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Perini flourished centuries ago in the Telugu-speaking
regions, reaching its peak during the Kakatiya rule. The dance finds
mention in the early medieval work Bharataarnavam by Nandikeshwara. Based on this work, Nataraja Ramakrishna first made mention of Perini in his award-winning book Daakshinaatyula Natyakala Charithra
(1968). Later, he made several visits to Ramappa temple, Palampet, to
write a commentary on their sculptures as part of Rallapalli
Anantakrishna Sarma’s Telugu translation of Jaya Senani’s Sanskrit
classic, Nritta Ratnavali. (‘Nataraj Ramakrishna: The pioneer of Perini’ by Aruna Chandaraju, The Hindu Friday Review, March 18, 2017) |
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Nataraj Ramakrishna emphasized that sounds of percussion
instruments and ‘solukattu’ (‘shushkaaksharaalu’) generate a kind of
vibration which in turn shapes the structure of movements of a dance.
Hence, Ramakrishna decided that Perini music ie., sound and vibrations,
should be in sync with a dance for soldiers. He used music’s ‘drupada
sampradayam’ inviting experts of that tradition like Dhoopam Suryalingam
and Dharmavaram Guruvulu to develop a specific mridangam playing style
for Perini. He employed jathis/shabdas drawn from dance text Nandeeshwara Bharatam and Shaiva Agamas.
He thus reconstructed Perini’s sequence of movements and found ideal
accompanying musical instruments. The aaharyam was visualised on the
basis of descriptions for Perini in Nritta Ratnavali’s 7th chapter, with some modifications to suit a classical dance form. (‘Nataraj Ramakrishna: The pioneer of Perini’ by Aruna Chandaraju, The Hindu Friday Review, March 18, 2017) |
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