?He played softly the Pann Naivalm, darting furtive glances at me. Then feigning shyness he made passes through songs . In a trice my eyes and my heart ran and fell at his feet. My bangles loosened, my waist band fell . His fish like earrings and his four shoulders loomed large before me. ?How far away is my lord?s abode? I asked. ? Is this not my beautiful Tiruvali?? he said in reply.?Parakala Nayaki , The love lorn maiden tells her friend about her meeting with her beloved. This is a translation of a poem from the text
Thiru Nedunthandakam by the mystic poet Thirumangai Alwar. (From The Sacred Book by Srirama Bharati)
?Nayaki? the dance production is based on these intense love poems of this saint poet. The poems are passionate and philosophical depicting the longing of the individual soul for the union with the supreme.
Traveling from place to place, from temple to
temple, Thirumangai Azhwar composed exceedingly beautiful poetry to his Divine Beloved, Vishnu/Narayana, as an _expression_ of his love for Him.Alvar means one who is "immersed" in the experience of God, the omnipresent mysterious one. Thirumangai Alvar is the last of the 12 Alvars. The twelve Alvars flourished in south India somewhere between the fifth and ninth centuries of the first millennium. The Bhakthi movement in India got a great boost from their Tamil hymns, which are profound and spontaneous outpourings of their bhagavath anubhavam (the enjoyment of the Divine being). Their hymns add up to 4000 in number and are revered as "the sacred collect -Dhivya Prabhandham, sparking a renewal of devotional worship throughout
India.
The agony and the ecstasy of parakala Nayaki a persona that Thirumangai azhwar assumes to express his love and longing for his beloved Narayana is the core of ? Nayaki ? The dance production- A poetic journey.
The music for this production is composed by Rajkumar Bharathi . The research help and inspiration comes from the lectures of Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy of Chennai India.