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 Guru Devjani Chaliha Manipuri Dance Festival - Tapati Chowdhurie e-mail: tapatichow@yahoo.co.in Photos courtesy: Meitei Jagoi December 21, 2023 Manipuri Guru Devjani Chaliha is a name to reckon with. Though the years she spent in her Guru Maisnam Amubi Singh’s house at Imphal to learn Manipuri dance was the most memorable time in her life, her career as a dancer was not planned. When she was in Guru Amubi Singh’s house at Imphal, the job of a professor of Philosophy in Dhanamanjuri College was a godsend. Learning to dance as a hobby and teaching Philosophy seemed a perfect combination. However, soon dance became a part of her life, when at the behest of Amala Shankar she started teaching in Uday Shankar India Culture Centre where she taught dance for two years. Destiny’s call made her meet Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee who highlighted her talent as a dancer. Thanks to him, regular performances came her way from 1969. At the same time, requests from her friends to teach their daughters made her an instant teacher of Manipuri dance. Thus did she lay the foundation of her school, Meitei Jagoi, which means ‘Manipuri dance.’  Devjani Chaliha Like her Guru Amubi Singh, she wanted to teach Art for art’s sake with no pressures coming to her students from anywhere. Her aim was to build a complete personality. Her search for the basics led her to constitute five stages of teaching before starting to teach dance. She commenced readying her students in the following order: Yoga Asana would be the first, followed by Dance Exercises, before teaching the basic steps. After which Phibam or posture exercises and Rhythm Exercises were to be one after the other. After this “Chali” which is the first lesson of Manipuri dance would be taught. She does not till date believe in exposing her students to any kind of competition. Their only test where their mettle would be judged would be their performance. With her high standards of head and heart, her school Meitei Jagoi has produced many dance dramas such as ‘Creation of Earth’, ‘Basanta Bijoy’, ‘Rituraj’, ‘Swapner Desh’, ‘Chitrangada Sheireng’, ‘Mahasweta’, ‘Gouranga Leela’ and ‘Braj Leela’. She has also produced the ballet ‘La ija-kei-Oibi’ (The Tigress) in collaboration with JNMDA, besides other path-breaking productions.  Disciples of Devjani Chaliha 
Guru Devjani Chaliha’s Meitei Jagoi’s 50th anniversary was celebrated by her disciples in a grand way, in collaboration with Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India at Srijani Shilpagram, Santiniketan. At the start of the evening, video messages were shown, including from the Governor CV Ananda Bose of West Bengal, who had visited Guru Devjani Chaliha at her residence as a mark of respect. Video message from RK Tarunjit Singh, grandson of Rajkumar Budhimanta Singh who was the first teacher of Manipuri dance in Santiniketan in 1919, was an added honour. Santiniketan Srijani Shilpagram was decorated aesthetically for the event to celebrate the golden jubilee year. Mangaldeep was lit prayerfully by the guests Upendra Sharma, former Director of JNMDA; Ashish Kumar Giri, Director EZCC; poet Aniruddha Roy and Professor Viswabharati University; Sumit Basu, secretary and disciple of Meitei Jagoi; and Devjani Chaliha amidst chant invoking the blessings of Chandra, Surya, Bhumi, Disha, Shristi and Kala. The guests did the honour of lighting fifty lamps to mark the 50 years of Meitei Jagoi’s existence. After welcoming the revered guests and release of the Meitei Jagoi Golden Jubilee souvenir, Barsha, Aishani, Liza and Neha performed Thougal Jagoi - the folk dance of the Meitei community performed during the Lai Haraoba festival before the deities also known as Khamba Thoibi Jagoi. The dance used recordings of traditional musical instruments like pena and dholok.  Raas “Basanta Barnana” or rather description of Spring by poet Jayadeva in his immortal ashtapadi “Lalita lavanga lata parisilana komala malaya samire” was sung by Guru Devjani Chaliha herself while the students of Meitei Jagoi performed to her beautiful choreography. Clad in Raas costumes, the audience got a glimpse of Manipuri Raas in all its splendour. To celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Meitei Jagoi, the Manipuri students of Viswabharati University presented a few beautiful dance pieces. Tanum, Krishna Nartan (originally composed by Oja Tarun Kumar Singh recomposed and directed by Guru Prof Y. Hemant Kumar) as well as Krishna Avisar again by Y. Hemant Kumar were performed well. Tuhin Garai in Krishna Avisar was excellently rendered. The dance style, the art of the dancer, costume worn, the features of the dancer, choreographic skill of the dance composer coupled with the total ambience presented was aesthetic. The grand finale was Basanta Rasa, which in Manipur is performed on the full moon night of Chaitra. Sri Krishna is said to be on his abhisar with Radha and her gopis to play Holi and dance in ecstasy. The union of the divine being with the mortal being is celebrated. The beauty of the piece ended the evening magnificently. Tanchep of eight matras, Menkup of six matras and Tanjao of twelve matra taals were used. The musical ensemble of pena artiste Th. Chaurjit Singh, vocalist Sanahanbi Devi, flautist Meghachandra Singh and violinist Ng. Ibopishak Singh added to the magic of the piece. The two day festival consisted of the screening of the Bengali version of the documentary ‘A silent journey of rhythm’ on the life and works of Guru Devjani Chaliha, researched and directed by Indrajit Narayan.  Tapati Chowdhurie trained under Guru Gopinath in Madras and was briefly with International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi. Presently, she is a freelance writer on the performing arts. |
