In the Footsteps of My Guru: Uma Sathya Narayanan on Learning from Chitra Visweswaran

“अज्ञान तिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जन शलाकया । चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः ॥

Ibow to the Guru who opens the eyes and dispels the darkness of ignorance, with the light of knowledge.

All our acharyas and Gurus have always known to be the dispellers of the darkness of ignorance from time immemorial. The Guru — Shishya relationship has been a revered one ever since the beginning of time and our timeless epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana give us a glimpse into the kind of bond that was shared between the teacher and the taught. According to the Bhagavad Gita, a true teacher is one who has wisdom, spiritual knowledge, and a deep understanding of the scriptures. A true teacher is regarded as a source of spiritual knowledge and plays a vital role in helping individuals finding their own path, navigate life’s challenges, and ultimately attain self-realisation. The relationship between a teacher and the taught is characterised by mutual respect, humility, and sincere quest for knowledge and truth.

I learnt Bharatanatyam and music from a tender age of 6 from various teachers. But there are some who definitely made a deep impact on my psyche and helped me grow as an artist that I am today. Having been brought up in the north Indian small city of Nagpur, I was lucky to have teachers who taught me the art in its purest form, as known to them. I learnt Carnatic music from Late Smt Rajeswari Neelakanthan under whose tutelage I also received the CCRT scholarship for music for ten long years. She was a woman of few words — very gentle, kind and compassionate. She taught us music with Shruthi Shuddham and purity of thought. I learnt a lot about the Tamizh ethos from her, by virtue of being part of every festivity in her house hold like Navarathri Golu, Pongal festivities to name a few. She would encourage us to participate in every performance opportunity available, especially being in a city, where south Indian art forms weren’t much in practice. However, I had created a little South Indian world of my own and music and dance were a very integral part of my life ever since I remember.

My guru in Bharatanatyam then, was again a very dynamic personality, a beautiful dancer and sincere teacher — Srimathy Madkholkar, a practitioner of the Mysore Bani of Bharatanatyam and a prime disciple of Smt Lalitha Srinivasan of Bangalore. We shared a beautiful bond and just like music, dance too was a part and parcel of my daily existence. I was extremely passionate about engaging in these art forms more so, because of such dedicated teachers that I had. Srimathy akka would personally stuff all of us into her car and drive us to every performance possible in that little city of Nagpur.

Parched as we were, for the want of listening and watching opportunities, she made sure that we got our dose of learning through observation at every possible kutcheri that took place in Nagpur.

Then came the turning point in my life, when right after my arangetram under her, I received the Senior national level scholarship in Bharatanatyam, instituted by the Ministry of Culture. And at this point just like a Guru shows you the right direction, Srimathy pointed me towards Chennai, because she felt that was the best place to be, in order to pursue art in its purest form. And my stars were probably positioned right, for, I got inducted by Guru Smt Chitra Visweswaran — the legendary danseuse, choreographer, scholar, teacher under her watchful, and caring wings and I relocated to Chennai.

Additionally, I was lucky to have been accepted as a shishya in music by her husband, Pandit Sri R Visweswaran and thus began the next phase of my journey of intense learning! Under Chitra akka and Viswesh uncle, it was almost like Gurukulavasam for, I would spend almost all my day at their beautiful house and institute, Chidambaram Academy of Performing arts. For me, it was a process of osmosis, of absorbing every aspect of the art form that I was exposed to, day in and day out. Classes and rehearsals would start early morning, sometimes as early as 5.30 am and the day would go in till about 9/9.30 pm — a day sprinkled with music lessons, watching Chitra akka practice, singing for Chitra akka, practicing towards solo and group performances, teaching et al.

I was attracted to this beautiful learning process like a bee to the flower and there was not a single dull moment. Chitra akka is a hard task master and it was indeed that desire to make sure, to remember, internalise, and incorporate the corrections she gave, that pushed us into realms of perfection, we never knew existed!! She is an extremely generous teacher and her teachings and lessons did not stop with dance but extended to philosophy, stage craft, stage aesthetics, choreography, Nattuvangam, handling and understanding literature, understanding energies and spaces, etc. She is an encyclopaedia of everything that is Natyam and aesthetics. The concept of musicality in Natyam also was tapped in me by Chitra akka. She would say, it is of no use being a musician and a dancer, if you cannot respond to the music that you hear at that point of time, dancing. The mere knowledge of music doesn’t make your dance musical but it is the sensitivity to the music that can make you a better dancer.

Both Chitra akka and Viswesh uncle are perfectionists. They led us by example of how hard work is the only thing that pays off. Art was never seen as a commodity, but a means to attain something higher. It was Chitra akka indeed, who struck the spiritual chord within me through Natyam. Hours were spent on creating art not only for professional stages but also as a form of prayer and ritual, thus giving us a glimpse into realms “where we are given, as artists, an opportunity to have that golden handshake with the divine” (in her own words).

Chitra akka and Viswesh uncle were also extremely generous and had their houses and hearts open for all their students whom they saw as their own children. Numerous trips within India and abroad, countless hours of laughter, sweat, tears and joyous blissful times and life lessons — this is the invaluable treasure that I have gathered from my close association with these great Masters!

I cannot but mention how Chitra akka stood by me like a rock, at a very difficult time in my personal life and every single day, I send a silent prayer to the Supreme and to her, for it was art, that saved me through those trying times. And for that I will ever be grateful to her. There is not a single aspect in my life where her teachings haven’t seeped in. “See the music and hear the dance”, “dance starts first as physical, then intellectual, emotional and finally transforms into a spiritual experience” “ नहि नहि रक्षति डुक्रुंकरणे “ (mechanical practice of just the grammar will not save us ) “go beyond the grammar” “dance with Ananda, for art has the ability to tap the Anandamayakosha” ‘‘be immersed in art like an oorgaai (pickle) — these are words that resonate in my being all the time. Any work I take up, I have these voices guiding me like a lighthouse guiding the sailor. She is a very dispassionate viewer of her as well as her student’s work of art and has always given a hundred percent in terms of artistic inputs and guidance, to ensure the work that is being created, is beautifully enhanced. She says, remove yourself from your work, re look at it from a distance, then revisit it, rework on it to make it better every time. She is a very open-minded teacher who believes that art has to evolve along with you and one must not let it stagnate.

Today, as a practitioner of this beautiful art form, I have also pushed myself out of my comfort level and tried my hand at theatre, for Chitra akka and Viswesh uncle, both were extremely courageous and explorative artists and paved a path for us, where we tread on unknown routes fearlessly, but with utmost humility that also comes with a huge sense of responsibility. Being a musician dancer, dance and music are like my two eyes — I cannot say if it’s the poetry that inspires the music, or music that inspires the dance or dance that inspires the poetry. All I see, is that everything is part of something big and whole, when we engage with it, the experience and bliss is multifield. Just as there is gamaka and brgha in music, one needs to find that gamaka and brgha within the movement of the body and mind, for it is these embellishments that make it an aesthetically pleasing experience for the practitioner as well as the onlooker. And only when the marriage of all these aspects happens, what arises is “Rasothpathi “ — the very purpose of art. In Chitra akkas words, we invest and immerse ourselves in the Naada Bramhan and Naatya Bramhan in order to attain the Parabramhan!!!

I try to live every single day with utmost humility and a heart full of gratitude to all these Gurus for all that I have received from them. These invaluable insights and lessons gathered do make our lives more meaningful and purposeful.

गुरौ न प्राप्यते यत्तन्नान्यत्रापि हि लभ्यते।गुरुप्रसादात सर्वं तु प्राप्नोत्येव न संशयः।।

Whatever is not obtained from the Guru, cannot be obtained from elsewhere. With the grace of Guru, one indeed gets everything.