The lure of a racounter

I LOVE Hindu mythology! The stories, the characters, the twists and the thirlls – what is not to love. Having grown up with a healthy dose of Amar Chithra Kathas and other such books for children, even today the lure of a good dose of the puranas is irresistable for me. Whoever doles it, in which ever format, be it the mammoth translations of Kamala Subramaniam, be it the classical presentation of Sekkizhar (translated of course!), or the fascinating accounts of Ramesh Menon (sometimes scandalizing too)  and Devdutt Patnaik, or even the more modern interpretations of Prem Panicker and Ashok Banker, I lap it all up in absolute delight! While the stories themselves are a lure enough, in the hands of an able story-teller they really become something else!

In a country where an aural tradition is predominant, and where the music, arts and folk culture are entwined with the religions and its tales, it is not surprising that some of the best narrations of these epics are in the oral format. And growing up, I have always been fascinated and enraptured by Harikathas and discourses.  I think I owe a lot of it to two of my own personal racounters. The first being my father. He is blessed with a great gift of storytelling that has completely missed being passed on to me! While the story was definitely the medium, my dad was all about the details. It was very important to him that I know of the Ashta Vasus and 11 rudras, know the names of Bhagadatta’s elephant, Surya’s seven horses or Ravana’s father. He would quiz me on these things periodically to make sure I was paying attnetion!  The second, was my grandfather (mom’s uncle). I am the apple of his eye, and would be favored with bed-time stories whenever I visited Mandaveli. His special story was that of Kanappa Nayanaar, who to date remains my favorite.  I am also known to have tested his patience, not letting him go beyond the “mAn Oda, rAmar Oda” infinite loop in the Maarichan story!

Anantharama Dikshithar is another childhood favorite. I can still quote some of his lines from his discourses with tonal modulations and emphasis intact (gurvayoorappA..nAn..anAdhan..). So was Prema Pandurang. When Ani was pregnant with Ana,I would spend evenings with her in the only A/C room in the house, listening to Prema’s beautiful bhagavatham lectures, ostensibly for the A/C but I have to admit that the beauty and vAtsalyam of the narration moved me more.

Which brings me to the point of my strange delusion in my teenage years that interest in such things were very “maami” and uncool.  I would therefore feign a lack of interest and miss all the kathai sessions in our neighbourhood temple. But I think my parents sensed my interest nevertheless, maybe from the delight I took when Appa started one of his vedantha talks (I can see my sister rolling her eyes at me right now) or from  how despite all my jokes about wanting to give Muralidhara Swamigal a manicure, I would still listen to his Pandaripur stories along with my mother!  So my dad continued to delight in the only enthusiastic audience he ever got, and my mom never failed to read to me bits from Deivathin Kural or come back from her harikatha sessions with summaries. To her, the end goal is always the moral of the story, and she would cut through all the intersting stuff and get straight to the point which would of course totally ruin it for me!

Mythology is popular in India now, but harikatha might still be a maami and reitred maama niche. But I am beyond such inhibitions now and embrace my maami-hood with open arms and pride! This past week, I have been listening to TSB’s Bhagavatha Sapthaham and it is deliciously good! He is a dramatic narrator and it is so awesome that he often breaks off in a tangent and breaks into a Tyagaraja krithi!   The discourse has also made me pick up Kamala Subramanian’s Bhagavatham again. Thanks to being my dad’s daughter, I had to start over as I don’t remember all the names and details from the first 200 pages I already read! The narration and concepts are utterly fascinating. Narayana’s dream and kalpa and the creation of the universe is simply mind blowing! Sorry Christopher Nolan, we beat you to the idea. Last night I was thinking about how Suka is the father of all katha narrators and it is no coincidence that he was the banner deity for all S.Ve.Sekar productions. And that really is it! For me beyond the spiritual reflections of these narrations, the attraction is the stories, the music and the lure of a good racounter!

Advertisement