Classical moves in Kiev

VLADIMIR RADYUHIN

 

The Hindu'I was totally captivated by the beauty and depth of Bharatanatyam. I wanted to make it my lifelong artistic endeavour,' says Ganna Smirnova. File photo: V.V. Krishnan

Ukraine's capital is home to a thriving school of Indian classical dance, thanks to the efforts of Ganna Smirnova.

Ukraine is not exactly an India-centric country and its capital Kiev is a patently European city. It is therefore remarkable that Kiev is home to a thriving school of Indian classical dance. It is even more remarkable that it came about through the efforts of a lone Ukrainian enthusiast of Bharatnatyam, the South Indian ancient temple dance.

Over the past eight years, the Indian Theatre Nakshatra has given countless performances, organised Indian art festivals and trained scores of Ukrainians in the art of Indian classical dance.

Nakshatra's founder Ganna Smirnova, praised by Indian art critics as an accomplished performer of Bharatnatyam, is not only its artistic director and main teacher but also the soul and moving spirit of the theatre.

She had her first glimpse of Indian classical dance during a “Year of India” festival organised in the Soviet Union in 1987. By that time she had 12 years of training in classical ballet as well as in Russian and Ukrainian folk dance behind her. She was also practicing yoga, and familiar with the Upanishads and the history of India.

“I was totally captivated by the beauty, rhyme and depth of Bharatanatyam,” says Ganna. “It was a fantastic blend of philosophy and mythology with music and movement. I wanted to make it my lifelong artistic endeavour.”

In 1998 she went to India on a scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). For the next five years she learned Indian classical dance intensively under Guru Jayalakshmi Eshwar at the Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi. She also took up learning the Mayurbhanj Chhau dance and Carnatic vocal music.

ICCR distinction

Her mastery of Bharatnatyam was so amazing that by the end of her stay in India, the ICCR added her name to a panel of best performing artistes, a rare distinction for a foreigner.

Eager to share her passion for Indian classical dance with fellow Ukrainians after her return to Ukraine in 2003, Ganna set up the Nakshatra dance theatre at the Taras Shevchenko State University in Kiev, Ukraine's premier educational institution. More than 200 students have since attended her dance classes; five of them later went to India to improve their techniques and two have started teaching in Ukraine.

For Ganna's students, Nakshatra Theatre is more than just dance classes.

“Bharatnatyam rouses their interest in Indian culture and history,” Ganna says. Besides teaching the theory and practice of Bharatnatyam, she gives master classes, lecture demonstrations and seminars at different educational institutions in Ukraine. Thanks to her efforts, Indian classical dance has become an indispensible feature of Kiev's cultural life.

The Nakshatra Theatre has staged several dance dramas based on the Indian epics, organised international festivals of Indian classical dance and music and invited famous Indian gurus of dance to teach local students. Nakshatra has turned into a veritable oasis of Indian art in the heart of the Slavic world.

Two years ago, Ganna wrote a book on Indian classical dance titled Indian temple dance — Tradition, legends and Philosophy, the first such book in Russian by a practicing local performer. She is now doing further research on the aesthetics of Indian temple dance at the Shevchenko University.

How can one person cope with so much work? Part of the answer is because of Ganna's Indian husband, Sanjay Rajhans who provides inspiration and support in all her endeavours, besides teaching at the Shevchenko University.

“I try to give a sense of encouragement and logistical support to my committed and god gifted wife,” says Sanjay, who met Ganna at a music class in New Delhi.

Sanjay and Ganna have twin daughters named Kate and Liz, aged 8, who are being raised in the dual Indian and Slav culture.

“They read Pushkin and the Ramayana and learn from Mama the basics of Bharatanatyam and Russian ballet,” he says. “We are trying to expose them to the very best of values of our two great civilisations.” Who knows, the first dynasty of Slav performers of Indian classical dance may be on its way up in Ukraine.

(POSTED BY B.AMRITH FROM THE PAGES OF THE HINDU AS ON 17 AUG 2011)

Symbol of royal authority

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

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The HinduThe Muchukunda Murals in the Thiagarajaswami Temple, Tiruvarur.

Paintings today are an important decorative element of any temple, in the practical hope of dissuading rubbish from accumulating near the walls.

As any courting couple today chooses their favourite spots to meet, temples and art galleries will possibly be at the bottom of the list. This was however not the case back in the second and third centuries ACE as one can see in the Paripadal. A detailed description in part 19 talks of the lovers climbing up the Thiruparankunram hill and the lover explaining in detail the paintings there to his beloved. The text even lists the paintings that include predictably the God and Goddess of love! The temple stands today but the paintings, like those of that period, have long disappeared.

Paintings today are an important decorative element of any temple. In the re-consecration of a temple or building of a new one, the sponsors are keen to have an artist execute geometric figures or incidents from legends associated with the temple on its walls and ceilings. City temples have extra drawings on the walls, not to inspire religious devotion amongst the devotees but in the practical hope of dissuading rubbish from accumulating near the walls.

Changing tastes

If aspects such as realism, attention to technique of depicting light and shade features, natural themes, etc., are important considerations that determine the worth of paintings, then those in temples have been on a decline rather than on a rise. This decline spans the entire two thousand years and is intimately connected with the changing tastes and the decreasing number of munificence of the sponsors.

In ancient temples, paintings went beyond the decorative purpose and were actually worshipped. Sadly none of these have survived today. However as temples became symbols of royal authority, mere paintings as deities were considered less sophisticated compared to idols of bronze, wood, stone or stucco.

The Pallava dynasty has left us a few examples of their painting. But they are stunning in terms of the power of the line, shading, naturalness, accurate depictions and sheer creativity. For example, the Kanchi Kailasanatha has an image of Vishnu, sadly much weathered now, that has Vishnu holding his weapon, the discus in prayoga, i.e., poised for launch. The artist has, through the bright red flames on the discus, conveyed a sense of speed! Going by the many titles of Mahendravarman, the king himself seems to have been a painter, calling himself ‘Chitrakarapuli.' Some scholars even believe he authored a text on this art called ‘Dakshinchitra.' Pallava temples were awash with colours since most of their surfaces, including sculptures, were brightly painted over in the past.

Many Pallava kings were Jains, but it is in the Pandya kingdom that we see the best example of paintings with a Jain theme. The Sittannavasal cave has been in use from at least the first century of the Christian era and in this cave are paintings of a king and queen, dancers and a large scene of Jain monks and disciples gathering lotuses from the river bank. The petals of the lotus, some bent over others in bloom, the animals and birds are all masterpieces of Pandya paintings.

Exquisite murals

The Chola murals were also just as exquisite and we have examples from the Brihadeeswara temple, which incidentally celebrated its 1000th anniversary of consecration recently. The paintings were first reported as found behind the existing Nayak paintings in The Hindu. Grand scenes on the 15-ft high walls follow the same style of using vegetable dyes on plaster when it is still wet. The portraits of Raja Raja and his queens paying obeisance to Nataraja and the life of Saivaite Saint Sundarar are all remarkable for their attention to detail, natural portrayal and colour choice.

Beyond the Cholas, examples of paintings are from the Vijayanagar-Nayak period. Srirangam. Chidambaram, Kutralam, Srivaikuntam, Azhwar Tirunagari (those in the gopuram have now been whitewashed over), Patteeswaram (that has fascinating depictions of ocean life), Tiruvarur are all examples. The contrast now is dramatic. Figures become flat, the lines are thick and colours have no tonal variations. The trend is to have the space divided into compartments and each panel tells a story. Explanations in Telugu or rarely Tamil also start appearing. This is also true of Jain temples such as Tiruparidhikunram and Veedur. A similar technique was used in their paintings on paper and cloth, few of which have survived. The Maratha tradition largely continued the Nayak tradition and under the British influence started the tradition of paintings meant to be hung on walls, for instance, the famous Thanjavur paintings. Some of the wealthier commissions in Maratha times have raised relief work and mirror insets as well. This tradition of frescos also depicting the valour of the king continued in the Ramanathapuram palace.

Today indiscriminate devotees and paucity of trained artists make even restoration difficult. Paintings either crumble or are simply whitewashed over, regardless of their uniqueness, a case in point being a rare map of Cauvery with important Siva temples in the Thiruvalanchuzhi temple that was completely whitewashed. Many others go unreported while those that survive cannot be restored due to paucity of experts!

POSTED BY B.AMRITH FROM THE HINDU DATED AUG 4 2011

Turning the pages of time

ANUSHA PARTHASARATHY

 

JUDGMENTS IN A JOURNAL Founder of Law Weekly V. C. Seshachariar.

A journal run for 97 years by a family of lawyers, The Law Weekly, has kept pace with the times, with a CD version that's now available

While South Mada Street bustles with its open vegetable market, garland and flower stalls, and home-grown restaurant chains, The Law Weeklyseems lost in the contemporary chaos of age-old Mylapore. In a two-storey traditional house nudged between a pharmacy and a home, this journal's ancestry goes back to Vembakkam Sadagopacharlu, the first Indian nominated to the Indian Legislature in 1862.

It seems apt that the family, whose roots are deeply entrenched in law, has been in charge of this journal since its inception in 1914 by V.C.Seshachariar, Sadagopacharlu's nephew. And three generations down, his grandson, V.C. Srikumar, 84, sits in its 97-year-old Mylapore office, as the editor of its current weekly issue.

“When my grandfather started The Law Weekly, there were three other journals. People wondered why he needed to start another journal. But Seshachariar always maintained that there was space for one more,” says Srikumar, who joined the publication in 1948.

Collection of judgments

The Law Weekly began as a publication that collected judgments from the high court every week. “In those days, we would collect judgments from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka too, since they came under the Madras Presidency,” recollects Srikumar, “Now we concentrate on the Madras High Court and, occasionally, the Supreme Court.”

The editorial committee of The Law Weekly, over the years, included a former Governor of the Madras Presidency (Sir Kurma Venkata Reddy), a retired High Court Judge, and two former Chief Justices. The present committee functions with a former Public Prosecutor (B. Sriramulu), an Additional Solicitor General of Southern States (M. Ravindran) and two former Advocate Generals (R.Krishnamoorthy and N.R. Chandran).

Before the publication began, V.C. Seshachariar and his elder brother Sir V.C. Desikachari ran the Native Middle School for 25 years, some of whose students included C.P. Ramaswamy Ayyar and N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar, who later went on to become a member of the Cabinet of Independent India. “They handed over the school to be amalgamated with P.S. High School in 1905,” says Srikumar. He adds, “Seshachariar was also one of the founders of the Mylapore Club (1904) and Mylapore Central Urban Bank. The Law Weekly became very popular and in the 1940s, when I joined, I remember that a year's subscription was Rs. 10.”

V.C. Seshachariar retired from active practice in 1929 and devoted all his time to the journal till, in 1936, he was succeeded by his youngest son V.C. Vasudevan. “Vasudevan was a graduate from the Presidency College and started a business, extending help to his father. When Seshachariar passed away, Vasudevan was a bit hesitant to get into the journal since he wasn't qualified to practice. On the advice of elders and members of the Editorial Committee, he took over,” Srikumar explains.

Launch of monthly journal

From 1964 to 1966, Vasudevan became the publisher of the weekly, launchingLaw Weekly (Criminal), a monthly journal, in 1966. When he passed away in 1966, K.S. Desikan took over as the editor while V.C. Ramachandran succeeded his father as the publisher. “The Law Weekly (Criminal) in 1966 initially ran with one volume a year. It now has five volumes every year. A Reprint Edition of the Law Weekly (Criminal) was issued in 1987, rearranging the decisions subject-wise,” says Srikumar.

Almost a decade later, Srikumar became its editor. In 1984, the Writ Law Reporter, another monthly journal began under his editorship. “Until 2008, my uncle handled the journal single-handedly with some help from his wife,” says V.C. Janardhan, his nephew. In 2007, V.C. Srikumar was felicitated by the Madras Bar Association (MBA) and the Madras High Court Advocates Association (MHAA) for completing 60 years at the Bar.

V.C. Srikumar now runs the weekly along with nephew V.C. Janardhan (also a practising lawyer), who began helping his uncle in 2008. He is the editor of Law Weekly (Criminal) and Writ Law Reporter.

In keeping with the times, The Law Weekly recently went online and has also been digitised. “In October 2009, we tied up with a publisher in Delhi and launched a CD version of The Law Weekly with all its volumes since 1914. There are also free updates on this year's judgments. We will also be coming up with a digital version that we will update with every new edition on the website. People can pay online and access it,” Janardhan says.

POSTED BY B.AMRITH ,CULLED FROM THE PAGES OF THE HINDU DATED 13.8.2011