As Sītā is lost in her thoughts, her sakhīs, who are excited about her svayaṃvara deck her up. They tell her that kings from around the country have come to win her hand; Sītā, who is reluctant to look at other men and doesn’t want to be looked at either, covers her face with a veil. She walks in the gait of a lovelorn haṃsa – Padma also depicts her movement through baddhā-cārī. Looking at her, people feel that even Lakṣmī, who is born out of samudra-mathana is not comparable to her beauty. Sītā’s eyes which are searching for the divine personality which won her heart the previous evening, are now thrilled as she spots Rāma also as one of the contestants. However, she is also anxiously waiting for Rāma to claim his turn at stringing the bow; she also wonders if such a handsome, gentle, and soft-natured person has the ability to lift and string such a heavy bow. Many vyabhicāri-bhāvas cross Sītā’s mind and get reflected on Padma’s face.
Padma then goes on to show the reaction of different kings who try to lift the bow of Śiva. The first comes and is terrified just at its sight. Padma establishes the length and the weight of the invisible bow merely through the eyes of the first contestant – she shows fear, embarrassment, and diffidence on his face – he runs away from the bow. In this segment, caricature of vīra gives rise to hāsya. The music of the vīṇā enhances hāsya and so do the movements of Padma. The next contestant comes to the bow, over-confident, and looks at it as though it is a piece of dust; he rolls up his sleeves and proclaims the strength of his biceps. He is not able to lift with one hand, nor with two – the bow does not even move an inch; he starts panting, his heart rate increases, and he feels as though he is going to faint (the sāttvika-bhāva of mūrcchā/ pralaya is beautifully contextualised here) – even as he stands up, all his joints appear to be loose and weak. He walks out with faltering steps. The anubhāvas of the contestant indicate the failure of his vīra and leads to hāsya.
Next, Rāvaṇa enters showing off his ten heads and looks with contempt at the bow; he says that he can even blow it off with his breath. He proudly recollects his past deeds, just as an arrogant person shows off his achievements – he balanced the Kailāsa, the residence of Śiva in one hand, while he played the rudra-vīṇā in the other, as he chanted the mantra Oṃ namaḥ śivāya – Padma depicts these with immense detail. She shows the effort in lifting up the huge mountain, the skill in balancing it on one hand, and the demonic devotion of Rāvaṇa; she shows that his ‘devotion’ is always mixed with pride and arrogance. The mantra chanted is indicated by her by the show of three fingers (it could also indicate the chanting of the Veda in trai-svarya or even the recitation of Sāma, the third Veda). He feels that he can lift the bow with his little finger only as he has lifted Śiva himself along with his abode with one hand; he twitches his moustache not only on his primary face but all other nine faces.[1] Rāvaṇa arrogantly tries to lift the bow with his little finger on his left hand, but fails; he feels ashamed that he is not able to and tries to lift it using his entire left hand. The very fact that he uses his little finger and left hand shows his contempt for the bow. When that is not possible as well, he uses both his hands to try to lift it, but the bow does not budge. Agitated, insulted, and annoyed, he brings out all his twenty arms and tries to lift the bow, but finally falls down with his head down and legs upward.[2] Rāvaṇa struggles to stand up and Sītā cannot control her laughter.
At this juncture, like with every other instance, the manner in which Padma brings about the difference in nature, age, and gender of the characters she embodies is extraordinary. She does so with such ease and perfection that it makes us feel as though this was the actual manner in which the events took place. Padma’s creative interpretation of the sītā-svayaṃvara scene, though inspired by literary works, is unparalleled. The kind of detailing she provides has hitherto never been captured in any other form of art. All later day artistes who attempt to present the scene have derived ideas and inspiration from her!
Sītā, who is anxiously waiting for Rāma to try his hand at the bow, is thrilled that he is the next contestant. She excitedly points at him to her sakhīs and prays to Śiva to help Rāma lift the bow. Rāma, true to his character, bows down to the sage Visvāmitra, and effortlessly picks the bow, strings, and breaks it in a fraction of a second. The reverence that Rāma accords to every object contrasts with the feeling of superiority that Rāvaṇa has about everything and everyone. Similarly, the humility and confidence of Rāma contrast with the arrogance and overconfidence of Rāvaṇa. Their divine and demonic traits respectively can be witnessed in the scene of the svayamvara. Padma’s quick and brief way of showing the dhanur-bhaṅga is suggestive of Rāma’s strength as well as his akliṣṭa-karmatva – unwearied action. Sītā walks towards Rāma, and out of shyness, doesn’t even look at him; avoiding his eyes, she happily garlands him.
Padma then depicts the excitement of the wedding ceremony to the accompaniment of the song – sītā-kalyāṇa-vaibhogame (originally composed by Sage Tyāgarāja). Sītā is welcomed by the mothers by placing kuṅkuma on her forehead and also a ‘dṛṣṭi mark’ (a mark to remove the ‘evil eye’) on her cheek.[3] Padma also depicts different rituals connected with the wedding ceremony – she shows the newly married couple sitting on a swing; the movements she employs to show the swing are very original and rich in loka-dharmī – she gives the impression to the audience that Rāma and Sītā are actually swinging. Their personalities are also brought out very effectively. Rāma halts the swing with his feet, gets off, holds Sītā’s hand, and walks ahead; Sītā, her head still bent down out of shyness, follows him. Throughout the last sequence, Padma brings in the effect of several utsava-sampradāya songs that are popular in South India.
To be continued
The current article is an extract from the book Nayana-Savana, authored by Shatavadhani Dr R. Ganesh and Arjun Bharadwaj.
[1] These creative improvisations are unparalleled. Padma is the first person in the recent history of dance and drama to bring such details
[2] Padma manages to depict this even at her age of seventy!
[3] This kind of detailing is unique to the performances of Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. They are reflections of the maestro’s deep-rootedness in the Indian culture. What comes only by training to the others, occurs effortlessly to Padma as she lives every aspect of the Sanātana-saṃskṛti – she brings them in all their details of classical and folk, sophisticated and rustic.
