Parashah group’s Chithirai Thiruvizha, a Bharatanatyam  presentation describing the beautiful temple festival of the Madurai Meenakashi Amman temple was an innovative piece that brought to life the city of Madurai and the grand festival that is the highlight event of the town. The presentation was held on April 15, 2023 at  the Chimaya Maruthi auditorium in Andover, MA. The event was the grand finale of the week long Learnquest Music festival. 

The Festival of the presiding deities Goddess Meenakshi & Lord Sundareswarar of the temple at Madurai is known as the most diverse and vibrant festival encompassing a very wide spectrum of devotees irrespective of class, caste, religion and color. Various legends connected with the temple are enacted on these days and the grand chariot is pulled around the streets surrounding the temple.The dancers were Roja Kannan , Priya Murle, KB Madhusudhanan, Sasirekha Balasubramanian, Tvisha Vadhul, Vaishnavi Srinivasan, L. Bhuvaneshwari, Letha Prasad, Sneha Mahesh, Meera Rajaraman and Aishwarya Rajkumar.

Using the river Vaigai as the Sutradar(narrator - Sasisrekha), the production presented the legends behind each day of the festival. Significant research had gone into understanding the history and legends and the dancers presented them in detail. 

“The Thiruvizha used to be held in February. Since it was harvest time in February people involved in cultivation were unable to attend the festival.  When Thirumalai Naicker became the king of Madurai he moved the festival to Chithirai or April in the post harvest time so all the people of Madurai could take part in the festival” said the narrator.

The beauty of Hindu festivals is that they reenact grand tales associated with Divine Leelas associated with Devis and Devas. Watching the production, one felt transported to being part of the tales as if  they were happening in real time. 

Priya and Roja excelled in their parts as did the other dancers. KB Madhusudhanan was exceptional in his roles. The use of creative props added a lovely touch to the production. Sasirekha as the narrator was extremely engaging seamlessly going between Tamil and English. Being a dancer, she was able to use Abhinaya to make the narration captivating.

The music was brilliant incorporating a lot of familiar Bharatanatyam musical elements like the Nandi Chol, parts of the Daru Varnam - Mate, Mallari etc in a very creative way so that one could see the brilliance of a high quality Bharatantayam dance while being immersed in the drama of the production. 

For people from Madurai, the production transported them back to their favorite city. Madurai Meenakshi could be considered the form of Devi that is closest to the woman of today. She and Sundereshwarar are equally powerful and achieve a beautiful work life balance. 

Innovative themes like this would go a long way in presenting the culture and traditions to those not familiar with them. 

A beautiful final to the grand Learnquest Music Festival.

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