On 31st December 1987, during the 61st Madras Music Conference of the Music Academy, Smt Vyjayanthimala Bali presented a lecture demonstration on “Prabandham, Thayam, Suladi and Kavuttuvam in Bharatanatyam”. She said that records in the family of the Tanjore Quartet showed that these musical forms were being choreographed and danced in the olden days, but due to some unknown reason they were discontinued. With the help of Gurus Kittappa and Sivanandam, she had performed Navasandhi Kavuttuvam at Madras in 1961, and in 1964 she had all the compositions printed in the ‘Adi Bharata Kala Manjari’.

Prabandhas were in a dialect known as Bhandira Bhasha and contained six angas which were Swara, Biruda, Pada, Tenaka, Patam and Tala. They comprised all the ingredients required for dance and were eminently suitable for choreography, the speaker added. She danced to a Kaivara prabandha in Narayanagaula by Venkatamakhi and a Sriranga prabandha by Ramaswami Dikshitar in Hamsadhwani. She then performed to four Thayam in Nata, Gaula, Varali and Bauli, the Srivilliputtur Nachiyar Kavuttuvam and a Suladi. She concluded the demonstration with a Tiruppavai.

Smt. Vyjayanthimala was introduced at the beginning of the session by Vidwan B. Rajam Iyer, president of the 61st conference, who was in the chair.

(Excerpts from The Journal of The Music Academy, Vol. LIX, 1988)

Compiled by S. JANAKI