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At Varkala, a coastal town of Kerala, the bells of
the Hindu temple of Janardhana beckon pilgrims to worship. At
sundown, one hears a different sound – ‘the beating of
drums, piercing the twilight beyond the red cliffs and coconuts
groves. The drum beats signal that a Kathakali session is about to
begin.
Men in clean white mundus
(sarong-like lower garment) are busy decorating the make-shift bamboo
stage with mango leaves, banana stems, bunches of coconut flowers and
strings of electric bulbs. A brass lamp about four and a half feet
high sheds its mellow light around the platform.
By now the local
residents have already taken their seats and more are arriving from
neighbouring villages, some carrying babies and other rolled bamboo
mats tucked under the arm. They re eager to spend the night in the
company of gods and demons and to rejoice in their mysterious
exploits.
As the Varkala sky turns
darker, a conch shell blows. Soft and faint at first, it swells
gradually and fills the humid air with the power of a celestial
voice. Two singers begin to recite the first few lines of the story
while two others holding a curtain, some six feet by none, enter the
stage. The drum sound rises to a crescendo. Spectators crane their
necks to see a mythological hero emerge from behind a curtain. He
looks large than life and is resplendent in his towering headdress,
elaborate costume and unusual ornaments.
Gripping the curtain’s
edge with his taloned hands, the dancer shakes it vigorously
screaming in wild fury. Like lighting, the curtain bearers vanish
into the dark, leaving the epic character to begin the day’s
play.
Kathakali literally means
“story-play”. It is some 300 years old but its roots go
back almost 1500 years. It draws from almost every type of
formalized dance, drama and martial arts. A number of its elements
and choreography have been influenced by the 9th century
art of Kuttiyattam, the only surviving form of Sanskrit
theatre. Despite the inroads of modern theatre, cinema and
television, Kathakali, continues to attract enthusiastic audiences in
and outside Kerala. This dance-drama has also been able to retain
much of its original stylized form, rich in its theatrical traditions
and unique values, based on the ancient Natyashastra, a
rhetorical work on dramaturgy which lays down principles governing
the art forms of dance and music.
Kathakali scenes are
woven around legends and stories from the ancient Hindu epics like
the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagvata Purana.
Practiced traditionally by men, it is an exacting discipline. People
who witness the play are familiar with its stories narrated to them
during childhood by their mother and grandmothers. They have also
seen the epic heroes and heroines painted on temple walls and carved
on pillars.
Kathakali is a unique
combination of the insights of an actor, dancer, singer, drummer,
sculptor, designer and dreamer. It is distinguished for the richness
of its colour, a complex language of eye-movements and its
hand-gestures, the mudras. It is also the most dynamic dance
form unrivalled for its majesty and impact enhanced by glittering
costumes of special design.
Four to five hours before
the start of the play, the dancers subject themselves to an elaborate
make-up. This is governed by complex symbolism of line and design.
Each dancer at first paints his face himself in a manner tailored to
the kind or role be plays. Looking into a small mirror, he applies
hand-ground colours mixed in coconut oil. Paccha or green stands for
noble characters, divine heroes and kings. Red represents valour and
ferocity and black savage characters called katti. It takes
long to master the art of make-up and students spend many years
practicing it, painting on the rounded bottoms of terracotta posts.
After the initial
colouring of their faces, dancers lie down on bamboo matts
“backstage” surrounded by tall brass lamps, as the
putty-master – asan – begins to work on their faces.
They re metamorphosed into supernatural begins with divine powers of
churning oceans, lifting mountains, hurtling through skies and
pounding hordes of enemies to dust.
Following a traditional
style which is centuries old, the putty-master works using a variety
of materials like putty or chutty, paper, cork and polysterene
to alter the dancer’s facial topography. The Chutty, a
viscous paste of cockleshell, lime and rice powder is applied with
great care and precision around the facial contours. The paste must
be strong enough to withstand the vigorous dance movements as well as
the flexing of face muscles which, during a performance, constantly
twist, twitch, expand, contract or quiver to express various
emotions. The dancer’s face is further widened by attaching to
its sides carefully trimmed and curled strips of white paper embedded
in the putty.
The impressive power of
Kathakali is enhanced by gorgeous costumes, billowing skirts with
streams of scarves and glittering jewels, gold and silver foil.
Before entering the stage, the dancer obliterates the natural colour
of his eyes by inserting two cundapoova (solanum pubscens)
seeds, one under each eyelid. The eye balls are vigorously rotated
until they turn ink (for lovers) or deep, bloody red (for demons).
He then bows before a lamp seeking the blessings of the deity, Durga,
and then struts on to the stage to dance and mime his role, while the
singers – one playing the gong and the other the cymbals –
begin to narrate the story in the Malayalam language to the rhythmic
sound of the drums.
Kathakali dancers,
liberated from the tyranny of words, perform through mime,
hand-gesture and eye movement. The story is interpreted by highly
symbolic mudras – meaningful gestures of the land –
conveying a whole world of emotions. In this sign language, hands
and figures positioned differently stand for specific words, tenses
verbs and phrases. There are 24 basic gestures with many
permutations and combinations, which together, convey ideas,
feelings, objects and actions. Through his facial expressions and
eye-movements a dancer conveys emotions like love, passion, laughter,
ridicule, sorrow, pity, horror, disgust, tranquility, heroism and
wonder.
Such mastery is the
result of years of rigorous training imparted at Kathakali schools
from the age of about twelve. The most notable among them is the
Kerala Kalamandalam at Cheruthuruthy established in 1930 by the
celebrated Kerala, poet Vallathol Narayana Menon and his friend
Mukunda Raja.
At the Kerala
Kalamandalam young boys who receive a stipend from the government go
through an exacting drill of body massage with medicated sesame oil,
dancing lessons, muscle-control and eye-exercises, tears roll down
their eyes as they practise moving their eyeballs in circles,
semi-circles, up and down and even executing the figure 8. Their day
starts with oil-massage given by the asan (master) who places
his big toes on the oiled-body of the pupil and gently massages by
putting his entire body weight on the toes.
With many years of such
arduous training and dedicated application behind them, Kathakali
dancers group themselves into well-knit teams and perform in places
such as Varkala, dancing into the small hours of the night. As song
and drumbeats fill the air and the earth trembles under their feet,
spectators witness episodes that have thrilled people for centuries.
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