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The Music Academy library is presently undergoing
extensive digitisation and cataloguing. The process has resulted in some
treasures resurfacing and one of these is a book on Bharatanatyam.
Booklet would perhaps be more appropriate for it comprises a mere 14
pages or so. But it is historically significant for it probably is the
oldest surviving Bharatanatyam brochure. The Music Academy began the
practice of publishing souvenirs for its music festivals in 1935. This
is just a year later - dating to December 27, 1936.
The dance performance by Varalakshmi and Bhanumati of Kumbakonam had
Papanasam Vadivelu Pillai as the nattuvanar. The inner pages give
details of the bill of fare – alarippu, jatisvara in Vasanta and tisra
tala, sabdam in Khambodi set to misra tala, swarajati in Husseni in
tisra tala, padams in Kalyani/rupakam, Ananda Bhairavi/tisra triputa and
Saveri/adi, javali (Behag/rupakam), tillana, Jayadevar ashtapadi and a
sloka from the Krishnakarnamrta. The important pieces have their lyrics
given in full, with translation in English. Those with solfa syllables
and pure nritta pieces have explanatory notes on what they are. The
publication was one of the Music Academy’s several attempts at bringing
to the fore the beauty and significance of South Indian classical dance.
(‘The birth of Bharatanatyam’ by V. Sriram, The Hindu, Dec 15, 2016)
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