Birju Maharaj a force to be reckoned with<\/p>\n
By Mehru Jaffer<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): When Birju Maharaj dances in Jakarta he will not
\nonly entertain, but his performance will provide a glimpse into a
\ncivilization of a bygone era.<\/p>\n
For India's Birju Maharaj is not just a leading exponent of
\nthe Kathak dance. He is an entire cultural legacy of a time when
\nriches rained upon Lucknow, his hometown, bringing about much
\nlicentiousness and imbalance in both thoughts and action. Then
\npleasure seeking had proliferated but the arts were also forced
\nto flower if for no other reason than to please the nobility.<\/p>\n
Dance at that time was made a vehicle for coquetry and poetry
\nwas invented for the extreme glorification of feminine beauty.<\/p>\n
At the performance of the Kathak style in Jakarta, his first,
\nhe will dance to excerpts taken from the epic story Ramayana. In
\na colorful piece composed specially for audiences here he will
\ncelebrate the Indian spring festival of Holi on stage along with
\nSaswati Sen, his muse and spiritual consort for nearly three
\ndecades and Deepak Maharaj his son and disciple.<\/p>\n
Birju Maharaj is the quintessential Lucknawi which, if used in
\na pejorative sense, suggests foppishness and indulgence in
\nelaborate etiquette, the idle preoccupation of powerless
\naristocracies everywhere.<\/p>\n
But to know Lucknow is also to know all about the spirit of
\nmutual tolerance and understanding that existed in the
\ncosmopolitan capital of architecture, dance, music and creative
\nwriting between different cultures not only from the Indian
\nsubcontinent but from around the world.<\/p>\n
The city that gave birth to Birju Maharaj was once the
\nunwalled capital of Shia Muslims who became its rulers in the
\n18th century. They were descendants of a family from Nishapur in
\nIran who within a decade of their arrival converted the ancient
\nHindu city into a dream world of gilded domes and minarets.<\/p>\n
The Europeans who followed further conceived it as an Indian
\nversion of a luxurious spa back home. With fortunes flowing in
\nfrom the fertile countryside and secure under the protection of
\nthe British armed forces, the rulers retreated for almost 200
\nyears into a world of make-believe as if there was no tomorrow.
\nLost within their baroque homes the locals thought they had
\narrived either at London's Windsor Castle or the Versailles near
\nParis, while Lucknow's rich European population imagined itself
\nreborn into an Islamic pleasure garden.<\/p>\n
In a predominantly Hindu state with a Sunni Muslim majority,
\nthe Iranians and the English soon created a city with pastoral
\nsuburbs where they lived in huge bungalows surrounded by gardens
\nand paved roads with a small Gothic church, a post office,
\nbanquet hall and tennis courts. These dwellings were considered a
\ngigantic folly by some, while others were unable to decide
\nwhether the structures resembled a castle, a wedding cake in
\nbrick or a baroque fantasy.<\/p>\n
It is in the womb of this very disparate but imaginative Hindu
\nheartland also home to Persians and Europeans alike that Birju
\nMaharaj was conceived more than six decades ago in a Brahmin
\nfamily that believed Shiva, Parvati and Krishna to be founders of
\ntheir art. The only son and disciple of his father, Birju Maharaj
\ngave his first dance performance when he was seven years old.<\/p>\n
Guidance<\/p>\n
Although he lost his father when he was just 10 years old, he
\ncontinued to dance under the guidance of three uncles who
\ndelighted in imparting to the youngster all those little family
\nsecrets that have kept dancers from this family famous for over
\n300 years. Today Birju Maharaj is not just a master of dance and
\ndrama but a fine vocalist and drummer too. He is able to play
\nmany a musical instrument with as much ease as he composes poetry
\nand it is quite obvious that age has only added to his phenomenal
\nknowledge of bol (musical phrases), laya (speed of movement),
\ntaal (beat) and bhava (expression), all important components of
\nthe Kathak dance.<\/p>\n
The ancestors of Birju Maharaj were professional kathaks
\n(storytellers) in neighboring Brijbhumi, the land of Krishna who
\nsang and danced in praise of the gods at temples. Mesmerized by
\nthe energetic dancing and music, Muslim rulers invited some of
\nthe devotees of lord Krishna to court. Since the rulers
\nthemselves concentrated on much poetry and music, having little
\nto do on the battle field, they exchanged tunes on musical
\ninstruments brought with them from Iran and absorbed the
\nreligious fervor of the kathaks into different aspects of
\nsensuousness and romance as well.<\/p>\n
The city's musical activity reached its zenith under Wajid Ali
\nShah, Lucknow's last ruler who would himself compose, dance and
\nsing along with the ancestors of Birju Maharaj, enthralling one
\nand all with his excessive gaiety. It is here that Persian
\nmingled with the local dialect and added another dimension to
\nUrdu, a language initially born out of the unavoidable
\ninteraction between the invading speakers of Persian and Turkish
\nand those who spoke various Indian vernacular languages.<\/p>\n
But the variety of Urdu that bloomed on the soils of Lucknow
\nis so special for its extreme graciousness that it is known to
\nbring tears of joy to all those who hear it. The same language is
\nused to compose the most heart-wrenching of love songs that are
\ncalled ghazal and which will be rendered here by Soma Chakravarty
\nGhosh in the first half of the musical extravaganza.<\/p>\n
The ghazal is loved to this day for its unique combination of
\nspirituality, melancholy, loftiness of thought, profound
\nlamentation and tone of longing. The Urdu language continues to
\nplay a great role in keeping alive the syncretic Indo-Muslim
\nculture that is also dubbed by its critics as flamboyant,
\neffeminate and decadent.<\/p>\n
British colonialism managed to put an end to the kingdom in
\n1856 but the city's rich tradition of dance, music and poetry
\ncontinues. The pomp and glory of the prince may well have been
\ntrampled over by the gigantic strides of time but as long as
\nBirju Maharaj continues to swirl ecstatically, the musical life
\nof Lucknow will remain alive and kicking.<\/p>\n
Birju Maharaj and Soma Chakravarty Ghosh will perform at
\nGedung Kesenian Jakarta at 7 p.m. on Saturday. For further
\ninformation call 330407, 7657025 or 08161820836.<\/p>",
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