Vijay Madhavan performing at Kapaleeshwar Temple, Mylapore in Chennai. , Photo courtesy: R. Ravindran

The Bhagwat Mela theater form is a tradition rooted in the Puranas or Hindu epics. The Bhagavata Mela festival held today in Melattur uses dance plays composed by Melattur Venkatarama Sastri for the last 200 years. Vijay Madhavan, who formally learned Bharatanatyam from Chitra Visvesvaran, trained to be a Bhagavata Mela artiste from a very young age and has been a part of this sacred tradition for the last 34 years. Vijay took on a set of roles like Bhoomi Devi prahlad charitam And in Matang Kanya Harishchandra Natakam From Ganesan, cousin of the famous Melattur Natarajan. Having mastered the nuances primarily through observation and advice from elders who play such roles, Vijay also consulted several texts to understand the intricacies behind the tradition as well as the profile of the characters to be portrayed. Studied.

In the form of Hiranyakashipu. Photo Credit: NC Srinivasaraghavan

Bhagavata Mela plays in Melattur are usually performed overnight and run for at least eight hours, integrating several short segments that need to be contextualized to understand the plot. Therefore, miniaturizing them for display outside the village proves to be a difficult task. Instead Vijay Madhavan aimed to represent the theater tradition by working on compositions that are not part of the plays but are reflections or shadows of some popular pieces from the Bhagavata Mela repertoire. Naming his solo production ‘Chhaya’, Vijay explored the character entry or self-introduction entrance of the four lead characters in it. prahlad charitam Mysore drama employing associated compositions composed by Sadasiva Rao. Sadashiva Rao, one of the chief disciples of Walajapet Venkatraman Bhagavata, was a renowned musician in the court of Mysore.

‘Prahlad Charitam’, a popular dance drama of Bhagavata Mela Natakam was performed in the annual festival at Melattur near Thanjavur in 2007. Photo courtesy: M. Srinath

Vijay’s first composition was ‘Dorakenu Nedu’ in Devagandhari, presented to mirror Hiranyakashipu’s Pravesam in the same raga. This kriti was sung by Sadasiva Rao on Krishna, describing how the kings of Mysore perform all kinds of treatments or services for the deity seated on the throne in the king’s court. This is how Hiranyakashyap is welcomed in the Bhagwat Mela Natakam. Vijay demonstrated the arrival of the fearsome character through a distinctive style of footwork that characterizes the lead male characters in Bhagwat Mela plays. Hiranyakashipu’s signature move where he swings various weapons like sword and mace was also incorporated by Vijay from the Natakam. He also used the musically presented traditional Bhagavata fair Sorakattu in the dance drama. It was included with Kurappu as Jathi.

History tells us that Sadashiva Rao is credited with starting the Ramotsavam celebrations in Mysore. He also worshiped Rama and composed works on the god. The second piece in Attana ‘Endu Dachukonnavu’ was an allegorical depiction of Lilavati’s entry into the Bhagavata fair which is in the same raga. The dancer playing the role of Lilavati, the wife of Hiranyakashipu, walks across the stage behind a curtain which is held aloft by two other dancers. Since the character is invisible to the audience’s eyes despite being on stage, this composition by Sadashiva Rao where he wonders where Ram is, was chosen by Vijay. Sadashiva Rao wonders why Rama is missing and prays to the deity to give him darshan, despite the idol being visible in his puja room.

Vijay Madhavan Photo courtesy: R. Ravindran

Sadashiv Rao was in the habit of going on pilgrimages all over South India. On one such tour he composed a song in Raga Bhairavi on Parthasarathy of Tiruvallikeni. ‘Sri Parthasarathe Karuna Jalanidhe’ is unique for many reasons. In this temple Parthasarathy is depicted as the old charioteer who taught the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield. Even though Krishna is old in this temple, Sadashiva Rao likes to address him as a child using words like ‘Vasueva Bala’ and ‘Gopala’! Thus, this composition is comparable to the letter entry in Prahlad’s Bhairavi. Vijay portrayed Parthasarathy in many ways – playing the role of Arjuna’s charioteer, reassuring the nervous Arjuna on the battlefield and playing a crucial role in the Mahabharata war. Prahlad described the various methods of persuasion used by Hiranyakashipu to make him forget his devotion to Vishnu, which Vijay performed admirably. Using this composition as a basis, Vijay incorporated appropriate communications from the mythology to help Prahlad instead of having Prahlad tied up and thrown into the sea and being harmed by creatures such as snakes and elephants. The second part of this composition uses swara sahitya and is suitable for dance due to its varnam-like structure. Another unique feature of this kriti is that it has many descending swaras (in swara patterns like NNDPMGRS) instead of ascending swaras, which are used in standard Bhairavi compositions like Shyama Shastri’s Swarajati. Surprisingly, the descending sequence swara is also used in the Patra Pravesh Daruvu for Prahlad in the Bhagwat Mela. Therefore, this work was a perfect replacement for the original song. Using this composition to showcase his creativity, Vijay was successful in capturing the attention and interest of the audience.

Vijay Madhavan performing with Full Bench Orchestra at Kapaleeshwar in Mylapore, Chennai Photo Credit: NC Srinivasaraghavan

The conclusion of both the Natakam and the presentation deals with Narasimha coming out of the Stambham or pillar to kill Hiranyakashipu and embracing Prahlad. Vijay aptly chose Sadashiva Rao’s ‘Narasimhudu Dayinchenu’, a work by Kamala Manohari, with this theme. His portrayal of Narasimha and this dramatic episode has been done very interestingly, especially the facial expressions.

Vijay Madhavan should be commended for the research he did to identify these compositions, all composed by the same Vageyakara, which were in a way a reflection of the original Bhagavata Mela pieces. He was accompanied by Murali Parthasarathy on vocals, Sairam on Nattuvangam, Mudikondaan Ramesh on Veena and Nagai Sriram on Mridangam. Vijay succeeded in ensuring that he remained true to his artistic vision, while also delivering the complete flavor of Natakam. To fully understand the subtleties and nuances of the Bhagavata Mela tradition, one must visit Melattur for the annual festival held at the end of this month.