Agony & Ecstasy of River Ganga - A Mohiniyattam Ballet

Ayswaria Warrier, a noted Mohiniyattam artist, basically from Kerala, but settled in Vadodara (Baroda, Gujarath), performed her own choreography ‘Matha Gange Pranamamyaham’ at the venues Kozhikode, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram for Rasavikalpam 2015 and Parampara , the classical dance festival series organized by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Thrissur and Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram in November 2015. 


‘Matha Gange Pranamamyaham’ is the story of River Ganga based on the mythology. It also highlights the issues related to the river.  The ballet presents the origin of River Ganga from the heaven,  that comes down to the planes, mingles with the humankind and giving them whatever she can,  with the interventions of human beings she slowly recedes.  Ayswaria said “Ganga is Mother to all human beings. She nurtures and nourishes all living beings, plants and creatures, and yet she suffers and neglected”.  “Another philosophical message is that each of us, individual human beings are also actually travelling in life in similar way, imbibing various good and bad things and we have to protect our integrity and conscious because finally we all have to merge with the supreme, the sublime”, she added.

In the one hour long choreography production, she has taken the lines from ‘Kalki Purana’, the music being composed by Sri N N Shivaprasad, a noted member from a Kathakali family who settled in Mumbai.  The supporting artists who accompanied the trip were N N Shivaprasad (Vocal), Gyaneswaran (percussions Mrudangam & Madhalam), Mukundan (Edakka) and Sreekumar Ram (flute).  


Some of her previous productions are Shakunthala, based on Mahakavi Kalidasa’s Abhigyanashakuntalam, Urmila by Kavalam Narayana Panicker, which depicts the story of  Lakshmana’s wife in Ramayan, Shakti, based on Adi Shankaracharya’s Soundaryalahiri etc.


Mrs. Ayswaria Warrier runs her own Classical dance institute Nrityodaya School of Classical Dance in Vadodara (Gujarat) through which she imparts training in Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam.



Photo & Video: Welcome Kerala Magazine (www.welcomekeralaonline.com)

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