Kathakali

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!! Sri Rama Jayam !!

 

In Rig Veda, there is a description of the dance of Urvasi - a devangana of the

Indrasabha.The story goes that once there lived a handsome and mighty ruler

Pururavas, the founder of the Chandra dynasty He was so famous and good that

even Doves admired him. The divine damsel Urvasi was so overwhelmed by the fame

of this mortal king that while dancing she began muttering his name in the place

of Purushothama (Vishnu). This enraged the great rishi Bharatha. Urvasi was

defying the principles enunciated in his Natya Sastra. " Go down to Earth and

live as the wife of that mortal King " , the rishi cursed. Urvasi spent some years

with Pururavas until Prince Ayus was born. This story might be a myth, but what

a marvel! The different classical dances in India still adhere to the principles

of the great rishi's Natya Sastra - namely to the division of dance into Nritha

- the pure abstract form, Nrithya dance with mime or rhythm, Thandava the style

followed by men in dance and Lasya, the style for women dancers For all

classical dances musical accompaniments are a must a vocalist, a percussion

instrument player, a cymbal player who also recites the neumonics and lastly one

who follows the vocalist on a stringed instrument such as violin. Veena is never

used as an accompaniment as it is deemed a Deva vadya.

Five dance styles are fully accepted as classical or art dances on account of

their sophisticated degree of presentation. They are Bharatha Natyam, Odissi,

Manipuri, Kathak and Kathakali. Kathakali is undoubtedly the most developed and

sophisticated of all dance dramas in India.

Kathakali, the classical dance drama of Kerala, is quite different from the

styles of the other four. In the first place, it is dramatic and not just

narrative in character. Until recently, the dancers were all men. Different

characters have different costumes and make up. Epics or mythological stories

are taken as themes. The puranic characters are portrayed with an unworldly

supernatural grandeur. The characters according to their nature fall into

certain distinct categories.

Pacha (Green): Famous rulers on the puranic stories who stood for truth and

justice Example: Sree Rama, Dharmaputhra and King Nala. Peacock feathers

adorning The crown is solely for Krishna.

Kathi Vesham: Royals having valour and ferocity. Over the green paint on the

lace are streaks of red and black. Also, a white blob on the nose. To proclaim

their cruel nature, at times, they make hideous sounds Ravana and Duryodhana are

examples.

" The large-sized colourful costumes, the elaborate make-up on face with the

booming sound of the Maddalam and Melachenda, and the haunting melody of the

songs transport the audience into a mystical world. "

Chukanna Thadi (Red Beard): The over-sized red dress, face painted red with

black streaks, lips coloured black and teeth protruding, very huge crown again

red and gold on the head. His form is really scary. Example: Dussasana, the

younger brother of Duryodhana.

Karutha Thadi (Black beard): Even the head dress is black, very repulsive.

Example: characters like Kali and certain demons.

Kari Vesham: Attired in dirty black clothes with a black conical cap, again an

ugly form, essentially an evil female character.

Velutha Thadi: Though gigantic in size, like Red Beard and Black Beard, this is

a noble character unlike the other two. Example: Hanuman.

Minnukku: Is the common term or characters representing Saints or Rishis - also

good women. The Saints are clad in white dress. Head is covered with a white

cloth for female characters Women look radiant in their pleated white and gold

costume adorned in traditional jewellery and hair neatly made into a bun on the

side. Characters like Kuchela (men) and Draupadi, Damayanthi or Seetha (women).

The play begins with two men holding a colourful satin cloth as a curtain. While

the actor remains partly hidden, one might see the tip of his crown or his

fingers as he too hold the curtain in the middle. In a flash, the curtain is

pulled down and then you see the actor in all his splendour. The naked flame of

the traditional lamp, kalivilakku, enhances the effect of the dancer's facial

expressions. The main vocalist sings keeping thala on chengala while an

assistant joins in the singing with elathala in his hands. Special drums called

melachenda and maddalam are played. The actor demonstrates appropriate hand

gestures (mudras) and expressive muscle movements in the face and eyes. The

different phases are cholliyattam ilakiyattam and kalasam. Students undergo

rigorous training for years to acquire perfection in abhinaya and eye movement.

The nine emotions known as navarasa, a talented dancer expresses easily,

bringing each emotion in his eyes according to the context.

Kathakali is undoubtedly the most developed and sophisticated of all dance-

dramas in India though plays like Yakshagana of Mysore do maintain a good

standard. It has reached the high position in the art world due to the selfless

service of some very good people like Vallathol Narayana Menon, the poet, who

founded the world-famous Kerala Kala Mandalam, an institute dedicated to

Kathakali and other fine arts.

The origin of Kathakali is chequered too. In the ninth century of Malayalam era,

one Manavedan Raja of Kozhikkodu composed Krishnageethi. He was influenced by

Jayadeve's Geetha Govindam. In Geetha Govindam, there are only three characters

- Krishna, Radha and another gopika, Radha's friend. The Raja took the

dasamaskanda of Maha Bhagavatha and dividing it into eight parts told the whole

story of Sree Krishna from avathaaram to swargarohanam.

This Krishna-geethi became Krishanattam. One part would be played one night in

the temple premises and devotees would watch without one wink of sleep. It still

continues in the Guruvayoor temple. It did not take long for another gifted

writer, the Raja of Kottarakkara to compose a similar one about Sree Rama. He

took Ramayana, divided it into eight parts and wrote eight plays, called it

Ramanattam. The story is that Manavedan Raja failed to show his work to the Raja

of Kottarakkara. Accepting the challenge, the latter started his Ramanattam.

Ramanattam became very popular, the main reason being while both Geetha Govindam

and Krishnattam are in pure Devanagiri - almost Greek and Latin to the average

individual. Kottarakkara chose the lovely Manipravala language - pure spoken

Malayalam with a smattering of Sanskrit words and people enjoyed it as they

could understand the language.

It is this Ramanattam that changed its name to Kathakali. During the last

hundred years many Kathakali plays have been written, techniques and other

improvements made and consequently this art has earned international

recognition.

Source : http://www.kala.org.uk/Kathakali.htm

Hare Krishna

Hare Rama