What does Aparkaya stand for?
Aparkaya is the art of interpretation of the weaver of textiles of Odisha. To me, it is an interpretation of life itself. It covers the delicate, almost fragile-like beauty of the kinetic fabric that is woven, that can challenge the intricate, jewel-like colours of the silk brocade of the Banarasi, the silken textile of a Jamdani sari, the energy of a Santhali fabric and the gorgeous sheen of a Dhakai muslin, now extinct. The story of Aparkaya unfolds through the singing of the weavers. I had begun to read Tapaswini by Gangadhar Meher, a renowned poet of Odisha who belonged to a weaver’s family. Tapaswini is his interpretation of Sita in Uttar Ramayan. I found it charming, earthy, touching and straight from the heart. For reference, I simultaneously started studying the Valmiki Ramayan.
How did you discover the story of Vedavati few of us had heard of before we saw your performance?
Vedavati was Sita’s first incarnation. She was reborn as Sita to avenge her defilement by Ravana. For me, it remains a work in progress, because I am still struggling with the concept and its expression through dance that should be articulate enough to reach my audience, my musicians, my students and my chorus dancers. Both Vedavati and Sita in this performance are different in nature from what we know them as, and also from my own nature. So, this has been the most challenging work for me as dancer, choreographer, researcher and teacher.
You have said Aparkaya is a love story. Can you please elaborate?
It is the strange love story that sustains through ages between the loom and the cloth. The story of Aparkaya unfolds through singing of the weavers. They compare the rigid threads of the loom with Vedavati, and the emerging cloth – soft yet resilient, with Sita, her incarnation. The two lives flow together, Sita – alive and Vedavati – dead to the world, but alive indeed in her passion for revenge. Eventually, Vedavati finds her liberation in her understanding of Sita.
We would like to know more about Vedavati and her presence in the Ramayana.
Vedavati is the daughter of Kushadwaja, the grand-daughter of Vrihaspati and is born from the utterance of the Vedas. She is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Gangadhar Meher describes Vedavati as a dusky but beautiful woman who wears tiger skin and is totally committed to knowledge so that she can live up to the aspirations of Vishnu. But Ravana defiles her. Taking it as an insult to her purity, she steps into a fire with the strong resolve of being reborn to bring death and destruction upon Ravana. I have tried to construct the image of Vedavati from this sketchy description. My version of Vedavati is shaped as a middle-aged woman detached from the world, obsessed with her twin desires of attaining Vishnu on the one hand, and avenging her insult by destroying Ravana on the other. But the truth that suggests itself is that Ravana is said to have touched only a strand of her hair and yet she is almost like a woman possessed, swinging between a maniacal and a depressive state which makes her step into the fire. But in the era she belonged to, touching a strand of hair could be interpreted as ‘defilement’ for any woman committed to another man.
What about your personal conception and realisation of Sita? Is she different from the Sita we know from the Ramayana?
The Sita I have conceived to place in juxtaposition with Vedavati is the daughter of Nature, and is unaware of qualities such as good or bad or right and wrong. She laughs easily, weeps at the drop of a hat and gives in easily too. She is an ordinary woman, impulsive but with a good soul, who is aware of how to deal with her husband in every situation so that her life is fulfilled and harmonious. She treads a path that is a fine blend of bhakti and shringar. She is not educated but has solid common sense and sensitivity towards propriety. She knows that Lord Rama has no qualms about the purity of her body not in her control. My field work into the interior villages of Odisha for this work has familiarised me with women like this Sita, filled with common sense, propriety and sensitivity to their husbands’ needs. They have taught me about the laws of nature which has filled me with happiness and peace.
You seem to be fascinated by every step of the weaving process. Can you elucidate?
The concept note of my performance spells this out. I have observed the process and stage where cotton is turned into cloth. Light, soft cotton floats in the air. Twisted and stretched out into threads and held firmly on either side of a wooden frame, it begins to change in form and texture and design. The tautness breaks some threads while others come from across, above, below, through and through to evolve into lengths of cloth. When the weaving is complete, some wear them around their heads as turbans. Some drape them around the body. They give us warmth in winter, and in summer we use them to hide from the sun. They can be used to wipe the body dry or to take dirt and dust off soiled feet.
What is so special about these Odisha textiles?
The textiles are accessible, replaceable and forgettable. But when someone picks up a length of cloth and takes a closer look, one will notice the small and intricate designs, the clever use of colour and the smell of earth. There is a rhythm in their movements as they work on their looms. Rigid threads are woven into pliable cloth. They have inherited these stories from their forefathers to be passed on from one generation to the next, each generation adding its own experience, enriching the lives of the inheritors. They compare the rigid threads with Vedavati and the cloth that is woven from the threads with Sita. This forms the core of Aparkaya and for every performance, I add something new.
How has your own learning been enhanced through Aparkaya?
I had started interacting with the members of Weavers’ Service Centre, Bhubaneswar. Through their guidance, I could get in touch with the weavers of Nuapatna, and Mayurbhanj in Odisha. In Odisha, the weft is called tani which are lines of threads without design. The warp is the bharani, meaning filling up. Warp has the design. Weavers compare life with tani and life’s experiences with bharani.
You also make a reference to the horse. Please explain.
The most important puja of the weavers is Ghora navami. Ghora or horse symbolises speed, in their context, power and productivity. In Nuapatna, I saw for the first time the technical details of the loom, the beautifully shaped instruments the weavers use, and the way they move as they work with the threads and the cloth. For them, the designs are not merely shapes and colours, they are almost animate. The weavers communicate through them.
How did the weaving of the weavers attract you to create a dance performance based on this?
During my field research into the weavers’ villages in Odisha and from my interactions with them, I realised that these weavers not only weave pliable pieces of cloth, but they also weave stories. You can extract and incorporate the movements of the warp and the woof into dance movements within the performance. Aparkaya is a performance that also makes fluid, aesthetic and creative use of textiles along with the dance, which adds not only a different dimension to the performance, but also adds vibrancy and colour to it.