Kerala art livens up temple festival
B. RAMADEVI
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The 10-day celebration to mark the fourth Kumbabhishekam of the Ayyappaswamy Temple Bhajana Mandapam, New Sidhapudhur, Coimbatore, included performances of Kathakali.
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AUTHENTIC STYLE:Kathakali at the Ayyappan Kovil, Sidhapudhur, on the occasion of its Kumbabhisekham. — PHOTO: S. Siva Saravanan
Kerala's Kathakali and Chakyar Koothu (a.k.a. Kootiyattam) are typical examples of ancient temple art forms, which take their storyline mainly from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Coimbatore witnessed excellent samples of these art forms during the fourth Kumbabhishkem of the Ayyappaswamy Koil Bhajana Mandapam, New Siddhapudur. The 10-day fest included religious discourses, musical concerts and presentations of Kerala's temple art forms. The Kathakali presented by Dhanvantri Kalakshetra was a visual treat. The theme was `Karna Shapatham.'
Emotional dialogue
The portion had been conveniently divided into scenes with important characters such as Bhanumathi, Duryodhana, Karna, Dusshashana and Kunti. The emotional dialogue filled with poetic beauty brought out the traits of each character. With the warmth of a brother, Karna assures Bhanumathi, that he will make her husband Duryodhana, the lord of the Universe. But soon trouble greets him in the form of his mother, Kunti, who begs him to come back to her as the eldest Pandava. He resists and vows (shapatham) to remain a friend of Duryodhana but as a consolation promises her that he will kill no Pandava except Arjuna. In this moving episode Karna rises above all the other characters and earns the admiration of all in spite of being in the wrong group. All the actors did an excellent job while `Karna' was at his best. Navarasas were flowing through his facial expressions and gestures. Vatsalya, Veera and Karuna rasas were predominant.
In the heart-warming ambience of the typical Kerala temple, illuminated with hundreds of oil lamps, the Kathakali gave the audience an out of the world experience. The soulful music was presented by Palanad Diwakaran and Kottakkal Jayan. Chanda and Maddalam were played very effectively by Sadanam Ramakrishnan and by Sadanam Kuttan respectively.
Effective narration
Kootiyattam, also known as Chakyar Koothu, is another ancient theatrical art form performed by a community of male actors called Chakyars, assisted by drummers called Nambiars. The narrator is a jester (Vidhushaka) who holds the attention of the audience with his effective narration often taking recourse to humour, which includes making fun of the audience.
Kalamandalam Rama Chakyar, an eminent exponent of Chakyar Koothu presented the episode `Panchali Swayamwaram.' Dressed in the typical costume and headgear, his narration in Malayalam was enjoyed by the audience.
It was remarkable that with so much distraction and diversion he did not lose the thread of the story.
The ease with which he recited the Sanskrit slokas and the spontaneity with which he narrated the story deserve real merit. It is to the credit of the temple committee that they arranged for such a wonderful art form which deserves to be preserved, pointed out C. K. Aravind, president of the Kathakali Club, Coimbatore.
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