My visit to Natavari Academy’s celebration of the 85th birth anniversary of Guru Purushottam, popularly known as Puru-Dadheech in Indore, on the 17th and 18th of July 2024 was the experience of a lifetime. Besides being a well-known name in the field of Kathak dance and an excellent performer, Puru Dadheech is a scholar and a choreographer. A prolific writer, his style of Kathak is replete with its creative and practical aspects. His developed style of Kathak is remarkable for the use of Karanas and Angahars. Dadheech has nurtured a collection of rare and aprachalit taals, with a plethora of intricate and complex compositions in Sankirn and Khand jaati taals, performed with elan by his students, who visualise them with their footwork in Drut and Ati Drut layas. Besides reviving many extinct traditions of Kathak dance, he has revived the Pracheen Angas of Kathak, like Urap, Tirap, Sanch, etc. His daughter-in-law, Harshita, is a torchbearer of his style. Sahityakar Dadheech has been groomed by his guru Shivmangal Singh Suman and other greats and has created many dance ballets like Dhrupad, Stuti, and Nayak Bhed in the chhand of a taal. One of his biggest contributions is the revival of the Katha Kathan style of Bhakti Nartan in Kathak. He creates his own Katha Kathan scripts with Sutradhars, taking forward the story with his signature, “Katha sunate hain, hum katha sunte hain.”

The performances in the two-day-long festivals were all based on the works of the versatile genius. According to Indian tradition, the first day commenced with a Ganesh Vandana composition in Sanskrit by Puru Dadheech, rendered by Shri Gautam Kale, and performed by Harshita Sharma Dadheech and Damyanti Miradwal. The spoken word in Sanskrit was translated into the rich language of Kathak dance with grace and care.

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Soon after “Purukalp-Kavya Sangrah,” a collection of poems by Puru Dadheech was released. Post that, national awards constituted in the name of Mahamahopadhyay Dr. Puru Dadheech were bestowed upon Shri Piyal Bhattacharya and Yuva Puraskar to Shri Ayodhya Sharan Mishra. Piyal was also conferred with an honorary Mahamahopadhyaya degree. Ayodhya Sharan Mishra had performed in the ancient Kathak Katha Vachan style of Ayodhya. This was followed by Guru Pad Pujan and Guru Samman of Dr. Puru Dadheech with Vedic mantrochar by brahmins. His five generations of students were present to honour their guru, and PhD scholars from Sri Sri University also came together to honour their mentor. The day concluded with Chidakash Kalalay performing Rwitu Kalp, a Hindi transliteration of Kalidasa’s Ritu Samhar by Puru Dadheech. ‘Samvatsar’ represented the cycle of 12 months on this earth, having emerged from the conjugation of ‘Agni’ (cosmic causal energy) and ‘Som’ (cosmic causal matter), the key reason behind the existence of life on earth.

Owing to the coalescence of Agni and Som, ‘Samvatsar’ is regarded as a ‘Yajna’—a creative process that emanates duality. Such exuding gets manifested at three levels: ‘Agni-aatmak’, ‘Som-aatmak’, and ‘Agni-Som-aatmak’. These combinations mark the genesis of the cycle of seasons on the Earth: Grishma, or summer, is ‘Agni-aatmak’, Varshaa, or monsoon, is ‘Som-aatmak’, whereas Sharad, or autumn, gets unfolded as ‘Agni-Som-aatmak’. Hemant, or late autumn, is a transitional phase towards Shishir, or winter, which embodies a pure ‘Som-aatmak’ state. Vasant, again, brings about a gleeful, harmonious balance of the ‘Agni-Som-aatmak’ stage; this conceptualisation of ‘Samvatsar’ was the cornerstone of the play. To give this theme a form, the ‘Upa-rupak, also known as Raag-kaavya, which stands as the creative extension of the ‘rupak’ system that was highly stylised and structured in the Natyashastratic era, was adopted.

“Raamakreed” is a particular form of ‘Upa-rupak’  where the ‘description of seasons’ was prescribed by Abhinavagupta, which made Samvatsar Kathaa come up as a performance cradled in the form. The script was conceived from Kalidas’s Ritusamhaar with segments of Hindi translations by M.K. Singh to draw a common linguistic ground between the performance and the contemporary audience.

Bhattacharya drew a parallel between Adam and Eve in classical Western culture, with Bhrigu and Angiraa being the primordial, cosmic father and cosmic mother. Very creatively in the drama, Bhrigu and Angiraa opened the play when Bhrigu left the seed with Angiraa, and the entire universe was born out of her womb. Thereafter, gradually, the seasons arrived. Some of the Ritus envisioned as heroes (Naayaks)—Greeshma, Varshaa, and Hemant—are heroes. Greeshma was all fury; Varsha is thunder and rain. Sharad, being more balanced, was given a distinct treatment. As a true Indian, the choreographer used the motif of the divine mother worshipped during Sharad. The culture and celebration of Navratri got fused in its crux to form the depiction of this season on a celebratory note. The portrayal of Shishir witnessed a turnaround in the backdrop and was transformed into a marketplace with its buzz and bustle.

The introduction of the special character of Veet, the valet of the King, aiding him in donning dresses and jewels, made the marketplace colourful. Then came Vasant, the usher of harmony and ecstasy. A quintessential time for love and celebration, presented through  ‘Horikhel’ from Vrindavan. The eternal cycle goes on. Dhrupad songs weave the drama using musical instruments such as the Dhrupadi Rabab (a lute from mediaeval India) and the Kinnari Vina in the orchestra.

The performers of Samvatsar Kathaa Sayak, Amrita, Inderpal, Subhendu, Pinki, Akash, Shreetama, Smriti, Moumita, and Chhandobani were superb. The orchestra conductor, Piyal Bhattacharya, who had conceptualised and directed Samvatsar Katha, played the dardul and sang too; Kachchhapii Vina and Pakhawaj were played by Abhijit and Mithun, respectively. Vocal support was provided by Seuli.

The 18th of July started with Puru Dadheech’s senior disciple, Manjiri Deo, performing with her three generations the exclusive Ganesh Vandana that Dr. Dadheech had written for her at the time she enrolled herself as his disciple. Harshita Dadheech, disciple and daughter-in-law of the Dadheech couple, who showed her potential to hold the flag high and flutter in her guru’s style, performed solo on Aprachalit Taal. Manthika choreographed with the usage of many aprachalit pracheen angas of Kathak revived by Puru Dadheech. Kaushik Basu accompanies her on Tabla, Deepak Khasrawal on Harmonium, Sharmishtha Basu on vocals, Smita Vajpeyi on Sitar, and Damyanti Miradwal on Padhant. Post her performance, Dadheech’s disciples and torch bearers of the Katha Kathan style—Piyush Raj and Sunil Sunkara—performed a new production called “katha somnath ki” from Dadheech’s Dwadash Jyotirling series. It was the story of the first jyotirling of Somnath told in a lucid story-telling style. The stylised costumery was of special interest to me. Its success was noted by the non-stop clapping and audience appreciation. The noted Hindustani classical musician Ulhas Kashalkar won over the hearts of aficionados with Mia ki Mallahar, Pt. Mukundraj Deo on tabla, Deepak Khasrawal on harmonium, and Sai Eshwari on tanpura. Dadheech’s repertory Natwar Rangam performed his new production, Narmada Kalpava.lli, put to music by Kaushik Basu, with Harshita excelling in the group.

The proof of Dadheech’s genius was for all to see in the two-day-long festival.

The writer is a senior dance critic