Divya Goswami brings alive the Sohni-Mahiwal love story through Kathak

Divya Goswami performing at The Music Academy’s dance festival
| Photo Credit: K. Pichumani

Kathak dancer Divya Goswami’s themed show ‘Aqeedat’ (meaning faith) was a tribute to love through the 18th century Punjabi poet Fazal Shah’s kissas. It was a poetic coming together of beautiful music by Praveen D. Rao and poignant Kathak. Divya combined the precision of Kathak beats, its grace and lyrical fluidity in the retelling of the age-old romance between Sohni and Mahiwal (the popular Punjabi love story).

The curtain opened to Divya seated on stage, “Love..love..love.. What is love? Some say love is a river that drowns the need …Love is a storm that uproots you from your core… A bit of you, a bit of me…. until we transcend beyond…,” she said.

She followed it up with an invocation to divine love with the Punjabi song ‘Aval amad suna khuda tain’, in Sufi style in Yaman Kalyan and Addha taal. It was sung by Keerthi Kumar’. There was no hurry as the dancer set the tone in stillness, with her back to the audience, and the melodious alap (Siddhartha Bellamannu) captured the magic of love.

Divya followed the abstraction with a nritta piece in teen taal (16 beats), alternating tihais in 3s and 4s, some known, some upaj-impromptu and some parans. Graceful wrists and precise timing marked them, as she ended with a chakkar and a sharp stop.

The performance was a seamless blend of dance and music.
| Photo Credit:
K. Pichumani

She did not leave the stage for one and a half hours. Seated again, she spoke of this 19^th century tragic love story between the beautiful maiden and the rich trader-now buffalo-herder. 

 Dressed up, Sohni dances her way to the Chenab, picking up her baked pot on the way. ‘Tang tang’ she taps the top, and under ‘dhan dhan’, showing the nature of the pot. As she fills it with water, she sees the reflection of a handsome man. She looks up and their eyes meet. Thus begins their saccha ishq. The music and the lighting (Keerthi Kumar and Yonita) enhanced this brewing romance.

 Longing to meet him, she creeps out of her home, takes her pot bravely, taps it to check, and jumps into the river. Once she’s reached the opposite shore, the lovers unite in a cascade of nritta — they alternated with pretty tihais, stronger parans, with interesting parmelu animal-bols such as ‘Dha ri ri kukku’. There was an arresting 30-chakkar sequence as well, that was well-received too.

Divya is not the fiery, dramatic-nritta kind of dancer. She prefers to stick to the pleasant, well-timed style; the story always bigger than the rhythm.

Sohni is to visit another day. This time, there’s lightning and heavy rain. She is indecisive. Finally she decides to cross the river. When she takes the pot, she instinctively knows its not the same. Someone has replaced it with an unbaked one. Since she has given her word, she jumps into the choppy waters. Between the crocodile and the dissolving pot, she dies.

Mahiwal is looking for her from the other shore. Tearing, he realises her qurbaan (sacrifice) and jumps into the river, holding onto her tightly. ‘Aqeedat’ concludes with some agitated tatkar, while the commentator is speaking of the power of love and the high-pitched music keeps the tragedy fresh in our minds. The visualisation (Divya), lighting and music were spot on — the artistes brought out the high drama through the language of suggestion. The other artistes were Sameer Rao (flute) and Shruti Kamath (sitar).