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Dhananjayan, the third among the eight children of Rama Pothuval - a schoolteacher in Payyanur - and Madhavi Amma, developed a revolutionary spirit due to the influence of his grandmother Odiyamma, who stood for women's liberation. Odiyamma made him learn Sanskrit. It was a time when the family was hard-pressed for wherewithal that Kathakali artiste Chandu Panicker, who was in search of boy students for Kalakshetra, met Rama Pothuval and expressed his desire to select one of the boys. "To send one child out of the house meant less hardship for the family, which depended on the meagre salary of a school teacher." The lot fell on Dhananjayan and the 12-year-old boy joined Kalakshetra in 1953. "There was a good environment in Kalakshetra for those who wanted to study. There were great artistes to teach. One could learn anything he or she liked," Dhananjayan says. Dhananjayan took Bharatanatyam as main and Kathakali as sub. In the mean time, the hard working boy passed BA, doing correspondence course. When Dhananjayan joined Kalakshetra, the first Malayalee girl whom he met was seven-year-old Shanta from Chittoor in Palakkad who had joined the institution a year before. Chandu Panicker introduced her to him and instructed her to help the novice in Chennai who did not know Tamil.
Dhananjayan joined Kalakshetra as a teacher in 1962. He taught Sanskrit, besides Bharatanatyam and Kathakali. His novel ideas had no place in Kalakshetra. He tried to introduce novelties in dance programmes, but other teachers opposed it. As he inherited a revolutionary spirit, he said things openly and so there was an ideological rift between Dhananjayan and his teacher Rukmini Devi. "A freedom of thought and action was lacking." Moreover, he needed money. So, he left Kalakshetra in 1967 while Shanta continued to teach there for two more years. In 1968, Dhananjayan started Bharatakalanjali, which has produced a good number of professional artistes.
They introduced certain aspects of Kathakali in Bharatanatyam. "Many traditionalists criticised. But they themselves adopted these later." Dhananjayan says, "Natya is not a closed chapter. We can create new things out of it." The novelties the couple has introduced include Natayanjali, Nrithasaruvali, Nrithopaharam, Nrithangaharam. These items are, however, based on classicism. For example, "Nrithopaharam has all the ingredients of Varnam. But it is different. It is a new colouring to Varnam." Novelty is there in acting and expression. "Everything is elaborate, so that the common people can understand easily. In the traditional style, everything was symbolic and suggestive. Only scholars could understand it." Perhaps, in the years to come, the greatest contribution of the Dhananjayans to art will be Bhaaskara (Bharateeya Saamskarika Kalaa Rangam) which was established in Payyanur in 1999. Bhaaskara offers academic education together with art training. "Education is necessary for artistes: art and education should go together. One of the drawbacks of our art forms is that our artistes never spoke though they were wonderful artistes. They could not communicate to others the value of their art forms."
The Dhananjayans spent a good part of the fortunes, which they earned teaching and from stage programmes, to establish Bhaaskara. "We came to Chennai empty-handed. We made money and spend a part of it in our native place." While the Dhananjayans were busy teaching, giving programmes and making money, their two sons - Sanjaya and Sathyajith - were taken care of by Shantha's parents, Raghava Menon and Madhavi Amma, who stay with them in Chennai. "There was a time when the children used to ask us 'when will you come to visit us next'." Whatever the scarifies and hard work of the Dhananjayans and their children will go a long way to enlarge the scope of arts, especially of Bharatanatyam. Let Bhaaskara bring cultural prestige to Payyanur and Kerala.
Salil Jose Readers' response/inputs can be e-mailed to salil@chennaionline.com.
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"Tradition is what we do today. It is something that is changing," says famous Bharatanatyam artiste V P Dhananjayan, who left his alma mater - Kalakshetra - to give vent to his creative urge.
Dhananjayan and Shanta became good friends. They enlivened roles like Rama and Sita in Kalakshetra's drama series. Later, their friendship turned into love and they got married in 1966. At that time both of them were teaching in
Kalakshetra.
The husband and wife team, famous for its duets, introduced many novelties in Bharatanatyam and has been instrumental in evoking the common people's interest in the art form.
"Bhaaskara offers gurukula education. A student who passes standard X will be an artiste. He can be a professional artiste or take another profession where he can make use of the art form he has practiced," Dhananjayan says.
