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Dancing Queens

When Sarmaya got the chance to host an event with two of the most celebrated figures in Indian dance, we knew we had to push the envelope. We partnered with the dance company beej to bring Mallika Sarabhai and Anita Ratnam to Mumbai and engage them in a conversation about the transformative power of dance. In addition, we at Sarmaya also requested the speakers to pick objects from our collection that resonated with them. To our delight, they agreed and participated enthusiastically in curating this special online exhibition. Sarabhai and Ratnam are not just award-winning dancers and choreographers, but also feminists, activists and commentators who speak truth to power. Accordingly, we presented them with a selection across genres that would touch upon their passion as performers as well as their beliefs as public figures. The subjects of the works include varied themes like, temple architecture, the colonial lens on ‘nautch girls’, and the divine feminine in indigenous art. Our curators’ choices overlapped in three places, follow the arrow to find out where! We have short videos introducing the three main themes of this dance-focused exhibition: the stage, the dancers and the muse. In addition, each object here is accompanied with a quote from one or both of our curators—click on the accompanying label to read them. These quotes showcase the grace and empathy with which our curators engage with India’s historical achievements and contemporary ambitions.

 

Curatorial support by Team Sarmaya

curated by Mallika Sarabhai & Anita Ratnam

Mallika Sarabhai remembers a memorable performance

The object featured here is an engraving from a rare book dating to 1826, which shows the rock sculptures in Elephanta Caves as painted by Robert Melville Grindlay.

The Great Triad or Trimurti rock sculptures in Elephanta Caves, 1826-1830,
from 'Scenery, Costumes and Architecture chiefly on the Western side of India’ by Robert Melville Grindlay

Robert M Grindlay was a captain in the British East India Company’s army in the early 19th century, during which time he made many sketches and illustrations recording the landscape and life of the places his job took him. However, he is best known as the founder of Grindlay’s Bank.

"When I started my career the Elephanta Festival at the Kailasha temple was one of the first festivals I performed at. The sea journey was very choppy and the skies threatened rain. I wondered if there would be an audience. It was packed. It was thrilling."
-Mallika Sarabhai

Great Pagoda of the Brihadishwara Temple, Tanjore, 1869, albumen print
by Samuel Bourne

The Brihadishwara Temple at Tanjore marks the acme of the Southern Temple Architecture, in magnitude, design, technique, and art. This Great Temple is also called the Rajarajeshvara after its builder Rajaraja I, the Chola Ruler. This photograph was taken by Samuel Bourne. His photographs are regarded as the most beautiful and scenic ever produced by a single 19th-century photographer.

“Brihadishwara is a word every Bharatanatyam dancer learns early. Shiva is the patron deity of Bharatanatyam, and hundreds of songs, of longing and devotion describe him at this temple. ‘Look how the Lord of Brihadishwara dances. How I long for him’—this is an underling refrain. When I see this picture my arms involuntarily go mentally into the Shiva space and I am filled with strange nostalgia.” - Mallika Sarabhai

“This is one of the most amazing architectural marvels of the world. The temple is having its 1010th anniversary celebrations this year on February 5th, where thousands will gather to mark another milestone in the life of this magnificent structure. Currently, the ASI is on a fast-track to complete the cleaning and removing of debris from this very tall structure. One of the marvels of the world, the giant Nandi [statue] is also a major tourist attraction, around which you see people of all faiths enjoy the evening breeze in the giant temple complex daily. For Bharatanatyam dancers, compositions on the Lord Shiva, the main deity, form the cornerstone of the repertoire since Thanjavur was the capital of the Maratha kingdom, where for over 300 years the Marathi-speaking rulers supervised and patronised dance, music, sculpture and painting in multiple languages.” - Anita Ratnam

The Great Temple - Sanctuary of the Southern Pavilion, Hullabeed, 1869,
by Dr A.C. Brisbane Neill

The Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu, built in the year 1121 AD, houses more than 400 wall sculptures which reflect the magnificence of the Hoysala Temple Art. This photograph shows the temple wall with sculptures such as the skull-wearing Shiva, Brahma, Indra, with their respective consorts, Parvati, Saraswati, and Indrani. Dr Andrew Charles Brisbane Neill extensively documented the architecture at Belur and Halebidu, in present-day Karnataka.

"This is one of the most beautiful examples of Hoysala architecture, [representing] a time of great movement in the arts and intellectual development. The most celebrated dancer of this time was Shantala Devi, the beauteous and radiant artiste who had the public and the court in her thrall. Her music, intelligence, poetry, dance and demeanour was the stuff of legend. These photos remind me of the vibrancy of the cultural life in these spaces, when temples were the magnet for the public to gather, discuss, sort out differences, shop and exchange news. The original town square or the modern mall." - Anita Ratnam

Music gallery at the entrance of the Mosque, Seringapatam, 1804-1805,
Engraved by H Merke after James Hunter

Besides being an artist, James Hunter also worked for the Royal British Artillery in India and took part in the campaigns against Tipu Sultan. What has been labelled by the author here as the ‘musical gallery’ could possibly be one of the entrance gateways to Tipu’s family mausoleum.

"I wince at this image. This moment in history is very bloody and so many were crudely massacred. I also ask about the disappearance of the culture of music and dance in the Islamic tradition. It was such an important motif in the repertoire of Kathak in the early and mid 20th century. The influence of Sufi thoughts and the patronage of great rulers like Wajid Ali Shah, who was a poet and who built an entire city called Navraspur are not even mentioned in Indian history studies."
- Anita Ratnam

Anita Ratnam on the history of 'nautch girls'

The objects featured in this video are lithographs by L Llanta from Auguste Racinet's book 'Le Costume Historique', published in volumes between 1876 and 1888.

'Woman from a Sonar (jeweller) community from Gujarat and Nautch Girls belonging to the Visnu sect', 1876-1888
from Auguste Racinet's book 'Le Costume Historique', Lithography by L Llanta, Printing by Firmin Didot

Auguste Racinet's 'Le Costume Historique', published in France between 1876 and 1888, was the most extensive costume study ever attempted for its time. The six-volume work is highly peculiar in its details and attempts to cover the history of style from around the world, up till the end of the 19th century.

"This image is fascinating. The standing woman, strong and confident. The four men carrying a pillion, perhaps with another woman of a higher caste or the woman outside is the rider who has stepped out for a breath of fresh air. In any case, this woman must have been a highly skilled jeweller if she had a palanquin…perhaps she was going to the palace or home of a noblewomen. The Vaishnav women are dressed so magnificently. I love the see-through effect of the gauzy layers and the embroidered legs. The parrot held in one hand is symbolic of all Vishnu imagery, where the parrot was the messenger and companion to upper-caste women, who liked them to repeat their favourite phrases. This metaphor then came into the dance compositions of Bharatanatyam where the heroine often talks to the parrot about her undeclared love."
- Anita Ratnam

'Means of Transport and Music and Dance' 1876-1888
from Auguste Racinet's book 'Le Costume Historique', Lithography by L Llanta, Printing by Firmin Didot

"How important musicians and dancers were in the everyday lives of royalty! This is a fine example of how the performers would foreground kings and queens when they travelled and how dancing would happen on the streets with the musical ensemble also walking along with the dancers in front of the royal elephants or the carriages carrying kings and queens. It was in the mid-20th century when Rukmini Devi Arundale, the founder of Kalakshetra, decided to change this system and seated the dance musicians to the left of the performer on stage. So what we now take for granted as an 'ancient tradition' is less than a century old."
-Anita Ratnam

"The detailing on the costumes and jewellery and on the other objects in this series of lithographs has always intrigued me. In some of my work, I need to reproduce period costumes and this is an accurate and beautiful resource."
-Mallika Sarabhai

Dancer and Musicians, Bombay, c.1880s, albumen print
by Eugene Auguste Taurines

French photographer Eugene Auguste Taurines was active in Bombay from the mid-1880s to around 1901 and ran a studio in the ctiy. Starting around the Mughal era, entourages of dancing girls performed for rulers and chieftains, not only in their courts but also in war camps. As the occupation of the East India Company grew, ‘nautch’ also became a common form of entertainment at the homes of the English tradesmen in India.

"This photo shows a group of travelling bards. Kathakars, storytellers. The narrative is at the core of the performance. It also captures a moment in the troubled and checkered history of the hereditary performers of India, whose identity and history has been erased and annihilated. British documentation of these nautch girls went hand-in-hand with their public shaming, as in London Hyde Park when the department store Liberty of London placed these women in the freezing cold and allowed the gawking public to touch and pinch them."
- Anita Ratnam

'The Nautch Bungalow’, Shalimar, Srinuggur, c.1864-65, albumen print,
by Samuel Bourne

The Nautch Bungalow stands in Shalimar Bagh, Kashmir and was built by Jahangir for his beloved wife Noor Jahan in 1616. The garden is one of the few surviving Mughal gardens, based on the Persian ‘charbagh’ style. Samuel Bourne arrived in India in the 1860s and visited the Kashmir valley during his epic Himalayan photographic expedition.

"A graceful reminder of the importance of dance in these times. However, it is also a hard slap on our collective amnesia, about how these [nautch] women were treated and viewed. Were they actually respected? Were they allowed to mingle with the nobility and others after the performance? Were they forced into illegitimate relationships with married men? What happened to their children? Were they proud and contented at a time when Mughal rule famously segregated women and men? What was the repertoire? Were there interventions about content? Were they barred from dancing and singing about Hindu gods? Photos remind us that the questions remain."
- Anita Ratnam

Dancing Girl, Western India, Unidentified Photographer, 1870s
Albumen photograph

"This young girl could possibly be from Goa, her features are very unique. Sitting confidently in a cross-legged position, her direct gaze states a confidence that is inborn. The wallpaper has influences of European (possibly Portuguese, French) or even Parsi-inspired designs. It is a beautiful juxtaposition of what I love about my India. When many worlds and many centuries coalesce."
- Anita Ratnam

Nautch Girls, Delhi, 1862-63, albumen print
Charles Shepherd and Arthur Robertson

Charles Shepherd and Arthur Robertson founded Shepherd and Robertson photographic company in 1862 at Agra. The studio primarily specialized in photographs with an anthropological and ethnographic focus, often including publications on Indian people's life and customs.

"This photo reminds me of the iconic Radha dance by the American dance adventurer Ruth St Denis. Her photo in the early 20th century with a draped veil over her head and the bend in her body was possibly taken after watching several performances of nautch/naach dances. By this time, the practice of women also being musicians, playing the drums, shehnai or nadaswaram, keeping taal on the cymbals and singing as the musical ensemble, had been erased by the men in their own community. As multiple faiths entered India, the female performers were the first casualty in the name of protection by the men in their own families."
- Anita Ratnam

Mallika Sarabhai on the paradox of goddess worship

The objects featured in this video are two paintings (of a set) by Dibin Thilakan titled, 'Goddess Category & Non-Goddess Category'.

Goddess Category & Non-Goddess Category, 2017, gouache and watercolour on handmade paper
by Dibin Thilakan

In this set of paintings—titled 'Goddess Category: Goddess & Non-Goddess' (painting on the left) and 'Non-Goddess Category: Goddess & Non-Goddess' (painting on the right)—the artist exposes how women are simultaneously deified and demonized by Indian society. In the painting on the left, an eight-armed god is represented as female but with the head of a cow. She is surrounded by a golden halo and clearly held in great reverence by the bowing humans below. In the painting on the right, the halo is a muddy blue and it holds a woman struck down by the arrows piercing into her back. Below are gathered people aiming their bows right at her. Through this juxtaposition, the artist seems to be asking why women need to acquire the attributes of a sacred animal, the holy cow, to be seen as worthy of respect, or at least to be safe from harm.

"Beautifully expressed. Distilled and very relevant. With women expressing their dissent and protest. We are looking. Hum dekhenge."
-Anita Ratnam

"I relate the most to this painting. A lot of my work over the last thirty years has been in reinterpreting mythology through the eyes of the women or the ‘lesser’ characters. Since 1989 I have worked with Sita, Draupadi, Savitri, Surpanaka, Mandodari, Ahalya and more. With my colleagues at Darpana, we have created music videos that talk of letting a woman be a person, neither goddess nor whore. I continue this work because I think the patriarchy that holds our nation down is rooted in the treatment of goddesses as willing slaves of gods, and yet they were extraordinary women. This needs constant reiteration and reminding."
-Mallika Sarabhai

Kohbar (Mithila Painting), 1991
Dulari Devi

Belonging to the larger genre of folk-painting in Mithila and Madhubani districts of Bihar, a khobar is drawn inside the bed chambers of newly-married couples. It is believed to enhance fertility. Dulari Devi belongs to the fishermen’s community of Mallahs and initially worked as a housemaid for the National Award-winning artist, Mahasundari Devi. She soon learned how to paint and in the process, transformed the art itself. Dulari Devi received the state of Bihar Award for excellence in art in the year 2013.

"Her life excites me. Women who have been suppressed by tradition, in whom resides amazing art, whom we can help use that to possess their own space and tell their inner most thoughts through this—I find this energising and exciting."
-Mallika Sarabhai

Ardhanariswar (Mithila Painting), 2018
by Moti Karn

In this Madhubani painting of Ardhanariswar, the androgynous figure represented is meant to symbolize the forms of both the male and the female. Ardhanariswar is part Shiva (on the left side) and part Parvati (on the right). Moti Karn is a National-Award winning Mithila artist.

"Hinduism is the only philosophy that understands that all of us have male and female genes. That women did not come out of man, be it his rib or another part of him. That Shiva without Shakti is shava. That belief is what keeps me within this philosophy."
-Mallika Sarabhai

From 'And when she roared, the universe quaked', 2007, acrylic on fabric and glass
by Shakuntala Kulkarni

Shakuntala Kulkarni addresses certain pressing feminist issues through this 2007 series of paintings. The artist is alluding to the ability of women to free themselves from the shackles of society and its expectations with humour. In Kulkarni’s world, as depicted in this series, women are powerful warriors in charge of their own destiny.

"I do not know Kulkarni’s work and I wish I did. She sounds fascinating, and her interest in theatre and in the three-dimensional space excites me, as does her putting a feminist perspective to things."
-Mallika Sarabhai

Untitled, acrylic on canvas
by Thota Vaikuntam

Master modern artist Thota Vaikuntam’s more recent paintings tend to use a strict palette of bright, primary colours and defined brushstrokes. These help in bringing to life his sensuously rendered subjects, their dark skin and sturdy bodies hardened by labour, but softened by flowers and jewellery.

"I love his work. There is a lusciousness about it. Its like having a perfect ripe mango in my mouth and holding it there. And his strength of lines and colours resonate with me. I am fortunate in having two [paintings by him] and I love them."
-Mallika Sarabhai