International Jugglers day

Breakfast, wash load, kids off to school, hubby off to work, now you dash. On the way back pick grocery, not to mention PTA, school day and office meetings aren’t we juggling things.


Well april 18th is also the international juggler’s day so we can pat ourselves on the back. This was established in 1980. All superwomen can laud themselves.

16th April is international juggling day.

20th June is the world juggling day.

References to jugglers is seen during the vaudeville era nothing is mentioned prior to it. Though some Egyptian paintings do show jugglers. It was associated with jesters, clowns, fools. Objects that are juggled are called properties and the act is called pattern.

The princess with the golden ball is a fairy tale that was inspired by the jugglers.

A juggler is a person who performs juggling feats .when two or more objects are kept in the air by alternately tossing and catching them it is called juggling. Jugglers are known to juggle scarves, knives, balls, sometimes mixed objects. A juggler could also be a trickster.

sita dukham

Every time I heard a discourse on Ramayana, the emphasis was on a man having to kill the Rakshasas. Of course it has been interpreted, intellectualized, philosophized, but each time I felt what was missing was the essence of the avatar, the human element.

The ideal king, the obedient son, yes but all unpleasant aspects of his character which makes him Manava or human is missing.

Until I came across chitravarna Ravana by Helavanakatte Giriyamma, where she describes Shrupanaka in the guise of a Kuravanji, coming to meet Sita, and asking her about Ravana, she convinces Sita to draw the picture of Ravana, refuses, and finally agrees to draw Ravana’s toes, gradually the Kuravanji succeeds in getting Sita to draw the entire image of Ravana, except for the eyes.

The Kuravanji then sends Sita out on a ruse and fills in the eyes making Ravana life like, or rather alive. Sita is worried about Rama’s reaction so she hides it beneath the bed, the picture pops out when Rama sits on the bed.

Rama orders Sita to destroy this image, she refuses because the drawing is her creation which is her child.  This leads to Rama wondering if Sita seriously nourished a passion for Ravana. He then uses the dhobi’s allegation to banish Sita.

I thought Giriyamma was being bold, but I realized that Telgu folklore had a similar tale.

The central idea of sitadukham in Malayalam was also the same. The only difference being that here instead of Shrupanaka, it the queen mothers who ask Sita to draw the picture with the intention defaming her to Rama as they were jealous of the importance he gave to her.

Essentially it means that the folk traditions, which were not of institutional origin, Rama remains, human, with human failings who is accepted with it, but appreciated for the good he had in him too. The folk versions are also less Aryan in their approach as they do place values on Sita, her emotions and reactions.

Probably the folk version would also document the desi—impact on the Margi text.

Bhagawat ajjukam

Is a play written by the classical theater scholar, Bodhayana. Between 6th and 4th century BC.
No other plays written by him have been found as yet.
We performed the Hindi translation by NC Jain.
The story is a prahasana in the a classical format, with a Parivrajak, i.e. a Buddhist preacher, his every hungry student Shandilya, a courtesan Vasantasena, her drunken suitor and a bungling Yamadoot.
A bungling Yamadoot blunders and takes the soul of the wrong Vasantasena.
Provoked by his student a Parivrajak decides to prove himself by entering her body. In the meanwhile Yamadoota discovers his mistake, and he decides to return the soul of Vasantasena to her body, but finds it occupied so he places the soul in the body of the Parivrajak.
As a result the Parivrajak, behaves like Vasantasena, and Vasantasena behaves like Parivrajak, The situation no doubt turns hilarious after a while the Yamadoot requests the Parivrajak to return to his body while he restores the soul of Vasantasena to her rightful body.
The Parivrajak returns a wiser and humbler man with this experience. While Vasantasena returns to her suitor.
This was indeed a challenge to me as it was my shift from main stage to choreography, and that too working with another director, though I was comfortable in a non movement oriented direction.
Padmashree being influenced by Urubhangam gave me the visual she had for the soul extraction and restoration. But the actual challenge was getting the transparent effect of the soul. Trying to get the visual difference between sthula shareera and atma.
But the experience was indeed great.

nadopasna

Why music?
Mantrashakti is a very ancient profound art. It harness the word power ( power of sound)
Like meghamalhar can produce ran.
The pied piper could drive away the rats, and mesmerize the kids.
In a way mantraskhati can be likened to music. For both focus on the nada Brahma. The spoken words create vibrations which are perceivable and cause impact.
Various people have cited various uses for music.
“tattwajnat ni shreyasadhigam” – this translates to knowledge is the key to self realization. But receive this knowledge a calm mind is required. This calmness is brought about by music.
Madhusudhan Sarasvati in his text advaidsiddhi says the gandharvaveda shastra created by bharta is a mode of worship and spiritual quest. When attained becomes a siddi
Shrngadeva the kannada poet calls music as naadabrahmopasana
Chaitanyam sarbhutanam vivrttam jagadatmanaam
Naadabrahma tadaananandam adwitya upasmahe║
In the bhagwat gita Krishna tells Arjuna
Sattatam kirtyanata maa yatanshesha dradvrtah
Namasyantscha ma bhaktya nitya yukta upasati║9-14║
That is to say devotional hymns and its rendering is a path to the divine
When narada asks Vishnu where do you reside he says
Na ham vasami vaikunte, yoginam hrdye nacha│
Madhbhaktaa yatraa gayanti tatra tishtami naradah║
I live not in vaikunta, nor in the heart of the yogi, the place where my devotees, sing and rejoice is the place where I reside.
Music is one medium that transcends all barrier, it traverses all living creatures touching and changing them, everyone emphatizes with sound may be that’s what inspired a poet to say
Ya that naayati kailasam nagan gaanasarasvati│
Tattha nayati kailasam na ganga na sarasvati║
Its Ganga or Sarasvati who lead you to the divine but the musical ganasaravati who does so.—please note the breaking of Ganga na Sarasvati phonetics in the two lines.

sangeetam natyam

Samyakha geetayate iti sangetam.
That which can give audio pleasures soothes the soul is sangeeta—music.
Samayak translates to good or soothing.
Music is joyful and joy is the manifestation of the divine.
Gitena priyate devaha sarvjnah parvati patihi
Gopatirantopi vamshadwanivamsham gatah
Samgitirato brahma veena sakta sarasvati
Kimnye yaksha gandarva-deva-danavah-manavah║
The gist of which is that god- man-demon all respond and enjoy music. Sangeeta or music is the upaveda and is called gandharvaveda.
Lord Shiva tells parvati about creation and its link with music.
The first creation prithvi—came the percussion sounds.
Then came water with conch
Then came Agni who gave metal instruments like cymbals
From the wind arose the wind instruments like the flute
From the akash came the string instruments like the veena.
Evam sadhashiva proktam shastram sansajnakam
Bharatdaistu munibhi sarvarthart pracharitam
From the Shiva came the knowledge music and initiated by him Bharata and his disciples propagated it round the world.
When one says sangeetam it is
Geetam vadhyam thatha nrtyam sangeetamuchyate
I.e. sangeeta includes music dance and song.
Moreover
Vinavadhana tatwajnha—jativishardaha
Talajnaprayasena mokshamargam niyacati║
The knowledge of instruments awareness of rhythm are all pathways to salvation.