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 Aranya Sanskriti by Debjani Chatterjee - Tapati Chowdhurie e-mail: tapatichow@yahoo.co.in Photos courtesy: Debjani Chatterjee August 19, 2024 Pravaha Kalabhoomi in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, presented Aranya Sanskriti at Madhusudhan Manch in Kolkata. Aranya Sanskriti was a reflection of Tagore's works on the preservation of nature for the survival of our planet. It was a path-breaking piece of work directed by Debjani Chatterjee, a narrative aimed at creating an awareness to the present dangers facing mankind. Quotes from the Upanishads are greatly helpful in explaining the concepts of symbiotic relationship between man and nature. In a very natural and obvious progression, reference to Tagore's poems, songs, essays and dramas throw light on the same concepts propagated by the Upanishads. Though Debjani Chatterjee had put forward some of these thoughts and observations in a national level seminar on Tagore's impact on society, she was not satisfied and had cravings for more time and space to elaborate on the concepts, understanding, observations of the ecological consciousness that Tagore's works amply reflect. Life on earth is currently in the early stages of a Holocene extinction due to anthropogenic activities. Human beings have destroyed more than one-thirds of our forest cover and has overused our planet's resources by 75% in the year 2020 alone. Man has contributed to the rise of the earth's mean temperature by 0.8 °C, through menacing increase in fossil fuel related carbon emission, pollution, deforestation, Biocide and so on. Goals of predatory industrialization, routine devastation of landscapes, evisceration of communities and livelihoods, unsustainable urbanization, forced migration and militarization of culture has tipped the balance against man's favour resulting in a disastrous natural imbalance. The humankind is now struggling to overcome this dire situation through various sustainable plans and projects initiated by environmentalists, social activists, policy makers and governments from all across the globe. But it was Tagore, who, so long ago had envisioned and proposed so many ideas based on our ancient Vedic-Upanishadic philosophy, to maintain a fine balance between environment and development. This formed the foundation of Debjani Chatterjee's work Aranya Sanskriti, to hold a torch once again to the wisdom, prudence and foresight of the universal poet Rabindranath Tagore and reflecting upon the philosophy of our great Indian sages to remain in harmony with nature. Like some of Debjani's previous works such as Atmashakthi based on Tagore's Chandalika, she has explored Tagore's works through the lenses of Carnatic music as well in Aranya Sanskriti. It took her a great deal of time to research on the appropriate Rabindra Sangeets to be used before completing the script for her production. Her interpretation of Tagore's eco-consciousness was woven into a fine blend of Rabindra Sangeet and Carnatic music, through a series of long and intensive hours of composition and music rehearsals mainly with her Carnatic music team as well as with the Rabindra Sangeet ensemble.  Debjani Chatterjee in a duet The dance composition and choreography which was done entirely by Debjani Chatterjee was particularly challenging since the production fused the philosophically worded lyrics of Tagore with challenging "jathis" in-between the songs. However, my aesthetic taste was marred each time there was a break in the song to make room for jathis. It created a distraction to the wealth of thought the lyrics promised. For example, in the song "Akash bhara surjo tara", the choreographer interwove five jathis in the concept of portraying the poet's awe, submission and surrender to the cosmic elements that surround us and the Panchabhuta that sustain and maintains us. It rather hampered the beauty of the song. Akasha charis were used to reflect the element Vyoma or space; Bhumi charis were used to reflect Prithvi or earth and so on. Jathis simulating marches or parades used before the song "Moru bijayero ketano urao"- a clarion call by Tagore to increase the green cover of our land through plantation, was well conceived. A very challenging but successful rendition was the usage of Tanam in Pancharatna ragas to portray the diverse anthropogenic destructive activities and their impacts. The choreography of this dance section was performed in a dramatic but realistic manner to convey the gravity of the situation. Chhau and Raibenshe dance forms were used in the choreography of the song "Sundero bandhan nisthurero haate" to symbolize the negative role of humankind in destroying our natural environment. Narrations from Tagore's works greatly helped the drama to move on. Various practical and easy to carry out elements for the preservation of nature too were incorporated within the dance compositions, such as distribution of seed balls among the audience by the dancers themselves and planting and watering of a Aswatha (Sacred Fig tree) tree on stage by the entire production team.  Debjani Chatterjee's troupe The dance-drama commenced with a traditional Devi Krithi by Dikshitar, "Meenakshi memudam dehi" set to ragam Purvikalyani. The Devi Mahatmyam describes the Goddess of unsurpassable strength as the only sustaining power of the world, for she abides in the form of the earth. To Debjani Chatterjee, she is the primordial life force and energy; she is Prakriti; she is Meenakshi and she is also Bhoodevi. The choreographer followed it up with one of Rabindranath Tagore's most well-known creation, "Basanti hey Bhuvanomohini". Very significantly this song described the splendor of nature, composed by Tagore, who had been greatly inspired by the Dikshitar Krithi "Meenakshi memudam". The entire production was designed with the concept of ecological consciousness. The colour scheme of the costumes were chosen with the same concept in mind. Even the attire of the volunteers were kept green with hand embroidered Aswath leaves on Angavastras. The set accessories were hand made using jute and waste paper. The decors were kept minimal using as many plants as possible. Aranya Sanskriti, held in the memory of Pt. R. Visweswaran with the blessings of Debjani Chatterjee's dance guru Chitra Visweswaran, fulfilled its aim of creating awareness towards the preservation of nature. Vocalists Chandrabali Dutta and Deepabali Dutta led their group in the rendition of the Rabindra Sangeet pieces. Ranganathan Srinivasan was the vocalist who rendered the Carnatic song pieces. Preetha Venkitt was the nattuvanar. Ace percussionist Biplab Mondal gave fitting support, while S. Venkatraman played the mridangam and Surajit Chakraborty supported the dance-drama on the keyboard.  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. |
