Pavithra’s Panchatantra

R Srinivasan, published on March 8, 2008 in Chennai SaiMira

“One’s wisdom and appreciation of beauty manifests through various forms of one’s culture and the study of one’s cultural or heritage leads to the appreciation of beauty and wisdom in life,” – Swami Dayananda Saraswati.

Classical dance in India is revered as a sacred form of art. Bharatanatyam, one of the seven popular dance forms of our country (the other six being Kuchipudi, Kathak, Odissi, Kathakali, Manipuri and Mohiniattam), is deemed to be the very essence of sacredness.

It is most heartening that young Bharatanatyam dancers have taken to educative themes from our epics, puranic episodes and scriptures, setting them to tuneful lyrics to impress on very young minds (read, children) the intrinsic value of our hoary heritage.

In this context, Pavithra Srinivasan’s presentation of select tales from the Panchatantra was admirably powerful and highly impressive. The Panchatantra tales, graphically presented by the great scholar Vishnu Sarma to four young princes, turned their lives completely, so much so, they became worthy heirs-apparent to their father, the king, who had till then despaired of them. The tales reveal, powerfully, the true values for a happy, wise and meaningful existence.

Pavithra presented, in all, five tales – those of the Crow and the Peacock, the day-dreaming lazybones Devadatta, the Monkey and the Crocodile, the Iron Box and the Ant and the Pigeon.

The relevant messages were: Everyone has their own importance, there is no need to be jealous of others; there is no substitute for hard work; practical intelligence can save your life; what you sow, so shall you reap; don’t do unto others what you would not want them to do unto you; and, lastly, a friend in need is a friend indeed.

These are all well-known tales to bear detailed repetition. But Pavithra became the subject content itself in each episode, the very character itself – and there were 10 of these in all.

She was the very personification of the crocodile, the wise monkey (let me assure you, she is the most beautiful monkey in the monkey-world, who was a natural simian! – no insult this, but a sincere compliment, please!). You cannot be more lazy than Pavithra as the indolent Devadatta!

You saw, on stage, the crocodile swimming and gliding in the river and suddenly submerging to drown the monkey. You may have been unnerved, but the quick-witted monkey was not, “Oh, friend Croc! Why did you not tell me before that your wife wanted my jamun-sweet heart for her dinner? When I go out, I hang in the branches my heart for safe-keeping! No harm, come, let us go back and retrieve my heart quickly!” That is how you should get out of trouble. What is more, you should be careful in choosing your friends! ‘Tell me who is your friend, and I’ll tell you your bio-data’. Have you not heard this adage before?

The ant and the pigeon, on the other hand, brief you on what true friendship is all about.

As a strutting peacock, as the poor imitation crow, Pavithra gave unbelievable expression and life to these simple tales. Her Bha-Ra-Ta-Natyam: Bhavam (expression) Ragam (musical mode), Ta (talam – rhythm) and Natyam (dance and drama) were straight, consummate artistry, head to foot, limb to limb.

As a faculty-disciple at Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (Institute of Vedic Studies and Sanskrit, Saylorsburg, Pa,, USA), she now teaches and performs on a global level – verily, a globe-trotting cultural ambassador!

The other credits were: Hari Prasad (music) Pavithra and Madhusudan (choreography, nattuvangam), Kandadevi S. Vijayaraghavan (violin), Ananthapadmanabhan (veena), S Vijayaraghavan (mridangam), Sindhuja, Srihari and Siddarth (children’s voices) and Pavithra Srinivasan (choreography, concept, idea and narration).

The presentation was accompanied by judicious cartoon projection as well. The venue was R K Swami Auditorium, Sivaswami Kalalaya, Mylapore, Chennai – 600 004.