I often hear Siva being described as a “Destroyer”.  Even when done with great reverence and fascination, there is somehow a terminal and hopeless quality to that word “Destroyer”.  But Siva is not about hopelessness; He is all about hope; His very name symbolizes Auspiciousness.  So what is it that he destroys?  He uses the fire of his third eye - the eye of wisdom - to incinerate the old, to destroy its shape so that a new shape may emerge, for how can the shape of the butterfly emerge unless the shape of the caterpillar is destroyed?  How can a gold bracelet turn into a gold chain unless one shape is destroyed and in its destruction it emerges as another?  Destruction must happen for transformation to happen.  This is the symbolism of Siva - The Destroyer.  We all must invoke the Siva in us constantly, destroying the "old" in us when it serves no purpose any more ... old habits, old behavior patterns, old beliefs, even old relationships ... things that inundate our lives with their clutter.  It requires courage, conviction and character.  It requires the opening of the third eye - the eye of wisdom! 

Thoughts on "Dancing"

• I was telling my dancer-friend Uttara how thoroughly I enjoyed dancing to an old 14th century love song from Bhama Kalapam (Kuchipudi repertoire) at a 2005 performance.  She wanted to know what was special about it.  It was that character Satyabhama I told her!  There is nothing archaic about her - her attitude or the way she goes about calling her Krishna back to her and rejoicing in the expectation!  Two people so totally in Love!  One of the most wondrous things on Earth.  It is a merging with God quality - a fulfillment of the natural urge to balance the male and female inside us which is externalized through this union.    Lucky are those who can experience it that way in their dance without being bludgeoned by Brahminical morality all the time.    

• You can't dance with your body - it is impossible -  you train it - but you can't dance With it - you dance Through your body, not With it!  

The dancer and the tamarind seeds

It was Prema Ramamurthy, a wonderful dance vocalist who made us all laugh with this story and she swears that every word of it is true.  

It is a well known fact that dance musicians (especially those who sing for Kuchipudi dancers) face the task of having to sing a certain line or phrase several times, while the dancers perform their sancharis (improvised elaborations on a story).  The story goes that at one performance, a dance vocalist who had to sing a line about 70 times decided to devise a clever way of keeping track of the count without going through all the hassle of watching for the dancer's cues.  She carefully counted and packed 70 tamarind seeds in a pouch.  On stage, as the musicians got ready with their instruments, she did too with her lovely velvet pouch.  When it was time, she opened the pouch and at the end of every line-repetition she began removing a seed from the pouch.  Everything was going well ... no counting ... no missing cues ... no stress ... the seeds were piling up neatly in front of her ... until suddenly, that particular evening, the dancer decided to end her elaborations short by a few repetitions.  But of course the singer was not ready to change to the next line ... she still had 10 tamarind seeds left in the pouch!  The dancer glared back in helpless agony, the percussionist beat desperate rhythms on his drum, the violinist elbowed her ... but she would not let anything deter her, for she still had 10 tamarind seeds left in her pouch!