Parampara Festival

Besides being a farsighted connoisseur of the arts, Kaushalya Reddy is also an acclaimed Kuchipudi exponent and an amazing nattuvanar. She started the Parampara Festival of Natya Tarangini.

Natya Tarangini, a premier school of Kuchipudi dance started by Raja Radha Reddy and Kaushalya Reddy, reaches its landmark of half a century in 2026, which coincides with the 30th edition of the Parampara Festival.

The 29th edition of the Parampara series, curated by Kaushalya Reddy and assisted by co-curator Bhavana Reddy, was—as usual—a star-studded affair. It had a galaxy of name and fame artists performing at Kamani Auditorium.

Raja and Radha Reddy, along with Kaushalya Reddy, have been instrumental in raising and maintaining the standard of Kuchipudi dance as one of the foremost dance forms of the country. In Kuchipudi dance, Raja and Radha Reddy are names to reckon with. They were the first couple to take Kuchipudi dance to foreign shores and the first couple to dance at the International Dance Festival, Avignon, in France.

The host Natya Tarangini’s performing wing opened the 29th Parampara Festival with Bhavana Reddy’s “Tandava Nrutya Kari Gajaanana,” praising the elephant-headed God’s cosmic dance. The accompanying sound of the mridanga displayed the refined standard of Kuchipudi dance set by the Reddy family.

In our technology-obsessed world, Oothukadu Venkata Subramaniyar Kavi’s description of Krishna as the embodiment of eternal bliss provided a tranquil sanctuary for the mind. Subramaniyar’s melody, rhythm, and lyrics had a sublime appeal. It was a sui generis piece that gifted perfect joy in the contemplation of Krishna’s beauty in redeeming mankind.

The presentation of Rasa Sabdam was a display of exquisite virtuosity by the disciples of Raja Radha Reddy.

Rasa Sabdam or Krishna Ganam has the distinctive feature of employing jatis and sahityam and sometimes even swaras or notes to make a composite texture of lyrics and rhythm, which is suited to translation into dance. The poet praises the compassion of Krishna, which is another dimension of the beauty and happiness that is Krishna.

To describe Krishna’s supernatural powers, two episodes were chosen from the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata.

The Bhagavata Purana describes the struggle of Gajendra, the elephant, with a crocodile, which ends when Vishnu slays the crocodile after Gajendra calls out to Him. The second episode, from the Mahabharata, recounts the deceit of Sakuni, who deprives the Pandavas of their wealth in the game of dice and causes them untold suffering, culminating in Dussasana’s attempt to disrobe Panchali. But Panchali’s prayers to Krishna and his timely help save her from being stripped.

This item ends in a display of exquisite virtuosity as the dancers execute intricate footwork patterns while dancing on the rims of brass plates and simultaneously creating complex rhythmic patterns.

The dancers dancing on rims of plates has a reference to Varaha Puranam. Varaha Swamy is said to have revealed that Bhrigu Maharshi performed austere penance for Brahma Jnanam by dancing on the brass plate, which is nothing but Natya Yogam. Dancing on the brass plate is a tradition in our country from Vedic times.

The repertory members of Natya Tarangini who danced their way into the hearts of the audience were Shloka Vaidyalingam, Pernia Qureshi, Gauri Taneja, Atisha Pratap Singh, Prakriti Prashant, Yukta Vaishnavi, Vyshnavi Chamarthi, Sahira Singh, Ayhra Hussain, Nittya Baid, Chandrika Sagar, Radhika Tandon and Harish Narayan.

Sandeep Dutta was the Technical Director while Sadhana Srivastava was the Festival compere.

On day two, aficionados of dance witnessed the performance of Odissi practitioner Rahul Acharya. The music, his dance, and its colours were outstanding. Perfect music, moves and expressions, were the hallmarks of his performance. Though he holds a Master’s degree in Biotechnology, he chose to be an Odissi soloist and a teacher.

A disciple of guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Pandit Nityananda Misra, he commenced his recital with Shankaravarnam Pallavi composed by the late guru Pankaj Charan Das to a music composition of Harihar Panda.

With slow pulsating movements, Rahul started the nritta piece gradually increasing his speed till he reached a crescendo. He made his mark in the nritta piece with a finely tuned body attained through yoga practice, complete muscle control and the ability to connect mind and body—combined with the sculpturesque grace of Odissi.

It was a remarkable rendition. He then moved on to perform the ashtapadi “Priye Charushile” from Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda to display his ability in expressional dance or abhinaya. The piece is the climactic segment of the Gita Govinda where Krishna pleads his innocence before Radha and tries his best to pacify her.

With Suryashtaka he rounded off his recital. Surya was portrayed as riding a chariot drawn by seven horses. He is described as Aadidev, the first god, Divaakara, maker of the day, and Jagatkartaa, creator of the cosmos. This was in raga Bairagi and tala Jati. Dance and music were composed by Guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Guru Ramahari Das respectively.

On the final day of the festival, Shijith Nambiar and Parvathi Menon mesmerised connoisseurs with their amazing performance.

Together they performed the varnam ‘Sat Chit Anandam’ in ragam Nattaikurunji and Adi talam. “Swami Nan Undan” by Papanasam Shivan is the yearning of a maiden for Nataraja, who is Ardhanariswara.

With intense devotion, the lovelorn heroine surrenders to Lord Nataraja, longing for his acceptance. As a devoted nayika, she revels in the beauty of his cosmic dance in Chidambaram. Placing himself in the nayika’s role, the poet imagines Nataraja’s dance each day and envies the gods who witness it constantly. The bliss of satchitanandam, he suggests, is attained only in union with Nataraja. Presenting the barnam as a duet was a challenge, carefully choreographed with its metaphors translated intelligently.

“Kuru Yadunandana Chandana Shishira Tarena Karena Payodhare,” the last ashtapadi from Jayadeva’s Gita Govinda, was the couple’s grand finale. It portrays Radha’s ecstatic union with Krishna, symbolising the soul’s yearning for the divine. In tender imagery, Radha asks Krishna to adorn and comfort her, expressing the bliss of devotional love.

Set in Ragamalika by Easwar Ramakrishnan, the piece was supported by vocalist Sudha Raghuraman, with Raghuraman on the flute, Uday Shankar Lal on nattuvangam and Kalamandalam Sreerang on the mridangam.