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| Sunday, 8 January 2006 |
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Junior Observer |  |
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Pani Bharatha : A dancer of int'l reputeSri Lanka lost two of her most eminent dancers last year. Chitrasena passed away in July. Two months later, on September 20, Pani Bharatha passed away. While Chitrasena was born into a middle class family of land-owners, Pani Bharatha was born as the son of a dancer, of the famous Algama Paramparawa, the line of dancers, drummers and exorcists (persons who drive away evil spirits from a person or place) of Algama, a village in the Kegalle district.
In the last century, three master dancers spread the name and fame of Algama far and wide. They were Algama Siriya, his son Kiriganitha and Siriya's grandson Pani Bharatha, the son of his elder son Paba Gura. Gurunnanse, often shortened to Guru, was added to their names as a mark of respect. Paba Gura named his son, born on February 20, 1920, Paanis, but he was affectionately called Pani by his parents and elders. Twenty seven years were to pass before Pani Bharatha emerged on the scene. As a toddler, all Pani heard was drumming and singing of 'vannam' and 'Kavi-Sindu' (songs) and all he saw was dancing to the beat of drums. Dancing and drumming were in his blood, and he soon acquired the skills that had been honed in by a line of ancestors, and passed from father to son. By age seven, Pani had proved himself proficient enough to perform in public at a function at the Keenadeniya Vidyalaya in the Gampaha district. Spectators applauded the skilled drumming of the little boy. From about the age of 10, he was taking part in drumming displays and contests between two troupes, at temples and Walauwas, the homes of the landed gentry. "These contests", Pani once recalled, "helped to hone our skills". Despite these public performances, the father wasn't keen on Pani following in their footsteps. He didn't think a dancer and drummer had a future in this country. So Pabanchi Gura took his son to the famous physician-monk Thibbotuwe Gunananda Thera in Ratnapura, to be taught Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of medicine and healing. At Ratnapura, Pani watched spellbound his uncle Kiriganitha dancing at the Saman Dewala. The pull of his ancestors was too strong. He decided to give up medicine and go back to his roots. From his uncle Kiriganitha he learned and mastered every technique of dancing, and drumming from Ginitheris Gura. When he was about 16 or 17 he was dancing in the Kandy Perahera. Every dancer and drummer considers it a great honour to take part in the Dalada Perahera. 'Ves Bendeema, the placing of the head dress (ves) is the culmination of a dancer's training. It is his 'graduation', and the ceremony usually takes place at a temple. Pani's 'graduation ceremony' was at the Attanagalla Raja Maha Vihara, in the late 1930s,when he was nearly 20 years old. It was about this time that he met J. D. A. Perera, the artist, and his wife Chandralekha, the only Sinhala woman who had chosen dancing as a career at that time. She was looking out for a competent drummer to accompany her. When news reached them of a skilful drummer in Algama, they got him down to Colombo. Chandralekha found in Pani the ideal drummer she was looking for. So she took him with her to Trivandrum and he accompanied her on the drum in all her performances there, including the performance in the palace of the Maharaja of Travancore. Meeting J. D. A. Perera and Chandralekha was the turning point in his life. While Chandralekha was training under Sri Gopi Nath, Pani learned to play the drum the Kathakali way; he also observed and learned his methods of training dancers and his choreography. Back in Colombo, J. D. A. Perera got Pani into Lawrence College run by his brother for his secondary education and also into Vidyalankara Pirivena. In 1944, Pani won a Government scholarship to Shantinikethan, Rabindranath Tagore's School of Fine Arts in Calcutta. There he learned the Shantinikethan style of dancing and took part in Tagore's dance-dramas. Tagore was dead by then, but the staging of his dance-dramas was a regular event at Shantinikethan. On his return home after his training in 1947, he was advised by three persons closely associated with the arts, viz J. D. A. Perera S. L. I. B Kapukotuwa of the Department of Education and the journalist D. B. Dhanapala, to change his name. And so Pani Bharatha was born. Pani was his pet name in the village and Bharatha is the old name for India. When the Department of Fine Arts was started at the Technical College, Pani Bharatha was appointed to teach Kandyan dancing; later he became Head of the School of Aesthetic Studies. Until the early 1950s women did not take part in Kandyan dancing. It was Pani Bharatha who first trained women in Kandyan dancing and brought them on stage. One of them was his sister Chitra Algama. Soon he had his own troupe of dancers, male and female, and they were performing here and abroad, first in Germany in 1954 and then at various festivals in the UK, USA, Russia, India, Czechoslovakia and Canada. His troupe was for many years the State Dance Ensemble. His many trips abroad gave him the confidence to innovate and experiment, sometimes adapting dance sequences he has seen abroad, but he never broke with tradition. He produced ballets like Ditta Mangalika and Hath Paththini and the charming dance compositions based on everyday events like reaping paddy. The State conferred on him the title 'Kalasuri', and the Sabaragamuwa University, in recognition of his long and many services to fine arts, conferred on him an honorary doctorate and named an open-air theatre after him. Pani Bharatha's daughter Upuli is a talented dancer, and is an active member of her husband Channa's dance ensemble. Sumana Saparamadu. Victoria, Queen of England The most influential monarch in the history of all England and the entire Commonwealth of Nations was Queen Victoria (1819-1901) who ruled for 64 years (1837-1901). She ascended the throne at 18 years of age, on the death of King William IV, her uncle. She is recorded as having been highly intelligent, deeply compassionate and "terribly determined". Her husband was Prince Albert, her cousin, by whom she had nine children. She is seen as a lady possessed of a fine insight into her destined place in world history, and therefore worked hard in the most intelligent of terms, with the greatest array of political minds in existence. They were the Prime Ministers Lord Melbourne (Sir William Lamb), Sir Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli (Earl of Beaconsfield) and William Gladstone (who was Prime Minister on four occasions). Queen Victoria had always deeply mourned the early death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, when they were both 42 years. She lived to reach 82. It was in this era that the western civilisation saw the emergence of electrically-operated printing presses with a proliferation (rapid spread) of newspapers to the masses and the skilful art of photography (newspapers appeared in Ceylon in the 1830s). Consequently, she was among the first ever leaders of society to be photographed! Her portraits are a study in personal dignity. Rohan Jayawardane |
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