Our rich cultural heritage makes us feel happy and more satisfied when our art has ‘Bhakthi’ as its theme.Harikatha, which is an ancient form of story telling, prevalent in many parts of the country, is considered to be the best form of spreading the ‘Bhakthi’ movement. Harikatha is a composite art, which, besides the main story theme, has narration, histrionics, music elements of dance and philosophical doctrines for inculcating Bhakthi. It is referred to as musical discourses in English, Isai-Perurai or Isai-Sorpozhivu in Tamil, which is more than a music concert, as it is certainly a combination of music concerts and a spiritual lecture, with lots of though provoking, morals and messages.As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, this glorious art form, was first introduced in the 17th century when Marathi rulers brought to Thanjavur, Marathi Kirthanas, and encouraged them to spread this art form.However, it was Thanjavur Krishna Bhagavathar, who is considered to be the father of the Harikatha parampara in Tamil Nadu, who was responsible for giving a proper format, encouraging compositions in various languages. Subsequently, various eminent exponents of this art form followed the style of format of Krishna Bhagavathar and pursued this art during the whole of 19th century and major part of 20th century.The fact that three eminent Harikatha exponents of yester years, such as Muthiah Bhagavathar, Chidambara Bhagavathar and Embar Vijayaraghavachariar were conferred the title of ‘Sangeetha Kalanidhi’ by the Music Academy, bears testimony to the pre-eminence of this art form.In olden days, in the temples and places of worship, this traditional art flourished, when presented aesthetically to entertain and educate the masses. However, it is now disappearing due to the lack of encouragement.In the beginning of the 20th century, various sabhas, though few in number, were the repository (encouraging) of this great art, but whereas today, not many of the sabhas, which have proliferated to a large extent, extend support to Harikatha.However, from the second half of the 20th century, due to neglect and lack of support, this art form has started declining and today, there are not many exponents capable of performing. The leading light TS Balakrishna Sastrigal is no more with us.Though few notable stalwarts like Kalyanapuram Aravamudachariyar, Thanjavur Kamalamurthy and few others have been presenting the Harikatha with a telling effect, attracting the appreciation of audiences, one feels that many artistes should come forward to get trained in Harikatha, so that this art form is available for posterity.
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