Venkatasundara Sani’s book is an extraordinary documentation of the Bengaluru-Kolar tradition of temple dance
The large pillared halls of the Ulsoor Someshwara temple, one of the oldest in Bengaluru, bustles with activity and hundreds of devotees. The Vijayanagara-style mandapa holds several stories — the most prominent of which is of a woman who shaped the Bengaluru temple paddhati of Bharatanatyam.
Though much of the city’s music and dance history has been lost in the sands of time, B.L. Rice’s Mysore Gazeteer is an important source of information. Published sometime after 1873, it mentions two temple dancers, Mariya Sani and her daughter Venkatasundara Sani, who were associated with the Ulsoor Someshwara temple.
Venkatasundara Sani was born into the hereditary dance community that performed in temples, and is believed to have lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.