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In south India the most celebrated dancing
girl was Muddupalani. A devadasi turned courtesan,
she adorned the royal court of one of the Nayaka kings
of Tanjore, Partapsimha (1739-1763), a great patron and
lover of music, literature and the arts.
Accomplished in music and dancing, Muddupalani was
also a talented scholar well versed in Sanskrit and
Telugu. Hailing from a family of devadasis with a
literary heritage, she was an eminent poet, honoured and
rewarded by her royal patron. In her time she
played mentor to young upcoming writers who proudly
dedicated their literary work to her. (‘Famous dancing girls from the pages of Indian history’ by Pran Nevile, The Asian Age, July 25, 2018) |
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Once, as Balasaraswati was dancing the
Bhairavi varnam “Mohamana,” Kuppuswamy Mudaliar gave the
mridangam a forceful beat and the skin on the right side
of the instrument split. In the half hour that it took
to procure a replacement, Bala continued to dance,
holding on to the line she was singing and offering
variation upon variation. It was instant choreography at
its best. (Exhibition on Bala by Museum of Performing Arts (MOPA) Foundation at Music Academy, Chennai, Jan 2019) |
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