A beautiful offering for city slickers

‘India is a country of rich and treasured heritage,’ points out Shovana Narayan. The renowned Kathak danseuse aims to bring all the dance and art forms existing in India to the fore through Asavari, an institute established by her.

Asavari was established in 1979 with a vision to motivate young artistes. Its annual festival Lalitarpan gets art and artists together.

‘Lalitarpan in its 11th year now. When I, along with late Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan, started the annual LalitArpan Festival, immediate support came forth,’ said Narayan.

LalitArpan denotes a ‘beautiful offering’ for it is a combination of the terms

lalit [elegant] and arpan [offering].

‘The offering to the Almighty through music and dance is considered to be one of the greatest offerings. The spiritual power and the yogic energy of dance and music utilise the intrinsic emotional energy concealed in reality. Thus they become the medium that establishes contact between man and the aspired divinity. It channelises and allows man to release his overflow of emotions. It has been universally acknowledged that an offering of music or dance exceeds by far any offering of material goods in virtue and ritual effectiveness,’ said Narayan.

This year, artistes from diverse backgrounds would perform at Lalitarpan. They include Kathak dancer Prabal Gupta from Bangalore, Dr Chandrima Majumdar, a sarod player from Delhi, Ragini Shankar, violin player from Mumbai and Ustad Baha’uddin Dagar, Rudra Veena player from Mumbai.

‘Art forms and talent should never be looke upon as a commercial source. Rather we should realise the essence of it and the underlying peace of mind, beauty and longevity lying in it,’ said Narayan.