Kanda, Kadamba & Kadhirvela – a unique dance by Radhika Shurajit

PHOTOS BY PHOTO EDITOR S RAJENDRAN

K3 Kanda, Kadamba and Kadhirvela – a unique natya production celebrating Lord

Muruga with Kandha Shashti Kavacham conceived, choreographed and directed

by eminent dance guru and Bharatanatyam exponent Dr. Radhika Shurajit was

staged at Narada Gana Sabha on Nov 18 celebrated all over the world as Kanda

Shashti.

Rooted in Tamil sensibilities, the unique dance production’s theme has universal

relevance. Kandha Shashti Kavacham the popular hymn was translated into a

group Natya production for the first time and the production celebrated the Lord

of the Six Hills Muruga. Muruga means Azhagu or beauty in Tamil. The dance

feature was an offering of prayers to the beautiful Tamil Lord.

Kanda Shashti Kavacham was composed by Devaraya Swamigal in the 19th

Century. Shashti is the sixth day Shashti Thithi of the Shuklapaksha in the Tamil

month of Kartika which falls in October – November.

On this day, Lord Muruga defeated the demon Soorapadman and fought with him

for six days, ultimately defeating him and transforming one half of him into a

peacock, which became his vahana and the other half into a rooster on his flag.

The pandemic that claimed many lives was the starting point for Radhika to

rethink and create the Kandha Shashti Kavacham in a natyam narrative for the

world’s health and peace. It is believed that the aura of Kavacham has medicinal

qualities that cures one of mental, physical, psychological illness and bestows

wealth, happiness, prosperity and peace.

While Kandha Shashti Kavacham was the central work of K3’s production, it also

included some rare compositions on Lord Muruga.  Twenty dancers of Thrayee

School will be performing in this production. The performance also included a

beautiful thillana on Muruga by maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. The program began

with the birth of Muruga and went on to depict Arupadai Veedu and ended with

Skanda Shasthi Kavacham. The thematic production helped young dancers an

opportunity to perform on stage.

The dancers who performed were Krithikaa, Swathi, Gowthami, Vidyalakshmi,

Ananya, Aishwarya, Anjana, Alankrita, Pooja, Sushmitha, Madhumitha, Niveditha,

Ria, Sadhana and Harshika. K Madhav Haygreev excelled as Lord Muruga, Sivadas

Rajan impressed as Soorapadman, priest and lyrics Abhinaya as Valli and Prartana

as Deivayanai.

Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiyar owner of Nalli Silks, Dr V P Dhananjayan and Shantha

Dhananjayan, eminent dance gurus, Dr Vyjayanthimala Bali, renowned

Bharatanatyam exponent and Kumari Chachu, movie actress, were the guests of

honor. Radha Badri provided vocal support Nellai D Kannan was on mridangam, T

K Padmanabhan on violin, T Sashidhar on flute and N Anantha Narayanan on the

veena.

Overall assistance and chorus were provided by Gowthami and Swathi, script and

voice over by Arrur Sundaramurthy, props design and execution by Brindha

Venkatakrishnan, add on music by T K Padmanabhan, recording by Anish Mohan

(Atrium Sound Studios); lighting design by Seetha Ratnakar, lights and sound by

Venky of Krishnan and Sons, make up by Paapoo and team, costumes by Krishna

of Uma Dresses, guidance by Dr Raghuraman and design and social media

promotion by Akhila Krishnamurthy of Aalap.