THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ashtapadi, which was composed by the 12th-century poet and dancer Jayadev, was staged at University Senate hall on Saturday. Governor of Kerala Justice (Rtd) P Sathasivam inaugurated the play by lighting the lamp along with Minister for Tourism Kadakampally Surendran. Metroman E Sreedharan, who is the trustee of the Guruvayurapan Dharmakala Samuchayam, which organised the programme along with the Brahmasree Chennas Dinesan Namboodiripad, managing trustee, T K Rajeev, secretary and P R Jayaram, treasurer were also present.
It is to the credit of the samuchayam that the ashtapadi based on Geetha Govindam of Jayadev was made into a visual art form. Sreedharan paid tributes to Prof Venugopalan Nair of the Department of Arts, Sanskrit University, for having programmed the play in the present form. Around 60 artists drawn from the students and from outside acted in dance drama.‘Dashavatharam’ was staged with renditions of Matsya, Koorma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Sree Rama, Balarama, Sri Buddha and Kalki avatars of Lord Vishnu.