Kutiyattam

As the sole extant form of traditional Sanskrit theater in India, Kutiyattam literally means Combined Acting. Through the fourfold concept of acting dealt with in the Natyasastra namely Angika (movements of the body & the limbs), Vachika (verbal acting), Satwika (emotive acting) and Aharya (make-up & costuming), excerpts from the well known Sanskrit plays of Sree Harsha, Neelakanta, Bhasa, Kulasekhara Varman, Bodhayana and others are presented on stage. The first stage-performance of Kutiyattam to go with the reliable evidence dates back to 10th -11th century when the king Kulasekhara Varman (who ruled parts of the present day Kerala) composed two plays, Subhadradhananjayam and Tapatisamvaranam. It is strongly believed by the practitioners of Kutiyattam and by a section of scholars that Tolan, a great humorist and scholar, guided Kulasekhara Varman in the choreography of the plays paving the way for a highly impressive stage performance with Vidooshaka in the lead role along with other protagonists. The plays that are in vogue in Kutiyattam are Mathavilasom, Kalyanasaugandhikam, Balivadhom etc. Kuttu which is primarily a verbal discourse by an erudite as well as witty Chakyar has three divisions viz. Adiyanthira kuttu (ritual performance), Vazhipadukuttu (votive offering) and Kazhchakuttu (plays meant as entertainment).

Prabandhakuttu is the most popular form of Kuttu through which the Chakyar unfolds stories with humor, sarcasm and satire. The local tongue used by the Chakyar helps him establish easy and effective rapport with the masses. Aattaprakaram is the theatre-manual encompassing the fourfold concept of acting as applied in Kutiyattam while Kramadeepika deals with stage setup, production, usage of costumes and remuneration to artists. These are the two major ingredients in the rich repertoire of Kutiyattam. Kutiyattam uses a host of solid techniques of presentation on stage. The most important among those is pakarnnattam by which one and the same actor does multiple roles by marking slight changes in the spatial use or by repositioning an element of the aharya. The protagonists in Kutiyattam employ distinctive narrative modes. Notable among those are anukramam, samkshepam and nirvahanam. In the words of Dr. Sudha Gopalakrishnan, anukramam is the recapitulation of the previous story in reverse order, starting from the last incident and going on backwards in time to the first, in the format of a volley of questions. “Samkshepam is a brief summary of the story in the normal order starting from the beginning and ending at the beginning of the day of the enactment of the play. The beginning of the actual play is through nirvahanam, in which the main character or any other character narrates the past episodes in detail “.