Bhagavata Mela is a regional temple theatre form presented through the medium of classical dance and classical music. This blend of theatre and dance has been performed for over five centuries. Throughout this time, one of the most unique aspects of Bhagavata Mela has been that all the roles – dancing, acting, singing etc. Bhagavata Mela has been performed only by men. In the earlier days, this was one of the very few avenues available for men to dance and has been a rich source of dance compositions, dance forms, musical compositions and unique rendering of ragas. Bhagavata Mela is also unique in that it is still performed not as a commercial enterprise but as a devotional prayer of surrender to the Lord Sri Lakshmi Narasimha.
For those who love classical dance, Bhagavata Mela is a feast for the eye. For those who love music, Bhagavata Mela has classical Carnatic music at its best. For those who love drama, Bhagavata Mela is a living link to our ancient heritage of theatre as laid down in Bharata’s Natya Sastra. Thus, Bhagavata Mela is a unique blend of spirituality, dance, drama and chaste classical music.
In a Bhagavata Mela Drama, Bhagavatars sing, dance and enact mythological stories. These stories are often culled from the Shaivite and Vaishnavite religious movements, which wielded a powerful influence on culture. Tamil and Telugu-speaking Smartha Brahmins, dedicated to the Narasimha cult, have performed Bhagavata Mela in Thanjavur for centuries. Thanjavur earned recognition as an ancient capital of arts in South India, owing to the continued royal patronage for arts from Chola, Nayak and Maratha rulers. Thanjavur was a natural crucible where Tamil, Telugu and Marathi culture blended into one rich heritage. Owing to its special geographical location in the Cauvery delta, the place attracted kings, peasants and artists alike.
After the end of Maratha rule in Thanjavur, Bhagavata Mela art form rapidly declined. The loss of great manuscripts, links in oral tradition and discontinuation of the actual practice of the natakams may probably be attributed to this dark period. Though tremendous efforts have been and are being taken to revive this tradition, today, Bhagavata Mela continues to be classified under vanishing traditions of South India.
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| Melattur Shri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami |
The Bhagavatas of Melattur were male Brahmins who had been performing the ancient art of Bhagavata Mela as ritualistic worship of Lord Vishnu. They were devotees of Lord Narasimha, whose temple existed at the banks of the Narayana Theertha, a pond on the west side of Melattur village. Among the noted descendant of these Bhagavatas is the renowned Melattur Venkatarama Sastri, composer of at least 10 Bhagavata Mela dance dramas, whose works are the most prolifically performed today and stand testimony to the richness, grandeur and devotion inherent in this unique tradition.
In addition to Melattur, Bhagavata Mela is being or has been performed traditionally in Oothukkadu, Thepperumanallur, Nallur, Soolamangalam, Saliyamangalam and Mannargudi. All these villages are in the Thanjavur district. Bhagavata Mela performances also took place in Thanjavur palaces. From historical evidence archived in Saraswati Mahal Library of Thanjavur, one can find that many Bhagavata Mela artistes lived in a village called Deepambalpuram (named after a Thanjavur Marathi Chola queen), including Sri. Giriraja Kavi, the maternal grandfather of Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Swami. Swami himself therefore is one of the descendants of Bhagavatas, also as evidenced by his own composition in the Bhagavata Mela tradition, Nouka Charitramu.
Some of the unique aspects of the Bhagavatas
Bhagavatas are devoted to Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swami.
Bhagavatas are not an itinerant group, though there are records of their performances for the royal patrons.
Bhagavatas are not professional performers. They were landowners or, these days, hold professional jobs. The dancers of the Bhagavata Mela troupe do not accept monetary rewards for their participation.
Certain roles are inherited by the actor and are a precious heirloom handed over by father to son. This tradition is followed even today.
Melattur natakams focus on the divine sentiment (bhakti). Even though there are dramas in the current repertoire of the Troupe which focus on romance (shringara: such as Sakuntalam of King Ekoji II), Bhakti is the overarching emotional focus of all performances.
Melattur composers of the period of and before Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Swami composed dance forms such as Swarajati, Shabdam and Thillana. These, along with similar compositions in Sadir and Kuchipudi, have been incorporated into present-day Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.
Melattur Bhagavata Mela
The first and foremost tradition of Bhagavata Mela is that the dance dramas, particularly, Prahlada Charitramu of Melattur Venkatarama Sastri, are being performed during Narasimha Jayanthi of every year, with the exception of a few breaks in the 20th century. A detailed timeline of the development of the art form since 1920’s has been provided at the end of this article and has been discussed below. Bhagavata Mela imbibes and reflects the traditions, bhavas (emotions), styles and the literary patterns of the Thanjavur composers of the times of 16th to 19th century, including Melattur Sri Venkatarama Sastri and Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Swami.
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| Kavi Shri Melattur Venkatarama Sastri |
In the 17th and 18th centuries, many of the poets and artistes of the Thanjavur’s Marathi kings’ court lived in villages surrounding Thanjavur, including Melattur. Among them the most famous artiste is Melattur Venkatarama Sastri. His Bhagavata Mela dance dramas today stand testimony to the devotional fervor, musical depth, dramatic depictions and dance nuances of the tradition of Bhagavata Mela.
Whatever we know about Melattur Venkatarama Sastri is primarily from references in his own compositions. In the katha sangraha (story’s summary) dvipadi (couplets) of his Markandeya Charitramu, Sastri describes the land he lived in as “Dhirudou Sri Shivaji Kshithipathi Thanayu Rajyambuna”. From this, it becomes evident that he lived during the reign of King Shivaji (1833 – 1855 AD). Further, in the palm leaf manuscript of Sastri’s dance drama Harichandra available with and preserved by Bhagavata Mela Natya Vidya Sangam’s Sri. Mahalingam (Mali), the date of its composition is indicated as Darala varusham, Avani Matham, 17th, Monday, which works out to 30th August 1824. Assuming he must have been at least 25 years old by then to have composed such a dance drama, one is able to assign a life span of 1800 to 1875 AD to Melattur Venkatarama Sastri. Further, in his work Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini, Sri. Subbarama Dikshitar mentions that Melattur Venkatarama Sastri lived during the days of the kings Sarafoji and Shivaji. Yakshagana researcher Sri Joga Rao mentions that the old age of Sri Venkatarama Sastri was the youth of Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Swami.
Melattur Venkatarama Sastri was born to Gopalakrishna Iyer and was tutored by Guru Lakshmana Iyer. He was a contemporary of the chief artiste of Bhagavata Mela in the Thanjavur palace Sri. Varahappaiya Dikshitar, Panchanatha Bhagavatar, and Sadguru Sri Thyagaraja Swami. Melattur Venkatarama Sastri was an upasaka of Lord Sri Lakshmi Narasimha.
Sri Venkatarama Sastri is known to have composed the following plays:
Prahlada Charitramu
Rukmini Kalyanam
Markandeya Charitramu
Usha Parinayamu
Harichandra
Seetha Kalyanamu
Parvathi Parinayamu
Kamsa Vadam (or) Krishna Leela
Harihara Leela Vilasam
Dhruva Charitramu
There are also claims that he is the author of Rukmangada Charitramu, though there is no evidence in the dance drama’s katha sangraham (story summary, where the author declares himself and when, where and how the drama is being performed). Further, in the handwritten notes of the renowned Bhagavata Mela Guru Padma Shri Balu Bhagavatar, this dance drama is mentioned as “Sri Varahapuri vasastha Sri Narayana Theertha virakithamithiki kechith vadanthi”, which is further support to the statement that Sri Sastri did not author Rukmangada Charitramu.
Sri. Joga Rao also claims that Sri Sastri authored the drama Shivarathri Vratha Charitramu. The script of this drama was found in Melattur. However, the script has many portions missing, including in the Katha Sangraham section. Therefore, it is as yet impossible to ascertain the veracity of this claim. Sri. Joga Rao also claims hearsay evidence of the authorship of Sri Sastri of the dramas Satsangaraja Charitramu, Asatsangaraja Charitramu and Jaganeleela, though there is no hard evidence as yet to establish this. Thus, one may conclude that today we have ten Bhagavata Mela dance dramas authored by Melattur Sri Venkatarama Sastri.
Some of the unique aspects of Bhagavata Mela traditions include:
Every dance drama starts with an opening Melaprapthi, which acts as an overture to the drama, offers prayers to God, gives the summary of the story to the audience and serves as warm up to the singers, nattuvanars(Guru for Dance) and even dancers, interspersed as it is with a number of solkattus ( Jathi ) in different talams (thisram, chatusram, khandam, misra chapu and misra jhampai) and musical pieces in different ragas. It sets the ambience and the stage for the drama to begin. This sequence is in accordance with the Purvaranga, as detailed by the Natya Sastra.
Konangi Patra Pravesham: This is unique to the compositions of Melattur Venkatarama Sastri. There is a sculpture of the konangi in a pillar of the darbar (court) of Thanjavur palace. Konangi is the first character to appear on any Melattur Bhagavata Mela performance. He is dressed as a traditional Bhagavatar but sports a conical cap pointed to the back. He carries a scarf, held across and above his head. He capers about, beating to the rhythms of the Patra Pravesham sung in Kambodhi ragam and set to Chatusra Eka talam. This is part of Melaprapthi.
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| Konangi |
Shabdam: Melattur Shabdams have become popular in the dance tradition. They have simple lyrics and sollukattu. They are composed in Kambodhi ragam and set to Misra Chapu talam. In the Bhagavata Mela Natakams, Shabdams sometimes contain the summary of the story of the play, and such compositions are called katha sangraha shabdams. In Rukmini Kalyanam, the shabdam contains the summary of Ramayana.
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| Ganapathy |
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| kattiakkaran |
The ingenious use of the Patra-pravesha lyrics as stage instructions and director’s notes is admirable. If we study the entry of Hiranyakashipu in Prahlada Charitramu, this becomes quite clear:
“Hiranyakashipu entered with a fast gait. Asura courtiers accompanied him with demonic actions and gestures. The earth trembled with the firm footsteps of the valiant, unrivalled warrior. His face reflected the pride and self-importance. Ministers and generals stood by his side. The king rested his arms on their shoulders as he walked majestically. People in all directions extolled his virtues”.
In the patra-pravesha darus of heroines, there is the tradition of two other female characters holding a screen to cover the heroine and dancing a prelude called thiraippadu before the character is revealed slowly to the audience.
Other literary devices used in the natakam are Dwipada (couplets), Seesa padyam (lyrics sung without rhythm), Gandhapadyams and Churnikas. These are verses with couplets, quatrains and the like. The text of the natakam contains dialogues to be spoken by some of the characters. These dialogues are laden with wisdom and philosophical truth, even as they advance the story. The natakams reveal Venkatarama Sastri’s deep knowledge of Sanskrit, music, Natya Shastra, theatre traditions and aesthetics. In his Prahlada Charitramu and Rukmini Kalyanam plays, Sastri also employs characters such as kurathi and kudukuduppandi (fortune tellers) in Rukmini Kalyanam, and pambatti (snake charmer) and mallars (wrestlers) in Prahlada. These characters are typically rural characters and are created for the rural audience.
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| Music Troupe of Melattur Bhagavata Mela (2025) |
Musical Traditions:
The predominantly used musical form in Bhagavata Mela is the daru. Six kinds of daru are mentioned in the Natya Shastra, in the Dharuvadhyaya. The first is the Praveshika daru, which introduces each character. Other varieties employed in this tradition are the samvada daru (conversation), pralapa daru (exposition), thillana daru, charanu daru (song of worship or surrender) and mangala daru (song of glory and auspiciousness). Darus are also called dhruvas, as they link the central ideas of the story. A daru’s structure is similar to that of a kriti, the presently popular musical composition in Carnatic music. It is divided into Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanams. As in kritis, pallavis and charanams are usually in the madhya sthayi (medium octave) or mandra sthayi (lower octave) while anupallavi is primarily in the thara sthayi (higher octave). Some darus may not have anupallavi. In most instances, particularly in Praveshika darus, the anupallavi is sung first for dramatic effect.
Darus are usually composed in rakthi ragas, chosen for their emotive powers, bhava or sentiment. This makes the music sensitive and delectable. The ragas are chosen to illuminate the nature and the character of the artistes or the nature of the situation. Some of the ragas used for patra pravesha darus include Begada (Ganesha in Prahlada, Rukmini in Rukmini Kalyanam), Devagandhari (Hiranyakashipu in Prahlada, Dasharatha in Seetha Kalyanam), Atana (Leelavati in Prahlada, Chandramathi in Harichandra), Bhairavi (Prahlada in Prahlada) and Kambodhi (Harichandra in Harichandra). Also rakthi ragas like Mukhari, Dhanyasi, Ghanta, Manji, Saranga, Abhogi and Ahiri are used in other darus. Ragas like Ghanta and Kumbha Kambodhi are specialties of the Bhagavata Mela tradition.
While manuscripts clearly indicate the raga to be used for each daru, some changes have been down the years. There are two reasons for this: the first reason is that these songs have come down in oral tradition wherein some changes made by earlier masters have become accepted practice. Secondly, when a natakam is being newly reconstructed, the chief musician decides on the final selection, particularly if the same raga is being repeated consecutively or the raga mentioned in the script is deemed unsuitable. However, in any changes made, the endeavor is always to preserve the purity of the Carnatic music of the pre-Thyagaraja period and to follow closely the Bhagavata Mela style of presentation. In fact, except in the case of Prahlada Charitramu and Harichandra, which have been performed most regularly, no reasonable claim can be made that the original music is entirely preserved. The musicians of the Sangam today use the notebooks belonging to Bharatam Natesa Iyer (1855 – 1931). The songs and the notation have been handwritten by his daughter Kalyaniammal. The Telugu lyrics are written in Tamil script. This could lead to mispronunciation of the words. However, the team of artistes includes literary scholars who ensure such mistakes are eliminated.
The lyrics of darus are replete with a remarkable array of musical devices such as yati, prasam, anuprasam and yamakam. They display the mastery of Melattur Venkatarama Sastri on the Telugu language and his intimate knowledge of how to employ these skills to the making of sublime and divine music.
The time-hour theory of ragams is followed in the compositions. For instance, Bhoopalam is sung at the crack of dawn, towards the end of the play.
Dance Traditions:
Compositions suitable for dance have always been a part of Bhagavata Mela. Alarippu, Swarajathis, Jathiswarams, Padavarnams and Thillana have been introduced mainly in the Pravesha darus. Melattur Shabdams are famous and have found their way into the Kuchipudi repertoire. Alarippus are set to the tala of the daru and are performed in any or all of the five gatis. One of the specialties of Bhagavata Mela dance today is to see the performance of alarippus in all five gatis, in many talas including adi (2 kalai), rupakam or adi (tisra gati) and misra chapu, and at various eduppus, as the daru demands.
Intricate rhythmic variations executed with footwork, particularly Meiyyadavus, are a specialty of the Melattur style. The dancers incorporate both Nritta (footwork) and Natya (expressional dance) while performing darus. There is restrained dignity and grace in the movement of the young boys who don female roles. Patrapravesha darus of the heroine sometimes include alarippu, padavarnam or a thillana. Even the abhinaya passages in other darus are executed with crisp footwork. Every actor displays at least a minimum understanding of rhythmic patterns. The most important aspect of the dances in Bhagavata Mela is that performance is a living ritual worship. Everyone involved in the natakam does it as worship irrespective of whether they are dancers, actors, singers or technicians. The whole tradition is nurtured by the underlying deep devotion to Lord Narasimha.
Ambience:
The traditions of Thanjavur are magical with an aura of antiquity. Modern technology somehow still seems to not have ultimately erased the strains of quaint past that suffuse the villages there. As one steps into a village like Melattur, it is immediately apparent that the ancient and the recent coexist in harmony. While the latter is louder and easily visible, the entire place is bathed in the former, which drives every activity from its core. Quaint as the past may be, it is filled with memories and whispers of a highly evolved tradition deep in wisdom. Remnants of the ancient tradition are to be seen everywhere from the way old houses are constructed to the temples to the roads and the fields to the ways and customs of the people that live in these villages. Yet, slowly but surely, the recent developments in technology that have no doubt reformed the very fabrics of society are also bringing with them the cultures and traditions of the west. A dying tradition like Bhagavata Mela faces huge challenges to coexist with these influences. The Sangam is dedicated to nurturing and spreading the tradition of Bhagavata Mela so that it is vibrant enough to make its impact felt in the cultural ethos of today.
In the run up to the festival, there are rehearsals for the performers. It is a unique experience being part of these sessions. All participants are male. There is warm camaraderie among them notwithstanding the ugly rows that crop up when sensitive artistes work together. Their artistry lies in their spontaneity and skills of improvisation. A nattuvanar (dance guru) to guide the dance, dancers, scholars to explain situations and clarify lyrics, musicians and a director work together as a team in shaping the play. There is a general atmosphere of indulgence. A missed step, a wrong note or a forgotten gesture is generously condoned. This is particularly manifest on the eve of Narasimha Jayanti, when Prahlada Charitramu is enacted. The life and the psyche of the Melattur village are irrevocably entwined with this myth. There are such enlightened audiences who know the play backwards, know every song, every movement, every gesture and are steeped in the traditions of Bhagavata Mela.
Even a week before Narasimha Jayanti, the entire Melattur village is charged with devotional fervor. Many Vedic rituals and homams are conducted. They take place now at the new temple of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha on the west banks of the Narayana Theertha, where an ancient temple of Narasimha existed but was lost to the ravages of time. The morning of Narasimha Jayanti in Melattur begins with ceremonies at Sri Varadaraja temple where the participants gather. Following the morning pujas, the priest ties a yellow thread on the wrists of the actors, binding them to their sacred duty. In the temple of Sri Varadaraja Swami, there is the sannidhi (altar) of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha (and also the idols of Lord Yoga Narasimha of the temple that once existed on the west banks of Narayana Theertha).
In the sanctum sanctorum, a 500-year-old mask is kept in a cupboard. It is taken out at night to be worn by the actor performing the role of Lord Narasimha. In the late evening around nine o'clock, the villagers gather at the open-air marquee with the permanent auditorium adjacent to the Lord Lakshmi Narasimha temple on the west banks of the Narayana Theertha pond. The artistes move to the stage after worshipping at the Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple there. The mask is placed on a makeshift shrine at the far end, directly opposite the stage, where Lord Varadaraja is also seated as the divine guest. The performance starts with a long musical overture, after which a young actor wearing a Ganesha mask makes an appearance. Flowers, fruits and arati are offered to him. The performance follows the Sanskrit theatre tradition, wherein characters first appear in the introductory preludes, called Pravesha darus. Once the main characters are introduced, the first part of the play, namely the Purvarangam is complete. The story proper is part of the second act or the Uttararangam. The music is chaste Carnatic music and the lucid lyrics in Telugu are composed in varying literary structures – couplets, dialogue, darus and so on.
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| Melattur |
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| Bharatam. R. Mahalingam |
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| Murali Rangarajan |
