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 What we have so far discussed after we saw Varnam, have been items that focus mainly on abhinaya. Thillana can be considered to be one of the last items of a dance performance. Happiness, joy and ecstasy are the feelings that are given expression to while performing the
thillana. The lyric selected would be set to a faster pace. Though the jati swaram (See:
Jati swaram) has a wide scope for Nrtha, the
korvais (See: Legs and their positions in Bharata
Natya) can be structured only according to the ‘swarams’ in it.
In the case of thillana, even if the lyric consists of
pallavi, anu pallavi and
charanam, the artiste would take the first two lines (or the
pallavi) and would elaborate on it, performing
mey adavu, with five or six different korvais. (For a detailed explanation of the terms used in this paragraph see:
Legs and their positions in Bharata Natya)
Let us now go into the technicalities of
thillana. The thillana is started in different
jatis - thisram, kantam - in all the three different paces (slow, medium and fast). It will then be followed by
mey adavu. As we discussed earlier, the word
mey stands for body. With finer body movements, a chain of
adavus is performed. Along with the body movements, the hands are also employed for the performance. But when the
pallavi is performed, the hand movements would be repetitive and be the same without change. The artiste would perform about three or four
mey adavus in the above manner. When completing a set of three or more
mey adavus, the artiste would give it a finishing touch with
uchi adavu. Like thattadavu, naatadavu, uchi adavu is another kind of
adavu.
And then the dancer moves over to korvais, to the singing of
pallavi. At the beginning, depending on the structure of the lyric, the first
korvai would be shorter. The second would be a little longer. The third would be longer still and it would go on like this, till it is completed. Once again, a lot depends on the imagination and creative talents of the artiste. A matured artiste would execute a complex variety, in various
tala and laya. As we mentioned, the duration of the
korvai would be earlier than the previous one. The cycle would then be completed with
mey adavu and uchi adavu. Uchi advau is like the full stop. It indicates the end of a cycle.
 This is then followed by the anu
pallavi. The korvais are structured according to the
swara in anu pallavi and the performance is not as elaborate as that of
pallavi. That is, the artiste performs repetitively for five to six times to the singing of
pallavi. The anu pallavi is not treated in a similar manner. The korvai is performed just only once, followed by a
mey adavu to indicate completion. Some times, the artiste would stand motionless and frozen, at the end of
mey adavu.
Charanam in thillana would some times be
sahityas. These are couplets, in praise of the Lord. The lines would sing His glory and praise Him while the last couplet would usually be a prayer for welfare. This need necessarily be so. It may also end in praise of the Lord, as the previous couplets. The artiste would elaborate on the couplets - any two lines - bringing out the deeper ideas and feelings expressed in them. If there are
swaras in the charnam, then the artiste would perform a
korvai for it. If the sahitya does not have
swara in it, the anu pallavi is sung once again and the
korvais performed earlier would be repeated. The cycle would come to an end with the singing of
pallavi and performing to it again.
We will see other finer details of thillana
in our next instalment.
Krishangini - Neeraja Nagarajan
Postures by Neeraja Nagarajan
Translated by Hari Krishnan
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