Panchattva—Elements Within & Without November 28, 2015, Kala Mandir, Kolkata

This is a unique production describing the five elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Sky.

About

SARVAM SARVATMAKAM

Everything is related to the whole
Homage to you in the form of sound and space,
Homage to you in the form of touch and wind,
Homage to you whose own form is form and light,
Homage to you in form of taste and water,
Homage be to you in your own as smell and earth,
Homage to you, the all pervading one, who is the universe and form-less.

Any creation, whether cosmic, of the human body, or of art, has to start from the five elements-earth, water, fire, air and space. According to Taittiriya Upanisad the elements range from the subtle to the gross: akasa (space), vayu (wind), agni (fire), and ap (water).

The concept of bhuta or mahabhuta as material element is mostly classified as five. Bhuta is one among many words derived from the root bhu- ‘to be’, which expresses the idea to grow, to thrive, prosper, the dynamic aspect of being.

The concept of five elementary constituents of matter came gradually. It becomes manifest in the old Upanisads. For instance, the Taittiriya Valisikhayani says: ‘’There are five vital elements. These are earth, wind, space, water and fire. These are the combinations jointly or together. And other minute elements, which are united with the vital elements are the combination of all created beings”. (Based on the tr by S. Chattopadhyay)

Fire is triangular and red, air is circular and black, earth is quadrangular and yellow, water is clear like moon and white in colour.The elements are earth, water, fire, wind, space.

“O earth, my mother, O wind, my father, O fire, my friend, O water, my good relative, O space, my brother, for the last time I salute you and I fold my palms to you. But virtue of my association with you I accumulated merits from the abundance of which arose in me the pure knowledge, dispeller of all delusions. Now I merge in the Supreme Brahman”. (Bhartrhari

PLANTING OF A SAPLING

This signifies the growth and the nurturing of a new life which without the five elements would not happen. It is planted in the earth, is given life by water, wind caresses it, is nurtured by the light and it grows to fullness in space.

Credits

Concept and Choreographed By | Leela Samson and Priti Patel