The Demon Shaktasura (Shuck.ta.soora)
- Arun Kumar
- Nov 24, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 14, 2019
Kamsa was one of a multitude of evil kings who ruled the nations of the world. Bhudevi, Mother Earth, went to Brahma and asked that something be done to rid the world of tyrants. Brahma went to Vishnu and asked him to assume a human form, an avatar, to help Bhudevi and her long-suffering people.
When King Kamsa's sister Devaki married Vasudeva, a voice in the heavens prophesied that the eighth child born to Devaki would slay Kamsa. Affrighted by the prophecy, Kamsa killed the first seven children born to Devaki. When the eighth was about to be born he imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva in a dungeon by the riverside.
Krishna was born, an avatar of Vishnu, to Devaki one stormy night. Soon after his birth, the doors of the jail opened of their own. The jail guards all fell asleep. The swollen, raging Jamuna calmed herself. Vasudeva crossed Jamuna with the infant Krishna nestled in a basket on his head.
Across the river, in Brindavan, a daughter was, that same night, born to Yashoda and Nanda. The newborn girl was the goddess Maya. Vasudeva and Yashoda exchanged their babies. Vasudeva carried Maya back to his jail cell. When the sentries awoke they summoned Kamsa. Kamsa wrested Maya from Yasoda. He was about to smash the infant against a wall when Maya slipped from his hands and rose up to the heavens. A voice in the sky warned Kamsa: your days are numbered, it said.
Kamsa came to know that Krishna was the child destined to slay him. He sent the demon Shaktasura to kill Krishna, but it was the child Krishna who slew Shaktasura instead.
Yakshagana dancers from the southern Indian state of Karnataka dance stories principally from the Ramayana and the Vishnu Purana. Yakshagana is a Vaishnava art form, although they have, lately, begun dancing stories from the Shiv Purana as well. Kannada is the language of choice. In Karnataka, and in the northern reaches of Kerala as well, Yakshagana performances often last whole nights.
In traveling Yakshagana troupes, female roles are often played by male dancers who go to elaborate lengths to adorn themselves in womanly attire and go on to dance in a womanly manner. It is delightful to watch a stree vesham dancer dress up --- so complete and compelling his transformation! They take their attire very seriously in Yakshagna, as indeed they do in all Indian classical dances.
Chapter 23 of Bharata Muni's great work on dance, dramaturgy, and other performing arts, The Natya Shastra, considered foundational to the practice, the aesthetics, and the semiotics of all performing arts in India, and dating back to some period in between the beginning of second century BCE and the close of second century CE, is devoted entirely to costumery and makeup. "Celestial women are to have lapis lazuli and pearls as their ornaments, and their dresses are to be made green like [the colour of] the parrot's tail ... This should be the dress of celestial women in their love-making. But in other conditions their dresses are to be made white." (The Natya Shastra, English translation by Manomohan Ghosh, 1950.)
Allow me to share here a few photographs I shot in a Yakshagana greenroom this last July in Morrisville, North Carolina.
Below, in this lovely clip, Sujata Mohapatra (Odissi) dances a Krishna Prasang in which Krishna slays, among others, the demon Shaktasura. Sujata Mohapatra is one of the finest Odissi dancers of all time, worthy disciple and daughter-in-law to Kelucharan Mohapatra (1926-2004). Kelucharan Mohapatra was one of a handful of dancers and teachers to revive the art of Odissi. He was himself a great and celebrated dancer and musician. The poetry in this piece belongs to Banamali Dasa (1720-1793), an Oriya poet, whose works have been living for over two centuries in hearts and minds of the people of Odisha. The music is composed by Bhubaneshwar Mishra (1927-1993), a close associate to Kelucharan Mohapatra. Bhubaneshwar Mishra's music was as much key to Odissi's revival as were the sedulous efforts of a handful of masters of dance. Enjoy the clip!
(Blog post: Arun Kumar) #Yakshagana, #Karnataka, #SujataMohapatra
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