SENRI ETHNOLOGICAL STUDIES 71: 103-134 ©2008
Music and Society in South Asia: Perspectives from Japan
Edited by Yoshitaka Terada

Between Art and Religion: Bhāgavata Mēla in Thanjavur
Takako Inoue
Daito Bunka University

Bhāgavata Mēla, which literally means “a group of bhāgavatas” (Brahman male actors) isa religious dance-drama in Telugu performed by bhāgavatas. It has been handed down as afamily tradition in a few villages around Thanjavur. Bhāgavata Mēla enjoyed the patronageof the Nāyakas and Marāthās but rapidly declined after the British occupation of the area.
This traditional dance-drama is said to have been performed in six villages, namely
Melat t  ū r (Mīlattur, Mērattur), Sāliyaman galam, Tēpperumānallūr, Ūttukādu,
Sūlamangalam, and Nallūr, till the end of the 19th century. Today, it continues to be
performed in three villages: Melattūr, Sāliyamangalam and Tēpperumānallūr. Its decline is
a common perception among scholars (e.g. Raman 1999). It has never been performed
abroad, though some of the repertoire has been performed outside these villages.
Bhāgavata Mēla has not been researched intensively; although several articles areavailable, these only give an outline or fragmentary information.1) The most elaborate
articles are written by bhāgavatas themselves, who may not always be objective. This paper
is therefore mainly based on the findings of my field research in addition to the available
written sources, including some that do not always treat Bhāgavata Mēla directly.2)
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The purpose of this paper is to explore why this tradition declined and how hereditary
performers struggle to continue this traditional performance despite rapid social changes.
The reasons for the decline or extinction of traditional performing arts in general have yet
to be clearly explained. Some say that the cause lay in social changes or the fact that a
particular performing art does not accord with modern taste, whereas others argue that theaesthetic value of a certain performing art is not high enough to get public recognition.
Then, what are the social changes that have an impact on it? What are the criteria ofaesthetic value? Who determines the aesthetic value of tradition, and how?
Some scholars have explained that the rapid decline of Bhāgavata Mēla was caused byunfortunate social changes for hereditary performers, in that the rule of the Thanjavur
Marāthās, who had patronized this tradition since the 17th century, collapsed in 1855. Tamil
Nadu is today ruled by Dravidian parties characterized by an anti-Brahman tendency and
Tamil nationalism, which do not promote Telugu arts and literature.3) These reasons may bepartially true, but I do not regard them as sufficient in themselves to explain the decline ofthis tradition. We must remember the fact that South Indian classical music (Karnātaka
music), of which the lyrics are mostly in Telugu and many composers and performers are
Brahmans, is flourishing in India at all levels even today. As Bhāgavata Mēla is actually a
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Takako Inouedance-drama, understanding its language is more important than for Karnātaka music,
which we can enjoy without comprehending its lyrics. On the other hand, the stories of
Bhāgavata Mēla are based on famous Hindu myths known to all, and we can enjoy thedance as well.
I would like to submit another interpretation in this paper, whereby the decline of
Bhāgavata Mēla is analyzed in terms of the delicate power balance between art andreligion. The concept of an autonomous sphere of art exempt from political and social
intervention was introduced by Western musicologists who studied Indian music under
British rule. This concept has been widely accepted as being natural as political secularism
by Indian scholars and performers since independent India started as a secular state,although Indian history suggests that music, dance and drama have been indispensable
aspects of Hindu rituals and festivals, and today’s traditional performing arts were mostly
developed in such religious praxis.
Sruti, the South Indian music magazine, often features the question of “art and bhakti.”
Bhakti means devotion, which is one of the most typical characteristics of mass Hinduism.
For example, Tyāgarāja (1767-1847), one of the most famous musical composers in South
India, has been deified since the temple was constructed at Tiruvaiyaru (13 km north fromThanjavur) where his samadhi (a tomb of a holy man) is located. Many devotees go on
pilgrimage to this place in every January when the Tyāgarāja Ārādhanā (worship or service
conducted in Hindu temples) festival is held. Typical temple rituals such as abhiśeka
(pouring holy water to the deity) and ārati or dīpa-ārādhanā (circling the lamp) are
included in the Tyāgarāja Ārādhanā festival apart from music programs. The Sruti editorialsuggests that blind devotion sometimes prevents us from truly appreciating andunderstanding the beauty of his compositions itself.4) The problem is, however, that theyhardly question the nature of art or artistic beauty. This shows us how deeply the concept ofautonomous art is accepted in India.
A similar debate has taken place concerning Bhāgavata Mēla, as to whetherbhāgavatas performed for art or bhakti.5) Since Bhāgavata Mēla has been performed as partof the temple rituals, it might be more religiously oriented than the Tyāgarāja Ārādhanā.
The former is performed in the temple street on a particular Hindu religious festival day,whereas musical compositions of Tyāgarāja are also sung on secular stages (although it
must be noted that the time allotted to each performer is very limited and improvisationalparts are mostly avoided on the latter occasions). Moreover, Bhāgavata Mēla is still
performed only by particular families, while secular stages are open to everybody with noquestions asked about qualifications such as caste, creed, gender, or nationality.
Some scholars explain the latter case as “democratization,” one of the characteristic
phenomena of modern India.6) It is essential that performances of music, dance and dramashould be democratized and separated from religious praxis in order to be recognized as anautonomous art. Otherwise, they can be performed neither on secular stages nor abroad.
Music, dance and drama should be taught to anybody who wants to learn; otherwise they
may always face the threat of extinction. In this context, I chose Bhāgavata Mēla as an
appropriate example because it has not yet been fully democratized and performers are now
struggling with the continuation of their tradition. In this paper, I analyze Bhāgavata Mēla105

Between Art and Religion

from this point of view.

The Telugu Yaksagāna Tradition in Thanjavur
Telugu culture was brought to Thanjavur, the Tamil heartland, in the Nāyaka period (15321676?). The first Nāyaka ruler of Thanjavur was Cevvappa who was the husband of
Mūrtimāmbā, a sister of Tirumalāmbā, the wife of the Vijayanagar king, Acyutadēvarāya(reigned 1529-1542). He sent a trustful relative Cevvappa (reigned 1532-1580) to rule thesoutheast of his kingdom, which was in disorder owing to the Nāyakas’ revolts against the
Vijayanagar King. The Nāyaka dynasty began in 1532. Though Nāyakas were vaiśnavaits(devotees of the Lord Visnu), they made donations to temples sacred to both Visnu andŚiva, and even patronized Muslims, Buddhists, and Europeans. Most of the large Visnutemples such as the Ranganāthasvāmi temple at Srirangam and the Venkateśvara temple at
Tirupati were renovated and enlarged in this period.
Brahmans migrated to the southern area to escape from the Muslim invasion in thisperiod. Particularly after Vijayanagar was beaten by five Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan
at the battle of Talikota (Rakshasi-Tangadi) in 1565, many Brahmans came to Thanjavur to
ask for protection and the Thanjavur Nāyakas gave them generous patronage. Nāyakas
donated them villages or lands and there constructed agrahāram (Brahman residential
areas). In such villages, a Visnu temple was built at the west end of the main street of theagrahāram. Thus, the vaiśnava literatures and arts in Telugu and Sanskrit brought by
Brahmans flourished in Thanjavur. Among them, Govinda Dīksitar served as a minister of
Acyutappa (reigned 1560-1614) and Raghunātha (1600-1634) was famous for his many
achievements in the cultural and social fields.7)
Not only Brahmans but also Nāyakas themselves composed several dance-dramas.
Raghunātha was famous for his musical talent. He is said to have been a good vīnā player
and invented the vīnā with 24 frets (12 frets in an octave) which developed into today’s
Sarasvati or Thanjavur vīnā (Sundaram Aiyar and Subrahmanya Sastri 1940: 155). He
wrote several theoretical treatises on performing arts and literature as well as dramas, epics
and poems. The next ruler, Vijayarāghava (reigned 1633-1673), was also good at arts andliterature. He is known to have composed 30 titles (Gopalan 1951: 18-9). Of these, 23 arebased on the Yaksagāna style characterized by the inclusion of different literary patterns:
dialogues in prose, songs for dance such as darus and padams, and story-telling by the
sūtradāra (the stage director) in verse. The stories of these dramas such as Rukminīkalyānamu, Satyabhāmā-vivāhamu, and Usā-parinayamu,8) mainly focus on the divine love
called madhra bhakti (sweet devotion), which was common to Bhāgavata Mēla and theother dance-dramas composed in this period.
Today the word Yaksagāna in its narrow sense is used as a name of the Kannada
Theater, also called Bhāgavatara-āta or Bayalāta, in south Karnataka. But dramas in theYaksagāna style were composed not only in Kannada but also in Telugu, Marathi, Tamiland Sanskrit. The texts of Bhāgavata Mēla and Kūcipūḍi, a dance-drama still performed
today in Andra Pradesh, are also written in this style. Though the origin of Yaksagāna is notclear, it is said that entertaining theatrical performances by a caste called Jakkulu (the plural
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Takako Inoueform of Jakka in Telugu) on the occasion of local festivals and fairs were brought to thecourt and developed into a sophisticated art at the time of Vijayanagar King Krsnadēvarāya(reigned 1509-1529). Since the word yaksa means an actor and gāna means music in
Sanskrit, scholars searched for its origin in Sanskrit treatises. A well-known Sanskrit
scholar, V. Ragavan, finds that the word yaksa appeared as a musical form in the
Sangītasudhā of Govinda Dīksitar (17th century) and says that the word Jakkulu is derived
from the word yaksa (Raghavan 1993: 347-8, 359-60). Another scholar on the Kannada
Yaksagāna, K. Shivarama Karanth, finds that the word Jakka appeared as a local musicalstyle in the Sangīta-ratnākara of Sārngadeva (13th century) and the word Yekkaragāna ismentioned in one of the earliest Kannada literary works (12th century) (Karanth 1997: 83).
The earliest manuscript of Kannada Yaksagāna was written in the 16th century, andmany more are available that date from the 17th century. Siddhendra Yogi (14th century?),
known as the originator of Kūcipūdi, is said to have stayed at the matha (monastery) of
Madhva’s (a 13th-century philosopher) school in Udipi, which has been a center ofYaksagāna. He wrote his only remaining composition Bāmā-kalāpamu in Telugu, and thishas been an important part of the Kūcipūdi repertoire since then. A number of manuscriptsof the Telugu Yaksagāna written in the Vijayanagar period are now available at theGovernment Oriental Manuscript Library in Chennai.9) The Telugu Yaksagāna tradition
brought to Thanjavur in the Nāyaka period continued to be patronized by Marāthā rulers(1676-1855), and dance-dramas in the Yaksagāna style were composed not only in Telugu
but in Marathi, Tamil and other languages.10)
Yaksagāna was performed at court. There are several descriptions of court
performances available in texts such as the Raghunāthanāyakābyudayamu of Vijayarāghava(1951) and the Rājāgōpālavilāsamu of the court poet Cengalva Kalākavi (1951). N.
Viswanathan, a Telugu Pandit of the Sarasvati Mahal Library in Thanjavur, says thatNattuva Mēla or Sangīta Mēla was performed by dēvadasīs (dancing girls) attached to thecourt while Bhāgavata Mēla was performed by bhāgavatas. The texts of Yaksagāna written
by Vijayarāghava were performed by Nattuva Mēla of his court (Visvanathan 1999:
Mukavurai, 4-5). On the other hand, Nataraja Ramakrishna, a scholar of Kūcipūḍi, says thatthe Śaiva Theater was called Nātya Mēla, the Vaiśnava Theater was called Bhāgavata Mēla,and the solo dance by dēvadasīs was called Nattuva Mēla (Kuchipudi Mahotsav 1996: 38).
These opinions suggest that these terms in general were not used for denoting a particular
style but originally used for classifying theatrical groups, since the repertoires of today’s
Bhāgavata Mēla, Yaksagāna, and Kūcipūdi were based on common themes. These dancedramas must have been performed both in temples and at court, which patronized both
dēvadasīs and bhāgavatas.
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Prahlāda-caritamu and the Performance of Bhāgavata Mēla
The theme of Bhāgavata Mēla is deeply connected with the vaiśnava cult, particularly withthat of the Lord Narasimha, a man-lion who is the fourth incarnation of Visnu. Around theNarasimha Jayanti Day (the 14th day of the white half of the lunar month Vaiśāka, aroundthe first half of May), the birthday of Lord Narasimha, Bhāgavata Mēla is performed in

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front of the deity at the temple street in the village agrahāram. The local Visnu (Perumāl)temple is located at the west end of the agrahāram street. Before and after the performanceof Bhāgavata Mēla, Hindu rituals such pūjā (worship or service) in the local temple andBhajana-sampradāya (group singing of religious songs) take place. This clearly
demonstrates that Bhāgavata Mēla is an indispensable part of the temple rituals. Its stage
equipment is as comparatively simple as the Sanskrit Theater where chairs and a temporary
curtain hung by two people are used. The makeup and costumes of each character are nothighly exaggerated, unlike the Kathakali of Kerala. Musicians consist of a few singers, theviolin or flute player, the mrdangam player, the nattuvan_ ār who plays a pair of cymbals fordance and the sūtradāra, sitting on the platform placed at the right side of the stage. Songs
are sung by singers, story-telling is chanted by the sūtradāra, and dialogues are spoken byactors. Bhāgavata Mēla is an all-male theater in which female roles are acted by men.
The most important item in the repertoire is Prahlāda-caritamu (The Story of
Prahlāda), which deals with the birth of the Lord Narasimha. The story goes as follows.11)
The two brothers Jaya and Vijaya served as gatekeepers of heaven. One day, a rsi
(saint) Sanandana, a son of Brahma, came to heaven with his brothers. Since they had theappearance of naked children, Jaya and Vijaya refused to allow them to enter heaven. Being
angry with them, Sanandana cursed them to be born in the form of the asuras (demons)Hiranyakaśipu and Hiranyāksa. But they will be able to return to their job if they are thrice
killed by Visnu. Hiranyakaśipu feels resentment for Visnu as his brother Hiranyāksa was
killed by Varāha, the third incarnation of Visnu. Swearing to revenge himself on Visnu,
Hiraniyakaśpu did penance to obtain the power to kill Visnu. Thanks to Brahma’s favor, hefinally obtained a body that could be destroyed neither inside nor outside a house, neither inthe sky nor on the earth, neither at day nor at night, by any weapons, by any human beings,
animals and anything created by Brahma. As he thought that even Visnu could not kill him,
he ordered the whole universe to cease praying to Visnu and chanting the name of Visnu.
The gods attacked Hiranyakaśipu’s court and Indra (the god of thunder) caught Līlāvati, awife of Hiranyakaśipu. A rsi Nārada was allowed to protect Līlāvati in his hermitage by
Indra. Līlāvati was sad about the situation and Nārada preached her bakti to Visnu. She thenbecame pregnant. The baby in her womb was Prahlāda.
The actual drama of Bhāgavata Mēla starts from here. Prahlāda was born as one offour sons of Hiranyakaśipu. Though Hiranyakaśipu hired a private teacher to teach Prahlāda
to obey his father, Prahlāda rejected him as he was deeply devoted to Visnu, saying thatVisnu alone is omnipotent and omnipresent. The angry father tortured the son by throwing
him into the fire, making an elephant smash him underfoot, and making a poisonous snake
bite him. But Prahlāda was able to escape since he was protected by Visnu. One day
Hiranyakaśipu asked Prahlāda to prove that Visnu was omnipresent. Prahlāda said, “Visnu
is omnipresent, even he is in that pillar.” Laughing Hiranyakaśipu said as beating the pillar,“Is Visnu in this pillar?” Then the pillar broke into two, and from it was born Narasimhawith a lion head and a human body. Narasimha dragged Hiranyakasipu to the threshold of
his court, put his body on his lap, tore his stomach and killed him at the twilight hour. Thus
Visnu could kill Hiranyakaśipu without losing Brahma’s favor.
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Narasimha is the fiercest and most terrible god among the ten incarnations of Visnu.
The actor playing Narasimha wears a mask for the performance. This mask is worshiped by
local people as it is believed to hold mighty power. A Narasimha actor takes bath to purify
his body before his performance. When he wears the mask, he goes into a trance andgrowls. Local people believe that this power is dangerous, and told me stories such as how
an actor playing Narasim ha really killed the one playing Hiranyakaśipu in Sūlamangalam, acertain village in Andra Pradesh, and how another actor playing Narasimha dragged fourmen onto the stage in Melattūr. This danger is the reason that this drama is only performed
in a few limited areas, although the Narasimha myth is well known and the Lord is widely
worshipped, particularly in Andra Pradesh.
Of the pieces in the Bhāgavata Mēla repertoire, Prahlāda-caritamu may not be taken
outside the village. Although today the performers accept invitations from Chennai andother cities, on such occasions they perform other pieces. Prahlāda-caritamu is performedon the Narasimha Jayanti Day at a particular venue. I was told that once bhāgavatas ofMelattūr performed Prahlāda-caritamu in response to a request from outside the village.
Though they made a new mask for the performance, a Hiranyakaśipu actor was seriously
injured. Thereafter they have never performed it outside. Bhāgavatas in Tēpperumānallūr
were once asked to perform Prahlāda-caritamu by Serfojī II, then Thanjavur Marāthā ruler.
When they went to the court and opened the box where the Narasimha mask was kept, theyfound numerous scorpions inside. They gave up the court performance and returned to theirvillage. Thereafter they have tabooed its performance elsewhere. I suppose that theexistence of this taboo and belief is an important factor that has prevented thedemocratization of Bhāgavata Mēla.
The actual drama is performed according to the following procedure, though somevariations can be observed according to village traditions. It begins with a long ritualistic
prologue. At the beginning, Kōnangi with a steeple-crowned cap, a buffoon or vidhūśaka in
Sanskrit theater, comes onstage and dances holding a shawl up with his hands. Once
Kōnangi played the role of quietening the audience down, but today he just dances. Thisrole is peculiar to Bhāgavata Mēla and cannot be found in the other allied dance-dramas
such as Yaksagāna and Kūcipūdi. Kōnangi realizes that next Ganapati (an elephant-headgod) will appear, since the lyrics of the song for Kōnangi’s dance include words denoting
Ganapati such as Mūsika-vāhana (a god riding on a mouse). There is a myth to which thissong refers. When Visnu is looking for his missing conch, the sound of his conch is heard
from Mt. Kailāsa (the abode of Śiva) because Ganapati, a son of Śiva, had swallowed it.
Visnu therefore dressed up as Kōnangi and danced with comical movements in front of
Ganapati. Ganapati laughed at the dance and the conch came out of his mouth. Based on
this myth, Kōnangi is said to be Visnu himself (Sruti 1998: Issue 164, 32).
Then the sūtradāra explains the outline of the whole story, which is followed by atōdayamangalam (an auspicious song) and a śabdam (a song including lyric and jati, thewords for dance steps) sung by musicians. Ganapati enters the stage next. He is the god
who removes obstacles, and frequently appears in the prologue of any Indian performance.
The role of Ganapati is often played by a small boy who wears a mask. After his dance, apriest enters the stage and does pūjā to Ganapati. The series of acts until Ganapati’s
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entrance is common to all the pieces in the repertoire.
The actual story begins with the entrance of Kattiyakāran_ or Katikam, also a buffoon
dressed as a gatekeeper or as a messenger of the hero or anti-hero’s court. As Kattiyakāran_is an indispensable role in Terukkūttu, a street theater of Tamils, Bhāgavata Mēla can bealso said to be influenced by Tamil culture. Kattiyakāran_ announces the entrance of the(anti-)hero. Of the main characters in Prahlāda-caritamu, Hiranyakaśipu enters first,
followed by Līlāvati and lastly by Prahlāda. The main characters always dance first andthen start their dialogues. The dance songs for their entrance, called pātra-praveśa-daru(entrance songs for actors), are the most important parts of their performances. Among theirdances, Līlāvati’s movements are the most elaborate and are based on Bharatanātyam.
Whenever scenes change, the sūtradāra explains the next story and introduces new
characters.
There is no pure tragedy in Bhāgavata Mēla like that of the Sanskrit theater. Theirstories mostly have happy endings, such as the happy marriage of the hero and heroine or
the victory of dharma (religious doctrine) or bhakti. Finally the hero and heroine (god andgoddess) Narasimha and Laksmi, who enter the stage at the finale of Prahlāda-caritamu,
are worshiped by the other actors, musicians, and the audience. As soon as the performanceis over, actors go to the temple and worship the deity. This marks the conclusion of theperformance.12)

The History of Bhāgavata Mēla
The origin of the Bhāgavata Mēla in Thanjavur cannot obviously be traced in the oral
tradition. In Melattūr and Sāliyamangalam, it is said that Acyutappa donated some lands
and houses to hundreds of bhāgavatas who came to ask for refuge as they were escaping
from the Muslim invasion in the north. The village was therefore called Acyutapuram (orAcyutābudhi, Acyutapuri), a name derived from Acyutappa. Both villages insist that thename of village was Acyutapuram based on different grounds.
Melattūr was also called Unnathapuri, a name derived from Unnathapurīśvara, thedeity of the local Śiva temple. This village is famous for producing numerous musicians.
They composed many songs on Varadarāja-perumāl, the deity of the local Visnu temple.
Nārāyana Tīrtha (1675-1745?), the best-known composer of Kūcipūḍi, famous for hiscomposition Krsnalīlā-taranginī in Sanskrit, visited this village and composed a songwhose lyric included the sentence “Śaranam Acyutapuranivāsasvāmi Varadarāja Prabhō”(“The Lord Varadarāja at Acyutapuram, please protect me”) (Raghavan 1942).
Vīrabhadrayya of Melattūr in the 18th century used Acyuta-varada and Unnathapurīśa as
the mudra (signature) of his compositions (Raghavan 1946, 1953; Seetha 1981: 153-60).
There are some difference between the detailed descriptions of the origin of Bhāgavata
Mēla given by performers and scholars. An article in a booklet issued by the group called
the Melattur Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Jayanti Bhagavata Mela Natya Nataka Sangam(MLBNS) states that 510 bhāgavata families were given land and a house with a well
(MLBNS 1990: 9), whereas an article in a booklet issued by another group called theMelattur Bhagavata Mela Natya Vidya Sangam (MBNVS) states that 500 or 501 bhāgavata
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Takako Inouefamilies were given this village in 1577 (MBNVS 1994; Raman 2002: 51). Arudra, a dance
critic, states that among 510 divisions of land, 500 were given to bhāgavata families, witheach family assigned one and half acres and a house with a well, and of the remaining ten,six were given to Kōmati (one of the Telugu castes) merchants and four to craftsmen (Sruti
1986: Issue 22, 19). A priest of the local Śiva temple told me that not only bhāgavatas but
also other Brahmans who were knowledgeable about the Veda were given lands.
An article in a booklet issued by a Sāliyamangalam group called the Śrī Leksmi
Naracimma Pākavata Mēla Pakta Samājam (SPPS) states that 40 vēli (1 vēli = about 5
acres) of land were given to Brahmans and the agrahāram was constructed there.
Haidar ‘Alī and Tipū Sultān of Mysore invaded Thanjavur in the late 18th century,
however, and the Būminīla-samedha-śrīnivasa-perumāl temple was destroyed. Then theLaksmi-Nārāyana-perumāl temple was constructed and the agrahāram shifted to today’s
location (Śrī Laksmi Naracimma Pakavata Mela Pakta Samājam n.d.). S. Srinivasan, a main
actor of this group, states that the śabdam sung before the performance of Prahlādacaritamu includes the sentence, “Tajanu tāhata tatarita kitataka, Acyutapuramanē
Sāliyamangala Agrahāramunaku.” But there is no written record of the donation made by
Acyutappa, and a number of villages in the territory of Vijayanagar have added “Acyuta” totheir name.
Some references to those village names are available, however. For example, an
inscription of the Cōl_a period (9th-13th centuries) in the Unnathapurīśvara temple says that
Peru-Milattur is a part of Nittavinōta-valanātu (Rangacharya 1985: Vol.2, 1362). This
inscription shows us that this name has been handed down for nearly 1,000 years. However,no references to theatrical performances by Brahmans are seen in these temple inscriptions.
Some references to donations to temple festivals made by Nāyakas and performances given
by dancers or musicians are present in inscriptions written in the Nāyaka period.13) As
dance-dramas in this period were called Yaksagāna, there is no reference to the word
Bhāgavata Mēla.
There are a considerable number of references to Bhāgavata Mēla in the modi
(Marathi scripts used for administrative writings) documents of Thanjavur Marāthās. The
earliest reference is that Sujān Bāī, a wife of Ekojī II, created an agrahāram near
Dīpāmbāpuram and named this new village Ekamahājendrapuram on December 30 in 1735,
and 3/4 vēli land was given to Girirāja Kavi, a bhāgavata, a son of Ahobala Śastri, a
grandson of Gopāla Bhatta (Srinivasan 1984: 9-10).14) More references are available after
the period of Tulajā II (reigned 1763-1787). The srotryam (land given to learned Brahmans)
was given to bhāgavatas of Mannārgudi in 1786 (Cupramaniyam 1989: Vol.1, 199 [66]).
The list of land and villages for his personal use included in the treaty with the British
concluded by Serfojī II in 1799 mentions those of Bhāgavata Mēla (Vivekanandagopal
1999: 53 [29]). On the occasion of the performance of Mōhinimahēśaparinaya-nātaka (themarriage of Mōhini and Mahēśa) (Ramadasi Ramachandra Bhavuswami Goswami 1932:709-11) composed by Serfojī II in 1819, bhāgavatas were rewarded for their performance(Cupramaniyam 1989: Vol.1, 20 [99]). There is a record of 1824 written about the
distribution of rewards to bhāgavatas Svāmi Mallār Nābhojī and his son (ibid.: 331 [146]).
There is another record of 1845 listing the names of craftsmen who made costumes and
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other items used for Bhāgavata Mēla (ibid.: Vol.3, 294 [33], 302 [54]). Visvanathan of theSarasvati Mahal Library says that Rāma Pandita, a court poetess of the 18th century,composed 13 dance-dramas that were performed at court, and the names of the bhāgavatas
who performed them are recorded in a modi document (Visvanathan 1999: Mukavurai, 6).15)
These records show us that Telugu dance-dramas were performed in the Nāyaka
period, although there is no reference to Bhāgavata Mēla. The written evidences suggestthat the name Bhāgavata Mēla has been used to refer to a particular style of dance drama
since the Marāthā period.

Bhāgavata Mēla in Melattūr
Melattūr is located about 18 km northeast of Thanjavur. According to the census of 2001,
the population is 7,815, and five blocks constitute a town panchayat (the lowest level ofassembly). It has 21 streets in total; of these, there are eight streets located in its centralarea, and the agrahāram consists of three of these. The Varadarāja-perumāl temple and theVigneśvara (Ganapati) temple are located at the west end of the agrahāram and theUnnathapurīśvara temple at its east end. The agrahāram is divided into two by the central
street; the west side is the Tamil Brahmans’ residential area and the east side is that of the
Telugu Brahmans.
Repertoire
The pieces in the Bhāgavata Mēla repertoire performed in Melattūr are all composedby Vēnkatarāma Śāstri (1743-1809?, 1800-1875?). All compositions are written in Telugu.
The list of his compositions included in the booklet issued by MLBNS is follows (MLBNS
1990: 11):
1. Prahlāda-caritamu
2. Mārkanḍēya-caritamu
3. Usā-parinayamu
4. Hariścandra-nātakamu
5. Rukmāngada-nātakamu
6. Harihara-līlā-vilāsamu
7. Sītā-parinayamu
8. Rukminī-vivāhamu
9. Kamsa-vadhamu
10. Druva-caritamu
11. Satī-sāvitri-nātakamu
12. Gōlla-bhāmā-nātakamu
Of these, Gōlla-bhāmā-nātakamu has been excised from the list of Bhāgavata MēlaNatya Natakam issued by the same organization (MLBNS n.d.:9). S. Natarajan, a main
actor of MLBNS explains that its manuscript is not available and there is no record of its
performance. He also adds that Rukmāngada-nātakamu might not be a composition of
Vēnkatarāma Śāstri since its literary style is different from the others, though it has been
performed several times. The 33 songs included in Prahlāda-caritamu with notation by
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Takako Inouerenowned singer B. Krishnamurty and an introduction by Raghavan were published by theMusic Academy, Madras in 1965 (Krishnamurthy 1965). A full text of Mārkanḍēyacaritamu revised by Visvanathan and N. Srinivasan, a Sanskrit Pandit of the Sarasvati
Mahal Library, was published by MBNVS in 1995 (Visvanathan 1995).
Vēnkatarāma Śāstri is the most important composer of Bhāgavata Mēla, but his life is
not well known today. He is said to have been born and brought up in Melattūr. Raghavan
has tried to reconstruct his life. According to his study, Vēnkatarāma was a Telugu Vaidiki(vedic) Velanādu (central Andra) Brahman, Śrīvatsa-gotra, a son of Gōpālakrsnārya, and adisciple of Laksmanārya. He was said to be an expert on the Devī and the Narasimha cult
(Raghavan 1946). MLBNS stated that his father was a disciple of Nārāyana Tīrtha and his
guru was a disciple of Vīrabhadrayya (MLBNS n.d.: 3, 21). The tune of svarajati (amusical form for dance consisting of a combination of lyrics, notes and jati) in Useni rāga,a well-known composition of Vīrabhadrayya of Melattūr, was repeatedly used by othercomposers with different lyrics. Vēnkatarāma also composed a new lyric for this tune,
which is dedicated to Mallārjī, a son of Dattājī, a foreign minister of the Serfojīll’s(Dīksitulu 1904: Part I, 624-7). Tyāgarāja is said to have composed his opera Prahlādabhakti-vijayamu inspired by Prahlāda-caritamu of Vēnkatarāma (Kuppuswamy andHariharan 1995). Based on his investigation, Raghavan suggests that Vēnkatarāma wasyounger than Vīrabhadrayya and elder than Tyāgarāja.
The booklet issued by MLBNS in 1990 states that Vēnkatarāma lived from the periodof Serfojī II to Śivājī II (reigned 1833-1855), whereas the other booklet stated that he lived
from 1722 to 1809 and his father from 1720 to 1775. This information is based on one of
the bhāgavatas of MLBNS, Kanakangi Srinivasa Josyar (1887-1966). According to hisstatement, his grandfather was present at Vēnkatarāma’s death and was asked to continue
his performances. This was in 1809, when he was 66 years old and lived by himself in thehouse near the local Śiva temple (MLBNS n.d.: 3, 12, 21). Visvanathan of the Sarasvati
Mahal Library states that Vēnkatarāma lived roughly from 1800 to 1875, for the following
reasons. First, Śivājī II’s name is referred in Mārkanḍēya-caritramu; second, the date of theoriginal manuscript of Hariścandra-nātakamu is August 30, 1824; and third, the Sangītasaṃpradāya-pradarśini (Handbook of Musical Tradition) of Subbarāma Dīksitar (18391906) stated that Vēnkatarāma was active in the period of Serfojī II and Śivājī II(Visvanathan 1995: vi). Thus he must have been almost a contemporary of Tyāgarāja.
Vēnkatarāma recruited actors from each Brahman family of Melattūr and performed
his compositions in front of the Varadarāja-perumāl temple. His group also performed inother villages such as Tirucirāppalli and Mannārgudi. MBNVS and Visvanathan state that
his compositions were also performed at court, because his compositions include praises ofthe Marāthā rulers (Visvanathan 1995: vi; Raman 2002: 62), although Natarajan of MLBNS
insists that he never performed at court.16) This statement reminds me that famous
composers of Karnātaka music are often described as saintly figures. As Vēnkatarāma
received the Marāthā’s patronage, it is appropriate to suppose that his compositions were
performed at court.
As I have already mentioned, there are two groups of Bhāgavata Mēla in Melattūr,
MLBNS and MBNVS. I shall now explain how the two groups were founded and describe
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the history of Bhāgavata Mēla in Melattūr.
History
According to Natarajan of the MLBNS, the Brahmans who migrated to Melattūr werefrom Appillai (a part of Andra), Pishwati (near Vijayawada), Kumandur (near Nellore),
Paravakarai, Manangorai, and Palliagraharam (all of these are near Thanjavur). Natarajan
himself is actually a Tamil Smārta Brahman;17) however, his family is said to have migrated
from Kumandur. He says that Telugus and Tamils have mingled each other for many years
and cannot obviously be distinguished today. In the period of Tulajā I (1729-1735),
Brahmans from Attigiri (near Kanchipuram) came to take shelter in Melattūr with the
Varadarāja idol on the advice of Śankaracārya (a head of the Śankara Math), and the temple
was constructed there. In the period of Pratāp Simha (1739-1763), two tanks, Nārāyana(Visnu) Tīrtha and Garuḍa (a legendary bird, a vehicle of Visnu) Tīrtha, a small shrine ofNarasimha in yoga pose near the former tank, and the gāt (bathing place) on the bank of theriver Vettar were constructed. The Narasimha idol is said to have been made in the 12th
century. The Narasimha mask used for the performance was made later. At first, it was kept
in the house of Appillai, the family of a cousin of Natarajan’s grandfather; however, it is
kept in the temple today since this family left the village.
After the collapse of the Marāthās, bhāgavatas lost patronage and found it difficulties
to continue their performances. They finally stopped in 1882. The direct cause of thiscomplete cessation is unknown. Telugu bhāgavata families gradually left the village so thattoday most of the bhāgavatas are Tamil Smārta Brahmans. In 1895, Bharatam Natesa Iyer
(1865-1935), a bhāgavata of the Attigiri family, revived the performance of Prahlādacaritamu. He learned the dance techniques by himself and trained many actors such as
Bharatam Nallur Narayanaswami Iyer, who gave a lecture on the relationship between
Bharatanātyam and Bhāgavata Mēla at the Music Academy, Madras (The Journal of theMusic Academy, Madres 1935-7: 176-8). In 1922, the idols of Narasimha and Āñjaneya
were installed at the Varadarāja-perumāl temple. Natesa Iyer also taught dance to dēvadāsīs
to extricate himself from financial difficulties. After he fell sick and left the village in 1931,
the performances again stopped.
In 1938, V. Ganesa Iyer (1896-1989), Natarajan’s grandfather, who then a village
officer, tried to revive the tradition with Natesa Iyer’s disciples in cooperation with Balu
Bhagavatar (1897-1985), a Sanskrit scholar and a descendent of a bhāgavata family whose
members were disciples of Tyāgarāja. He founded MLBNS and 15 actors were trained for
two years. From 1938 to 1940, Tamil versions of Mārkanḍēya-caritamu and Usāparinayamu of Vēnkatarāma, translated by V. Ganesa Iyer in cooperation with Telugu
Brahmans and choreographed and directed by Balu Bhagavatar, were performed in front of
the Vigneśvara temple constructed by Natarajan’s great-grandfather. In 1940, Prahlādacaritamu was performed in front of the Varadarāja-perumāl temple. The tradition was thus
formally revived. Since then several reforms have been implemented. On the dramatic side,
the dialogue between the sūtradāra and the (anti-)hero in Tamil, which explained theoutline at the beginning, was deleted since this part did not exist in the original text. On themusical side, the flute was used as an accompanying instrument instead of the harmonium
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to make the music more classical. This was implemented by P. K. Subbier, a well-known
musician and an uncle of Bharatam R. Mahalingam, a main actor of MBNVS.
By 1951, a total of five compositions of Vēnkatarāma – Prahlāda-caritamu,
Mārkanḍēya-caritamu, Usā-parinayamu, Hariścandra-nātakamu, and Rukmāngadanātakamu – had been revived. In that year E. Krishna Iyer (1897-1968), who had studied
dance with Natesa Iyer, then Secretary of the Music Academy, Madras, visited Melattūr andadvised the bhāgavatas to reform their costumes and makeup, stage equipment, music, anddance technique to improve the performance’s artistic sophistication. He wrote articles on
Bhāgavata Mēla to popularize it as a classical art (Iyer 1966) and managed to get financial
support from the Sangeet Natak Akademi (the national academy for music and drama) in
New Delhi.
In 1962, V. D. Swami, an entrepreneur hailing from Melattūr who lived in Madras,
came home to watch a performance of Bhāgavata Mēla. His interest was aroused, and hefounded MBNVS in 1964 for the purpose of continuing and developing the tradition. Hepurchased two and half acres of land near the Nārāyana Tīrtha located at the west side of
the village for the purpose of constructing a permanent theater. The performance took place
there that year. Mahalingam says that the Narasimha shrine was once located there. Conflict
between Ganesa Iyer and Balu Bhagavatar, however, meant that MBNVS could not holdthe Narasimha Jayanti Day performance in 1965. Instead, Ganesa Iyer and MLBNS
conducted the performance in front of the Varadarāja-perumāl temple as before. Balu
Bhagavatar and Subbier left MLBNS, and this group was thereafter led by Ganesa Iyers’son, G. Swaminathan, and his grandson, Natarajan. In 1967 another group called MBNVS
led by Balu Bhagavatar and Subbier restarted the performance at the venue donated by V.
D. Swami. These two rival groups have co-existed ever since. Of about 30 Brahman
families in this village, six families belong to MLBNS and three to MBNVS.
This split is said to stem from a difference of opinion on the proper venue for the
performance of Bhāgavata Mēla. MLBNS insists that it should be conducted in front of the
Varadarāja-perumāl temple and MBNVS insists on the venue donated by Swami where theNarasimha shrine was once located. B. M. Sundaram, a music scholar, points out theexistence of ego among bhāgavatas, giving several reasons in his article (Sruti 1994: Issue
118, 11), while Natarajan refutes this article (Sruti 1995: Issue 125, 5-7) though nobody
denies the contribution of Swami. The two groups have somehow to use the same single
Narasimha mask on the same day. Today, MBNVS uses it first, followed by MLBNS, andthe two groups give their performances at different times. Executive visitors who come towatch the performance sometimes give speeches appealing to the two groups to unite.18)
Though no solution has as yet been found, the positive aspect is that the two rival groups
must strive to continue the performance and to improve their technique despite financial
difficulties. Today, the existence of such competition is resulting in a new golden era of
Bhāgavata Mēla second only to the Marāthā period. It is not yet completely safe, however.
The continuance of the performance still relies on the personal efforts of particularbhāgavatas themselves.
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The Performance of MLBNSMLBNS holds the Narasimha Jayanti Bhāgavata Mēla festival in an elaborate mannerover a period of about ten days, setting up a temporary stage in the temple street. On thefirst day of the festival, an opening ceremony is held with a few invited well-known artists,
scholars, or politicians. The festival program includes not only Bhāgavata Mēla but also
other allied performances such as Bharatanātyam, Terukūttu, Kūcipūdi, and Harikathā(religious discourses with music). Thus the structure of their program is similar to othermusic and dance festivals held in India. The last day of the festival ends with the Āñjaneya
Utsavam (the service done by a divine monkey who followed Rāma, namely the festival of
devotees), in which auspicious music is played by the nāgasvaram group in the Varadarājaperumāl temple and a procession with the idol on a palanquin is held through theagrahāram streets. Natarajan explains that the reason for his introduction of such anelaborate program was to gain recognition for Bhāgavata Mēla as a classical art like otherforms of dance and music. He also plans to open a school at the village to train his
successors after his retirement. He has already obtained the land for this purpose. He thusemphasizes the artistic value of Bhāgavata Mēla, although he added that while the school
will be open to everybody the bhāgavatas should be male Brahmans; this implies that he isnegative toward the democratization of Bhāgavata Mēla.
Today, the main actors of MLBNS are descendents of Ganesa Iyer. Natarajan, who
mainly plays the roles of heroines such as Līlāvati, is the eldest of five brothers. The third
brother is S. Kumar, who is good at hero roles such as Hiranyakaśipu. The members of
Arakkontu (those who received the arakku, a seal of donation from a king), that is those
whose families were donated land by Acyutappa, are hereditary bhāgavatas playing special

Plate 1 Varadarāja-perumāl on the palanquin in front of the Varadarāja-perumāltemple in Melattūr

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Plate 2 The ending scene of Prahlāda-caritamu performed by the Melattur Sri
Lakshmi Narasimha Jayanti Bhagavata Mela Natya Nataka Sangam

Plate 3Natarajan in trance in front of the shrine of Svāminātha-svāmi, Melattūr

roles such as Narasimha and Kattiyakāran_. Today the members of the Piswati of Andra
Tallāvajjhala (Brahmans who undertake ascetic practice and lead their lives as pilgrims)
come under this category. Natarajan sends young actors to train under famous
Bharatanātyam dancers, since this dance technique is indispensable for mastering theelaborate dances of female roles. Musicians are almost always hired from the area outside

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the village around Thanjavur. Only one of the three singers is a villager.
All of the today’s bhāgavatas are amateurs engaged in different jobs. Natarajan is anengineer by profession and works in Dubai, Kumar works in Bangalore, and the otherbrothers also live outside the village. Their house in the village is usually vacant; however,the family members come together to rehearse the repertoire for about one month before thefestival. According to Natarajan, the expenses of the festival were managed by six membersof MLBNS who paid 100 rupees each; however, this amount was so little that Ganesa Iyer
had to sell his property. Since Natarajan found employment in Dubai in 1978, their life has
been stable. Today, almost all the costs of the festival conducted by MLBNS are paid from
Natarajan’s personal funds though there are small subsidies from the Sangeet NatakAkademi and elsewhere. Because of this total dependence on Natarajan alone, if he is sobusy that he cannot leave Dubai, the festival cannot always be conducted according to the
Hindu calendar. He also feeds both artists and guests during the festival.
Natarajan tried to revive all the dramas composed by Vēnkatarāma. First, he decided
to stop performing Rukmāngada-nātakamu since it is possible that it was not one of
Vēnkatarāma’s compositions. In 1989 Harihara-līlā-vilāsamu and Sītā-parinayamu wererevived, and in the next year, MLBNS celebrated the Golden Jubilee by performing six
compositions. By 1994, a total of nine compositions had been revived, and in 2003 thetenth one, Druva-caritamu, was performed. Valli-tīrmān_ am, a well-known Tamil drama, hasalso been performed by them every year. This is the story of Valli’s successful love for the
Lord Murukan, in the Kuravañci style in which a tribal woman fortune-teller called Kurava
predicts the heroine’s destiny. Natarajan says that this drama has been added to theirrepertoire to entertain villagers who do not understand Telugu.
The simple temporary stage is set up in the middle of the street, facing the temple. The
stage is constructed according to the description in Nātya-śāstra (a treatise on performing
arts written about the 3rd-5th centuries), with the greenroom placed behind the stage andentrances on both sides.19) Bhāgavatas take a bath to purify their body before theperformance and then start to put on their makeup. The actual performance begins at around9 P. M. and ends at midnight. The duration of compositions is mostly 3-4 hours, with the
exception of Hariścandra-nātakamu, which takes all night long. Today this drama is
performed in two parts. The audience usually numbers several hundreds, although whenValli-tīrmān_ am is performed it obtains a larger audience that fills the street. On the
Narasimha Jayanti Day only, the idol of Varadarāja-perumāl is taken out of the temple to bebrought in front of the stage and then back to the temple. Following the idol procession,
Prahlāda-caritamu is performed. After the performance, all the bhāgavatas and theaudience go to worship the temple deity. The bhāgavatas then go to the shrine ofSvāminātha-svāmi (the Lord Murukan who is Natarajan’s family god). The women of his
family, who wait for them in front of the shrine, cut coconuts and pour out their water to the
bhāgavatas in the same way as they do to the deity. At this moment, either Natarajan or
Kumar always goes into a trance. Those who performed the Lord should be possessed andblessed. This praxis concludes each performance.
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The Performance of MBNVSThe Narasimha Jayanti Bhāgavata Mēla festival held by MBNVS is less elaborate
than that of MLBNS. The duration of the festival is three or four days, during which theirrepertoire of Bhāgavata Mēla alone, Prahlāda-caritamu, Mārkanḍēya-caritamu, Usāparinayamu, Hariścandra-nātakamu, and Rukminī-vivāhamu is performed. The group has
not as yet made the effort to revive all the compositions of Vēnkatarāma. A temporary stage
facing east is set up at the venue donated by Swami. The size of the stage is bigger than thatof MLBNS and the greenroom is attached to the right side of the stage. Though the stage
equipment is as simple as that of MLBNS, the curtain is attached to the stage itself. Every
day before the performance starts, either the idol of Varadarāja-perumāl or the Narasimhamask put on the palanquin is brought to the venue, led by nāgasvaram music. It is placed at
the opposite side of the venue to face the stage and a priest does pūjā to the deity. On thefirst day of the festival, the opening ceremony is held with a few invited guests in the same
way as that of MLBNS.
All the bhāgavatas of MBNVS live in and around Melattūr. Mahalingam, one of themain actors of this group, is a village officer and S. Gopalakrishnan, the Secretary of
MBNVS, quit his job and undertakes all the management. Musicians are hired from outside
the village and one of the Pandits of the Sarasvati Mahal Library, Srinivasan orVisvanathan, plays the role of sūtradāra. Because of the lack of proper patronage MBNVS
is facing financial problems, although it receives a small subsidy from the Sangeet NatakAkademi. MBNVS always opens its final accounts to the public and calls for donations.20)
As all the stage equipment and costumes were burned because of an electrical fault just
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Plate 4 A scene from Śakuntarā performed by the Melattur Bhagavata Mela
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before the festival in 2000, MBNVS could not conduct the festival on the Narasimha
Jayanti Day. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti, the President of Nalli, one of the major saree
companies in Chennai, made a donation to MBNVS to enable it to recover from this loss.
As a result, the festival was postponed to July.
In 1992, MBNVS performed Rukminī-vivāhamu at the National Centre for the
Performing Arts in Mumbai. Watching this performance, Indu Raman, a dancer-cumcomposer and the managing trustee of the Rangshree Trust, became interested and visited
Melattūr. She offered to collaborate with them and became the President of MBNVS. In
1994, a Bhāgavata Mēla festival was successfully held for five days in Mumbai (Sruti
1994: Issue 114, 12). In 1995, she turned her attention to dramas in Marathi available in theSarasvati Mahal Library and decided to revive them in the Bhāgavata Mēla style. She choseŚakuntarā composed by Ekojī II (reigned 1735-1736)21) since the story was popular.
At first this offer perplexed the members of MBNVS since they are all amateur actors
who perform a limited repertoire in the way they learned from their elders, having noexperience of performing other compositions. They decided to try it, however, to improvetheir popularity and raise funds. In 2002, the first Marathi Bhāgavata Mēla, Śakuntarā, wasperformed in the Mumbai festival. This performance was bitterly criticised as it was nolonger Bhāgavata Mēla but something else. The newly composed music with some folk
elements introduced by a Mumbai composer, accompanied by a tablā (north Indian drums)
player, was totally different from that of Bhāgavata Mēla, which is based on classicalKarnātaka music. Important roles such as the sūtradāra and the vidūśaka were performedby Mumbai actors. As a result, Indu Raman resigned as president and has never returned.22)
The current president is Kuppuswami Chetti.
Criticism of the Mumbai performance was mostly concerned with the relationshipbetween art and bhakti. First, to change the performance in accordance with urban tastes
would not be useful for the continuance of Bhāgavata Mēla. Second, Bhāgavata Mēlaperformed by amateur actors as a religious practice, namely bhakti, should not be regarded
as art by professional artists. Third, the changes were made in too simple a manner. Afterall, the newly produced Śakuntarā is a manifestation not of Bhāgavata Mēla but of theartistic ego of Indu Raman (Sruti 2002: Issue 212, 14-7). On the other hand, Raman insisted
that all Indian art derives from bhakti, any form of art should be regarded as a national
heritage, and Bhāgavata Mēla should go out from the village. In 2003, MBNVS added a
reduced-dialogue version of Śakuntarā to their program as the group members do notunderstand Marāthī well; this has also been criticized in terms of questioning the meaningof such a performance in Melattūr rather than Mumbai (Sruti 2003: Issue 228, 39).
It is generally recognized that the performance by MLBNS is more artistic than that of
MBNVS, which is still oriented toward religious duty. Natarajan of MLBNS actively
emphasizes its artistic value, and a few young actors sent to well-known dancers fortraining have achieved an almost professional level. On the other hand, the actors of
MBNVS seem to be bewildered by the outsiders’ view, since they perform in exactly thesame way as they had been taught. Mahalingam emphasizes the importance of preserving
the tradition.

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Bhāgavata Mēla in Other Villages
There are two other villages where Bhāgavata Mēla is still performed, namely
Sāliyamangalam and Tēpperumānallūr. Their manners of performance, compositions,financial conditions and other factors are different from those of Melattūr. In this section, I
will first describe their respective characteristics. There are a few villages where Bhāgavata
Mēla is said to have been performed for some time after the British occupation. I will also
refer to the traceable tradition of their performances and the cause of their extinction.
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Sāliyamangalam
Sāliyamangalam is located about 15 km east of Thanjavur on the main road between
Tiruchi and Nagapattinam. As there is also a railway station, the village is today developing
considerably. The agrahāram of the village is located on the north side of the main road, alittle distant from the main bazaar area. Only one agrahāram street running from north tosouth is different from the usual location observed in the other villages. The concrete
platform used for the stage is located at the north end, and the temples are located slightly
to the north of the agrahāram street; first is the Laksmi-Nārāyana temple, then the shrine ofĀñjaneya, and finally the Śiva temple. All temples face east as usual, though few houses arelocated around the temples. There is a big tank behind the temples. As I mentioned earlier,
Acyutappa is said to have donated 40 vēli of land to six bhāgavata families; however, the
Būminīla-samedha-śrīnivasa-perumāl temple was destroyed by the Mysore kingdom. The
agrahāram was then moved to its present location. As the Laksmi-nārāyana temple was
newly constructed, the Śrīnivasa-perumāl became the idol used for procession. Four of thesix families have either moved away or died out, and only two remain there today (SPPSn.d.).
The dance-drama performed in Sāliyamangalam is not one composed by Vēnkatarāma
but by Bharatam Pañcanāda Bhāgavatalu. According to the booklet issued by MLBNS,
Pañcanāda was a contemporary of Vīrabhadrayya and a disciple of Bharatam Kāśinātha(1690-1764? 1676-1740?) (MLBNS 1990: 67; MLBNS n.d.: 20). The word Bharatam
added to their names means “those who are experts of Nātya-śāstra.” Pañcanāda’s life isalmost unknown; however, his guru Kāśinātha’s compositions were revised and publishedby the Sarasvati Mahal Library. According to their revisor Visvanathan, Kāśinātha is said tohave been born and brought up in Melattūr because words such as Acyuta, Varadarāja,
Melattūr and Unnathapurīśa are found in his compositions (Visvanathan 1985: 166-8).
Raghavan collected manuscripts of 40 śabdams in Melattūr, of which 13 compositions areKāśinātha’s (Raghavan 1943). His compositions are mostly written in praise of the Lordthough there are songs on Marāthā rulers of the period from Śāhajī (reigned 1684-1711) toPratāp Simha. Kāsinātha might therefore have lived in this period.
On the other hand, Srinivasan, one of the leading actors of SPPS, insists that
Pañcanāda was older than Kāśinātha. In Sāliyamangalam, it is said that the tradition of
Bhāgavata Mēla has been continued since 1645 and the Prahlāda-caritamu composed by
Pañcanāda is a revised version of that of Vijayarāgava, then the Nayāka ruler (Sastri 1933:
219-21). He also conjectures that Kāśinātha possibly hailed from Sāliyamangalam. As I
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mentioned before, the śabdam sung before the performance of Prahlāda-caritamu, which
included the name of this village, was composed by Kāśinātha. It is not strange for one
composer to praise several deities of different villages. There are five compositions in
Telugu known to be Pañcanāda’s: Prahlāda-caritamu, Rukminī-kalyānamu, Sītāparinayamu, Vipranārāyana-nātakamu, and Rukmāngada-nātakamu. Only Prahlādacaritamu has been performed without break. According to the booklet issued by SPPS, theNarasimha Jayanti festival, also called the Vasantōtsavam (spring festival), had been held
for five days until the early 1930s; Prahlāda-caritamu was performed on the first day,
Vipranārāyana-nātakamu on the second, Rukmāngada-nātakamu on the third, Rukminīkalyānamu on the fourth, and Rukminī’s marriage procession was reproduced by children
on the last day. Sītā-parinayamu had been also performed on the Rāmanavamī festival (thebirth celebration of the Lord Rāma on the 9th day of the black half of the lunar month
Caitra, around late March or early April). The Rāmanavamī is a festival of Kodandarāma(Rāma with bow), a family god of the bhāgavatas. After the renovation of the temple in1932, the group’s performance repertoire decreased as a result of a serious incident that
happened in the village.
The Narasimha mask and the idol of Kodandarāma were kept by particular bhāgavata
families: in the house of Vādhūla gotra for four years and in that of Ātreya gotra, themother’s side of the same family, for one year after pūjā and ārādhanā were performed tothe mask on the occasion of the Narasimha Jayanti festival. This practice was observed sothat the festival could be continued by one of these families should the other die out. In
1934, the family of Vādhūla gotra had gone to Nagapattinam without handing over the
Narasimha mask and the idol of Kodanḍarāma to the family of Ātreya gotra. The villagers
were afraid that the village might meet with disaster. Taking the advice of A. Veeriya
Vandayar, famous as a founder of the A. Veeriya Vandayar Memorial Sri Pushpam College
and the landlord of Pundi (located directly to the west of the village), all the Brahmans in
the agrahāram cooperated together to conduct the festival. The following year, the festival
was held with a new mask and a new idol, which were to be kept in the house of Ātreya
gotra. After this incident, they stopped performing on the Rāmanavamī Day. As a pūjā hallfor the Narasimha mask was constructed recently, it is kept there now.
In the early 1960s, Ganesa Iyer of Melattūr visited Sāliyamangalam andchoreographed Vipranārāyana-nātakamu and Rukminī-kalyānamu. Three compositions had
been performed till 1968; however, only two compositions, Prahlāda-caritamu andRukminī-kalyānamu, have been performed during the past 20 years.
In 1976, SPPS was founded for the purpose of training young actors and holding thefestival. The family of Srinivasan, one of the leading actors of SPPS, has handed down therole of Narasimha as well as other important roles such as Līlāvati. The Narasimha Jayanti
festival is held by about 10 Brahman families living at the village agrahāram. Only one
Telugu family among them belongs to Vaidiki Vēnginādu and six of the other Tamil families
are Smārta. Those who live elsewhere always return home during the festival season. The
Bhāgavata Mēla of this village has been never performed elsewhere, with the exception ofa single occasion when Srinivasan gave a demonstration in Delhi.
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Plate 5Śrīnivasa-perumāl on the palanquin in Sāliyamangalam.

Plate 6

Narasimha of Prahlāda-caritamu performed by the Śrī Leksmi
Naracimma Pākavata Mēla Pakta Samājam, Sāliyamangalam

44The reason they have been able to continue the performance, even though the numberof compositions performed has been decreasing, is their patronage by the Vandayars. This
family is powerful in this area politically and socially. K. Thulasiah Vandayar, who today
runs the College, was appointed to a member of the Raja Sabha (Upper House) in 1991.
The large-scale religious feeding of the public is the most prominent characteristic of the123

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festival, which is reliant on his patronage. The total expense of the festival is less than thatof Melattūr since its duration is comparatively shorter. The small subsidy from the Sangeet
Natak Akademi, advertising fees received from some companies, and the Vandayars’
patronage are sufficient for them to hold the festival once a year. Such a relationshipbetween bhāgavatas and patrons reminds us of the time when the court patronizedperforming arts.
The temporary stage is constructed on a concrete platform. One of the bhāgavatas’houses is used as a greenroom. Before the performance begins, the idol of Śrīnivasaperumāl and his consorts, Śrīdevi and Bhūdevi, are placed on a Garuda-shaped palanquinand brought in front of the stage. The 3-day festival is conducted with elaborate rituals. In
the night of the day before Narasimha Jayanti, the power of the Narasimha mask is passed
into sacred water and the mask is washed. On the evening of the festival day, the mask is
newly painted and pūjā is done for it. After the procession of the deity, ritual feeding of
every visitor takes place at one of the bhāgavatas’ houses. Many people from within andoutside the village come to eat and to watch the performance; about 2,000 people gatheredin 2003.
The performance starts late at night and lasts until the early morning. In the actual
performance of Prahlāda-caritamu, several songs of different composers other thanPañcanāda are sung: a śabdam of Kāsinātha before the story begins; a Stamba-stotram(song for the pillar) of Vēnkata Kavi, a younger brother of Tyāgarāja’s ancestor Girirāja
Kavi, at the scene of the birth of Narasimha; and a song composed by Bodhendra (17thcentury), the 59th Śankaracārya of Kanchi Math, at the epilogue. The most characteristicfeature of the performance at Sāliyamangalam is the long and elaborate scene in which
Narasimha is born, fights with Hiranyakaśipu, tears his body and eats his flesh. Since
scenes depicting cruelty are usually avoided among Brahmans, in the other villages it
finishes very soon or is symbolized solely by the appearance of Narasimha. In
Sāliyamangalam, Hiranyakaśipu and Prahlāda come down into the street from the stage anddispute with each other in an elaborate dialogue, while a pillar is installed at the opposite
end of the street. The birth of Narasimha is celebrated with fireworks and firecrackers. The
fight between Hiranyakaśipu and Narasimha, supported by a few men, is performed using
the whole street as a stage. The Narasimha actor is in a trance at this moment. The scene inwhich Narasimha eats Hiranyakaśipu’s flesh is expressed by putting red cloth on the mouthof the Narasimha mask. After the death of Hiranyakaśipu, Laksmi approaches Narasimhaand the audience scramble to touch their feet one after another. Then Laksmi andNarasimha process to the end of the street. After the performance is over, actors, musicians,and devotees assemble in the pūjā hall. The Narasimha mask is taken off and worshippedagain. On the next night Rukminī-kalyānamu is performed until the early morning and thenRukminī’s marriage procession reproduced by children is held. The Āñjaneya Utsavam is
the conclusion of this festival. Thus the Bhāgavata Mēla of Sāliyamangalam is dominatedby rituals. The bhāgavatas, as well as their patrons, the Vandayars, are determined to carryout their religious duty.
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Tēpperumānallūr
Tēpperumānallūr is located about 7 km east of Kumbakkonam, on the south side of
Tirunageshwara railway station. Once this village consisted of large ināms (tax-free lands
given to temples and others) attached to the east side of the agrahāram. Laksmi-nārāyanaperumāl Temple is located at the west end of the agrahāram street, with a tank behind it.
Two different legends of the origin of this village and the temple have been handed down.
The village was once called Nallūr (“good village” in Tamil). According to the first version,
the box where the Narasimha mask was kept was filled with scorpions when they wereabout to perform Prahlāda-caritamu in the court; thereafter, the deity was called tē(scorpion)-perumāl and the word tēpperu was added to the village name. According to thesecond version, as Narasimha lost control in his excitement after killing Hiranyakaśipu,gods and humans were afraid of him. Asked to subdue him, Śiva incarnated as Śarabha, amonster with a beast’s head and a bird’s body, and chased Narasimha about. Bewildered(tikaippu), Narasimha ran away from Śarabha to reach this village. Thereafter the village
was called Tikaippu-perumāl-nallūr and then Tēpperumānallūr. The Narasimha mask isusually kept in the temple.
Today, Kannan and Bhaskar, landlord and business brothers who run a sugar mill in
Pondichery and a packaging factory in this village, take responsibility for the sponsorshipand supervision of the Narasimha Jayanti festival. All the expenses of the festival are paid
from their personal funds so that they neither receive any financial support from outside nor
consider obtaining any.23) As no booklet or invitation card is issued, outside visitors are rare.
They told me that it is just their religious duty to conduct the festival. The one-day festival
therefore is the smallest of those of the three villages.
According to Kannan, the performance of Bhāgavata Mēla has continued since 100
Brahman families were given lands by Serfojī II. In 1941, a Brahman family belonging toAśtasahasram, one of the subdivisions of Tamil Smārta, migrated from Chidambaram;
thereafter, all ten compositions of Vēnkatarāma were performed. Natesa Bhagavatar, one of
the leading actors in this family, is said to have been able to act any roles. Forty to fifty
families took part in the festival, which until 1950 lasted several weeks. The descendents of
the Marāthā rulers patronized them in the 1940s. Since the inām was requisitioned by theGovernment in 1968, Brahman families have left the village one after another and theduration of the festival has become shorter and shorter. Kannan and Bhaskar’s father
Venkatarama Iyer (1918-1992) took over sponsorship in 1970, and Prahlāda-caritamu
alone has been continuously performed. In 1974 and 1975 Mohan Kokar, a scholar of theSangeet Natak Akademi, visited the village and ten young actors were selected as
scholarship students to train in Bharatanātyam. In 1975, Rukminī-vivāhamu andHariścandra-nātakamu were revived. In spite of this effort, three compositions were
performed for no more than two years. Only Prahlāda-caritamu is still performed today.
Today about 20 Brahman families still live in the village, but there are no Telugu
Brahmans. Kannan and Bhaskar have been responsible for all the expenses and preparations
since 1999. They belong to Tamil Smārta Vadama, while all the actors belong toAśtasahasram. Such an allotment based on the Brahmans’ subdivision is not found in theother villages. Most of the musicians are villagers, with the exception of a tablā player and4

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Plate 7

Lying Visnu (middle), and Jaya and Vijaya, a scene from Prahlādacaritamu performed in Tēpperumānallūr

Plate 8

Narasim h a goes to the Leks m i-nārāyan a -perumāl temple in
Tēpperumānallūra harmonium player hired from elsewhere.
The calendar issued by the Kanchi Śankara Math is widely used among Tamil Smārtas.
The Narasimha Jayandi festival in Melattūr and Sāliyamangalam is celebrated according tothis calendar, while in Tēpperumānallūr the vaiśnava calendar, in which the Narasimha
Jayanti is a full moon day (15th of the white half) is adopted. In the evening of the festival
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Takako Inoueday, musicians assemble together at Kannan and Bhaskar’s house to do Bhajanasampradāya, group singing of religious songs in a systematic manner. The brothers join inand sing along with the musicians. Some songs in Prahlāda-caritamu are included in thisprogram, which is a means for the musicians to rehearse. Followed by auspicious music of
the nāgasvaram group, all the musicians, including the brothers, go to the temple singing
religious songs. Then the performance of Prahlāda-caritamu starts in the temple street. It
lasts till the early morning. Unlike in the other villages, a temporary stage is not raised;instead, a jute carpet is put on the street and a tent set up. Musicians sit on the veranda of ahouse instead of the raised platform, and the brothers’ house is used as a greenroom.
The most characteristic feature of the performance in Tēpperumānallūr is that thescene of Jaya and Vijaya, a story that took place before Prahlāda was born, is performed.
There is also a scene in which Prahlāda explains the 9 types of bhakti to Visnu in detail.
These scenes do not exist in Vēnkatarāma’s script. In Tēpperumānallūr, different languages
are used for the performance: Vēnkatarāma’s composition in Telugu, story-telling in
Sanskrit verse, and comments in Tamil prose. The Tamil portion is said to have been added
by Natesa Bhagavatar to allow villagers who do not understand Telugu to appreciate thestory. They perform it in quite an informal manner. In addition to North Indian musicalinstruments such as the tablā and harmonium, Western musical instruments such as anelectronic keyboard are also used. Three actors – a child, a boy and an adult – successively
perform the role of Prahlāda to show his growth, and the eldest actor among them explainsbhakti to Visnu. The young actors sometimes enter with veterans who instruct them during
the performance. Whenever they forget their lines, the sūtradāra shows them a script. Oncea real snake was used in the scene in which Hiranyakaśipu makes a snake bite Prahlāda;
however, a fake snake is used today to avoid danger. After the short fighting scene between
Narasimha and Hiranyakaśipu is over, they immediately go to the temple with Narasimha,
the mask is taken off, and pūjā is performed there.
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Other VillagesŪttukādu is located on the north bank of the river Vettar, 13 km southwest of
Kumbakkonam. This village is famous for a saint-musician of the 18th century, Ūttukādu
Vēnkata Kavi (Oothukadu Venkatakavi Trust n.d.). His compositions are mostly on the
Kālinga-nartana-perumāl (dancing Krsna), the deity of the local Visnu temple which islocated at the west end of the agrahāram street. Unlike the other villages, where Visnutemples were constructed in the Nāyaka or Marāthā periods, this temple is said to have been
in existence for more than 1,000 years. Bhāgavata Mēla used to be performed in front of
the Vēnkata Kavi’s house at that time and the Narasimha Jayanti festival, alternatively
called Vasantōtsavam, lasted three days. Rukmāngada-nātakamu was performed on the firstday, Prahlāda-caritamu on the second, and a drama selected from among Vēnkatarāma’s
compositions at the request of the audience on the third. In 1931, the Bhāgavata Mēla ofthis village was performed in Madras at the invitation of Krishna Iyer; however, P. R.
Krishnamurthi Iyer, a leading bhāgavata, became blind and the limbs of another bhāgavata
were paralyzed soon after the performance. The village therefore stopped performing
elsewhere. Bhāgavata Mēla continued to be performed until 1946. Today, only two
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Brahman families in the village remember the performance. The Narasimha mask is still
kept in the temple. MLBNS of Melattūr visited this village to perform twice in the 1990s.
Sūlamangalam is located to the northeast of Thanjavur, between Tiruvaiyaru andPapanasam. The local Visnu temple is located at the west end of the agrahāram street andthe Śiva temple to the north of the agrahāram. According to the villagers, the Narasimha
Jayanti festival was held in a grand manner when 100 Brahman families migrated to thisplace in the 19th century. A leading bhāgavata of this village in the first half of the 20th
century was Vaidhyanatha Bhagavatar, who also contributed to conducting TyāgarājaĀrādhanā. His compositions are said to have been sung during the festival. After he passed
away in 1943, the festival gradually declined. The large-scale religious feeding of 2,000
people during the festival was exposed by a tax collector in 1946, leading to a court case.
As a result the performance was prohibited for four years. After the judgment in 1950,
Radhakrishna, a son of Vaidhyanatha, tried to revive the performance but in vain. He gave alecture-demonstration of Bhāgavata Mēla in Madras in 1984 and died the following year.
Thereafter nobody has tried to revive the performance. The Narashimha mask is still kept in
the temple. MLBNS of Melattūr visited this village to perform in 1994.
The tradition of Bhāgavata Mēla is not traceable in Nallūr, located to the east of
Papanasam. It is one of the old sacred places of which the famous śaiva saint Campantar
sang in the 7th century, and contains a beautiful Śiva temple constructed in the Cōla period.
The village agrahāram is located on the south side of the Śiva temple and the Ādi-keśavaperumāl temple at the west end of the agrahāram street. There are only two Brahman
families there, neither of which has ever watched Bhāgavata Mēla. The tradition is said tohave been extinct by the end of the 19th century. Even the Narasimha mask is not kept
today. It is debatable whether Bhāgavata Mēla was actually handed down in this village.
First, some scholars refer to Muvvanallūr instead of Nallūr (Natarajan 1988: 213; Seetha
1981: 30). Tēpperumānallūr was also once called Nallūr. Thus, there are many villages
whose names include this word. Second, Bharatam Nallur Narayanaswami Iyer, a famousbhāgavata who gave a lecture-demonstration in the Music Academy, Madras in 1936 (The
Journal of the Music Academy, Madras 1935-7: 176-8) and cooperated with the researchcarried out by Raghavan, hailed from Nallūr but performed in Melattūr. There was certainly
no performance in Nallūr during his time. Third, the village name Nallūr is not found inmodi manuscripts. Hence it is difficult to confirm the tradition in this village.
4

Concluding Remarks
Why has the tradition of Bhāgavata Mēla declined since the collapse of the Thanjavur
Marāthā? The most important reason, of course, is that Bhāgavata Mēla lost the patronageof Marāthās. Under British rule, the self-consciousness of Tamils prompted by therediscovery of ancient Tamil literature and the Dravidian movement characterized by antiBrahman and pro-Tamil attitudes were disadvantageous to Bhāgavata Mēla. The
continuation of these conditions prevents Bhāgavata Mēla from obtaining financial support
from the Tamil Nadu Government. But this factor by itself is insufficient to explain its
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First, as Bhāgavata Mēla is a performance that integrates music, dance, and drama,these social conditions had a severe impact. Tyāgarāja’s compositions have been highly
regarded as music; Bharatanātyam and Kūcipūdi 24) have been praised as dance. If we wantto enjoy South Indian classical music and dance, it is not necessary to choose Bhāgavata
Mēla, with its music based on Karnātaka music and dance derived from Bharatanātyam. If
we want to enjoy Bhāgavata Mēla as drama, understanding the Telugu language in which
the story is written is indispensable. The fact that Bhāgavata Mēla is a Telugu drama
handed down in a Tamil-speaking area is at a greater disadvantage than are other allied
dance-dramas such as Terukkūttu in Tamil Nadu, Kūcipūdi Yaksagāna in Andra Pradesh,and Yaksagāna in Karnataka.
Second, an even more disadvantageous condition than the language problem is thefact that Bhāgavata Mēla is performed only by male Brahmans. We should remindourselves of the case of Kūcipūdi, which had been performed by bhāgavatas until the mid20th century. When Kūcipūdi came to the critical moment for its continuation, somebhāgavatas came to Madras to open dance schools that accepted anybody who wanted tolearn dance, and started to choreograph film dances that were performed by any of thechosen dancers. This decision was inspired by Bharatanātyam, which since thedemocratization of both its dancers and patrons in the 1930s has become a popular art,taught to anybody and appearing on-screen. Democratization of both performers ant patrons
was thus the key to Kūcipūdi’s survival. Not only these dance forms, but also other worldrenowned Indian performing arts have been democratized so that even foreigners can learn
them. If the bhāgavatas continue to reject democratization, it will probably not be possiblefor Bhāgavata Mēla to be widely recognized in the same way as Kūcipūḍi now is. Why are
the bhāgavatas so particular about the traditional qualification, that of being male
Brahmans?
In connection with this point, we should note the context of “art versus bhakti.” Mostbhāgavatas continue to perform Bhāgavata Mēla not to obtain artistic status but to carry out
their religious duty. In this context, the necessity of democratization of performers nevercrosses their mind. The approach of MLBNS is ambiguous, however, standing in between
art and religion. MLBNS is trying to popularize Bhāgavata Mēla in order to obtain publicrecognition as art, by such means as making their performing techniques moresophisticated, performing outside their village, and including other performing arts in thefestival. On the other hand, members cannot give up their customary right to carry out theirreligious duty. The ambiguity of their approach is demonstrated in their interpretation of thecalamities with which they met when they took the Narasimha mask out of the village. Of
course the possibility of democratization will increase when Natarajan opens the school
there.
In fact, no contradiction or conflict between art and bhakti was even perceived until
the modern era. The narrow perception of autonomous art was a production of European
musicology in the 19th century. At that time, European scholars studied the performing arts
of India solely in this context. Musicologists took an interest in the tonal system of Indianmusic, not considering the social or cultural context that affected it, while scholars of dance
paid attention to its movement. When theatrical performances were studied, dance andBetween Art and Religion

129

music were separated from the dramatic side and the scripts were examined as literature.25)
Today, it seems that the audience, scholars, and performers of India share the perception ofautonomous art and differentiate it from bhakti, which remains a religious concept.
It is also important that the bhāgavatas of Melattūr are particularly concerned withwriting their own history of Bhāgavata Mēla. For it to obtain public recognition as one of
the traditional heritages of India, its origin and historical development must bereconstructed. In India, performing arts have usually been handed down from a guru to
disciples as an oral tradition, and are therefore short on written materials. We have to rely
greatly on the memories and testimonies of hereditary performers and other custodians toreconstruct the history of Bhāgavata Mēla. In this context, the continuity of theirperformance itself should be recognized as a kind of testimony. The attempt by the
bhāgavatas of Melattūr themselves to write and publish articles on their tradition is in itself
a kind of experiment to change “memories” to “records.” Those who do not share the sametime and space as Bhāgavata Mēla may be able to recognize it as a traditional heritage ofIndia when its history is reconstructed properly. In other words, it is important for obtaining
such a status that the flow of time in a particular space be shared by those who live in theextended space. Consequently the bhāgavatas wish to democratize their patrons, while theperformance should be kept by male Brahmans.

Notes
1) References to Bhāgavata Mēla can be found in some books on performing arts of India(Natarajan 1988; Sambamurthy 1963: 208-13; Seetha 1981; Vatsyayan 1980: 48-64). Shortarticles on the form have also been published (Raghavan 1993: 377-81; Iyer 1966; Khokar 1957,
1966; Ranganathan 1982).
2) This paper is based on Chapter 7 of my book (Inoue 2006). My first visit to Melattūr was in 1987,
but I started to do my research on Bhāgavata Mēla in 1997. Thereafter I conducted my field workin 1997 and 1998. One-year intensive field research was conducted from April 2003 to March
2004. The Sangeet Natak Akademi with the Sruti Foundation began a project to document
Bhāgavata Mēla in 1985, with the participation of music critics like Arudra and Manna
Srinivasan, and R. Kausalya, then Principal of the Government Music College, Tiruvaiyaru (Sruti
1986: Issue 22, 28). In addition to the hereditary performers of Bhāgavata Mēla, my paper isdeeply indebted to their cooperation.
3) During my field work, I discussed this matter with a number of scholars from various institutions
such as the University of Madras, the Sruti Foundation, the Government Music College
Tiruvaiyaru, and the Tamil University.
4) This discussion lasted for some years. See the following articles in Sruti (1993: Issue 116, 4-5;
1994: Issue 123, 6; 1995: Issue 126, 3-4; Issue 127, 41-42; Issue 129/130, 4; Issue 131, 3; 1996:
Issue 141, 7-9; Issue 143, 4; Issue 145, 17-18; Issue 147, 8; Issue 149, 4; Issue 152, 22-3; Issue
167, 5).
5) See Sruti (1994: Issue 118, 15; Issue 120, 6; Issue 122, 3).
6) As early as 1929, the word “democratization” appeared in the report of a meeting held at theMusic Academy, Madras (Sruti 1984: Issue 6, 11-3; Parthasarathy 1978:379). One of the leading

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Takako Inoue

Indian ethnomusicologists, S. A. K. Durga, says that both performers and patrons aredemocratized and that the free and individual expression of each performer can be also regarded
as democratization. See Durga (1998, Chapter 1).
7) The work by Vriddhagirisan (1942) is the earliest and elaborate study on the history of the
Nāyakas of Thanjavur.
8) The words kalyānamu, vivāhamu and parinayamu mean marriage.
9) The catalogue of Telugu manuscripts includes 137 manuscripts of 68 titles (Subramanya Sastri
1941).
10) The Marāthā rulers of Thanajavur also wrote such dance-dramas. On the history of the Marāthās,see Bhosale (1999) and Vēnkatarāmaiyā (1984) among others.
11) The following story was reconstructed by the author according to the Bhāgavata Mēlaperformance. It is found in Bhāgavata-purāna and other sources. The summary of the story isgiven by Subramaniam (1979). The details are, however, different according to sources. On thecomparative study of the story, see Soifer (1991: 73-111).
12) This description of their performance is reconstructed by the author based on her fieldobservation carried in 1999 and 2003.
13) A list of inscriptions of the Nāyaka period is available in Karashima (2002: 87-212). Among these
inscriptions, donations to temple festivals are referred to in Nos. 0015, 0132, 0172, 0222, 0458,
0721, 0731 and 0750. Dancers and musicians are referred in Nos. 0048, 0357, 0411, 0455, 0524,
0548, 0617, 0675, 0711 and 0885.
14) This document was owned by V. Narayaswami Iyer, a lawyer. The discovery of this document
was also reported in newspapers.
15) Modi documents preserved in the Tamil University were all published in Tamil, but those of theSarasvati Mahal Library are still in print with the exception of volume 1.
16) This information is based on my interview with Natarajan in May 2003.
17) There are two main sects of Tamil Brahman, Smārta and Śrī-vaiśnava. The former is followers ofthe Śankara’s doctrine (7th century) and the latter is vaiśnavas. There are several subdivisions ofboth Smārta and Śrī-vaiśnava. See Thurston and Rangachari (1909: 267-396).
18) For example, Padma Subramanyam, a dancer, gave an emotional speech with tears on her face toappeal them to unite on occasion of the festival in 2003.
19) Kulkarni (1994) describes the stage structure of Sanskrit Theater.
20) According to the invitation letter of MBNVS, the total cost of the festival is about 100,000 rupees
including expenses for printing, stage settings, PA, fees for musicians, accommodation for guests
and fees for temple rituals.
21) The manuscripts of Marathi dramas including Śakuntarā preserved in the Sarasvati Mahal Librarywere partially published as The Five Marathi Dance Dramas of Thanjavur Kings (1989).
22) There has also been some trouble between the Rangsree Trust and MBNVS that aroused distrustof her among the member of MBNVS (Sruti 2002: Issue 214, 29-31).
23) An interview with Kannan and Baskar in 2003. But they faced the financial trouble in 2005 andthen stopped supporting the festival. Today bhāgavatas collect donations and conduct Bhāgavata
Mēla.
24) Solo dances have been developed since the mid-20th century. Today when we use the word
Kūcipūḍi, it includes both Yaksagāna and the solo dance repertoire.
44Between Art and Religion

13125) I have already discussed this matter in detail elsewhere (Inoue 2006, Part 1).

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