Aug 192012
 
Indian classical dance
Dr.Anupama Kylash- The Danseuse
 I was raised on a healthy staple diet of mythological sagas by my grandparents, which was later supplemented by Uncle Pai’s “Amar Chitra Katha”. Then came the idiot box with a single mission to dumb down the viewers and yours truly meekly obliged. Hence slowly losing touch with all the stories one has heard and read as a child, reaching to the point that one forgot that the original superman was our very own Hanuman who crossed the ocean many millennia ago in search of the beloved of lord Rama.
  
Any ways enough of my nostalgia let me come to the point of this blog post.  I was invited by PBEL City to next edition of Hydrourite, and I was in a dilemma as to go or not as I had already committed to my wife and kids to accompany them to a birthday party. I have earlier posted about my attending the fusion concert by Ghatam maestro Dr. Karthik earlier in the post here.
sand painting
Pillar  From Which Narsimha Emerges
Fortunately we were able to leave the birthday party in time and reached the venue Hotel Avasa just in time when the first episode was just beginning. I left the Missus and kids to settle in the seats and rushed to the front and settled on the floor. One lesson I have learned every since I restarted clicking is that either one can worry about the clothes or taking pictures you can’t worry about both simultaneously.

art of story telling
Deepa The Storyteller

The show was called “Dasha-Avatara”, or the story of the 10 incarnations of Vishnu the second of the holy trinity of Hindu mythology. A quick lesson in Hindu mythology is appropriate here, which says that whenever mother earth is in crisis Vishnu comes to earth in various forms and saves her. So far 9 incarnations have happened and the 10th is yet to happen and will happen in form of Kalki who will come riding on a horse to save the planet; and considering the speed with which we are burning fossil fuels that day may not be very far away.
The show is one of its kinds and I have never seen such an amazing combination of storytelling, classical singing, dance and real time sand painting. Yes you read it right sand painting. While the vocalist and musician Anasuya was singing the story of evolution though various avatars, sand-artist Kanthrisa will paint the scene on sand that was projected on a big screen behind the mesmerising dance performance by Anupama. The stroy from one avatar to the next was beautifully rendered by storyteller Deepa, who has not only very unique style of storytelling using not only words but also her hands and eyes.

This was also the second occasion I took out my Nissin Di866 Mark II speed light and am very pleased with the results. I was using the zoom most of the time at 105 mm end of my Nikon 18-105, lens and the results are for you to comment on.
3 artists at dasha avatara show
Musician Anasuya- Sand Artist Kanthrisa , Deepa The Storyteller
The performance started with the first avatar the Matsya ( fish), going to Kurma ( tortoise), Varaha ( Wild Boar), Narshimha ( Half Lion half Human), Vamana ( Dwarf Man), Parshurama ( The angry Sage who took the role of Kshatriya), Rama ( The Complete Man), Krishna ( Who starts his journey as a naughty child, evolving into a hero who could play with gopikas and help draupadi, play the most beautiful soul stirring flute, kill Kansa and then evolve into a statesmen to guide Arjuna during the war of Mahabharatha).
Then came Buddha in a very different form that most of us have heard about. In this form he attempts to tempt the chaste wives of the  three asuras who were destroying peace on earth, by appearing in his complete manhood in front of the wives hiding behind a tree. The women hugged the tree, thus losing their chastity leading to removal of sacred protection around their husbands, thus leading to the killing of their husbands. The Buddha is considered to be the 9th incarnation of Vishnu and the 10th one is yet to come in form of Kalki , let us see if he comes in my lifetime. What is amazing is that the story of evolution as accepted by  science today is the story of Dasha-Avatara of Indian mythology, that was conceived thousands of years ago during the formative years of Aryan establishments in India.
kuchipudi dance
Narration Through Mudras

Totally new experience for me, my only regret I could not enjoy the full show as I was busy clicking too many photographs, I guess you cannot get everything in life 🙁

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  2 Responses to “Dasha-Avatara The Dance Of The Sands”

Comments (2)
  1. Hi Pattu Raj: Thanks for your comments. Normally Times of India every Friday runs a detailed section on happenings in the city. I will try to put in advance the events I plan to cover on the blog or the FB page.

    Thanks again

  2. Being in Hyderabad, and not aware such happenings is a loss for me. How to get news of these events?(May be you can alert us , your readers).:-)

    The last time I saw it being presented with beauty grace and perfection was, by late Srividya , before she became an actress. Her mother MLV was singing , and it was out of the world performance for ignorant me.

    Great narration, and lovely photographs. Once again, I wish I was there!

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