Bharatanatyam – Teertha Bharatham – Brahmaputra – Shijith Nambiar

Description

TEERTHA BHARATHAM – on the Sacred Rivers of India. Rivers have been the cradles of civilizations through millennia. They are venerated as benevolent Mother Goddesses sustaining the entire ecosystem, of which man is a part. A holy dip in their sacred water is considered to be a cleansing and purifying of the body and spirit. The perennial flow of the rivers from its origin to the sea, symbolises the journey of the soul to merge with the universal. Some of the most sublime and poetic experiences of the ancients remain crystallized in the myths and legends around rivers. Teertha Bharatham was the theme of Natyarangam’s seven-day annual dance festival held in August 2008. It was an artistic tour of seven sacred rivers by seven dancers and talks by seven resource persons. In this three DVD series, we present the rivers – Brahmaputra, Godavari and Narmada.

RIVER BRAHMAPUTRA – Dance by Shijith Nambiar, talk by scholar Dr. Lalita Ramakrishna. Brahmaputra, the “son of Brahma” is the most important among the few male rivers. It flows out of the Manas lake at the foot of Mt. Kailash. The water is cold and the river is called Tamchok (horse river), in central and East Tibet it is Tsang Po (pure river), in Arunachal Pradesh it is the Siang, in Assam it is called Lohit (red river) and in Bangladesh where it joins the combined waters of the Ganga and Jamuna, it is called Padma (the lotus). It finally joins the Meghna before flowing into the sea. It has a huge size and spread, strength and power during the monsoons and is called ‘saagar’ (sea).

NATYARANGAM, dance wing of the Narada Gana Sabha, was launched in September 1995 with a twofold purpose: (1) to provide a platform for talented young dancers of proven merit, and (2) to create awareness in the audience about various aspects of dance appreciation. It organises dance recitals and lecdems on every third Saturday and Sunday every month. Natyarangam honours eminent gurus, and presents endowment awards to famous dancers, accompanying musicians and young dancers.

Backed by genuine desire to preserve for posterity, Swathi’s Sanskriti Series, uses the best of technology to release this product.