The Arangetram Program

Item 3: Shabdam

Ragam; Ragamalika, Thalam; Misra Chapu, Composer; Smt Rajee Narayanan

Shabdam is a Bharatanatyam Item in which the Expressions (or Abhinaya) are introduced for the first time in the repertoire as a form of story telling. The song (saahityam) is usually separated into stanzas and between each stanza, you'll have a simple Korvai (a linked sequence of steps or movement). Each stanza can contain a different story or all of them put together is one single story. But essentially the whole item is about one person, one theme.

Courtesy: natyakriya blogspot

Krti is performing a Rama Shabdam depicting the life events/stories of Lord Rama.

The sequence depicts

You are Dasharatha’s son, Rama, who hailed from the sacred yagna

Dasharatha was hesitant to send his children to protect Sage Vishwamitra’s yagna, but Vishwamitra assured Dasharatha

Rama protected the yagna by slaying all the demons who came to disrupt it and was blessed by the Sage

Rama broke the mighty bow of Lord Shiva which no man could ever do

After Rama broke the bow, he married Sita

Obliging to his father’s word, Rama, Lakshmana and Sita went to the forest

Guhan, a boatsman helped Rama cross the Ganga river and was blessed by Rama

Bharatha seeks out Rama and pleads with him to return to Ayodhya and rule as king, after king Dasharatha’s death

Rama denies and Bharata instead takes his sandals with him back to Ayodhya