On Kamsa, Lear and more
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The weeklong event at Rangayana in Mysore presented an impressive array of plays
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FESTIVALRangayana had innovative productions
Theatre has gained a new momentum under the guidance of Chidambarao Jambe, the Director of Rangayana, Mysore. Rangotsava-2005 drew a big crowd at Bhoomigita, recently.
Notable among plays presented during the week-long festival were Kamsayana by Hulugappa Kattimani, King Lear of Shakespeare by Jambe himself, Ekalavya by Manjunath Belekere and T.P. Kailasam's Poli Kitti by Ekbal Ahmed. Mahimapura by Jagadish Manavarte and Rehearsal by Krishna Prasad were equally impressive.
Encouraging the amateur theatre artistes to present their innovative plays is another effort being made by Rangayana. One such play, narrating the evils of war, was presented recently by Natana. Ondu Sainika Vrittantha depicted the evils and destruction of human values by war.
The theme of the Mahabharatha war was taken with a few basic sancharis of dance to simultaneously depict the present day's evils. Crisp music gave good support. The episode of Abhimanyu in Chakaravyuha and the fight between Bheema and Duryodhana were also symbolic of the present-day political power play.
The spirit of the script by H.S. Venkatesha Murthy deserves accolades. All artistes gave excellent performance.
Vedas and music
S. Venkatanathan, former Professor of Sanskrit, University of Mysore, presented a lec-dem on the subject Vedagalalli Sangeetha at Namana Kalamandira under the aegis of Nadamandira. He said that all the four Vedas have contributed greatly to music.
He spoke of how instruments such as flute and veena have always found a mention in the Vedas, citing compositions of saints.
Venkatanathan quoted the four types of veenas that existed during the Vedic period. Apaghatika veena, with 100 strings, he said, was made out of a special type of grass as specified in the Vedic script.
He described the relationship of animals such as peacocks, chatakas, krounchas, elephants and horses and plants such as mangoes, dates, lemons and so on to certain stayis in music.
Venkatanathan also emphasised that apart from Godess Saraswati, there are other ruling deities of ragas in music — Vanhi or fire, Brahma, Eshwara, Vishnu, Ganesha and Surya. The rare lec-dem was impressive.
B.S.S. RAO
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