from last fortnight)

Smt. Kalanidhi, a pioneering dancer.

Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, who supported the resolution, said: “I am strongly of opinion that not only females but males should practise the art if they want to attain perfection in music itself... I am sure it will not be a very difficult affair for males to practise this art of dancing side by side with the greater art of music.”

V. Varaha Narasimhacharlu, who was a member of the Academy’s Experts’ Committee, said: “If there is any defect in the morals of these persons [devadasis], steps should be taken to remedy that defect, but to destroy the art itself on that ground is neither an effective remedy nor a wise step.”

Mrs. M.R. Ramaswami Sivan made a statement “as [one] belonging to the sex which takes to this art in greater numbers.” She said that, in her younger days, she used to observe devadasi children being taught dancing by the nattuvans, and added: “Having become accustomed to see them dance, I began to imitate them in my own house. My attempts were appreciated by my people so long as I was a child; but later, when I came of age, the elders in the house began to check me and I had to drop the practice. The interest in the art, however, has been lurking in me all these years and it is now great pleasure to me that, though I have not had sufficient training in the art, I have lived to see my grandchildren taknig greater interest in it. I am hoping that they will be enabled to practise the art.”

Dewan Bahadur N. Pattabhirama Rao Pantulu, who served as the Dewan of Cochin and was the father of Rukmini Lakshmipathi, said: “To take a common illustration, it is an admitted fact that ghee is a necessary article of diet for our nutrition. Simply because it gets spoiled by being stored in a brass or copper vessel, we do not think of giving up the use of ghee altogether, but we try to secure its purity by taking care to see that it is stored in a better vessel.” He wanted the rancidity to be eliminated and purity restored.

C.N. Muthuranga Mudaliar, uncle of Congress leader M. Bhaktavatsalam, said: “In my younger days, I remember, there was an Anti-Nautch party formed. The object with which it was formed was that prostitution, which generally prevailed among the class which practised this art, should be eradicated. But I am afraid the result has been that Nautch had undoubtedly gone to a great extent, but that prostitution still persists. This clearly shows that prostitution has nothing to do at all with the practice of dance as an art.”

Dr. Tillaisthanam Srinivasaraghava Iyengar, noted authority on Thyagaraja’s compositions, said: “The immediate task of art-lovers should be to encourage the fine arts, particularly among the reclaimed members of the devadasi class, especially as their heredity in the art will be valuable... As for the question of family ladies taking to the art, it is enough, for the present, they are induced to cultivate a sympathetic and an appreciative attitude towards it. Time will work out the rest.”

At the end of the debate, the resolution was passed unanimously. The final text of the resolution read, in part:

1. Bharata Natyam as a great and an ancient art being unexceptionable, this conference views with concern its rapid decline and appeals to the public and art associations to give it the necessary encouragement.

2. This conference requests the Music Academy, Madras, to take steps to disseminate correct ideas regarding the art and to help the public to a proper appreciation thereof.

3. This conference is of opinion that it is desirable that, to start with, women’s organisations do take immediate steps to give proper training in the art, by instituting a course of instruction for the same.

4. This conference is of opinion that, in order to make dancing respectable, it is necessary to encourage public performances thereof before respectable gatherings.

Thus it was that the Music Academy laid the foundation for rescuing Bharata Natyam from the danger of extinction and reviving it. Another achievement of the Academy was the naming, with the approval of this conference, of Sadir as Bharata Natyam. The idea was to remove the unsavoury connotations of the priorly existing names like Sadir, Dasiattam, etc. Sadir, which had entered a ‘respectable’ home, had been given a new lease of life under a new name, just like girls given in marriage.

In the opinion of Krishna Iyer, the renaissance of Bharata Natyam may be said to have begun on January 1, 1933, the date of the second dance recital of the Kalyani Daughters at the Academy. On this second occasion, there was a large audience, probably because of the attention focussed on the art form by the debates at the Academy’s 1932 annual conference and elsewhere. The impact the recital made on the public was therefore much greater.

Following this recital, the Academy organised several more in what may be termed its first decade of dance.

The seventh conference was a conference of consolidation. One of the resolutions presented at it read: “Resolved that the Academy do represent to Hindu Religious Endowments Board that steps should immediately be taken to see that Tevaram, Vaishnava Prabandham, Bharata Natya, nagaswaram and other temple musicals are again made part of the daily offering to the God in all temples.”

In the years that followed, the dance recitals rather than discussions about the art and its future held centrestage. An academy, to remain true to its ideals, should always be discriminating and present only the best artistes. Artistes from families who considered dance as a hereditary profession dominated the stage until 1936. The first non-professional dancer at the Academy was Balachandra, a Brahmin girl about whom not much information is available. She danced in December 1938. In the following year, two other girls of similar background, Lakshmi Sastri and Kalanidhi, danced.

Since the prestigious platform of the Music Academy could not be made available except to a few outstanding artistes, many who had taken up Bharata Natyam in right earnest and wished to perform in the public had to stage their recitals under the auspices of various sabhas and associations. And so Bharata Natyam spread to a wider stage.

(To be concluded)

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Are concrete roads the answer?
A dubious first – Chennai tops garbage creation
Resolving to Make Natya Respectable
Murdochs Madras Ancestor also Faced Charges
The Emperor of the Tamil Stage
The Banyan and The Bo
A Chief Merchant who Ruled Madras from Without
The Pioneering Woman Doctor
When Varsity Cricket Reigned

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