The Purification of the Living and the Salvation of the Dead
Soloist: Chaitra Chandrasekhar
“An extraordinary weaver has woven this shawl of life, by stretching the vertical threads of one's actions and the horizontal threads of destiny. This human body is a combination of past actions and destiny.”

—15th c. Sufi poet Kabir Das of Varanasi

The Eternal Pilgrim
Soloist: Ranee Ramaswamy
The 5th century Bhakti poet Karaikal Ammayar is the symbol for the "Eternal Pilgrim." In her longing for Shiva, she yearned to shed her body—flesh, skin, and gender—to emphasize the true essence of her humanity.

I aspired to only one thing;
I settled on it and left the rest
I kept in my heart only that lord
whose crest bears the Ganga
whose matted locks
are adorned with the sun and
moon whose palm holds the
flames—and I have become
his servant.

At twilight,
flawlessly in time to the
rhythm of heavenly drums
effortlessly bearing fire in his
palm the beautiful one dances

The City of Shiva
Soloist: Aparna Ramaswamy
The cosmic dance of Shiva symbolizes the interplay of dynamic and static divine energy flow, containing the five principles of eternal energy—creation, preservation, destruction, illusion, and emancipation.

The ecstatic pilgrimage journey begins and ends at the Kasi Vishweshvara temple—the center of Varanasi, a city where people surrender their earthly bodies to death and receive spiritual bodies like Shiva himself.

For additional information, please visit Ragamala’s website to access Fires of Varanasi: An Illustrated Guide, developed by Ranee Ramaswamy:

www.ragamaladance.org/fires-of-varanasi-links     

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For booking information, please contact:
Laura Colby, Director, Elsie Management
www.elsieman.org
info@elsieman.org
718-797-4577.