THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The move to stage a theatrical presentation of the Gita Govinda, a work composed by the 12th century poet Jayadeva describing the relation between Lord Krishna and the Gopikas of Vrindavan, in connection with the visit of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu at Guruvayur on Monday courted controversy for a different reason. Experts in the field are crying foul over the decision to portray the work as an attempt to revive and re-launch the ashtapadi attam.
In fact, Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda, a work with exquisite lyricism and explicit eroticism, has inspired artists across the country down the centuries and its impact can be found in paintings, literature, music, dance and film and it has been evoked in myriad ways. But what catapulted its presentation through ashtapadi attam by the Sree Guruvayurappan Dharma Kala Samuchayam Trust at Guruvayur - a newly formed trust with temple priest Chennas Dineshan Namboothiripad and Metroman E Sreedhran as members - as an attempt to revive the art form in Kerala?
But experts in the field have come out against the move, saying ashtapadi attam was first revived and staged in the 1980s by Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval, who redefined and repositioned the place of the chenda in Kathakali. Later, his son Rajan Poduval had re-launched the work in 2013 and he had even got a fellowship for it. “At a time when the revived and re-launched work is available for the perusal of the art connoisseurs in the state, I don’t know what prompted the trust to announce they are reviving the work and the Vice President would inaugurate it at Guruvayur on Monday," Rajan told Express.
"If they are really curious about reviving the work and a tradition, they should have at least contacted me as the revived work was already staged in various venues and telecast through Doordarshan. When they announced the decision, I even contacted the trust officials and Sreedharan intimating about this. But I was not given a satisfactory answer,” he said.
Dr Venugopal Nair, head of the Dance Department, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, who is working on the project, said it was very unfortunate the work has courted controversy even before it was staged. In fact, the work was revived by Kalamandalam
Krishnankutty Poduval and re-launched by Rajan Poduval. But it’s our humble attempt to give a new visual interpretation to the work which kindled the passion in many to explore Gita Govinda authored by the peerless poet through a different way. In fact, Kalamandalam
Krishnankutty Poduval revived the work as kathakali dance and what we are trying is to give a visual interpretation through different dance forms in the country with a gripping performance of the Dasavatara, he said.
