Nalan’s love tale through adavus and mudras

CHENNAI: Penned by Pugazhendi Pulavar, the ‘Poet of the Venba,’ Nalavenba is a Chola-era Tamil text that celebrates the story of king Nalan’s love for queen Damayanthi. Bringing this timeless text onto the stage, Bharatanatyam exponent and musicologist Vidya Bhavani Suresh, recently presented Nalavenba- A Tale Of Love, along with her daughter and disciple Mahitha Suresh. The production was a part of the Indian Dance Festival at the shores of Mahabalipuram.

Vidya’s rendezvous with Nala and Damayanthi took place when she was eight through her grandmother. Since then, she has been fascinated with Nalavenba and desired to visually bring the text.

Giving us a sneak-peek into her research about the ancient text, Vidya says, “I adapted Nalavenba way back in 1998. That entire decade, I was fully immersed in Tamizh Illakkiyam Bharathamum. By then, I had already worked on Thiruppugazh, Paripadal, Thirumurugatruppadai and Meenakshi Ammai Pillai Tamizh. When I chanced upon Nalavenba, unlike the other texts I had worked on, this was a continuous story. That made it both different and exciting.”

Vidya wanted to bridge the gap between two entirely different media and wanted to shed light on the beauty of the language and the creativity of the poet. “A favourite line of mine is where Pugazhendi Pulavar describes Nala’s land as one where parrots and the eagles, irrespective of their contrasting natures, live in the same nest. And, that is his way of telling us that Nala’s kingdom was filled with peace and harmony. My focus was that the dance has to bring out both aspects,” she states.

The musicologist highlights the unique elements of Nalavenba that intrigued her to delve deep and elucidates, “A recurring theme in most of the texts is the heroine pining for the hero. The heroine would rant her feelings to her friend (Sakhi), a silent character in many of the pieces. I have always found it outdated in the context of today’s woman, who stands up for herself and leads her life on her terms. What attracted me to Nalavenba was the level of importance given to the love that the male protagonist had for the female protagonist, upon hearing her superior qualities extolled by the swan. It is Nala who initiates the message of love through the swan, which is never seen in traditional Bharatanatyam.”

The celestial swan that plays the cupid is the most important character in the narrative.”I visualised her as an extremely beautiful bird with a regal bearing and a kind heart. Regarding the enactment, I focused immensely on the interaction between Nala and the swan. The swan doesn’t give more details and enjoys testing Nala’s patience. The powerful Nala, so lovelorn, and the swan having a little fun at his expense, are all my creative liberties with the text to make it more enjoyable. Mahitha Suresh played the swan’s role to perfection,” she adds. They used a special white costume, unique tiara, new hairstyle, and a netted flowing fabric for wings.

Apart from all the splendid, the Bharatanatyam exponent faced quite a few challenges in depicting Nalavenba visually. The biggest among them was choreographing a word-heavy and fast-paced text; however, crossing that barrier was the real high.

The event witnessed the graceful presence of a lot of people from other states and nationalities, who embraced Bharatanatyam and the narration. “There were spontaneous claps at many points. My compering was detailed and greatly helped in appreciating the nuances of the text. There was also a family from Haridwar who came backstage and applauded the performance. One of them was a renowned theatre artiste,” shares the excited 54-year-old.

The Bharatanatyam exponent’s most challenging work was Thirumurugatrupadai, an old text on Lord Muruga. She was electrified to visualise the conversation between two devotees and it has many descriptions of the six holy shrines. Before signing off, she wishes to explore more about Thirukkural.