GROUP PRODUCTIONS

DAIVAKAARUNYAM (1987)

An excerpt from Kalyanasowgandhikam, it is done in Kathakali style, as a solo piece and shows the timely rescue by the weather gods, of a pregnant deer trapped between a prowling tiger, forest fire and a hunter. There are no lyrics; only percussion sounds of Kathakali form the accompaniment.

This particular piece was taught to Dhananjayan by Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, the greatest of Kathakali artistes, when the maestro came to Kalakshetra for 3 months to train the Kalakshetra Kathakali troupe for the Edinburgh festival in 1966 which unfortunately got cancelled due to the war.

Dhananjayan was invited to perform this 15-minute piece at the 4th World Wilderness Congress on September 17, 1987 at Denver, Colorado. Daivakaarunyam was presented as 'The Plight of the Pregnant Deer'. The Americans felt this piece had an environmental message to convey, not to cut trees, not to hurt animals, how animals are protected by God’s grace and how nature retains its balance in its own way.

Synopsis
It is a story about a traveller in the wilderness who sees a deer about to give birth and follows her to her hiding place. All at once, a barrage of misfortunes, including a hunter with a bow and arrow, a lion, and a forest fire beset the deer. As the traveller, bewildered, wonders what to do, an equally bizarre stream of natural happenings like thunder and lightning rescues the deer from her plight. The traveller wonders at the mysteries of divine providence as he watches the deer give birth to her fawn and escape in peace.