Bhagavatha Mela, an ancient dance drama

by Subashini Pathmanathan

Among the many classical dance forms of India, Bhagavatha Mela, is one of the classical dances of Tamil Nadu. Essentially it is a dance drama. Bharatha Natyam is a pure classical dance which is evolved from Sathir whilst Bhagavatha Mela is a dance drama, which originated in the 11th century A.D. Thirthana Narayana Yogi is the author of the famed Krishna Leela Tharangani who migrated from Andhra and settled in Tamil Nadu.

A scene from Bhagavatha Mela

He dedicated himself to the development of Bhagavatha Mela in Tamil Nadu. He and his followers believed that the worship of God was only possible when it is expressed through music, dance and drama. Mainly it followed the vaishanva tradition.

Venkadarama Sasthiriyar who lived in Melatur, wrote many dance dramas. among them were Prakalathan, Rukmani Kalyanam, Savithiri Vaypavam which were some of the popular dance dramas enacted in villages around the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu.

Thanjavur is the home of fine arts. Just as Bharatha natyam, developed styles from different gurus so too the Bhagavatha Mela developed different styles.

Melatur which is closely linked to the origin and development of Bhagavatha Mela was a beautiful village, on the banks of the tributary of the Cavery river. It was a gift by a Nayaka king Achuthappa to 510 Brahmin families. In ancient times at the Varatharajah Perumal Kovil in Melatur many dance dramas were performed during the Narashima Jayanthi festival. Like Bharatha Natyam, Bhagavatha Mela was a deeply devotional art and it was enacted in Temples.

The Bhagavatha Mela starts with a prayer song Thodaya Mangalam which is also followed in the Vazhuvoor style of Bharatha Natyam.

But today other styles of Bharatha natyam also use the Thodayamangalam not as a prayer song as in the Vazhuvoor tradition but as a dance form. Like Bharatha Natyam, Bhagavatha Mela uses hand gestures, abinaya, and facial expressions to interpret the meaning of the song with rhythm (Thala). Bhagavatha Mela like Bharatha Natyam has pure Nirtha movements for the sequence of Swaras and Sollukadu Nattuwangam. But in Bharatha Natyam the Sollukattu Nattuvangam is not coordinated to the music, but it is coordinated to the relevant rhythm thalam.

Whilst in Bharatha Natyam Sollukattu Nattuvangam is coordinated to the music and and thala together.

In the dance drama Bhagavatha Mela the characters sing and speak but it is not done in today's Bharatha Natyam.

These art forms are based on Carnatic music. Bhagavatha Mela only uses Telugu based Carnatic music. But Bharatha Natyam uses Tamil and Telugu based Carnatic music.

In Bharatha Natyam female dancers play the major role, whilst in Bhagavatha Mela even the Female roles are played by males.

Bhagavatha Mela is closely connected to Kuchipudi a classical dance form of Andhra pradesh. Like Kuchipudi in between conversation the music and the dances take place. Earlier Tamil and Telugu were the main languages of Madras Presidency. But after the separation of Andhra from Madras presidency the use of Telugu declined in Tamil areas.