Nataraja Statue Banned from Malaysian Bharatanatyam Dance Performance
IPOH, MALAYSIA, : At the beginning of every Bharatanatyam performance,
artistes of this famous South Indian classical dance pay obeisance on
stage to a statue of Lord Nataraja. However, on Monday night, a group
of Bharatanatyam dancers performed before a full gallery at the Taman
Budaya public auditorium without the customary on-stage prayer to Lord
Nataraja. This was because the owner of the venue, the state Unity,
Culture, Arts and Heritage Department, permitted the dance on condition
they did not install a statue or portrait of the deity and offer their
prayers on stage. This is not the first time that dancers from the
three Bharatanatyam schools of Nrityakalanjali, Natyakalamandir and
Anandanarthana Choodamani in the state had performed at the venue. The
department said the organizers were informed beforehand of the
conditions and chose to go ahead with the performance.
Shaliza Azlin, said the organizers had agreed that the prayers would be
performed backstage to respect the sensitivities of the audience, who
also comprised Chinese and Malays. “We did not stop them from doing the
puja. We did not want them to do it in public.â€
Shaliza said the same conditions had been imposed on other cultural
groups. Perak state assembly speaker V. Sivakumar, who was at the
performance, said: “The prayer is very much part of the cultural
performance and should have been allowed on the stage.†He said he
would bring the matter up with the state government as well as his
party so that such “intolerant behavior†could be nipped in the bud
before it became widespread.
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P.S. – If Hindus can’t do Puja in public in a Muslim Majority Country ,why do Mullahs scream “Allah-o-Akbar” in public and over loud speakers causing nuisance and sound pollution in Muslim Minority Countries like India?
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