COVER STORY

In search of the form within: Bijayini Satpathy                                             Anita Vallabh

The year was 2024. Bijayini Satpathy was leading a workshop at the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State University. As a long-time admirer of her artistry, I encouraged one of my students to attend, eager to witness her pedagogical approach through their experience. When my student returned, she recounted the depth and precision of Bijayini’s teaching with great enthusiasm—and shared an unexpected detail: she had referenced my interpretation of the Abhinaya Darpanam to support her instruction.

In May 2025, while in New York City to review performances at the Dancing of the Gods festival, I finally had the opportunity to meet Bijayini in person—not only as a dancer, but as a fellow thinker, artist, and teacher. What began as a casual conversation soon unfolded into a layered, reflective dialogue on life, performance, pedagogy, and the evolving landscape of dance scholarship.

Bijayini Satpathy is an Odissi dancer, teacher, choreographer, whose artistic journey spans over three decades. Trained in Odisha from a young age, she joined Nrityagram in 1993, where she served as director of training and principal dancer for more than twenty years. Since 2018, she has focused on solo performance and choreography, presenting works such as Abhipsaa: A Seeking, and undertaking residencies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts. Her practice blends traditional Odissi with insights from anatomy, yoga, and movement conditioning. To Bijayini, Odissi is not merely a dance form, but a deeply sensorial experience—an inner resonance she strives to embody through each movement. Having known only Odissi, her exploration has always been rooted in what feels authentic to the form. She sees it as a living energy, uniquely expressed by each dancer but grounded in a shared tradition.

In this conversation, she reflects on her years of training and the quiet emergence of her own voice within the classical tradition.

COVER STORY

A voice of conviction: Amrutha Venkatesh                     Lakshmi Anand

Amrutha Venkatesh’s creative and out-of-the-box presentations are piquing audiences’ attention everywhere she sings. Extensive research underpins her innovative pallavis in uniquely structured talas. A polyglot who knows the meaning of every song she performs, this Carnatic vocalist uses no visual aids when presenting an enviable repertoire that includes numerous lesser-known composers and lyricists. In an art where one is constantly told to ‘sing with the mouth fully open’, she boldly modulates her voice. Not for her grimaces, scowls or other facial contortions either—she maintains an even, often cheery countenance while singing. Above and beyond, she is a vaggeyakara and a tunesmith as well.

Amrutha is proficient in veena (she is graded A in the instrument by the All India Radio) and received many years of mentorship in laya from a young age. Additionally, each of her multiple gurus, though from different banis, were open to her not only learning from others but also melding the best of all she learned and heard. This unique and unusually well-rounded tutelage has played a key role in her being a confident and self-assured performer who adroitly blends vidwat and popular appeal, satisfying experts and lay rasikas alike.

Amrutha, an only child, was born on 9 April 1988 in Bengaluru. Her father, M.K. Venkatesh, loved Western music and popular Carnatic pieces. Her mother, Radha, grew up surrounded by music. It was she who inculcated in Amrutha the importance of pronouncing musical lyrics with the same clarity as the spoken word. Amrutha’s maternal grandmother, Shantha Ramaswami, had learned veena. Grandfather, K.S. Ramaswami, had music around him always, thus absorbing it.

Music literally pulled Amrutha into its fold. As she was wheeled in her stroller, Amrutha unfailingly asked her mother and grandmother to stop in front of the same home every day.  Realising it was the music wafting down that held the child’s attention, her grandmother went in to speak to the lady of the house, who was teaching music and explained. The teacher, Sharada Shivaram, asked then two-year-old Amrutha to sing something – out came a popular movie song accurately, background music to boot. The amused teacher immediately took Amrutha on.

CLASS ACT

Seetha Chidambaram – a quiet torch bearer of music, art, and literature                                              Sivapriya Krishnan

Oppillal, a strikingly meaningful Tamil name, comes from oppu and illal, meaning she who has no comparison; she who has no match—inimitable. Oppillal is a name of Seetha Chidambaram's mother in whose memory she started the Oppillal School of Music and Fine Arts in Abhiramapuram, Chennai.

Seetha Chidambaram hails from the family of Sir Muthiah Chettiar. The Annamalai Manram in Chennai is named after her grandfather Annamalai Chettiar and the Tamil Isai Sangam operates out of here. Her father was the famous industrialist M.A. Chidambaram, who was instrumental in building the M. A. Chidambaram Cricket stadium in Chepauk, Chennai.  Her father-in-law, C.V. CT. Venkatachalam Chettiar was the pioneer founder of Mylapore Fine Arts. Her elder brother is the industrialist A. C. Muthiah and of her two cousins, one is P Chidambaram, the former finance minister, and the other is M.A.M Ramaswamy the famous industrialist. A.C. Muthiah and Devaki Muthiah take care of Annamalai Manram, the Tamil Isai school, and the music festival. The family has interacted with and supported several great musicians, academicians, freedom fighters, politicians, industrialists and historians, and other achievers. Coming from a remarkable lineage, they embody the principles of artistic preservation, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and nation-building with ease.

After completing her schooling at Rosary Matriculation School, Seetha went on to complete her pre-university in Stella Maris College, Chennai. She completed her Bachelors degree at Queen Marys College Chennai. She was an avid debater and ranked first in the University Debating competition. Later, she also earned her Master’s degree in English Literature through correspondence from Madurai Kamaraj University. In parallel, she learnt Sanskrit from Desikan and thereafter from Krishnamurthy Sastrigal of The Sanskrit College and completed Kovida from Mysore University. She was trained to play the veena under the tutelage of G.N. Dandapani Iyer, a senior artist at the All India Radio, Chennai, who joined when the radio station operated out of Egmore. He was in charge of the Vadya Vrinda section and notated many kritis for this, which are still available in the archives. His grandson is S.P. Ramh, also a vainika and vocalist, having trained under Lalgudi Jayaraman.

Muthuswami Dikshitar 250 (part 3)

The Madras Years                    Sriram V

The Vaggeyakarula Charitramu (VC) of Subbarama Dikshitar in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini (SSP) is clear that it was Manali Muthukrishna Mudali who brought the Dikshitar family to Madras. In his critical introduction and notes to the undated and anonymous work Sarva Deva Vilasa (SDV), Dr. V Raghavan has written based on his independent research that Muthukrishna Mudali died in 1792. This helps us establish that the Dikshitar family moved to Madras prior to this year. Even if we assume that the shift happened only that year, we can see that Muthuswami Dikshitar would have been around 17, and his youngest brother, Balaswami, just six. After Muthukrishna Mudali’s passing, his son Venkatakrishna aka Chinnayya Mudali took over the administration of the estates and patronage to musicians. From the fact that Ramaswami Dikshitar uses the mudra Venkatakrishna in several of his songs and has none dedicated to Muthukrishna Mudali, we can assume that the majority of the years in Manali patronage were with the son and not the father.

Where did the Dikshitars live while in Madras? The VC gives no clues. Further details emerge from Bharanidharan’s book Dikshitar Padiya Thiruttalangal (Kalaignan Pathippagam, 1988). This was the compilation of a series he wrote under the same title in the 1970s for Ananda Vikatan. As part of his research, Bharanidharan met with Ramakrishna Mudaliar, the descendant of the Manali family and the latter confirmed to him that the Dikshitar family was accommodated at No 63, Sannidhi Street, Tiruvottriyur.

This seems logical given that the village had a temple for Siva that was in many ways similar to Tiruvarur. Sundaramurthy Nayanar, a subject of one of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s compositions (Sundaramurtim Ashrayami, Takka/Roopaka) was closely associated with both shrines, having a consort at each with Lord Siva playing a key role in the respective unions. The main deity in both places is an anthill and the processional icon is Tyagesa. The Dikshitars may have therefore opted to stay at Tiruvottriyur. Outside of the SSP is the kriti Adipuriswaram (Arabhi/Adi), attributed to Muthuswami Dikshitar, dedicated to the deity at this shrine. It, however, suffers from prosodical weaknesses.