Once upon a time, we Indians loved Eroticism.
Temples had sculptures with erotic postures (these
exist even today, a fact ‘moral police’ band will refuse to accept or
acknowledge). Temples were even built to celebrate love in a place called Khajuraho. A marvellous piece of work
called ‘Kamasutra’ was composed. Yet
another beautiful piece of love poetry was composed by somebody called Jayadeva in Orissa. But much before all this, the Tamizh land saw a bevy of works in the Sangam period which openly talked about the union and separation.
Even Bhakti poets took an erotic
route to sing verses on the Almighty,
some Aazhwars being prime examples.
Enter the ‘whites’ from an alien country and
everything changed from then on. In the course of the nineteenth century, Indian society absorbed from the British and overblown sense of Victorian piety, the remnants of which
still exist in the twenty first
century.
But amidst all these, was a woman in Tanjavore who had fame and riches while
modesty, according to her was for the colourless and the timid. This woman, Muddu Pazhani was a revolutionary of
sorts. She had the audacity to compose a work on Lord Krishna in which Radha
marries him off to a girl called Ila.
This work- Radhika Santwanamu- which
has 584 poems, oozes with sensuality.
Needless to say, this Devadasi woman
was condemned by the society that time, which in fact had no qualms in
appreciating and acknowledging the ‘Bhakti
element’ in songs composed by Kshetrayya who too sang in praise of Lord Krishna.
Sample this song of Kshetrayya- When we are on
the bed of gold, playing at love talk/ He calls me Kamalakshi, the other
woman’s name/ I am so mad, I hit him as hard as I can/With my braid.
And compare that with this written by Muddu Pazhani- He is the best lover, a real connoisseur, extremely delicate/Love him
skilfully and make Him love you.
The difference between the two? The first one is by
a man. The second one is by a woman. Patriarchy at its best!
Thankfully, somebody by name Nagarathnamma revived the poems of Muddu Pazhani and a
classical Bharatanatyam dancer has
been performing this too on stage.
Let us move away from the South towards the West. A
folk dance form was extremely popular
during the 18th and the 19th Century. This form
called Lavani traces its origins to
the Marathi folk theatre Tamasha which was an expression of
socio-religious-political views of the masses. It is said that it was used to
entertain soldiers who were injured during the war. There were even two
branches of Lavani- Nirguni, which was spiritual, and Shringari, which as the name suggests is
erotic and naughty. The former is now obsolete while the latter still exists.
It was mainly performed by women from ‘backward communities’(it is said that
people from the ‘upper caste’ loathe to perform this coquettish dance form) , but cross-dressed men performed
as well. Now, there are many cross-dressed men who are Lavani dancers.
Used often in Marathi
and in some Hindi films, Lavani found its way to Tamizh films thanks to the Maestro(I am not sure if there was a
Lavani dance sequence in any old Tamizh film. Somebody can clarify on this!).
‘Pollada MadanabhaNam’ from ‘Hey Ram’(2000) is an authentic Lavani
song. Yet the tune and the orchestration are by the Maestro. In a way, one can say that he improvised on an original Lavani song and still we see the Raaja stamp throughout.
Based on Pahaadi,
a raga which can take any avatar, the
song starts with lines in Marathi.
With the Dilruba and the Dholaks acting as the backbone, the
song bristles with melody in the voice of Kavita
Krishnamurty.
The interlude
is filled with lined motifs. If the Dholak
makes us visualise the dance, the Dilruba
makes us see music. It is deep, resonant and emotionally redolent.
What adds to the experience is the chorus voice (men
and women). The jatis rendered by the
male chorus sound as if there is a secret waiting to be revealed.
The secret probably is revealed in the first CharaNam in which the first segment
sounds poignant in Mishra Pahaadi and
the second segment jumps with exultation.
The second CharaNam
has a rhythmic sway with sprightly variations and buoyancy. There is an
unmistakable sense of joy. After all, sensuality is to be celebrated.
And we Indians love Eroticism, don’t we?
