Alarmel Valli recently paid tribute to the iconic saint-poet Tallapaka Annamayya. She spoke to UK Banerjee about the essence of the unusual verses of the act
Tallapaka Annamayya was a revered saint-poet of the 15th century and the earliest-known Indian musician to compose songs called sankirtanas in praise of Venkateswara, the deity of seven hills in Tirupati, with unbroken worship offered over 12 centuries. His musical form continues to be hugely popular among Carnatic concert artistes. Annamacharya is still remembered as a great bhakta of Govinda by devotees and singers alike, and widely regarded as the Andhra Pada Kavita Pitamaha (grand old man of Telugu song-writing). While he enjoyed immense popularity in his days, his compositions were forgotten for over three centuries for some inexplicable reason. They were later found engraved on copper plates — hidden for centuries — inside the Venkateswara temple: opposite the hundi (cash-box) and concealed in a tiny vault!
How Can I Reach YouIJ, a recent choreographic presentation by the Chennai-based ace Bharatanatyam danseuse Alarmel Valli, wove together an unusual mix of verses, and brought to light the rich musical subtlety of this great poet of south India. Valli’s accompanying poet, Arundhati Subramaniam, explained the spirit, “In his exquisitely crafted padams (musical verses), we hear the voice of the anguished individual seeker as well as the voice of the imperious goddess. We find adoration as well as irreverence, longing as well as intimacy, devotion as well as feisty sensuality. We are witness to the wild impassioned human yearning for the sacred, as well as the delicate erotic interplay between the goddess Alamelumanga and her consort, lord Venkatesha of Tirupati. In poetry that distils the many shades and nuances of bhakti, we are reminded — time and again — of the essential inseparability of the erotic and the existential, the human and the divine”.
Valli has been a staple for most of the India festivals held abroad. With a way of breezing through the proscenium space, she has the verve of a floating flotilla and the ease of a flying swan. Both her grit and her grace come seamlessly winging on her repertoire of a dancer’s skills: accumulated over years of careful grooming.
Shriman Narayana, coming first, was a song of praise, an invocation to Vishnu, as Narayana which is an evergreen composition, made popular by MS Subhalakshmi. “I began with a depiction of Vishnu stretching out his four arms and reined in the five elements. Water, became his lotus, earth, became his mace, air, his conch and fire, his discus. He became Akasa, and filled all space. In my interpretation, I’ve woven into the text, a depiction of the pada yatra (the pilgrimage on foot) to the temple at Tirupatim,” she said. And as a finale to the composition she incorporated a Tamil sangam poem that elaborated the idea of Vishnu as the all-pervading divine.
Kopamu Teerinameeda, the second verse, had the scene unfolding in the bed-chamber of lord Venkateswara and his consort Alamelumanga. The goddess appeared to be a khandita nayika — angry, sarcastic, rejecting her husband’s amorous advances — declaring she will make love only when her anger has ceased and until then, flattery will more than suffice. But in the last stanza, there was a shift in her attitude, a sudden softening of her tough stance and her anger, when wryly, almost reproachfully; she confessed her helplessness in the face of her desire for him.
Alarulu Kuriyagan, the third verse, was a rare song: to the dance of Alamelumanga. look at her! said the poet, as she danced, in a cascade of beauty and of flowers showered on her by the gods: graceful and vivacious, while girls, beautiful like half-opened buds, marvelled at her dance. leaping lightly and pirouetting, she captivated the heart of Hari, who showers praise on her. “In this poem, I have embroidered the line where the girls shower praise, introducing the idea that one moment they compare her to a gazelle, the next moment to a peacock, one moment to lightning, the next moment to a graceful creeper,” she said. The fourth verse, Edu Upayamu, was one of adhyaatmika sankirtanas (existential poems) that portrayed the devotee’s agonised, tearful longing for the divine.
The next verse, Elinavadu Tanu, was strikingly contemporary in tone. Here the goddess was supremely confident, joyous, provocative, as she put on a teasingly self-deprecating air in the company of her friends. The act concluded with the final verse Elinavadu Tanu.