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PAPER 6

DANCE IN INDIA TODAY, DANCE-DRAMAS, CREATIVITY WITHIN THE CLASSICAL FORMS,

INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE IN DIASPORA (USA, UK, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, ETC.)

MODULE 21 CREATIVITY IN KATHAKALI

The story of the birth of Kathakali, as an act of artistic revenge

against the obdurate Zamorin of Kozhikode, who refused to send his

Krishnattam troupe, that presents the story of Krishna in eight days,

to the court of the Kottarakara Thampuram, and his humiliation of

the aesthetic level of that court, is well known. It was in response to

this that the ruler of Kottarakara penned eight plays that told the

story of Rama in eight performances. He called it Ramattam as Attam

means play. It could also have a double connection with the

sanskritised Atta or eight. This went on to become Kathakali, when

the Thampuram of Kottayam added four stories from the

Mahabharat. Now that it was not just about Rama, it got a new

name- Kathakali- the story plays, that rapidly grew in popularity

amongst the common people.

Although all Kerala arts have a sense of continuity over at least a two

thousand year period, but each also depicts different aspects that

enhance its creativity. It was the same in the case of Kathakali. From

the point of its birth itself, as Ramanattam, it was accompanied by

the Chenda, its defining percussion instrument. The singers were

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separated from the artistes, and masks were substituted by the

introduction of the tradition of painted faces.

The next clear indication of creativity can be found in the very

schools of Kathakali that emerged for each was marked by unique

strengths. The first school to emerge was the Kaladikod style that

emerged in the village of the same name.

The second was the Kaplingadan School which was established by

Kaplingadam Namboodri in Thissur district, and spread in the

southern part of Kerala. These two styles formed the Northern and

Southern schools. The northern style places more emphasis on the

intricacies of grammar and the set choreography. By the concluding

years of the 19th, despite the primacy of the northern and southern

styles, due to the growth of stylization in Kathakali, schools had

emerged around master artistes, just like the gharana system of the

north. Many artistes went by the name of the school named after

the maestro. From the 20th century, it is Kerala Kalamandalam that

became the most significant center for Kathakali. Now Kathakali was

formally institutionalized.

The Kerala Kalamandalam teaches both the Northern and the

Southern styles but it is more biased towards the northern style.

Interestingly outside of Kerala Kalamandalam, other more regional

variants flourish. According to scholar of the Kerala arts, KK Gopala

Krishna, some of them bear a strong impress of Koodiyattam.

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Creativity in Aharyam

Till the 1940s, the Chullti or the white border to the Kathakali face

was made of lime and rice paste. Its preparation and application was

a time consuming and laborious process. What is worse it was very

fragile and a strong facial movement would end up breaking it or at

least chipping it. It is believed that at a Kathakali performance at

Thiruvalla, Ramakrishna Panicker, a drawing teacher who was also a

chutti artist experimented with thick white drawing paper on the

face of actor Kannanchira Raman Pillai. This worked and it became

an immense relief for chutti artistes and Kathakali performers.

It spread fast amongst the southern school practitioners. The

northern school practitioners held out as they were less receptive to

change. It took the intervention of Pattikamthodi Ravunni Memon,

who saw and realized its convenience at a performance in Aluva,

before Kerala Kalamandalam opened itself to the convenience of the

paper chutti. Today the rice paste and lime chutti is passé and this is

the chutti used by all. In fact, some artistes have even experimented

with a plastic version but to far lesser success, as its inflexibility and

application remains a problem. With the paper chutti the face of the

artiste enjoys considerable freedom of movement.

Creativity in Themes

While the original themes of Kathakali were from the Ramayana,

Mahabharata, and the Puranas, it was not long before

experimentations began even in themes. Broadly this

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experimentation took two forms. In the first Kathakali merely took

unusual and nontraditional themes, but by its look, treatment and

aesthetics, it remained Kathakali. The other was the peculiar hybrid

dance cum theatre works that emanated as symbols of modernity in

a several centuries old tradition.

Since independence almost 50 new plays were written including

some patently political plays. These political plays included Mana

Vijayam which was created specifically for communist audiences,

since Kerala had the distinction of becoming in 1957, the first state in

the world to have a democratically elected communist government.

But none of the political plays, including those written by the poet

Vallathol had great success. However, “Karnasapdam”, the only

Kathakali play that was written by the great scholar and writer, Mali

Madhavan Nair, in 1965, was a big success, being accepted

enthusiastically by the Northern and southern schools, proving that it

is myths that carry the day in Kathakali. A part form the fact that it

carved out strong roles for the characters, had the right degree of

flamboyance needed, a resonant musical score etc., it was careful in

the use of chaste and rich Malayalam rather than a sanskritised,

version of the language.

Much effort has been made with themes from different lands.

Whether the old Illiad or Bacchae, or the relatively newer

Shakespearean plays, much creativity has been shown in the

thematic augmentation of Kathakali. Often ragas and talas remain

unchanged, but one encounters different problems which have to be

dealt with creatively. Julius Cesar’s costumes created a problem and

needed to be redesigned creatively. The Illiad had an English libretto

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and when it didn’t work it also had a Malayalam one. Bachhae

needed different instruments and treatment. These were all novel

hybrids of dance cum theatre,

But there is also the stream of novel hybrids of dances for theatrical

impact. An international example of it is Dushasana Vadha which

brought together Kathakali and Flamenco. But there are several

examples of Kathakali with different dance forms of India itself. In

the pantheon of classical dances of India, Kathakali has the strongest

visual impact, and serves as a masculine counter point to feminine

dancing, even if it is severely constrained in the movements. But in

the tradeoff between what it does effortlessly and what it can’t do,

the dice is loaded in favor of including Kathakali. That is why all multi

form dance spectacles use Kathakali, opulent in its full regalia.

Then there is the creativity shown in producing novel hybrids of

dances cum theatre, and the Kathakali Flamenco production, of

“Dushasna Vadha / दशुाशन वध ” using a Flamenco dancer and a

Flamenco musician, is a fine example. Sonal Man Singh’s three

character enactment of Geet Govind, which had her as Radha,

Sadanam Bakrishnan as Krishna and Lakshmi Vishwanathan as the

Sakhi.

In this production, Sadanam Balamrishnan did not wear the mudi to

allow for intimacy between Radha and Krishna. In many other

productions that reflect the nation through the diversity of dance,

like Pratibha Prahlad’s “Vande Matram / वन्दे मातरम ” or Leela

Samson’s “Charishnu / चररष्णु”. More recently, in a performance

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titled “Lasya Lahiri / ऱास्य ऱाहिरी”, Mohiniattam dancer Jayaprbha

Menon used seven Kathakali dancers along with seven Mohiniattam

dancers to suggest the philosophy of the Raas.

Kathakali as inspiration for choreographic works

The dance drama tradition that developed along with the rise of

nationalism, which used Indian inspiration, and was exemplified by

Uday Shankar, the role of Kathakali was significant. Shankar's style

was influenced a great deal by Kathakali. According to scholar Ruth

Abrahams, Shankar was exposed to Kathakali on his tour of India

around 1930 to observe Indian dance forms and “create an all-Indian

company of dancers and musicians.” It was then that he met the

great poet Vallathol Narayan Menon at the Kerala Kalamandalam.

Here he also met the teacher Shankaran Namboodri. So impressed

was he with this art that he stayed on to learn with Shankaran

Namboodri for 6 weeks. Later, in 1938, he made India his base, and

established the 'Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre', at Simtola,

about three kilometers from Almora, in the Uttrakhand Himalayas,

and invited a host of eminent artistes as teachers. In this pantheon

he included Sankaran Namboodri for Kathakali along with Kandappa

Pillai for Bharatanatyam, Ambi Singh for Manipuri and Ustad

Allauddin Khan for music.

The first major work Shankar choreographed after his initial

“training” in Kathakali was “Tandava Nritya.” Later Shankar

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developed “Kartikeya / कार्तिकेय” under the guidance of Shakaran

Namboodri. Abrahams notes, “As might be expected, the most

noticeable change was evidence of his work with Namboodiri and

incorporation of the kathakali style of hasta mudra” which instead of

following codified Kathakali usage was “an imaginative and free-form

interpretation.” That is how even in his iconic dance film “Kalpana / कल्ऩना” he used Kathakali based creative movements and Kathakali-

based dances like bits of ‘Thodayam / थोडायाम and “Purappad / ऩुराप्ऩद”, including the raised big toe in the kalashams and the

display of eye virtuosity in the four faces that one sees above the

rippling hand- one of the defining moments in “Kalpana”.

At Tagore’s Shantiniketan, Kathakali entered via Kelu Nair from the

Kerala Kalamandalam. However, as Tagore’s desire was to synthesize

rather than reinforce, the dance blended with maniouri interesting

ways to lose its own identity and create a new synthesized identity.

Chennai’s Kalakshetra also ended up becoming a center for

Kathakali. In the late 1940s, T.K. Chandu Pannikkar Asan left his

home town when the patron family fell on bad times. He trained a

large number of students at Kalakshetra including V.P. Dhananjayan

and the late Kunhiraman. They would do entire performances in

Kathakali, or be part of the ballets and dance drama’s produced by

Rukmini Devi. They would also provide items that were part of the

Kalakshetra variety programme. Even today, each year, Kalakshetra

hosts a Festival of kathakali and includes Kathakali in its own Festival.

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Similarly, Darpana in Ahmedabad, set up by Mrinalini Sarabhai, wove

in Kathakali in a significant manner. Mrinalini Sarabhai herself had

studied with Kunju Kurup. At her institute however, in 1945, she had

initiated training by Chatunni Pannicker, who created a special

syllabus. Like Kalakshetra, Darpana’s Kathakali department, used to

perform full evening performances, items and participate. In 1966

for instance Darpana did a two day festival of Kathakali for the

International Centre for Kathakali, with the main male lead played by

Chatunni Panicker and the female lead by Mrinalaini Sarabhai.

Mention must be made of the training in Kathakali received by

American dancer Esther Sherman, who had taken on the Indian

name of Ragini Devi (another foreign woman dancer was Louise

Lightfoot from Australia). Devi is the mother of the eminent dancer

Indrani Rahman. Devi came to Kathakali in 1931. She started with the

then fledgling Kerela Kalamandalam with many of the Gurus coming

to her home to teach. She made arrangements with Vallathol, to

allow for guru Gopinath to accompany her to North India and help

her prepare choreographies that she could dance and present. While

she thought of solo female numbers for herself, she felt that with

Guru Gopinath present she would be able to continue her training,

have the benefit of his masculine performance and also get to create

and choreograph new pieces. Together they would do a romantic

Shiv Parvati scene from “Dakhsa yagya / दक्ष यज्ञ”. They created a”

Lakshmi Narayan Nritya / ऱक्ष्मी नारायण र्ित्य ” with Vishnu and

Lakshmi dancing a Purappadu. Enthused Guru Gopinath created the

“Flight of the Eagle God”- the dance of Garud with a bird costume,

beak and all, and eventually a peacock dance for Ragini Devi replete

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with a real peacock feather tail. Thereafter Guru Gopinath was very

much at home with the creative approach in Kathakali, and set up his

own school in Trivandrum for this.

Subsequently, several mixed from ballets and dance dramas, like Shri

Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra’s “Ramlila” used Kathakali influences. In

fact the dancing Ravana performs much like a Kathakali artiste. This

is because the first version of SBKK Ramlila created in 1957 was

greatly influenced by Kathakali, while from 1959-1962 Guru

Gopinath directed it. However, presently the fusion of styles allows

you to identify the inspirations but doesn’t allow any aspect to

develop.

Today, Astad Deboo continues to use Kathakali as an inspiration for

his contemporary work.

Women in Kathakali

Kathakali is usually performed only by men. Female characters are

portrayed by men dressed in women's costume. The subject of

women in Kathakali has been a subject of debate and argument since

Ragini Devi had come to Kathakali. Till then most had accepted the

limitation imposed on the women about training in Kathakali. Were

women kept out because of the rigours of the art and its training?

Were they kept out because of the intense intimacy of the Kathakali

massage? Or is it patriarchy at its severest?

By its very physical nature, Kathakali is not considered suitable for

women. Performances are always held at night and could go on into

the early morning. Also, in an entourage of 10 to 12 male artistes,

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which includes singers and musicians, the presence of a woman

performer is often a liability. Menstruation is also a big issue.

Kathakali requires more than eight to 10 years of full-time

professional training, which is generally not offered to women. It has

been very hard for women to break through this glass ceiling.

According to scholar KK Gopalakrishnan a few women made some

endeavours from as early as the 19th century, it was never in a male

role. Although Kathakali still remains a pre-dominantly male bastion,

over the last few decades, there have been some exceptional women

artistes who have braved the odds to essay male and female roles in

this theatrical dance form. But many of them claim that they suffer,

for apart from living with the stigma of being an 'aattakari / आत्तकरी' (dancer), these women risk being in close proximity with

men whether it is the make-up man or the many unknown male

helpers that literally clothe them. They have to wait for hours on end

with a full bladder and an empty stomach. Often, they also have to

fend off crowds backstage, as people want to get a little peep into

the 'aniyara/अर्नयार', or green room.

At the International centre for Kathakali and some private schools

however, Kathakali is taught to women, and many a time in its

performances too, women play male roles. The prestigious

government-run Kerala Kalamandalam in Cheruthuruthi does not

admit women students.

In 1975, a women’s Kathakali troupe was created in Kochi, with the

female artiste doing the singing and the acting. However, for

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costumes (chutti) and percussion – Chenda and Maddalam- they

banked on males. Yet they made an impact and a space for

themselves against great hardships.

Women performers claim that they face hostility from fellow male

artistes. According to Bhadra, the main reason for this is that

women's entry into the field is seen as a loss of income for the men.

All female dancers feel that there is enough work to go around for

everyone, but they do admit that there is a huge disparity in

remuneration.

Where a second-level male artist gets Rs 4,000 a night, a woman

artist - even though she may have done the maximum number of

performances in that particular role - can only hope to get Rs 1,000.

While a male artiste can have 150 performances a year, a woman is

lucky if she can get four in a month.

However, no reference literature on this dance form has any

mention of women. P. Geetha's book, 'Kaliyammamar' (Rainbow

Books, 2011), is an exception, as she has not only spoken to over 100

women dancers but has described in detail the life struggles of

Chavara Parukutty, a Dalit and the only woman who has completed

50 years as a Kathakali dancer. It appears that the blatant omission

of women from Kathakali literature is patriarchy at its severest.

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Creativity options in Kathakali’s Abhinaya

In Kathakali when the dancer performs to the song, while the words

are being sung he presents that Cholliyattam- an interpretation of

the text. One would then assume that with the end of the song the

dancer ends the abhinaya. But that is when a vast canvas of abhinaya

creativity opens up for the performer. This is called the ‘llakiyattam / ल्ऱाककयात्तम’-or the unrestrained performance. In this the

performer proves his mettle and through detailed “manodharma / मनोधमि’ or flights of aesthetic fantasy embroiders a rich tapestry of

creativity in detailing. Here the performer reveals what a deft story

teller he is, as he creates a canvas populated by many characters and

creatures. Here, he reveals his skills at ‘Pakarnnattam / ऩकरन्नात्तम’,

the depiction of many characters, as he changes rapidly from one

character to another, often only through “nayan abhinaya / नयन अभिनय”. The real masters even do ‘eka lochana abhinaya / एक ऱोचन अभिनय’ the two eyes depicting different emotions.

Change in Traditional settings for the performance of Kathakali

There is change in the traditional settings of Kathakali that has led to

many other changes creeping in and challenging its resilience and

creativity. Once Kathakali was performed traditionally inside

temples, palaces or abodes houses of nobles and aristocrats, and

driven by patrons’ preferences. Kathakali’s artistic trends have been

linked to patrons with performance being an active doing in the

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moment. Long drawn, it was often starting at night and ending in

the early morning hours. It would be performed to the light of the

huge Kalivilakku (kali meaning dance; vilakku meaning lamp) with its

thick wick sunk till the neck in coconut oil. The gently flickering light

of the lamp that would remain lit through the performance would

add to the other worldness of the characters and make their faces

glow. Today however performances happen in auditoriums to blazing

lights, and rehearsals instead of kalaris often happen in neutralised

‘performance labs’. With changed settings comes the issue of limited

time slots. Sometimes these time slots are inadequate to reveal that

Kathakali is thrimadhuram (triple the sweet), consisting of perfection

in acting, music and instrumental accompaniment. Thus the leisured

all night performances have gone and in their stead are shorter

performances. Sometimes so short that just a single padam is all that

is often performed- not the entire story. Although it would appear

then that it fails to live up to its name of a story play- Kathakali, the

good news is that there are still a large number of students taking to

the form and an excited and enthusiastic audience, both in Indian

and abroad! In fact abroad Kathakali has enjoyed immense

popularity and impact. Theatre schools, directors and groups have

been greatly impressed with its innate element of creativity. It is

India that needs to recognise and honour the keepers of this skill!