Piece of War

Every April,Priyababu dresses up in all her finery to get married at the gates of the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu. This is part of a ceremony to pay obeisance to Lord Aravan,a character from the Mahabharata. But today,she is decorating floor petals instead at the foot of a peepal tree in one of the lawns of the India Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi. “The atmosphere is very timid but the feeling of devotion remains the same,” quips Priyababu,leader of the Rainbow Transgender group from Chennai. She is performing a ritual that precedes marriage,one among the many from the Koothandavar Festival,held across temples in Tamil Nadu. This is an annual homage to Lord Aravan,the deity for the transgender communities of South India.

Lord Aravan was the son of Arjuna and Ulupi and was offered for sacrifice to end the battle,one of the crucial reasons why the Pandavas won the war. But three wishes had to be granted first,and important among these being that he get married before his sacrifice. Since no King was willing to offer his daughter’s hand in marriage,with her obvious future being that of a widow,Krishna disguised himself as a woman and eloped with Lord Aravan. It is this myth that binds the transgender community of Tamil Nadu to their deity as they perform different rituals — marriage,end of marriage ,widowhood and mourning period—to portray the story of Lord Aravan’s heroic deeds. “We relate ourselves with Lord Krishna and follow his actions as mentioned in the scriptures. These traditions were started by my ancestors and we follow it,” adds Priyababu,who will perform the marriage ritual on Sunday,with her troupe of six transgenders as part of ‘Jaya Utsav- Celebrating the living traditions of the Mahabharata’.

This festival,being held here for the first time,is a culmination of various folk arts and performances,scrolls,paintings,handicrafts and the oral and cinematic traditions that celebrate the Mahabharata. Artist-sculptor Naresh Kapuria has created the Bhishma Chakravyuh on the central lawns,depicting the maze which Abhimanyu entered but could not leave. There is also an installation depicting Arjun’s bow and arrow,which broke after the end of the Mahabharata; and folk performances by artists from Kerala,Himachal Pradesh,Orissa and Maharashtra with their traditional martial art forms. “There are also 1,200 folk artists from across India,”says Prof Molly Kaushal,IGNCA,whose preparations for this exhibition took over a year. A striking feature at this exhibition is a 1,200 metre scroll depicting various episodes of the Mahabharata,created by 80-year-old Santokba Dudhat.

The exhibition is on till March 10,at IGNCA. Entry is free.