Maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman's Jaya Jaya Devi

Jaya Jaya Devi - Musical Dance Drama

The legendary musician and composer, Padma Bhushan awardee Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman’s operatic ballet JAYA JAYA DEVI, a magnum opus, premiered in Cleveland and toured 24 cities across the USA and Canada in 1994 to packed houses, ecstatic audiences, and universal critical acclaim.

With research and script by Smt. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan and choreography by eminent Guru Rhadha, the ballet presents six facets of Devi. Beginning in Kailasa with Shiva and Dakshayani, it traverses the legends of Uma and Ardhanari, Durga as worshipped by humans, the village goddess Karumari, and finally returns to Shiva and Parvathi in Kailasa, tracing the origins of Bharatanatyam.

A unique feature of the production is the Sutradhara—Nandi, portrayed by veteran theatre artiste P.C. Ramakrishna, featuring English narration.

After over three decades, the Lalgudi Trust has revived JAYA JAYA DEVI, recreating the original production with remarkable fidelity. The revival features 11 performers and a specially recorded musical score. Lalgudi Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi have preserved the original score, while Guru Rhadha has personally trained the next-generation dancers. Smt. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan and costume designer Smt. Hyma Ramakrishna have painstakingly recreated the original artistic vision.