Marga Utsava

The Marga Utsav, held on March 23–24, 2025, was a heartfelt tribute to the memory of scholar Dr. V. Raghavan (1908–1979) and his vast contributions to Indian performing arts. Organised by the Chidakash Kalalay Centre of Art and Divinity with support from the Ministry of Culture, the festival opened at Gyan Manch, Kolkata, in the esteemed presence of Dr. Raghavan’s daughter, Nandini Ramani.

As part of the Utsav, eminent Kathak exponent and guru Mysore B. Nagaraja led a two-day workshop (March 24–25) on a composition revived by the late Guru Maya Rao. The sessions were held at the Spanda studio-theatre within the Chidakash Kalalay Art Space. The concluding day featured a graceful and captivating recital by Kolkata’s own Kathak maestro, Ashim Bandhu Bhattacharya, followed by an engaging interactive session exploring Dr. Raghavan’s legacy and impact on the arts.

The Kalalay, under the stewardship of Natya Sastra reconstruction-oriented practitioner and Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Piyal Bhattacharya, honoured distinguished artists with the ‘Chidakash Samman’ 2025 as a mark of respect and gratitude. The Natyakala Chudamani Samman was conferred upon Nandini Ramani, a renowned Bharatanatyam exponent, respected dance critic, academician, Sanskrit thespian, author, and a senior recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

The lifelong contributions of the two Kathak gurus were reverently acknowledged: Mysore B. Nagaraj received the Nrityakala Chudamani Samman, while Ashim Bandhu Bhattacharya was bestowed with the Chidakash Kalashiromani Samman.

Chaturbhaani, an edutaining play commenced the Utsav. It was based on four Bhaanas from four playwrights’ creations dating back to a period between the 4^th and  8^th centuries. Piyal Bhattacharya’s concept and his multitalented disciple Sayak Mitra’s script found clarity in Dr. Raghavan’s works related to this time-zone. Both are sanguine that Bhana is a form of drama with text that was used to prepare performers to enact solo as a ‘Vit’ (a person proficient in arts and different languages). Bhana, therefore, calls for an intelligent multilingual who can perform seamlessly. Preparation for this demanding act needs a deeper contemplation on several subjects including understanding kavya, mastering music, perfecting natya along with various other aspects. Therefore, Bhana is more of a process than just a performance.

With raga Megh based phrases as background music, provided by olden instruments – kacchapiveena (Abhijit Ray), flute (Rik Mukherjee), pataha (Mohit Chakraborty), rudraveena, tanpura and vocal (Sayak Mitra), the play opened depicting the advent of monsoon. It keeps the Vits inactive and, therefore, without earning. Four jobless Vits recall their past activities, dotted with their admiration for Vedic chanting with hand movements, techniques of laag-daant in veena playing, the artistically inclined prostitutes and their high social status; and also express concern while discussing the generation gap between parents and children, the hypocrisy of a Bhikshu or the Dhammapada bereft of ‘Rakaar’.

At this point the process of instant creativity was thoroughly enjoyed by Sayak Mitra in the act of an experienced Vit. It was a pleasure to watch him enact the idiosyncrasies of different persons he met in different social surroundings while on a mission to reach the love-letter of his Master to his beloved. For running errands such as this the Vits had to travel across this vast country of diverse cultures and languages like Hindi, Sanskrit, Maithili, Pali, Bangla etc. Sayak’s innate wit and flare for languages enabled him to deliver impromptu dialogues aided by natural acting, singing and dancing.   

As the drama unfolded, with the entry of Rudrarup Mukhopadhyay and Inderpal Singh as the other Vits, it also traversed through Oriya, Maithili, and Punjabi making it a celebration of languages. Finally, the other two Vits meet the old Vit, and the play ends on an optimistic note that, despite adversity, ‘Naatyopaasana hi Nata-Dharma’ (the practice of drama is the dharma of an actor). It was clarified that this was a part and parcel of extensive training of Bhana sahitya and associated linguistic facets under Ashtavadhaani Uma Maheshwara N from Bengaluru; and that this edu-tainment was not stringed as a presentation. It was an offering.

The final segment of the first evening showcased two brilliant Kathak exponents with recorded music, Ruparani Das Borah and Laxminarayan Jena. Paucity of time compelled them to keep their recitals short. So was the case with the aesthetic opening of the final evening at Spanda, by Kathak guru Ashim Bandhu Bhattacharya. A set of musicians, including Biswajit Paul (tabla), Mithun Chakraborty (pakhawaj), Sunando Mukherjee (sarod) and vocalist Joydeep, led by Ranjani Bhattacharya (padhant), offered superb support beginning from his peaceful interpretation of Shivo-aham, delicately romantic Teental and ghazal (Lucknow school) to a power-packed dhamar in Jaipur style. These recitals reiterated the fact that pre-composed items go hand in hand with instant creativity of an individual – irrespective of the genre he represents.

The following interactive session buzzed with the reverential voices of several Kolkata-based dancers, Mahua Mukherjee, Arpita Venkatesh, Jalsa Chandra along with Nagraj, Jena and the host; and as desired it was essentially focused on Nandini Ramani’s assessment of her illustrious father’s contribution as the beacon of Sanskrit scholarship and Indian culture. The detailed description of his works enumerated writing essays on diverse topics, composing lyrics with melody, studying Vedic texts-dance-drama-musicology and nurturing traditional Indian values apart from collating innumerable manuscripts. The latter demand young researchers’ attention.

Samskrita Ranga was formed in 1956, reminisced a nostalgic Nandini Ramani. She added, “My father produced, directed and acted as sootradhar for many years. He tried to push his passion for Sanskrit. Piyal is a true torchbearer of Sanskrit Theatre and is acknowledging my father's works with his original production.”

The legacy of Dr. V Raghavan lives on and events like Marga Utsav are sure to inspire many performers to get familiar with the established rules of the game.