How can I begin this month’s musings without mentioning January 22nd and the inauguration of the Lord Rama temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Nobody, anywhere in the world it seemed, could escape this extravagant show. My WhatsApp was flooded with texts and questions about “What is happening in India?” World media was full of India’s “dangerous tilt” towards autocracy. Diaspora Indians were seen celebrating in many cities across the planet. Opinions were sharply divided but the overwhelming majority made their feelings clear - from Ayodhya to Silicon Valley, on the streets of MALDIVES and onto the Times Square marquees in New York City.
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Akka, this is an eclectic piece of writing! There is a little information I wanted to share though. While Rukmini Devi can certainly be credited with a lot of changes to the manner of presentation, the placement of accompanying orchestra to the right of the stage was a practice that was prevelant atleast a few hundred years prior her. The Sangita Saramrita of Tukkoji, discusses this in detail. The stages / performance spaces described in that text show that the audience had a unidirectional view of the artistes as the stages had a fixed backdrop. The shift of orchestra to both sides of the stage was a both a necessity and a compulsion....
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