Brihannala

Uttara

Malini was surprised to see Brihannala, his face has gone smoother, he has put on a wig, applied kohl to his eyes and added color to his lips. He walked with a sway in his hips and was dressed in feminine clothes which had a bling. "How do I look" he asked and even his voice seems to have changed, it was still rough but there was something different, may be the slang or the way he spoke,  Malini could not figure out. "You look beautiful" she said suppressing a giggle that escaped at his expression.

"But what's with that sway" she asked pointing at his walking. "What do you mean? " he asked looking all coy. "We women do not walk like that" she said "Oh that's because you women don't know how to embrace your feminity" he stated and started walking. Malini shook her head in mock disbelief at his reply and followed him. "And you know it" she asked catching up to him, after all he was quite tall and had longer stride than her, "Obviously, I am the best, I am Brihannala" he replied back leaving her jaw drop down to the floor as his attitude and swag. She had never seen this side of Brihi and she can't help but enjoy it.

"Brihannala, you may be expert in walking, but that's the wrong way, Rajakumari Uttara is waiting for you in dance hall which is this way" she said showing him the other side. Brihi nodded and followed her, he knew when to accept defeat.

(*Rajakumari means Princess)

"Brihannala the dance master" announced the female guard. The room was in perfect silence as Brihi and Malini entered. "Maharani may I introduce Brihannala" said Malini gesturing towards Brihi. The queen assessed him from top to toe and asked"So Guruji, Malini told us that you trained in Indralok", "Yes Your Highness, I was trained under none other than apsara Urvashi" he humbly answered. "Can I say something Maharani" Brihi requested and when the queen nodded he added "I have heard about your charisma from a lot of sources but I  never thought that you are not just charismatic but also stunningly beautiful, if you don't mind could you share the secret of how you do it? ", to which the queen blushed and giggled "Oh my you are a charmer too huh" she added, "I speak nothing but facts your highness, after all you women are born beautiful but we eunuch have to maintain ourselves to stay beautiful" he said with a wave of hand and patting his heart as if it's such a burden. "Don't worry Guruji, here is palace you will be taken care of" assured the Queen. "Now let me introduce my daughter Uttara" she said.

Brihi saw a young girl of 14 or 15 years of age, step out from the shadows. Though she appeared delicate from outside, her eyes spoke of her strong will and the way she carried herself told that she was a determined confident young woman.

(*Maharani means Queen, *Guru means teacher,*Guruji is how one respectfully addressed a teacher)

She came forward and took Brihannala's blessings as he was her teacher. "Ayushmanbhava" he blessed.

(*Ayushmanbhava means live long life)

The Queen spoke first, "Guruji, I will take my leave,  but before that, please take care of my daughter well, she is passionate about dance, but we couldn't find a suitable teacher unill now", " I will teach her well Your Highness,  do not worry. Any Rajkumar who sees her dancing will immediately want to marry" he said and the reply seemed to satisfy the mother in the Queen. Brihi also noticed Uttara roll her eyes as her mother left, followed by Malini and Lalita.

(*Rajkumar means Prince)

"So shall we start" asked Brihi turning towards Uttara. Uttara nodded and followed him towards the center of the room. "Lets start with a prayer to Natraja Swami" Brihi said walking towards the idol of God Nataraja and putting flowers at his feet and bowing his head and taking the blessings. Uttara followed what Brihi did. Brihi then took the Ghungroo placed in front of Lord Nataraja and gave one pair to Uttara and tied the other pair to his legs.

(* Nataraja Swami is Lord Shiva in the dancing form, Ghungroo are dancers anklets made of many tiny round bells)

"Uttara, the dance I will be teaching you is Bharatanatyam, it was composed and written by a famous Sage called Bharata Muni. The first thing in this dance form we will be learning is a small Namaskara dance, this dance is done before and after dancing, to take blessings and ask forgiveness from Bhudevi as we would be dancing on her and take the blessings of all the remaining Panchabutas" said Brihi standing straight and putting hands on his hips.

(*Muni means Sage or Saint, *Namaskara mean prayer or saluting in respect, *Bhudevi is Earth Goddess,  *Panchabhutas are five elements of nature which are land, air, fire, water and sky)

"First we start with making Katakamukam mudra which is touch your fore finger and middle finger with thumb, while keeping remaining two fingers wide open. Place it near your chest, now stamp one feet after another. Now form inverted Shikara mudra which is forming and fist with thumb standing out and pointing downwards, extend your hand our straight in front of you in this mudra, now take to your shoulders, now make a full circle with your hands such that thumbs are out and inner side of your palms are touching and go down into a full sitting posture forming a V shape with your feet" Brihi instructed and Uttara followed along side Brihi.

"Now touch the ground with both hand and touch it back to your eyes, taking blessings from Bhudevi. Now form a Alapadmam mudra, which is a open flower formation,  all finger open and arranged as a flower. Put one hand above the other, now in a circle take them straight up and touch them by joining your hands in Namaskara, which is joining the flat inner sides of your palms, now bring that Namaskara and touch it to the top of your head, taking blessings from all Panchabutas around you, follwed by bringing your Namaskara to your chest and standing up and bowing to your teacher" Brihi completed by bowing to Nataraja,  while Uttara bowed to Brihannala, thus beginning their dance lessons.