FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
|| Srih ||
Kathakalakshepam is an ancient art form that existed in our country.. Our rich cultural heritage gives us great joy and bliss as our arts have Bhakti as their core. For centuries, our artistes have practiced and presented various art forms to educate and entertain people that bolstered healthy living in body and mind.
Our temples have been centres of learning where all traditional art forms flourished. Kathakalakshepam is a form of religious preaching coated with music and which is enjoyed by scholars and the laymen alike. Just like how bitter medicines are sugar coated, the scriptural advices are “music- coated” as they are delivered to the audience. We know how morals are sweetly packed inside stories and poems as in ‘Old deccan days”, Aesop’s fables, Kathasaritsagara, Panchatantra etc.
Kathakalakshepams had their origin in vedic times where during the intervals in rituals, stories contained in Upanishads were recited for the benefit of wider audience. Lectures on Srimad Ramayana and Srimad Mahabharata became a regular activity in temples and royal darbars. Jayadeva’s Gitagovindam which is a lyrical poem, made a huge impact in the growth of kalakshepam. Even today we can’t hear a kalakshepam without references from his Ashtapadis, another name for Gitagovindam.
While in northern India kalakshepam had it’s own vicissitudes under the Moghul rule, kalakshepams in western India witnessed a lot of growth under Maratha rule which gradually came down to Tanjavur where it took a stronghold. Pretty soon northern kalakshepams encountered the more beautiful southern scriptures like Tirukkural, Tiruppuhal, Tiruvachakam in addition to Prasthanatraya and other Sanskrit works.
Here we have the foremost artiste, Tanjavur Sri Krishna Bhagavathar who shaped the then current Kathakalakshepa format inculcating a lot of ideas, moods from Marathas.Later Gopala bhagavatar, Panchapakesha Sastri, Lakshmanacharyar, Chidambara Bhagavatar, Anantarama Bhagavathar, Sivaramakrishna Bhagavatar, Saraswathi Bai, Padmasani Bai, Muthaiyya Bhagavathar etc contributed to this form of art.
Purana pathana, Upanyasa, Katai paadal, Kutiyattam, Yakshagana, Tala maddale, Terukkuttu, Bhagavatamela nataka, Chakyar kuttu,Villu pattu, Chitra katha, Tullal are all varied forms of kathakalakshepa. Several talas like seven beat, five beat, three beat and Usi are used for its music. The orchestra in Harikatha, another name for Kalakshepa- consists of a drone instrument Harmonium or Violin, a percussion instrument along with Jalra and Chipla (castanets). The themes mainly revolved around incidents from the two epics, Bhagavata and other Puranas. Some dealt with saints, composers, other heroes of repute. Nirupanas, upakathas, pundarikam and dance found their niches in Harikathas.
The unique contribution of Harikatha to Karnataka sangitam has been in its multifarious musical forms in different languages and from both Hindustani and Karnatic ragas. It was through these exclusive Kathakalakshepa musical forms - Saaki, Dindi, Ovi, Abhang, Pada, Khadga that many of the Hindustani ragas like Jonpuri, Yaman, Behag, Jinjoti, Bimplas became popularly adopted in the South. The Desadi, Madhyadi talas were preserved in Harikatha tradition, The Use of tals in Usi was unique to Harikatha. Along with this musical forms used in Music and Dance concerts such as Kriti, Kirtana, Padam, Javali, Divyaprabandham, Tevaaram, Cindu, Temmaangu etc have been delicately incorporated into Harikatha.
Many places in India still hold the tradition of organizing Harikathas during Kataka month and during temple utsavas. The art of Kathakalakshepa as an institution could be made use to spread the message of communal and religious harmony thereby educating the world on eternal values of Bharatiya culture.
Sincerely,
Sandhya Anand
Director of Samskritasangitam School of Music