Grace in Every Move; The Role of Men in Indian Classical Dances

Mohiniyattam, the lasya-centric form, typically has women as practitioners and teachers, even as men have been a minor presence in the domain for four decades now. A handful of them learned the art either through private classes or from a couple of other dance institutions that never imposed restrictions on men learning Mohiniyattam. Historically, the 1930-founded Kalamandalam had introduced courses in this Kerala dance a couple of years after its inception. The earliest Mohiniyattam teacher was male: Korattikara Krishna Panikkar. In the Tamil city of Thanjavur, north of the Krishna Vilas Tank, Serfoji’s palace functioned not just as his living abode but as a bustling hub of performing arts. Dance, drama, and music flourished in a big way, and one of the products of that boom was a foursome who became renowned as the Tanjore Quartet. The brothers—Chinnayya, Ponnayya, Sivanandam, and Vadivelu—excelled respectively as a dancer, composer-vocalist, mridangam percussionist, and violinist.

Together, they contributed pivotally to Sadir that eventually gained global fame as Bharatanatyam in post-Independence India. Soon after 1832, when Serfoji II died at the age of 55, ending up as the last ruler of the Bhonsle dynasty of the Maratha principality of Thanjavur, the four brothers shifted to Travancore to serve under Maharaja Swati Tirunal Rama Varma. The polyglot Malayali genius (1813-46) was then just out of his teens but had already been regarded highly for his love and contributions to the arts. A music composer and patron of dances, Swati’s verses have enriched Carnatic classical as well as popular choreographies in Mohiniyattam to date. Of the foursome, Vadivelu Pillai (1810-45) effectively uplifted Mohiniyattam by bringing its dancers to the Maharaja’s court and facilitating their addition of aesthetics to the art. Researchers point out a dearth of literature about the Mohiniyattam repertoire before the times of Swati. “Some dance pieces such as Mukkuthi and Kurathi were performed by Mohiniyattam dancers in northern Kerala, where the influence of the repertoire from Travancore was limited,” according to scholar-guru Nirmala Paniker.

Tracing back, pioneering performer Kalamandalam Sathyabhama (1937- 2015) notes that ‘Balarama Bharatam’ by ruler Karthika Thirunal (1723-98) carries the earliest reference to Mohiniyattam (as ‘MohiniyattaNatanam’). Impressed by Dasiyattam dance of a neighboring kingdom, he entrusted his courtiers to go for formatting, sketching the rudiments of Mohiniyattam. Poet Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer (1877-1949), too, records in his ‘History of Kerala Literature’ that Mohiniyattam was prevalent in the 18th century, only that it took Swati’s period to earn a distinct enrichment with items such as cholkettu, jatiswaram, varnam, padam, and tillana. Today, at a pan-India level, Mohiniyattam is among the eight dances conferred with an official ‘classical’ status. And Kerala, through Kathakali, is the only state that has contributed two to the list by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the country’s 1953-founded apex body for performing arts. The peninsula has two others in the category: Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu) and Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh/Telangana). Adjacent to it is Odissi (from Odisha). From the Northeast are Manipuri (Manipur) and Sattriya (Assam). The extended Hindi belt, from Rajasthan to Bengal, has Kathak.

Dancers from Kerala

Kathakali, with its elements of drama, is counted as a dance-theatre, occupying the only such slot in the Akademi’s list of ‘classical’ forms. Such is its 400 years of history that Kathakali has primarily been male-dominated. Only into the second half of the 20th century did the form see a trendy entry of women as performers. From the 1970s, Tripunithura, a little south of Kochi, even saw the formation of a ladies’ troupe, following which present-day Kathakali has reasonably decent female participation. That apart, the masters, performers, and students primarily continue to be male. Be it Nalan Unni (1807-65), Kunchu Karthavu (1829-97), or the 20th century’s illustrious Mathoor Kunjupilla Panikar, Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, or reigning lord Kalamandalam Gopi and his famed partner-on-stage Margi Vijayakumar, men occupy the plum slots.

Bharatanatyam in Kerala has veteran P.S.A. Manu, who is from near Thrissur but left his Kulimuttam village for Tamil Nadu to pursue higher studies. Back in his native state in the last decade, the master, who will turn 70 next year, is a Muslim by birth (with Manaf as his original name). In Manu’s district is Kalamandalam, where the earliest Bharatanatyam teacher was A.R.R. Bhaskara Rao of Thanjavur. As for Mohiniyattam of the current times, RLV Ramakrishnan has been a leading name. Having learned from RLV College at Tripunithura, this native of Chalakudi in Thrissur district has won widespread appreciation with his artistry that blurs any conceptual boundaries between male and female grace. With his body language firmly following the grammar of Mohiniyattam, Ramakrishnan has his eyes and facial muscles capable of emoting well. Also, from RLV is Jolly Mathew, a middleaged dancer who won the first rank of his batch and went on to become the first Mohiniyattam dancer to bag the Union Culture Ministry’s Senior Fellowship.

As director of the Swati Tirunal Trust in Tiruvankulam, just outside Tripunithura in Ernakulam district, his mentors include the iconic Kalyanikutty Amma (1915-99), who redefined the course of Mohiniyattam as an early-batch student at Kalamandalam. Not all dancers join institutions for study. Reva Krishnakumar is one such Mohiniyattam practitioner, who learned under seasoned Kalamandalam Kshemavathy at Thrissur, 25 km north of his Irinjalakuda town. Four decades ago from today, an early teenager won laurels at the state festival’s school-level competitions called Yuvajanolsavam. Vineeth Radhakrishnan, who dressed as a female at the Mohiniyattam contest, went on to become a Bharatanatyam dancer while also pursuing a career as a film actor. The artist from Thalassery near upstate Kannur lives in Chennai.

Dravidian Stalwarts

Bharatanatyam has long had males as icons. For instance, top danseuse Alarmel Valli learned from Chokkalingam Pillai and his son Subbaraya Pillai of the Pandanallur style. Equally celebrated Malavika Sarukai, also in her mid-60s, was trained under Kalyanasundaram Pillai (Thanjavur) and S.K. Rajaratnam (Vazhuvur). One of the most senior dancers in the field today is C.V. Chandrasekhar, 88. Trained under K.N. Dandayudhapani Pillai, he was mentored by Rukmini Devi Arundale at her Kalakshetra in Chennai. A Padma Bhushan awardee, Chandrasekhar taught at vintage universities in Benares and Baroda.

Across east and north

Bordering Andhra is the land of Odissi, which has a long list of male dancers. The most iconic is Kelucharan Mahapatra (1926- 2004). Instrumental in the revival and popularization of this dance in the second half of the 20th century, the Puri-born maven also did extensive research in the traditional Gotipua and ritualistic Mahari dances of the region. His son, Ratikant Mahapatra, is a leading dancer today, seen sometimes sharing the stage with his wife Sujata. In fact, the coastal belt of Cuttack has an Odissi foursome: Pankajacharan Das, Debaprasad Das, and Mayadhar Raut, besides Kelucharan. Pankajcharan (1919-2003), who taught the three others besides Bhagaban Sahu (1914-2002) of Ganjam, choreographed episodes based on the lives of classical poets Kalidasa and Jayadeva (of the GitaGovindam fame). In mid-life, he taught at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya.

A noted dancer from this institution in Bhubaneswar was Gangadhar Pradhan (1948-2010). Debaprasad (1932-86), who also worked with Kumar Dayal Sharan, taught Indrani Rahman, besides several other disciples. The males in the list include Srinath Raut, Sudhakar Sahoo, Durgacharan Ranbir, Dhuleswar Behera, Ramli Ibrahim, Gajendra Panda, Manoj Behera, and Gopa Biswhas. Mayadhar, now 93 and residing in Delhi where he taught at Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra for a quarter-century till 1995, has trained Surendranath Jena, Hare Krishna Behera, and Ramani Ranjan Jena (besides his daughter Madhumita). Deep in the country’s northeast, Manipuri, too, has had a legacy of male enrichment. Among them are married couples as dancers, Delhi-based Singhajit Singh and Charu Mathur being one. Singhajit, 82, trained under male teachers: Ojha Iboton Singh, Amubi Singh, Thambal Angou Singh, Chauba Singh, and Ojha Gaura Singh. If Manipuri, with the Krishna-Gopi Raaslila in focus, has dancers even in the country’s west, it is owing to maestro Naba Kumar going to Ahmedabad in 1928. Soon Mumbai, too, welcomed Manipuri, courtesy of Bipin Singh (1918-2000). Other male gurus who have embellished Manipuri subsequently include Nileshwar Mukherjee, Senarik Rajkumar, Chandrakanta Singha, Nilmadhab Mukherjee, and Haricharan Singha. Sinam Basu, 36, and Pukhrambam Bilash Singh, 42, are promises.

Assam’s Krishna-centric Sattriya of the 15th century gained Akademi’s classical tag in 2000. Its contemporary doyen is 90-year-old Jatin Das of Dergaon in Golaghat district. Trained under maestros Gopiram Bayan and Babula Bayan, besides Bishnuprasad Rabha, Dutta Muktiyar, and Raseswar Saikia Barbayan, he established a dance academy named Alok Shilpi Sangha at his native place of Adhar Sattra in 1953. While Ramakrishna Talukdar is another titan, other top Sattriya dancers include Ghanakanta Bora, Hariprashad Saikia Borbayan, Gobinda Saikiya, Tarali Das, and Bhabananda Borbayan. From Kolkata westward to Rajasthan has Kathak as a classical dance with two major schools: Lucknow and Jaipur. A star from the Uttar Pradesh region was Birju Maharaj (1938-2022), hailing from Handia of Allahabad district.

The family was full of dancers; Birju’s first guru was his father Jagannath ‘Acchan’ Maharaj. Later, Birju learned under uncles Lachhu Maharaj (1901-78, a disciple of Bindadin Maharaj) and the 1910-born late Shambhu Maharaj (whose son Ram Mohan is a flagbearer of the tradition). Jaipur Gharana has had Kundan Lal, whose son Rajendra Gangani leads the biggest Kathak institution in Delhi. In the city flourished the career of Kathak dancer Jayant Kastaur, who was secretary of the Akademi. The tallest of Jaipur exponents of the 20th century, though, was Durga Lal (1948-90). A pupil of Sunder Prasad, Mahendragarh-born Lal was also a singer and pakhawaj percussionist. His brother Devi Lal, also short-lived, was a Kathak exponent, too. Jaipur also had Sita Ram, whose disciple Kumar Sharma of Punjab is in Mumbai. Far away, Kolkata has Devesh Mirchandani and Gauresh Shetkar in the new generation. The branches are spread across even as the roots remain deep.