CHENNAI: Sanskrit poet Jayadeva composed his epic Gita Govinda centuries ago. The poem is said to portray Lord Krishna’s love for Radha. The songs were said to have eight charanams and also called ashtapathi. The legendary DK Pattammal learned them from her guru. The present-day Madhava Geetham is nothing but the Tamil adaptation of Gita Govinda by DK Pattammal. Popular dance couple, Dhananjayans, have produced a dance drama, which has been choreographed by dancers Satyajit Dhananjayan, VP Dhananjayan, and Shanta Dhananjayan.
“Madhava Geetham is premiering after forty years. It’s a tribute to DK Pattammal. The concept is enhanced, dance moves are tweaked, and new elements are incorporated to keep it relevant to the younger generations. Some old touches are retained,” said Satyajit Dhananjayan.
The one hour and 20-minute performance will feature 12 dancers with the lead hero and heroine. “We have introduced the Dasavatharam of Lord Vishnu. Another important aspect is in terms of casting. Earlier the whole troupe had only female performers, including the role played by Lord Krishna. Now we have equal number of male dancers. We have also given equal importance to all the dancers so that they don’t get shadowed by the lead performers. Everybody can play everyone’s parts.
The dancers have been trained accordingly,” he said. The three characters in this dance drama are Krishna, Radha, and Sakhi. They enact paramathma, jeevathma and guru. We’re told that the underlying meaning of this dance drama is how the guru unites the jeevathma with the paramathma. In this drama, Radhai is humbled. She is taught the two ways of devotion.
One of them is to reach God by one’s own efforts. The other is the Lord himself coming looking for the jeevathma and accepting the devotee. Overall, the dance performance will capture important moments and tales from the lives of Krishna and Radha. Madhava Geetham will premiere on July 15 at Vani Mahal.