Khajuraho Dance Festival, MP

An Indian colleague of mine, some how unconsciously, kindled in me the desire to visit India. Instigated by her vivid description of Khajuraho and the dance festival organized there I decided to plan my visit around the festival time. My friend who is a native of Gwalior, a place near Khajuraho, promised to join me for Gwalior and Khajuraho. I was reaching India a week before her so I coupled a small tour of colorful state of Rajasthan with Khajuraho. How time flies by, I realized in Rajasthan and it appeared to me as if within no time the tour was over and I was at Gwalior. My friend and her brother accompanied me for the Khajuraho dance festival.

I must say that both of them were very well informed and attached to their country and culture. Their descriptions helped me sharing their enthusiasm. While studying about the history of Indian Classical dance and music during her college days, she always wondered how divine a scene it would be when the devadasis (dancing girls in the temples) danced in ecstasy to please the temple deity. Those were the days when dance and music were not only seen as ways to celebrate but also as offerings of worship and thanks giving to the God. Much water has flown under the bridge since then. The institution of devadasi has been abolished due to the vices that had crept in it over the course of time. However, there are still a few chances, in the form of dance festivals at the temple sites, when you can cherish the celestial combination of dance (devotion) and deity (temple) – courtesy Department of culture and tourism and of course, the custodians of Indian Classical music and dance.   

The internationally renowned Khajuraho Dance festival draws the tourists with as much gravity as the most accomplished Indian dancers. Every evening for seven continuous days, in the months of February-March every year, the clock turns back to relive the recreational magic of bygone era. Against the serene backdrop of floodlit Chitragupta temple (the western group of temples) perform the best classical and folk dancers of India. Those who want to attend the festival throughout the week can buy a seasonal ticket; others can purchase the entrance ticket for an evening or two that would cost you something around INR 100 for each day. But I was privileged to get a VIP pass managed by Ashoka Holidays, the travel house with which I had booked my tour.  
 

Since we were pressed for time and had only two days to attend the festival, they decided to watch the dance forms which they had had no opportunity to watch till date. For me everything was new so did not know how to make the choices. Accordingly, they zeroed in on watching the dance performances on 28th Feb’09 and 01st March’09 and I obediently followed. After a 5-6 hrs drive from Gwalior we reached Khajuraho at around 4 pm. The festival was to begin at 7 pm so we were there right in time. There was a checkered crowd of over 200 people – a mix of domestic and foreign tourists. Besides the professional photographers who occupied prime positions, there were several amateurs who craned themselves to preserve that eventful evening in their cameras.  

The opening program for the day was Manipuri Pungcholam, performed by Mr. Joy Singh and group. Pung is a Manipuri word that means Mridanga, an Indian version of drum. A group of men, all with drums hanging with strings around their neck played on intricate rhythms and cross rhythms making vigorous but graceful movements. Every time they lifted themselves and swirled around 360 degrees in the air, the crowd applauded. The next in row was Satriya dance from Assam by Prof. K.D Goswami’s group. Now this was an all women’s group. The music was soft and movements smooth defining the feministic characteristics. Being a lady myself, I may be a bit biased in saying this, but once again my belief, that the grace of the ladies is not easy to surpass, was strengthened. The most amusing performance for the children out there was the Chau dance from Purulia district of West Bengal. Amusing because, the artists wore masks and displayed stunning acrobatics portraying different animals and Gods. In fact the mask feature of this dance differentiates it from the chau dance of Orissa and Bihar. The crowd appeared so spellbound, just sitting and grooving on the music.

The next morning we rolled up our sleeves to go for the sightseeing of the stupendous temples at Khajuraho. From my experience in a travel house, I can say that at least 50% of the tourists that come to India opt to be here. Built on massive platforms these temples unravel the societal life of that period.(10-12th century). The intricately carved exterior with an equally impressive interior appear to freeze women in every posture and mood viz. writing a letter, applying Kohl, drying her hair, looking into a mirror etc etc….The reason for such deliberate underscoring on feminine figures is probably that women were considered auspicious since they personify the grace of God and symbolize the fertility of nature that ensures the continuance of life. The guides here use small mirrors that reflect the sun rays to focus on the objects they explain.  Quite an interesting plus eco friendly idea, isn’t it?

The erotic figures that form the characteristic feature of the western group of temples here again remain unreasoned, for as to why these temples were erected nobody knows for sure. The desires and forces of human love are depicted as part of life in the world. My friend was a bit hesitant and embarrassed to look up to those figures especially in the company of her brother. I noticed that the guide who otherwise explained things elaborately gave a hurried description and rushed through the erotic images. It gave me an insight into the traditional Indian values that normally forbid public display or discussion on this subject. But to her relief and for that of many others of her ilk who happen to be there with elders and have same kind of self imposed reservations, such figures form only about 10-15% of the total work. But actually any consummate description just cannot afford to skip these erotic panels.  

The eastern group of temples is mainly Jain temples but they too have figures of pantheon of Brahmanical deities, continuing the ancient Indian tradition where there was no division between the adherents of different faiths. By the time we finished these, the sun had come directly overhead and it appeared we had had an overdose of temple architecture so we dropped the idea to see southern group of temples. However all of us consented to take a quick look at the Chaunsanth Yogini temple, the only one having the distinction of being built in granite. Had I not read about it before my trip I would surely not have been able to identify it, as the granite used is in its raw form and did not resemble in anyway the granite slabs we have in our kitchens.

And now we were dog tired and famished as well. Also, I was keen to conserve my energy for the dance festival. The evening was again destined to be a fantabulous one.  The Kathak performance by Mrs. Manisha Sathe and her group was simply enrapturing. The emphasis in this dance form is on footwork.  The beautiful ladies moved and swayed in unison to create magic on the stage. All eyes glued. The performance was so enticing that I was compelled to give up my policy of using the battery of my camera judiciously. As expected, just at the fag end of the show the battery exhausted. I immediately rushed outside to see if I could find a plug point to recharge it for the rest of the evening. There were two media men who were working out their things on a desktop. Seeing my desperation they could not turn down my request anyhow.

I returned to find Professor C.V Chandrashekar delivering a solo Bharatnatyam performance. The verve in his performance that lasted for more than an hour, at the age of 75, was awe inspiring. Yes, you read it right he is only 75 years old (rather young). All hats doffed to salute his stamina. Meanwhile I took a breather, both for myself and my camera. And to my surprise I incidentally acquired a place just next to Mrs Manisha Sathe who was sitting there in the audience. I grabbed the opportunity to appreciate her troupe and at the same time request for a photograph with her. She happily agreed and to add to my astonishment she revealed that, for the past two days, she had been noticing my enthusiasm while I was trying to cover the dance festival from various possible angles.

For me it was a wonderful experience and the only one of a dance festival. But, I have a word of advice, off course not for the connoisseurs but others of my type who are planning to attend the dance festival to double the worth of their money and time they spend in visiting Khajuraho. If you do not follow classical dance much then you must attend this festival on the days when there are group performances as you can then enjoy their harmonious movements without going into the details of the dance form with which you are not that well versed. But, overall, I can emphatically say that music and dance are such universal expressions of emotion that you just don’t require to understand them really; they automatically find their pathways into your heart and mind to lead you to the ultimate trance.