There are two types of kuttu in Kerala. The Prabandham Kutta, popularly known as kuttu, is concerned with the exposition of Puranic stories by the actor in the role of the Vidushaka. The other is the actual staging of Sanskrit plays called Kutiyattam. Nangyar kuttu is not a distinct type; it is mono-acting by a Nangyar representing, through gestures alone, the story line or episode selected for enactment.
Kutiyattam is often defined as the traditional presentation of classical Sanskrit drama on the Kerala stage. It is also frequently described as the only surviving form of the Sanskrit theatre in the whole of India. Sometimes it is also claimed that it is the most authentic and pristine form of ancient Indian theatre. The entire body of the actor and his costume are involved in this process of aesthetic communication. The actor, with the active support of the drummer, has to rouse the imagination of the spectator, so that the latter can catch up with the flights of imagination of the former, while presenting detail after detail of a specific passage.
Less text, more interpretation
Kutiyattam seems to prefer a minimal text to one that contains descriptions of what the actor has to do every moment of the play. The playwright who specifies in advance what the character has to do before or during or after a piece of dialogue or monologue is not the ideal playwright for the Kutiyattam theatre.
The attempt to present imagined reality taxes and teases the imagination of the actor as well as the person who prepares the manual. Ideally there is no text without performance: in fact, it is the performance that determines the text. In Kutiyattam it seems the performance is the real text. The elaboration is the contribution of the performer. It is achieved in a number of ways. One of them is the narration of the events starting at some point in the past and leading up to a particular point in time. Another device is the narration in reverse: from the present moment back to some point of time in the past.
A third is the narration entirely through gesticulation without the actor or actress speaking. A fourth means of elaboration is the illustration by narrating an implied story within a story. The purpose of all this elaboration is to dramatise an interesting event or anecdote which may be interesting in itself, although it may not be an integral part of the main plot. In fact, Kutiyattam is seldom concerned with the mere telling of a particular story from beginning to end. It delights in delaying, deferring the end.
The venue called Kuttambalam
Kutiyattam is performed within a Kuttambalam, one of the five structures(pancha prasada) attached to a temple, which has been sanctified with rituals. It is limited to actors from the communities of Chakyar (each temple has particular families ordained to perform the plays) and Nambiar, and is performed as a mode of worship or offering. Kutiyattam is a ritualistic theatre (natya yajna) which, once commenced, should not be stopped till its successful completion.
Before Kutiyattam can start, the lamp on the stage is lighted with a wick from the sanctum sanctorum. The Chakyar offers naivedyam to Ganapati and Saraswati, while the Nangyar invokes these deities as well as the dikpalas by singing Akkitta verses.
Origin of Kutiyattam
According to the Kerala tradition, it was King Kulasekhara Varman, who lived around 900 AD and authored the two dramas, Subhadradhananjaya and the Tapatisamvarana, who was responsible for reforming the Sanskrit stage in Kerala. It is said that in this work he was ably helped by a Brahmin scholar, popularly known as Tolan. The innovations attributed to Tolan and the king mainly are: (a) the introduction of the local language by the Vidusaka to explain the Sanskrit and Prakrit passages, (b) the addition of the humorous element by introducing extraneous matter such as the parody on the four Purusarthas, and (c) the confining of the staging of Sanskrit plays as a templeart to be performed exclusively by the Chakyar and the Nambiar community. The art of staging these Sanskrit plays in Kerala has been handed down from generation to generation as an exclusive hereditary profession by the Chakyars and Nambiars. The real actors are the Chakyars, and the women of the Nambiar community called Nangyars.
There are several references in literature about the Nangyars as great dance experts. The Nangyar’s duty is not only to play the role of the female characters wherever required, but also to sing songs and to use the cymbals to keep the tala. The women of the Chakyar community have nothing to do with the stage.
The staging of Kutiyattam
The Sanskrit plays were staged by the Chakyars only in the vicinity of temples. It was developed exclusively as a temple-art. Some of the big temples like those at Trichur, Perumanam and Irinjalakkuda have theatres called Kuttambalam. On one side of the performance area is the green-room, in front of it is the stage, and the rest of the place is for the audience -this is the general arrangement in the theatres. At the back of the stage, inside a wooden frame are kept two big drums called Mizhavu which are big pots about three feet high made of copper, with the mouth covered tightly with leather. The Nambiar plays on them with his hands. There is a high seat for the Nambiar to sit upon while playing on the drum.
The decoration of the stage, Rangaprasadhana, is done with tender leaves of coconut palms, bunches of tender coconuts, plantain trees with fruits, red silk and the cylindrical measuring vessel called para filled with rice. The pillars are decorated by covering them with silk. There is one stool on the stage for the actor to sit upon when necessary.
The Natyashastra prescribes an elaborate series of preliminaries called Poorvaranga, which must be performed before the actual drama can begin. This is the basis for the preliminary rites performed by the actors on the Kerala stage. The preliminary rituals and the first introduction of the main character get over on the first day. From the second day onwards begins the Nirvahana of the hero, which is the description of his earlier life prior to the incidents to be actually staged. Next comes the first introduction of the Vidushaka (jester or clown) followed by the Purusartha discussion which takes four days to finish. Then the actual Nirvahana of the Vidushaka begins.
Broadly speaking, the aharya or make-up for the Kutiyattam may said to be similar to that of the Kathakali, but simpler. In Kutiyattam, chutti or the lining made with rice-flour paste around the cheek and the chin is narrower; the head-dress is also smaller.
There are in fact, different types of make-up like paccha, pazhukka, kari and katti. Kings of magnanimous nature have pazhukka make-up, and their face is painted in a reddish colour. Haughty characters like Ravana have the katti type; as in Kathakali here also there is a round ball on the tip of the nose. The female characters have also the pazhukka make-up and have special dress, jacket and an upper garment (uttariya) rolled like a sacred thread.
The role of the Vidushaka
The Vidushaka is the most prominent character in kuttu and kutiyattam; his role has grown in size and importance in the course of time, and has almost overshadowed all the other characters of the plays enacted. He is the only person who speaks in the local Malayalam language, and explains the Sanskrit and Prakrit passages spoken by the other characters in his presence. Both by his words and by his actions he adds to the humorous element. It is no wonder that he has come to occupy a unique position in the traditional Kerala stage.
He has absolute freedom of speech. Personal references, pointed allusions and innuendos were the weapons put into the hands of the Chakyars, and these they used unsparingly, whether the victims were princes or nobles, patricians or plebians, when the good of the society necessitated an exposure of their conduct. The Vidushaka gets ample opportunity to criticise the administration, and point out the defects of corruption, with sharp thrusts. Being a fool he has the liberty to criticise even the king!
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Dr. Kanak Rele
The writer is Director, Nalanda Dance Research Center and is a recipient of Padmabhushan award, Akademi Ratna (Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi)[/column]