 Buddham Sharanam Gachhami
 The setting is 6th century B.C.
The story is that of Prince Siddhartha, best known as Gauthama, the Buddha. The
saga is more than 2,500 years old. Yet, its charm and value are
time-transcending.
Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, IRTS,
the Kalakshetra-style, eminent artiste and an intelligent and thinking danseuse
with an inimitable flair for adapting any theme to suit contemporary
requirements with sensibility, presented ‘Buddham Sharanam Gachchami’, under
the auspices of Kartik Fine
Arts, at the Narada Gana Sabha Sadguru Gnanananda
Hall December 8.
She is an excellent
choreographer, especially of traditional dance ballets. She was, therefore, able
to present the Buddha theme right from the womb to his Nirvana: his varying
facets, as the only child of his royal parents, his martial training, his
romantic interludes with beautiful wife Yashodhara, fatherly affection towards
infant Rahul and then, his disturbing confrontations with human sufferings,
disease, death and final renunciation.
 Ananda was the prince
Siddhartha, and again the Buddha, two totally different roles, which she
portrayed with customary, characteristic elan. She was the ‘Enlightened One’,
per se. The serenity in her face was serenity at its best.
She presented several episodes
from Buddha’s life and teachings. She also did not present some others -
understandable in the context of time constraints.
Of those presented, that of
Angulimala, the dreaded finger-garlanded-robber- murderer was impressive. He
meets Buddha as a potential 1,000th victim. The calm radiance of the Buddha
overpowered him and transformed him duly. Angulimala became a thorough ahimsa
votary. All the same, the transformation of a hardened criminal appeared to be
too quick and easy. Time constraint, again!
Buddha’s meaningful
Dhammapada efforts to enlighten the masses of the futility of attachments
towards mundane pleasures, the enunciation of the four cardinal Truths and the
Eight-Fold Path were credibly offered. The Bharatanatyam techniques were
scrupulously adhered to vis-à-vis the dance ballet requirements.
 Ananda’s associates, Manjula,
Mamata, Aarati, Maithreyi, Vasavi, Radhika, Sruti, Ganesh (as white elephant
Airavata), Soumya Mohan and Karthika did their assigned roles expectedly. Prema
Ramamurthy’s music was immensely pleasing (Sanskrit lyrics). The script was
compiled from well-known Buddhist lore – Lalitavistara, Asvagosha’s
Buddhacarita, Buddhagoshacharya’s Padyachudamani and Soundarya Nandan.
Ananda’s Kuchipudi recital,
the next evening (Dec. 9), at the Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium, was, inter
alia, highlighted, by the difficult ‘Tarangam’ number which she performed
remarkably well. In this Tarangam, Krishna was described as Navaneeta Chora,
Govardana Dhara, the one who showed the seven worlds in his mouth, the one who
sported with the Gopis, who performed the Raasa leela and the one to whom saints
and sages paid reverential obeisance. Towards the end of this Ragamalika-Adi
Kuchipudi item, Ananda performed intricate jathi patterns on the edge of a brass
plate.
Come again to Chennai soon,
Ananda.
R Srinivasan
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