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productions: Leelavati
Presented
with the precision of a scientist and creativity of an artiste.
-Madhu Dandavate, ex-
Railway and Finance Minister, Govt. of India.
Fantastic!
The chess scene was wonderful - Hema Malini
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Based on the
12th century mathematical treatise of the famous astronomer Bhaskaracharya.
Inspiration
When India
hosted the International Mathematics Olympiad in 1995, we were requested to
present a Shloka from Leelavati in dance form. Our presentation was then
immensely appreciated. That experience inspired us to conceive a
full-length ballet.
The Ballet
The text of
Leelavati runs into 261 shlokas. We have chosen only eleven, apart from the
invocatory and the concluding ones. These Shlokas give problems in
arithmetic, algebra and geometry; the use of fractions and square roots;
equations with one known; Pythagoras' Theorem and properties of triangles.
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The order of selection does not follow that of the text.
A story is woven around Bhaskaracharya, the father and Leelavati, the
daughter by imagining a day in the life of Leelavati. The ballet opens with
Bhaskaracharya invoking Lord Ganesh.
- Leelavati
sets out at dawn to collet flowers for her puja. Her father joins her.
They spot a herd of elephants, a swarm of bees, a flock of swans.
Bhaskaracharya poses questions on these.
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- From
a pond she collects lotuses. They reach the temple and Bhaskaracharya
questions her on the number of flowers offered to the different Deities
as also on the "permutations" of the hands of Shiva and
Vishnu.
- He
sees a beautiful peacock perched on a pillar and his agile brain
throws up a geometrical sum.
- On
the way back home Leelavati sees a well, expresses a desire to drink
water. Her father obliges and immediately asks her to answer a problem
on the water contained in the well.
- As
they are reaching home, a women bedecked in jewellery crosses them.
Leelavati is confronted with a problem on the variety of jewels
adorned by the woman.
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- They
reach home and start the play of an unfinished game of chess. While at
it, Bhaskaracharya realises that he is losing - to distract her he
poses a riddle on the shadow of a pawn formed by an oil lamp.
- Leelavati
has no stomach now for any riddles. She pushes away the chess things and
goes to sleep.
- Dreams
of a lover; thinks of the swans, their love play; remember the bees -
male bee attracted by the scent of a flower humming and the female bee
humming in unison. Imagines herself heavily bejewelled as the woman
she has seen earlier. While in her lover's arms, her necklace breaks,
Scattering the pearls all over. Suddenly, she hears her father's voice
booming - with a question on the number of pearls; wakes up with a
start. No one to be seen around. Laughs to herself - it was a dream after
all.
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The ballet ends with a shloka in praise of Leelavati
(the daughter and the book).
Concept
Visualisation, Choreography and Direction: Jhelum
Paranjape
Assistants: Mitali Kamat,
Gowree Joglekar
Creative Consultant: Vasant
Bapat
Adviser: Jayant Narlikar
Music: Anand Modak
Lights and Sound: Arun
Madkaikar
Script: Ajit Kelkar
Costumes: Suhita Thatte, Aruna
Joglekar, Nandkishore Dahale Artistes:
20 dancers, 5 backstage
Duration: 80 minutes
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Jatayu Moksha
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