Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Tale of two valorous brothers

Acting with élan: Ammannoor Rajaneesh as Bhima.

The story of ‘Kalyanasougandhikam’ seems to have fascinated practitioners of all traditional art forms, be it Koodiyattom, Kathakali or Ottanthullal. But its nomenclature is derived from the most ancient art form of the lot – Koo diyattom. This can be gauged from the presence of a celestial ‘vidhyadhara’ named Kalyanaka in the play, who is absent in the text of the other two art forms.

This Koodiyattom was staged at Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam Temple by Ammannoor Chakyars on the occasion of the annual Koodiyattam festival. For the first time, the performance of the play included purappad and nirvahanam.

The story is from the ‘Vanaparva’ of the Mahabharatha, where Bhima goes in search of the Sougandhika flowers as per Draupadi’s request. A triumphant Bhima is intercepted by Hamuman at Kadhaleevanam and Bhima is humbled by his half-brother.

The celestial Kalyanaka with his wife, Gunamanjari, who have been sent by Indra, enters the scene and reveals the true picture and all is hunky dory as the two brothers make amends.

Actually, Kalyanasougandhikam is a ‘Vyayogam,’ a one-act play, written by Neelakanta Kavi. Moreover, the play is devoid of nirvahanam. The acting manual was written by none other than the legendary Ammannoor Madhava Chakyar.

With the support of K.V. Vasudevan, a Sanskrit scholar and an authority in Koodiyattam, who chipped in with 12 slokas for nirvahanam, Ammannoor Kuttan Chakyar and his disciples reconstituted the play and performed the Koodiyattam that was spread over five days. Another notable fact is that unlike in the two other art forms, here the encounter between Bhima and Hanuman takes place on the return journey of the former.

After the purappad and the customary nithyakriya on the first day, nirvahanam, which is a kind of flashback, was performed on the second day by Ammannoor Rajaneesh who portrayed Bhima. He enacted with élan the valour of Bhima as well as the ‘Ajhagarakabalitham’ – encounter between a lion, a python and an elephant, wherein the elephant is attacked by the lion and the python.

On the third day, Ammannoor Kuttan Chakyar as Bhima vividly sketched the scenic landscape.

What is interesting is that what Bhima sees on the second day of the play is quite different from what he sees on the third day. It speaks volumes for the imagination and creativity of the playwright.

The fourth day is devoted to the purappad of the celestials Kalyanaka and Gunamanjari, which drives home the importance of Kalyanaka in the play.

In fact, the story derives its title from his name. Ammannoor Kuttan Chakyar came up with an excellent portrayal of Hanuman.

Margi Rama Chakyar (Kalyanaka) and Aparna Nangiar (Gunamanjari) were the other performers. Kalamandalam Narayanan Nambiar, Chandran Nambiar (mizhavu), P.Nandakumar, Aniyan Marar (edakka), Indira and Sreeroopa (thalam) were the percussion artistes.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail