“It was a matter of honour to tie the ‘pottu’ and become a Devadasi” says R. Muthukkannammal, probably, the only living ‘Sadhir’ dancer from Viralimalai. She was in Coimbatore for conducting a workshop on ‘Sadhir’ for students and teachers of bharatanatyam organised by Dharanidharan of ‘Udalveli’ (an initiative to promote live performing arts), at Nimble Foot Dance School in Singanallur.
Deeply attached to his grandmother, also a Sadhir artiste, Dharanidharan’s search for any living Sadhir artiste led him to Muthukkannammal in Viralimalai. This three day work shop would culminate on 29th October with the performance of the participants and the teacher and the felicitation ceremony at Kasthuri Srinivasan hall, Coimbatore.
The scenario of the workshop that began on 26th October was informal and friendly where young dance gurus sat round her, watching her dance and writing down the lyrics as she dictated the songs with great patience, repeating them several times and explaining the meaning for the lyrics. She acted and danced with absolute abandon. With an amazingly high energy level, she sang as she danced without gasping for breath.
Well-known performers and gurus of bharatanatyam, Supriya Hariprasad and Akshara Bharadwaj from Bangalore, L.Muruga Shankari from Madurai, Smitha Madhav from Chennai and Karthikeyini, Akila, Lavanya Jayaraman, Mirchi Saru, Tamil Selvan, and Murali from Coimbatore loved this experience of being trained by an authentic ‘Sadhir’ dancer.
Daughter of Ramachandra Nattuvanar of Viralimalai Murugan temple, Muthukkannammal is filled with gratitude and love when she talks about her father. “I learnt everything only from him. He was a strict guru, but an affectionate father. He would even make our braids when we were young,” smiles the Septuagenarian. Her mother was a house wife, but her father’s mother Ammanni Ammal and her two sisters Nagammal and Amma Kunju Ammal were sadhir artistes.
Muthukkannammal gladly shared the small details of her early life. With a vivid memory, she recalled the customs they followed when they were attached to Viralimalai temple. Their duty included two daily visits to the temple. They would soak rice, grind it into batter and write ‘Ohm Saravana Bhava’ on 32 plates. They would take turns to dance in the evening as the Nattuvanar pronounced the ‘Tattakaram’ (sounds for the dance, like ‘thanana thandanna, thaiya….’) with the lit lamp in a small pitcher, filled with oil. At 8.p.m., the devadasis would take ‘aarathi’ to the Utsavar, as He was taken round the temple, with the lamps lit on the 32 plates. They would wait till the lord retired to his ‘palliyarai’ (bed room) and climb down the 200 steps to reach home. The routine would begin again, the next day.
Viralimalai temple was mananged by Rajagopala Thondaiman of Pudukkottai Samasthanam and the devadasis would dance in front of the king in his palace on important occasions.
Their costume was slightly different from the tailor-made costumes of today. They wore a ‘nijar’ (which is like the salwar’s bottom) and tied a 6 yards sari, with the frills in the front and wore a lot of jewels including oddiyanam (the waist-band). Their repertoire would comprise songs from Tamil, Telugu and Marathi. She has retained whatever was taught by her father and did not try to do anything different.
Does she regret her decision of becoming a devadasi?
Of course not! She has led a happy life with enough money and lots of respect. Girls in their community willingly came forward to become devadasis, as it was a matter of great honour to become one and showed her ‘Kinni Pottu’ that was like a round ‘thirumangalayam’. However, Muthu Kannanmmal says, only girls from their community learnt dance from them. When boys learnt, it was not for dancing, but to become Nattuvanars- the teachers of dance.
She is happy that the bharatanayam has flourished so well. She had fears that when the Devadasi system was abolished their dance would also become extinct. Now, only the name has changed-from ‘Sadhir’ to bharatanatyam.
She is all appreciation for the way today’s youngsters are performing, but points out that they don’t sing while they dance.
The 78 year old Sadhir artiste lives with her sons and grandchildren. Even now, she dances in festivals. She has been dancing for the past 35 years at the Mariyamman temple in Pollachi. Out of the 8 siblings, she is the only surviving dancer now, though the whole family was involved in the service of Viralimalai Murugan. “All those who danced with me, have died,” she says sadly.
But, the next minute, she is ready for another dance. Age has not withered her passion for dance--only refined it!