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The incomparable saltless Lord
 Hema Rajan’s Nrithyopasana disciple-team of young danseuses staged an exquisite devotional dance-ballet titled 'Oppiliappan' (also
‘Uppiliappan’) at the
Sri Varasiddhi Vinayakar Koil Kala Mandapam recently.
'Oppiliappan' means the incomparable Lord of the Universe. 'Uppiliappan' means the Lord who relishes saltless diet. Thereby revolves the centric theme of the ballet.
Hiranyaksha, the fierce demon, snatches Mother Earth (Bhoodevi) and hides her in the ocean depths.
Lord Vishnu takes the form of an awesome, gigantic wild boar (Adhi Varaha), kills the demon and rescues her, prising her out with his mighty tusk.
Later, Bhoomidevi is born as the foster-daughter of sage Markandeya as ‘willed’ and is brought up most affectionately. She grows up into a lovely maiden dedicated to be the consort of the Lord. Another sage enters, claims the maiden as his bride. Sage Markandeya tries his best to stall him by pointing out that his daughter Bhooma cannot even cook properly and, invariably, prepares only saltless dishes. The claimant-sage bothers not, and, in sheer desperation, Markandeya appeals to the Lord for helpful intervention. Lo, the old suitor turns out to be the Lord himself.
 The divine wedding takes place. The lord agrees to take, thereafter, only saltless dishes in that sacred place. Even today, only saltless dishes are offered to the presiding deity and distributed, later, to the devotees at this Vaishnavite Divya Desam (Sacred
Centre).
‘Uppu’ means in Tamil, ‘salt’. ‘Oppu’ implies comparison, ‘ili’ signifies ‘without’ and, therefore, ‘Oppiliappan’ is the ‘incomparable Lord’. This Oppiliappan Koil (or Uppiliappan Koil – also known as ‘Thiruvinnagaram’ – ‘Heaven on Earth’ - Bhooloka Vaikuntam) is about 7 km from Kumbakonam, a sacred religious centre in Tamil
Nadu.
 Young danseuses Anamika (Vishnu), Saathvika, Akshaya and Vyjayanthi as Bhoomidevi (in various stages of growth), Sruthi (sage Markandeya) and Sarada (as demon Hiranyaksha) vied with one another in displaying praiseworthy talent. All the nine sentiments (nava rasas), as also other dance constituents, were graphically portrayed. The depiction of the episodes was quite impressive.
Hema Rajan (choreography), Padma Veeraraghavan (lyrics), Sujatha Mohan (nattuvangam), Murali and Bhagyalakshmi (vocal support), Sudhaman (mridangam), M S Kannan (violin) and Ramesh (flute) provided commendable accompanist support. Chief Commissioner of Income Tax Radha Balakrishnan was the chief guest.
The ballet was part of a 12-day music and dance festival, jointly organised by Nrithyopasana and Nrithyanjali Trust, in association with the
Sri Varasiddhi Vinayakar Sath Sangam. The exercise-series was to promote, encourage and foster latent talent. More than 60 performer-disciples of eminent gurus associated themselves with this ‘Mahotsavam’ (grand festival). Chennai DD Kendra director Ashok Jailkhani inaugurated the series. Violin maestro
Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan delivered the valedictory address.
R. Srinivasan
Ph: 24355576
r_seema30@hotmail.com
Published on 1st
June 2004
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