Devotees of a temple dance

Nineteen hundred and forty-seven was a volcanic year, politically. And the lava also covered popular expression. When the lines on the map w...

Nineteen hundred and forty-seven was a volcanic year, politically. And the lava also covered popular expression. When the lines on the map were redrawn, millions of homes were divided, displaced or destroyed — as were the gharanas of classical art. And among the hardest hit was the Banaras gharana of Kathak — all its exponents, except one, moved away to Pakistan.

Guru Hazarilal Agarwal was the only person left on this side of the border and he was also left with the responsibility of keeping the dance form alive. Today, the flame burns stronger because of the institute he started — Natawari, the Kathak Dance Academy of the Janakiprasad School of Banaras.

And though he passed away in 1992, his legacy still lives. Each year his disciples organise a Guru Hazarilal Festival of Music and Dance, in his memory. The institute is now run by his wife Sunayana Hazarilal who was also his first disciple. The festival, besides being a tribute to the great guru, is also a fund raiser for the Kathak institute. So the programme encompasses other dance and music forms too, to draw in audiences. Artistes like Kelucharan Mahopatra, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Zakir Hussain will be performing. An impressive line-up for a relatively small institute — and this disparity did cause a lot of problems. Says Neesha Shah, secretary of the institute and the main organiser, "Last year we were assured sponsorship by a well wisher if the festival included some acclaimed performers. It was an ambitious task calling artistes like these because we couldn’t really afford them. But we went ahead." And though they got a `yes’ along with reduced fees from the star performers, the sponsors backed out due to financial recession. With the word already out, the Natawari team risked losing face if they called off the festival. And getting even a part of the Rs 1.75 lakh that the festival will cost proved to be an uphill task.

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Finally, The Indian Express and the NCPA stepped in. And even though they are not out of the red, the passion of the Natawari group does not wax and wane with their financial situation. Completely devoted to their form of Kathak, they are stubborn that it should never plunge to the nadir of 1947.

Says Kaushal Oza, assistant secretary, "Of all the gharanas, the Banaras one has retained Kathak in its purest form — the way it was performed in the temples during the 15th and the 16th centuries." The Jaipur and Lucknow gharanas were coloured by Mughal influences and their styles have been associated with court dancers ever since. The legend goes that the Mughal rulers found Kathak a tad too drab when it came to an evening’s entertainment. So, Persian court dancers were imported and the tal they lent to this dance still dictates the beat of these two gharanas. A difference has also come in the costumes with these dancers wearing the Mughal topis while the Banaras gharana sports no head gear. And Natawari is determined to maintain the dance in the same form it has existed for so many hundred years. Says Sunayana Hazarilal, "The institute is running from my house right now though we are planning to build a separate structure. The land has been sanctioned by the Maharashtra government but the formalities are not over yet. But we are determined to see this plan through just as we made sure the festival didn’t get cancelled this year."

ANU KUMAR

At Tata Theatre, NCPA. On January 28, Sunayana Hazarilal will present a Kathak recital which will be followed by tabla recital by Ustad Zakir Hussain with Sultan Khan on the sarangi. On January 29, 1998, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt will start the evening at 6.30 pm with a Mohan Veena recital which will be followed by an Odissi recital by Kelucharan Mahopatra with the Srjan group. Tickets are available at the venue.