Telangana’s Raj Kumar keeping ‘Perini Natyam’ alive

Raj Kumar is a student of renowned guru and dance-historian late Nataraja Ramakrishna, who revived 'Perini Natyam' in the early 1970s

Hyderabad: Art and artistes never die, and I’m sure that my Guru will be proud and is blessing us from somewhere, says Dharavath Raj Kumar Naik, popularly known as Perini Raj Kumar, who recently won the prestigious ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ award for Perini Natyam, which is first-of-its-kind national honour to the dance form.

Hailing from BB Gudem in Suryapet, Raj Kumar was a student of renowned guru and dance-historian late Nataraja Ramakrishna, who revived ‘Perini Natyam’ in the early 1970s, when it was on the verge of disappearing. Called ‘Perini Shivatandavam’, the enchanting dance form, nicknamed ‘Dance of Warriors’— performed by warriors in front of the idol of Lord Shiva, before leaving for the battlefield— originated 800 years ago and prospered during the Kakatiya dynasty.

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At the age of 15, when he attended a 40-day workshop in Warangal, Raj Kumar’s enthusiasm piqued the interest of Nataraj Ramakrishna who took him under his wing to further hone his skills in the dance form.

“It was my good karma that I was able to take special training under the pioneer of Perini. The enlightenment I attained under his guidance is a divine experience,” says the 34-year-old.

Raj Kumar had even established a dance school in Suryapet teaching Perini and Andhra Natyam. However, owing to financial burdens after the demise of Nataraj Ramakrishna in 2011, Raj Kumar moved to Malaysia to teach Indian dance forms there but eventually decided to return in 2015.

After a lot of brainstorming, Raj Kumar decided to launch ‘101 days Perini Rathayatra’ and visited over 200 schools, and temples, across the State, in 101 days, to perform Perini and educate today’s youth.

The project was an instant success for Raj Kumar as he started getting noticed and even got an opportunity to perform in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I give all the credit to Mamidi Harikrishna, Director, Department of Language and Culture, for his persistent support throughout my journey in promoting Perini,” he says. Raj Kumar, who currently trains 30 students, is working on his next project ‘Culture for Education’, which aims to include art in the school syllabus, with the Telangana government.