Harbinger of tradition:

Revisiting Panibharatha’s artistic legacy

by Charith Perera

Dr. Kalasoori Panibharatha’s contribution to the preservation and improves traditional art forms such as Up-Country and Sabaragamuwa dance traditions to the status of modern art should be assessed against the backdrop of vanishing traditions of arts at his time, towards the tail end of the colonialism in Sri Lanka.

He will be best remembered, among other things, for his singular contribution to the establishment of the University of Visual and Performing Arts along with pioneers such as J.D.A Perera and building up a formidable corpus of knowledge particularly, of the traditional Sri Lankan dance forms.

Systematising the existing corpus of knowledge in the field, sometimes, brining the sources to the university and codification of them and his extensive innovations and hard-research established Panibharata not only as an accomplished and dedicated artist of his time but also as a pioneering academic in the field.

Drummer

The association of Dr. Panibharata with JDA Perera and his wife Mrs. Chandralekha proved phenomenal when he offered to accompany them to India as their drummer. During the journey, when he met Shiri Gopinath in India, Gopinath invited him to study Indian dancing and offered him a scholarship. Dr. Panibharatha went to India in 1944 to Indian Dancing such as Kathakali, Manipuri and drumming at Vishvabharati Shantiniketan.

Remarkably, during his stay at Vishvabharati Shantiniketan, apart from coming into contact with legendary teachers in diverse art forms, he had the distinctive opportunity of acting in a drama produced by Ravindranath Tagore. His outstanding talents in diverse fields such as dancing, were highly acclaimed by Mahathma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Neru, Kerala Maha Kavi, Walathol Narayan.

When he returned to Sri Lanka in 1940, he was appointed as the Dancing Teacher at Royal College, Colombo and subsequently in several leading schools. Subsequently, he was promoted as the Dancing Instructor at the Teacher Training College, Mirigama.

Dr. Panibharatha’s appointment in 1952 as the Principal at Lalitha Kalayathanaya which was the State Institute for Artists (then known as “Heywood”), has established arts as well-recognised disciplines. He was appointed as the Head at the University of Kelaniya in 1979.

The founding of the Aesthetic Section of the University of Kelaniya contributed towards uplifting the standards of Sri Lankan dancing to the level of a discipline, setting standards in teaching and performing dance.

During his tenure as the Principal of the Institute of Music, Dr. Panibharata worked hard to upgrader it to a fully-fledged university. He was the perfect candidate for the post as he was well versed in Indian classical dance techniques such as Bharata and Kathakali as well as up country and low-county dancing.One of the lasting contributions that Dr. Panibharatha made in the field of traditional Sri Lankan arts was the pioneering initiative he made to establish the University of Visual and Performing Arts.

A prominent characteristic of Dr. Panibharatha was his powerful voice which could be heard from a very distance. This powerful voice added another dimension to his performance as it was the manifestation of the technique which spellbound the audience.

Being versatile in diverse fields of arts from dancing to sculpture, Kalashuri Dr. Panibharata took the first step towards the formulation of a syllabus for Sri Lankan traditional dance.

Panibharata compiled and codified the collective knowledge and unique tradition of Sri Lankan dance forms; Udarata (upcountry), pahata rata (low Country) and Sabaragamuwa traditions of dance which had been handed down from generation to generation over the years.

Traditions

These unique dancing traditions were in danger of total extinction due to the practice of Guru Mushtiya (where the teacher will not impart certain portions of knowledge thus depriving the next generation of that part).

Apart from Sinhalese, Panibharatha was well versed in several languages such as Pali, Sanskrit and English. He used to bring sources such as dancing master in the tradition of Sabaragamuwa and Up country dancing not only with the intention of exposing the students to the live demonstrations of the master exponents in the art but also to bridge the knowledge gap in the existing body of knowledge.

A little known fact about Panibharatha is that he was an accomplished painter and sculpture. For instance, it was said that one of his sculptures had been exhibited during his days at Vishvabharati Shantiniketan.As true to the words of his son-in-law, Channa Wijewardene, Dr. Panibharata had all the attribute of a genius who excelled not only in diverse Indian traditions of dancing such as Kata Kal, which he studied in India, but also was an authority on Sri Lankan folks dances. Personality is something which is lacking in most of contemporary teachers of dancing.

Dr. Panibharata used to spend days on drawing and paintings. His unique colour code consisted of natural colours such as earthly colours and tones. He was very much into autumn colours, perhaps, due to the link of the colours of the costumes with the sun. Dr. Panibharata epitomised the sheer depth and the philosophy of Sri Lankan dancing though he was equally at home with Indian classical dance forms. He was also the pioneer artist who, perhaps, for the first time, introduced fusion music to Sri Lankan audience. One of his experimental percussion pieces was the symphony of traditional drums of Sri Lanka.

The setting sun inspired Panibharatha to create the symphony of drums. Among the traditions of dancing that Panibharatha learnt and mastered in Vishvabharati or Shantiniketan was Manipuri dance. Although he did make his own improvisations in Manipuri dance, he was best known for Narilatha dance. Narilatha dance depicts the Narilatha flower ( flower is in the shape of a naked woman). Narilatha flower plants are supposed to grow in the Himalayan region in India and that flowers would bloom at 20-year intervals.

According to legend, the trance of hermits in deep meditation is said to be disturbed at the sight of flowers which are in the shape of naked women. Panibharatha himself composed the lyrics for Narilatha dance. What is significant in the piece of choreography is that Panibharatha has skilfully fused some of the salient characteristics in the Manipuri dance with the Sri Lankan traditional foot movements ( Adi) in the Up country dancing so as to bring into the choreography delicate texture in the Maipuri dance.

For instance, the body posture in the shape of the letter ‘S’ is a prominent feature in the Manipuri dance. One of the salient characteristics of his major work was his attempt to portray village life on stage. This is amply manifested in his first choreograph ‘Goyam Kapilla’ (reaping paddy) which was performed at the visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Regal Theatre in 1952.

Here Dr. Pani Bharata re-created the scene in a Sri Lankan typical village where the village lasses reaping the bounty harvest of paddy.

In an agricultural society, reaping the harvest is a very important occasion which captures the essence of the life in Sri Lankan traditional village. In the creation, Dr. Pani Bharata not only portrayed the reaping of the harvest but also the elements of fulfilment, sense of abundance and prosperity associated with the occasion.

‘Graha Apalaya’ is a choreography on nine planets and their movements. Here in this choreography he used different techniques to represent different planets. Among his other creations, ‘Sath Pathvini’ (Goddess of Pathvini) is prominent. According to Channa Wijewardene, Dr. Pani Bharata dreamt of composing a choreograph on ‘Sadakada pahana’, the medieval crescent-shaped threshold which was a common feature in ancient Sri Lanka.

He was also instrumental in introducing dance items such as Puja Natuma (piece of choreography to pay homage), Narilatha, Drum Ochestra and Goyam Kapima ( Havesting paddy) in a concert to proscenium stage. His concerts were made up of pieces of traditional dance such as Puja dance, Narilatha dance, Ves Natuma, Thelme, Salupaliya, Gini Sisila, Goyam Kulu and the concert would be concluded with Drum Orchestra which is a fusion of diverse types of drums of Sri Lanka.

A special feature of his concert was a conversation in drums where two drummers would engage in a conversation by responding each other in terms of drum beats. The 7th death anniversary of Kalasoori Panibharatha – the legendary dancer and versatile artiste of international repute was recently commemorated (He passed away in February 20, 2006). Dr. Kalasoori Sithratchcharige Panibharatha was born on February 24, 1920 in Hathara Korale Algama.

His father Pabanchi Gurunnanse insisted his’ son to study traditional medicine. However, his uncle who knew his extra-ordinary passion for dancing requested Panibharatha to switch on to dancing. He came under the influence of legendary dancing masters such as his grandfather Algama Siriya Gurunnanse and Algama Kiriganitha Guru.

He played the Magul Bera at Radio Ceylon at the age of eight. One of the significant coincident in his life was his meeting of J. D. A Perera and his wife Chandralekha in Colombo in 1937. This union led to his subsequent visit to India as J.D.A Perera’s and Chandralekha’s drummer. In 1940, Panibharatha was formally inaugurated into dancing by dressing as a ‘ traditional Ves Dancer’ at the Attanagalle Rajamaha Vihara.

A creation will not last long unless it is based on a firm ground of tradition. Panibharata was the first artiste who introduced solo-drumming, duets and drum-orchestra. He was very powerful at the dance, in any costume.

Academically, he did not write much but a lot of it can be learnt from his talking. Different creations came out of him while he spoke to himself. He would come out with brilliant creations, sometimes at 2.00 a.m.

He was like a moving library because he lived in it. We are very powerful in our tradition and it stands on its own anywhere in the world. However, we will not be powerful if not for artists like Panibharata and Chitrasena. “Said Panibharata’s son-in-law, Channa Wijewardena.