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* In his major Bhairavi kriti 'Balagopala', Dikshitar calls himself a vainika-gayaka and this gives the key to an understanding and appreciation of the excellence of his style. Like the title vainika-gayaka that he gave himself, another is in his Bauli song - 'Panditatara', meaning more scholarly than others. ('A vital canon' by Dr. V Raghavan, NCPA's ON Stage, Aug 2025) * The former ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) chairman K Radhakrishnan is also a Kathakali dancer. * It was in the salons of the sought-after courtesans of Madras Presidency patronised by elite men that the javali peaked as a creative form in the early 20th century. Among those men was the superb composer and Dhanammal's patron, Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer, a clerk in the taluk office. The stories of their abiding relationship are legend - it is said that the outstanding javali Smara sundaranguni was composed by him for her as a gift when she was in dire straits. ('Long shunned as too explicit, an Indian music genre is rising from the margins' by Malini Nair, Scroll.in, May 31, 2025) * The importance of Muthusvami Dikshitar's compositions for the theory and evolution of Carnatic music is clear. The ragas are the crux of this matter. He took special care to work into the text of the songs and most dexterously, the names of the ragas so that doubts or disputes regarding the ragas of the pieces do not arise in his case as they do in the case of many kritis of Tyagaraja. ('A vital canon' by Dr. V Raghavan, NCPA's ON Stage, Aug 2025) * The moulding of Ratan Thiyam's artistic mind began with his parents, Thiyam Tarun Kumar and Bilasini Devi, both classical Manipuri dancers. His father set up the Tarun Kumar Dance Academy in Lahore before independence. Thiyam calls them "pioneers", for Manipuris rarely ventured out in those days. Born in 1948 in the pilgrimage town of Nabadwip in Bengal, Thiyam recalls being "brought up in costume boxes" as his parents travelled for performances. ('Around the world with Ratan Thiyam' by Shamik Bag, Mint, 14 August 2015) * The meaning of the name javali itself is contested, says Arudra: interpretations include "lewd song" in Kannada per an 1894 Kannada-English dictionary, "half a song" or javadam in some other works on musicology, and javada in Telugu, meaning a colt of filly to indicate the playful nature of the style. One colonial writer disapprovingly spoke of javalis as "songs of indelicate nature". ('Long shunned as too explicit, an Indian music genre is rising from the margins' by Malini Nair, Scroll.in, May 31, 2025) * In 1932, Vallathol came across a Mohiniattam dancer Orikkaledathu Kalyaniyamma and appointed her as the first Mohiniattam teacher at Kalamandalam. She arrived at Kalamandalam in the company of her guru Krishna Panicker. Later, another Mohiniattam guru Madhaviyamma, continued the legacy of teaching at Kalamandalam. The contemporary history of Mohiniattam unfurls itself with these three teachers. The beginning, however, followed the style of Panicker. ('The Occult Origins of Mohiniyattam: Part 21' by Nirmala Paniker, India Art Review, 17 Nov 2021) * Thanjavur was actually the source from where almost all the dance gurus came. They were teachers of the new urban elite of Madras, which included many film stars. Some gurus were more famous because they were in great demand to direct dance scenes in Tamil films. Such a new phenomenon created ripples in Madras, because the audiences were seeing their favourite songs as visuals for the first time on screen. Kamala, the Travancore sisters and Vyjayanthimala, to name only a few, brought the new-found art of Bharatanatyam to the masses on the silver screen in small, delectable doses. ('That magnificent Migration' by Lakshmi Vishwanathan, The Hindu Friday Review, Aug 21, 2014) * Nandikeshwara's Bharatarnavam can be credited as an important and influential text on Indian dance forms. It consists of a graphical explanation about the Perini dance form. Characteristic features of Perini, costumes, music instruments, behavioural regulations on the stage for performers and the panchangas, the five parts, are explained in detail by Nandikeshwara. Sarangadeva in his Sangeeta Ratnakara, Parsvadeva in his Sangeeta Samayasara, Jayappa in his Nritta Ratnavali have referred to Perini dance form, though their references do not have any resemblance to those of Nandikeshwara. They have explained the Perini dance form as it was in existence during their times at different geographical locations. ('Perini Panchangas: Reconstructions by Nataraja Ramakrishna' by Kala Krishna, Nartanam, Oct– Dec 2016) * In ancient times, according to Acharya Parvatikumar, 200 ghungroos (bells) were tied to the left foot and only a 100 ghungroos (bells) on the right. This was because the left foot is not so frequently used and if it is, is soft, whereas the right foot is used often and loudly. Nowadays, since dancers do not have sufficient time to tie the ghungroos strung on a single thread, the buckle type ghungroos have been introduced as a convenience. ('Abhinaya Darpanam' by Sandhya Purecha, Nartanam, Oct - Dec 2019) * This author belongs to the same Konkan region where Parvatikumar comes from. The 'Malwani' or 'Kudali' dialect that I have now lost practice of, still comes easily to the tongue of the Guru. He was perhaps the only person among my distinguished visitors to establish an intimate dialogue with my illiterate mother in the 'Kudali' dialect - the only language she could speak. ('Acharya Parvatikumar's presentation of the Abhinaya Darpanam' by S Kadam, Nartanam, Oct - Dec 2019) * Three regions ~ Mithila, Bengal and Odisha ~ have claimed ownership of Jayadeva as son of their soil. Considerable confusion arose because of two reasons ~ existence of at least three poets and writers having the same name and the existence of three villages in three States named Kendu Bilwa, the supposed birthplace of Jayadeva. ('Jayadeva's Genius-I' by Parimal Brahma, The Statesman, Sept 25, 2024) |
