Sidendra yogi the Kuchipudi guru

3.  Siddhendra Yogi [Adi Guru of
kuchipudi] was an exceptional scholar
and an artist of the 14th century AD.
 During the Bhakti Movement between
11th and the 13th century, the dance
form of Kuchipudi saw a revolution.
 He is the author of ‘Bhama
Kalapam’, the jewel of kuchipudi. He
gave his life and blood to this art form.
 He adopted the existing format of the
Yakshagna folk dance dramas
and gave it a new form.

4.  Siddappa, was born into a Chinta
family in Kuchelapuram (present
day Kuchipudi). As a child, he
was never interested in studies
and was considered a dullard.
With hope that marriage would
make him active, his parents got
him married to a girl from
Bhagavathula family.

5.  One day Siddhappa ran away from
kuchelapuram and landed at varanasi.
He became a diciple of a Vaishnavaite
pandit, who was a master of Alankara
Shastra and Abhinaya. Under his
guidance he learnt the art of Abhinaya and
was praised all around Varanasi for his
strong grasp. After his training, Siddhappa
set forth back to his native village,
kuchelapuram.
 Longing to see his parents and wife,
Siddappa tried to cross the flooding
Krishna river, as his village was on the
other bank.

6. Midway, he lost hope that he would
make it. Surrendering himself to the
almighty, and expecting that his end
was near, he renounced all worldly
bonds, and took the vows of an
ascetic. He ceased struggling,
accepting his fate of imminent death.
However, he drifted to the bank and
opened his eyes, only to realise that
he was an ascetic and all the bonds
he craved for were banished forever.

7.  It is this struggle between wordly
bonds and spiritual bliss he wrote
Bhama Kalapam.
 He then ran away to Udupi,
where he imbibed his Madhura
Bhakti in the service of Udupi
Sri Krishna, and such was
influenced by the Bhakti
Movement all across India.
 He introduced aesthetic and
stylized footwork with the usage
of traditional classical music.

8.  Siddhenra Yogi incorporated
the principles of dance of
Natya Shastra, the bible of
all Indian classical dance styles.
 He was not in favor of training
women to this art form, his
opinion was that women
generally exaggerated the
expressions and sentiments,
thus lowering the spiritual tone
of the dance form.
 So kuchipudi dominated by
male dancers that period and
female roles also played by
men.

9.  Young boys with religious and
austere life only allowed to perform
one generation to another. So he
trained only Brahmin youths
perform the art.
 Siddhenra Yogi wrote Bhama
Kalapam the famous play and
created a dance balled called
‘Parijathapaharam’. This is said
to be the oldest Dance Drama.
 Present dance style is orginated from
the dance drama tradition
established by the legend
Siddhendra Yogi, which is known as
Bhagavata Mela Natakam.

10. THANK YOU