Embassy of India

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

TanjavurUtsavam of Iyal, Isai and Natakam

Conducted by IGNCA for the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi

11 February, 2022 – 13 February, 2022

Venue: South Zone Cultural Centre

Tanjavur, a millineum old city in Tamilnadu, has been a cultural capital from the time of King VijayalayaChola (II half of 9th c), who shifted his capital from Uraiyur to this new political citadel. It was however Raja RajaChola (985c – 1014c) who became an emperor with multifaceted interests, who made the city known beyond the shores. His building the Brhadishwara temple which is now recognised as a world monument by UNESCO, was a centre for religion, philosophy, art, architecture, dance, music, drama with an unsurpassed cultural administration. The longest Tamil inscription is found in the temple giving amazing details regarding maintaining 400 dancers and about 250 musicians, with the financial commitment from the Government. Raja Raja’s acumen in administering his vast empire, through the political system of election of heads of villages, maintaining Trusts to run temples, provide an excellent irrigation system, maintain a valourous army and Navy encourage artistes and artisans, provide an education system and a well maintained tax collection are some of the factors which made the Chola rule incomparable.

Tanjavur, has the stamp of the Tamil Chola culture to this day, in spite of the rule of the Kannada vassals of Vijayanagara dynasty followed by the independent Nayak rulers of Telugu tongue and finally the descendants of Chatrapati Sivaji taking the reins, bringing in Marathi rule. Tanjavur has become an amalgam of these linguistic streams, enriching the native Tamil language and the very design for living. The harmony was of course because of the common Hindu faith, which enabled a beautiful mingling of linguistic groups with identical culture in thought, word and action.

Tanjavur festival has a vision to bring to light the kaleidoscopic cultural facets of the region through a three day festival, saluting the city and those who built and developed it through the millennia. Tanjavur is spoken as the granary of south India, rich in its agriculture, which was responsible for the arts, science and philosophy to flourish. Mother Kaveri, also called Ponni, had endowed great fertility to the region, enabling intellectual, artistic, scientific and metaphysical exercises in the region. The festival is organised by IGNCA, New Delhi. It is planned to be a corridor for scholars, artistes and the common people to take pride of this heritage.

Day 1– 11-2-2022 IYAL - Literature

8.45 am - 9.00 am - Inauguration – Mangala isai – Nadaswaram by K. M. Uthirapathi and troupe

9.05 am - 9.15 am - Vedic recitation

9.20 am – 9.35 am - Tevaram sung by Oduvar (Temple singer) by Swaminathan Oduvar

9.40 am – 9.50 am - Welcome Address – Dr.Sachchidanand Joshi, Member-Secretary, IGNCA

9.50 am – 10.00 am - Concept presentation – Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, Trustee, IGNCA

10.00 am – 10.05 am - Lighting the lamp & Inauguration by Prince of Thanjavur, Srimant Rajasri Babaji Rajah Bhonsle Chhatrapati

10.05 am – 10.15 am – Inaugural address by Prince of Tanjavur

10.15 am - 10.20 am - Vote of Thanks

10.25 am – 10.40 am – Melaprapti & Alarippu by Bharatanatyam students of Guru Thanjai Herambanathan

10.45 am – 10.55 am - A ritualistic Kauthwam by Charumathi Chandrasekaran, grand - daughter of Guru Kittappa Pillai, a descendant of the Tanjore Quartette

TEA BREAK

11.30 am –11.50 am - Lecture by Dr. Selvaraj: History of Tanjavur – A bird’s eye view

11.55 am– 12. 15 pm - Online Lecture by Prof. Dr. G. Deivanayagam: The unique architectural gandeur of the Big Temple

12.20 pm – 12.40 pm - Online Lecture by Sri. Aravinth Kumaraswamy (Singapore) –

___________________________ LUNCH BREAK__________________________________

4.00 pm – 5pm - Kavi Arangam: Poets Confluence - Isai Kavi Sri. Ramanan & group

5.15 pm –6.15 pm - Performance by Dr. Pramila Gurumurthy: Harikatha

6.30 pm –7.30pm - Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam’s Nrithyodaya artistes, Mahati Kannan, Ramya Venkatraman, Srinidhi Vivekanandan, present the Premier show of “Sangam to Sadir – Pearls from Tamil Literature in dance form”

7.45 pm – 8.45pm - Guru Kalyanasundaram Pillai’s Rajarajeswari Bharatanatya Kala Mandir, Mumbai presenting Bharatanatyam Margam

Day 2- 12-2-2022 ISAI - Music

9.00 am – 9.30 am - Sri. Sadgurunathan: Oduvar of Mylapore Kapaleeswara Temple, Chennai – Lec dem on Tamil Isai Pann & Tevaram

9.40 am – 10.10 am - Dr. Rajshri Ramakrishna - Carnatic music of Tanjavur Tradition – Lec dem

10.20 am – 10.50 am - Online Smt. Jayanthi Kumaresh: 72 Melakartas of Carnatic Music – Lec dem

11.00 am – 11.30 am - Dr. Rama Kousalya: Art as part of life in Tanjavur – Lec dem

11.40 am– 12.40 pm - Nama Sankeertanam – Gnanananda Namasankeertana Mandali

_______________________LUNCH BREAK________________________________

4.00 pm – 4.30 pm - Folk dances by Nadi Rao, Shivaji Rao

4.30 pm- 5.00 pm - Tappattam

5.15 pm – 6.15 pm - Performance by Sri. Sikkil Gurucharan (Vocal)

6.30 pm –7.30 pm - Performance by Sri.Lalgudi G.J.R.Krishnan & Smt. Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi: (Violin recital)

7.45 pm –8.45 pm - Dr. S. Sowmya (Vocal)

Day 3 – 13-2-2022 NATAKAM – Dance & Drama

9.00 am – 9.30am - Dr. Gayatri Kannan: Karana Sculpures of Tanjavur Temple with Demonstration by Mahati Kannan – Lec dem

9.40 am – 10.10 am - Guru Sri Herambanathan: Adavu varieties of Tanjavur Bani

10.20 am –10.50 am - Smt. Priyadarshini Govind: Abhinayam for Telugu padams – Lec dem

11.00 am –11.30 am - Dr. Sandhya Purecha, Mumbai : Contribution of Maratha Kings of Tanjavur to dance - Lecdem

11.40 am –12.00 pm Dr. M. S. Sarala: Some important references to dance technique in classical Tamil literature

12.10 pm – 12. 40 pm - Sri. N.Srikanth – Music & Dance in Bhagavatamela Natakam – Lec dem

________________________________ LUNCH BREAK_____________________________________

4.00 pm – 5.00 pm - Dr. Sucheta Bhide Chapekar: Maratha Compositions for Bharatanatyam

5.15 pm – 6.15 pm - Kalaimamani Smt. Priya Murle & Students of Shri Silambam Academy of Fine Arts: Uthukkadu Venkata Kavi’s Rasa Sabdams

6.30 pm – 7.30 pm - Performance by Smt. Nartaki Nataraj

7.35 pm – 8.15pm – Valedictory function:

Honouring Guru Kalyanasundaram Pillai & release of “Karana Ujjivanam – Reconstruction Revisited” A Documentary based on research of Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, produced by IGNCA

By Hon. Minister for Culture, Govt. Of India

8.15 pm – 9.15 pm - Violin Jugalbandi - Mysore Manjunath and Pandit Praveen Sheolikar