Celebrating the land, its sounds and literature

Bharathi Thirumagan uses villupattu to create a link between earth and agriculture through music, dance and literature

A villupattu recital titled ‘Bhoomiye Saami’ (Earth is God) was presented by Bharathi Thirumagan, daughter of villuppaattu exponent Subbu Arumugam, as part of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s ‘Vazhiya Vaiyagam’ series. Bharathi pointed out that the tip of the villu pointed upwards to God’s abode, and the other downwards, with the bowstring bridging the gap between the two. Thus, the villu shows us the connection between God and Earth.

Bharathi’s son Kalaimagan, a trained classical musician, presented his grandfather’s song — ‘Rama kaavyam, Janaki maayam’. It praised the various manifestations of Shakti — as Visalatchi, Kamatchi and Meenatchi — and concluded that ultimately it was Vayalatchi (agriculture) that brought prosperity to the world.

Bharathi posed the question — who is a permanent hero on Earth? The answer? The farmer. She warned against indiscriminate felling of trees, and spoke of how Tataka, the demoness, who would go on to be killed by Rama, tore up trees.

Subbu Arumugam wrote a song ‘Vayale Vaazhgave’ in Nattai raga, using the mettu of the first, third and ninth charanams of Tyagaraja’s ‘Jagadanandakaraka’. He presented the song in the 145th Tyagaraja aradhana. He later used the verses in a villupattu recital for Doordarshan’s rural programme ‘Vayalum Vazhvum’.

When asked about the relevance of ‘Jagadanandakaraka’ to a rural programme, Arumugan apparently replied that Thiruvaiyaru, where the kriti was sung every year during the Tyagaraja aradhana, was surrounded by rice fields! Kalaimagan presented the song for ‘Bhoomiye Saami’, and D. Pratima danced to it.

This is the first time dance was used in a villupattu performance. Bharathi explained that villupattu was about iyal (literature), isai (music) and natakam (drama). All these years, the only theatrical elements in villupattu were the emotive words of the presenter, and, at best, a few hand gestures. Dance was included this time, because the theme was Earth. “Can’t Earth’s rotation and revolution be seen as dance?” asked Bharathi.

Harini danced to ‘Yereduthu Vayaloram’, a song praising farmers. For ‘Kadavuloda Kaiyai Irundu’, a song about planting saplings, A. Sai Deekshini was joined by two other dancers. Bharathi’s presentation was laced with humour, while Kalaimagan’s singing made the programme a meaningful, delightful treat.