Koodiyattam (BH:D222)

March 12, 2012

The "Natya Panchakam" drama festival organized by the All India Radio in association with the Doordarshan kicked off yesterday evening at the AKG auditorium in Thiruvananthapuram with a superb performance of Koodiyattam by the Nepathya troupe led by esteemed exponent of the art form, Sri Margi Madhu.

I had never been to the AKG auditorium before. It is part of the Communist party headquarters in the city named after one of the founders of the party, A. K. Gopalan. Relatively recently build, it features an excellent stage in a fully air-conditioned auditorium that can easily seat a thousand in two levels. Quite interesting to see the backdrop of a traditional Kerala temple erected on the stage with the stone three tier lamp in a venue run by the Communist party! There were couple of posters of some Devi goddess to go with the temple set. No sign of Jesus Christ as one would expect these days from the Communist party of Kerala!

When I reached by 5:20pm, the sound and light check were in progress. Before the Koodiyattam recital, Kshetra Vadya Samanvyam, a combination of temple musical instruments, was to be the inaugural event. Since the musicians were veteran performers of All India Radio and Doordarshan, it was bound to be of high quality. 

The formal lighting of the lamp at 6 pm by the director of All India Radio and Dr. K.G. Paulose and few other dignitaries. The emcee's voice was so familiar from radio and TV but I don't know her name. It was such a delight to see Dr. K.G. Paulose in person. I had been using his Sanskrit guide book to learn the language, Ekalavya style! So good to see the guru. Even more wonderful was the announcement that he would give a short introduction about the art form before the Koodiyattam performance.

For the Kshetra Vadya Samanvyam after the lamp lighting, the musicians returned in the formal Kerala attire of masculine toplessness. The concert was pure musical bliss for nearly 45 minutes. The arc of instruments, centered on the two Nadaswarams, had 'Thavil' at both ends. Idakka, Thayambaka, Elathalam, Chenda, Maddalam, Chengila and Kombu were the others. The young man handling the Elathalam also played the conch. The Chenda maestro used 'Veeku or Achan Chenda' as well which provides single beats in temple processions. I recognized the Thayamba percussionist who doubled as Ashtapadi singer from numerous shows on TV. The Nadaswaram Vidwan led the proceedings for much of the show. 

Later on there was a segment with the percussionists alone that was sort of a game of Chinese whispers. But no beat and rhythm was skipped in this game as the music travelled from thavil to thavil via idakka, thayambaka, chenda and maddalam. To me, this order felt like the preparation and culmination of a battle. Idakka sounds intrigue, thayambaka forms the marching orders, chenda is sheer war and maddalam is victorious procession! Thavil with its expression of pure joy, that makes it the instrument of choice at marriages, provides the beginning and ending for this energetic progression.

In the introduction before the concert, mention was made about the Kshetra Kala Kendra, a free school for the temple arts that is run by the Kerala Devaswam Board at Vaikkom and Attingal. The school is run according to gurukula system with students waking up at 4 am for 'sadhakam' and then reporting directly to various gurus. Those enrolled in "Panchavadyam" (=5 instrument combination) need to learn 10 different subjects. At the end of the program, they will be skilled to handle almost all the temple instruments popular in the state. The Devaswom Board also finds them placement in the ever growing number of temples in the state. 

As much as the alarming growth of religiousness and its evil twin fundamentalism is in this land, it is heartening that centuries old temple art forms are being actively preserved and passed on.

I was thinking about centuries but Dr. K.G. Paulose talked about the "1000 years" of Koodiyattam. He used that phrase twice and both times, it felt like a bolt. It is incredible to realize that something that was created over one thousand years ago is performed even today. The creativity that has survived for so long. I hardly remember movies from three years ago! 

Let me recap what I remember from Dr. Paulose's lecture. The man is a living legend. He was principal of the Sanskrit college, a world authority in Koodiyattam and the vice chancellor of Kerala Kala Mandalam. Though I had the opportunity to listen to him only for 15 minutes, it was one of the best lectures I had ever listened to. When erudition combines with teaching skill, it is priceless. Can we have TED talks for traditional arts? 

Koodiyattam was created by the 10th century King Kulasekhara Perumal of the Chera dynasty in Kerala. The first dance-drama of this tradition that he wrote was Subhadra-Dhanajayam, the love story of Subhadra, Krishna's sister and Arjuna, the mighty Pandava warrior and Krishna's friend. Krishna's older brother fixes the marriage of Subhadra, their sister, with Duryodhana, the Kaurava prince. But Krishna helps Arjuna abduct her. 

Sanskrit drama of Bharatamuni and Bhasa were already popular in Kerala by the 10th century. The tradition insisted that the actors focus on "anukarana" i.e. imitation. They have to imitate i.e. pretend to be the characters that they are portraying. Drama was made of different actors imitating the characters of the script on stage. Kulasekhara Perumal made two changes to this practise and they became Kerala's lasting contribution to world theater: Pakarnattam & Manodharmam.

In ancient Sanskrit drama, the line denoting the entry of a character usually goes: "Thadha so&so pravesha". It literally means "After that so&so enters". Kulasekhara said it is important that the actor conveys to the audience 'after what' the character is entering. So the actor has to recapitulate the events till the present moment of the play on stage. This means he or she has to become the narrator and in the narration they have to act out other characters involved whilst being, fundamentally, the character that they are. This is pakarnattam. As Dr. Paulose put it, "It converted the actor from an imitating personality into a pyramid of personalities!"

When this change was made, the past stories that are not mentioned but presumed understood in the script became important. Almost all the plays were based on the Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Whichever episode formed the script of the play, the back stories of the characters can be learnt from the epics. As were not included the script by the playwright, it became the responsibility of the actor or the actress to improvise on stage and convey these back stories for which no specific lines were written. This improvisation is Manodharma. It gave immense creative freedom to the actors and ushered in great difference from performance to performance of the same play because of the different improvisations.

Along with these two fundamental changes to the structure of Sanskrit drama, Kulasekhara set in two more traditions which had tremendous impact in the future of art and culture in Kerala. First, he borrowed the Dhwani school of music, propounded by Anandavardhana of Kashmir in the 9th century. According to this school, "the charm of poetry lies in suggestion," For example, the Subhadra Dhananjaya play of Kulasekhara begins with the word "Bhiksha" which means 'food/alms'. Since the word Bhiksha is feminine, Kulasekhara says that the word also implies a 'maiden' or a virgin girl. Such elaboration and depth was insisted on wherever possible in the performance and the poetry. This tradition of 'Dhwaniyojana' formed the bedrock of Kerala poetry.

Secondly, it is with Koodiyattam that the nascent Malayalam language got its first stage presence. The character of Vidushaka or the jester is both a character as well as a commentator in the play and he speaks Malayalam as opposed to the Sanskrit spoken by other characters. This funny character with its sarcastic social commentary inclination ensured that Malayalam overshadowed Sanskrit on stage in the next couple of hundred years in Kerala. 

With such a splendid introduction from Dr. Paulose, I was ready to watch the 1000 year old dance drama. Margi Madhu and his wife, Dr. Indu G, who holds a PhD in Koodiyattam, run the Nepathya center for excellence in central Kerala. The traditional full performance of "Subhadra Dhananjayam" takes 11 nights. Yesterday, a two hour portion from the end of the first act was performed. In the portion, both Subhadra and Arjuna, day dream about each other and the Vidushaka comes in to narrate how he got into the service of Arjuna and how the meeting of Subadhra and Arjuna came about.

Two 'Mizhavu' and one 'Idakka' form the background music for the Koodiyattam. The young men who played the Mizhavu nonstop for the two hours were sweaty and tired by the end and their palms deep red. There was also a small girl who sat on the side of the stage with a 'chingi' through out the performance.

In two hours it was clear that Koodiyattam is the origin of all the subsequent traditional dance forms of Kerala like Krishnan Attam, Kathakali and Chakyar Koothu. The performance begins with a ceremonial curtain just like the 'Thiranottam' in Kathakali. Since I sat to the side of the stage, I could see that behind this rectangular curtain held up by two assistants, the artists in full costume perform a 'vandana' (bowing) to the musicians and the instruments. 

The beautiful Dr. Indu brought Subadhra, restive in memories of her first meeting with Arjuna, alive on stage. The love birds in the spring garden almost make her lose control. She acts out how the rakshasa abducted her, how Arjuna saved her and how shy she was on seeing his brave, god-like appearance. In an attire, crown and jewelry that anticipates Nangyar koothu costume by several centuries, her character speaks or rather sings only one line, rest is all acted out through mudras and facial expression. The line that was sung resembled Buddhist chanting in its tonality and variation. 

Saneesh as Arjuna, in a costume and make-up that is precursor to Kathakali, conveyed the losing concentration and recurring daydreams of the great archer perfectly. The black beal flower like eyes of the beautiful Subhadra fluttering in fear distract him from his discipline. Who is this maiden who has shattered my heart which I had so securely (su-bhadra) guarded? What is her name, he wonders! His singing was also akin to chanting I have heard from Tibetan monks.

As Arjuna is lost in the dream, the jester played by Shri Margi Madhu, enters. The jester or Vidushaka in Koodiyattam is pretty much what became spun off as Chakyar Koothu. The costume is identical with the facial paint and the international 'clown' make up of red dots to match. For the first couple of minutes, he does the same gestures that are the opening moves of Chakyar koothu. He plays with the 'poonul', the sacred thread across his chest, as if it was trouser suspenders. Then he inspects his tuft of hair. The thread and tuft are meant to convey his high caste origins. The tuft is artifical over the golden, shiny, halo like crown. While he examines the tuft, a rather long (imaginar) hair comes off it. He takes his sweet time to roll it up using two fingers and throw it away. Then he squeezes his upper body cloth dry and uses it to fan himself. All the while he constantly imitates chewing a mouth full of 'murukkan' (betel leaves, aracenut, lime combination).

The vidushaka, in this case a poor brahmin named Kautilya, who goes off to serve Yudhishtira but lands in service of Arjuna, narrates the poverty he was suffering at home. Margi Madhu included plenty of saracastic jibes at current Kerala political and social events in his narration. Then he talks about how Arjuna had to set off on a pilgrimage. The Pandavas take a vow that their common wife Draupadi will spend one year with each of them and at that time, none of the other brothers should see her. If they do, they have to go on a pilgrimage to all the holy rivers for a year. 

Arjuna breaks this vow when he enters Yudhishtira's palace to collect some of his weapons to help a brahmin named Govardhana. Now Kautilya,the jester, who hates bathing as such, has to tag along with Arjuna who insist on dipping in even the shadiest of "holy" ponds. "Some of the ponds we see are nothing more than frog's urine but my friend,Arjuna, will roll around even in such waters to get rid of his sins" jokes the jester.

It is towards the end of this pilgrimage that they chance upon Subhadra. Up in the sky, Kautilya notices a dark cloud with a lightning. But to Arjuna's eyes, they are revealed to a Rakhshasa demon abducting Subhadra. She struggles and falls back to earth into the waiting arms of Arjuna. Margi Madhu even played on Dr. Indu's name which means moon as part of his improvisation on a poem describing Subhadra's beauty. She appears to him like a lightning topped by the moon.

Very easy to see how the jester would have been the most popular character in any of these plays and how this led to the rising popularity of his tongue, Malayalam, on stage. I need to find out if this characterization of the brahmin accelerated the popularity of brahminism in Kerala as Koodiyattam followed soon after Shankaracharya's grand revival of the Upanishad traditions. The Vidushaka's popularity is akin to Jon Stewart's or Colbert's in our times. Could it have been a stepping stone to social and political power that led to rigid caste system in Kerala by the 11th century? Or could the portrayal as jester been a dig at the brahmins, the priestly class, by the royalty and other courtiers who created and performed Koodiyattam? There were lines by the jester about how his forefathers have forgotten the Vedas. Were these original or later additions or the performer's improvisation?I am sure some of the answers can be found in Dr. Paulose's magnum opus on Koodiyattam. But prohibitively priced at Rs. 950, I will mostly be browsing through it at book fairs.

At the end of two hours, when the act ended,it looked like these talented artists were only getting started. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to a grand old art form. One thousand years...imagine that! What art form created in our times will be around in year 3100?!

Natya Panchakam continues with 5 dramas to be staged till till March 15. It would be thoroughly enjoyable if the audience, especially the AIR and Doordarshan staff stopped talking so loudly on their perpetually ringing cellphones and among themselves as if they are doing a favor on the artists on stage by attending the event.