A nearly 2000 year old artform Kutiyattam, the only surviving Sanskrit Theatre needs to be appreciated more, says Priya Nair

The year circa 10 AD, the place-a small temple in Kerala. It is dusk and the temple lamps in the Kuttambalam (theatre in the temple) are lit and the audience is engrossed in a Kutiyattam performance. The scene has Lalitha (the beautiful form assumed by Surpanaka) trying to woo Lord Rama and his brother Laxmana. Angered by the refusal of the two brothers, Lalitha vows revenge to the accompaniment of drumbeats and walks off in a huff.
The woman's husband and father look on in pride even as they try to concentrate on their parts in the play!
Developed nearby 2000 years ago, Kutiyattam, performed only by people from a certain religion the Chakyars, Nangiars - women of the Nambiar community, - it is the only surviving form of Sanskrit theatre in India today. It is also probably the only form of theatre, which from the beginning had women portraying the roles of female characters unlike the other theatre where generally men dressed as women performed the roles. Female roles were not only given prominence, they also retained a degree of freedom in them that is perhaps unsurpassed by any other form of theater currently surviving.
"Women were allowed to perform even in those highly feudal times as their whole family would be involved in the drama," explains Kalamandalam Shylaja, one of the exponents of Kutiyattam.
She is in Mumbai to perform in a Women's Theatre Festival organised by Prithvi Theatre and a Mumbai-based organisation, Keli which promotes different forms of art. The three-day festival will also have performances by Kalamandalam Girija and Margi Sathy. These three were the first non-Nangiar women who learnt this art. Kutiyattam is a highly evolved form of art where the emphasis is on hand gestures facial expressions and the movement of the eyes, which is not found in any other art form. And to give the artistes more freedom, offshoots of the dance form - Chakyar Koothu and Nangiar Koothu - were evolved. Nangiar Koothu, which involves solo performances by women of events in the Ramayana or Mahabharta, once again brings to fore the importance given to women in Kutiyattam. According to Sathy, Nangiar Koothu evolved out of the love of a king for a Nangiar women. Kulashekhara Perumal, a king of Kerala who helped to revive Kutiyattam, when Sanskrit theatre was in the decline, married a Nangiar woman. Her community decided to excommunicate her. Saddened by this, he helped devise Nangiar Koothu in which only women performed.
Though the art form survived down the years, performances began getting more and more shoddy. " Kutiyattam survived mainly because it was in the hands of a few people who kept it alive, but it was also the reason for its decline," says Sathy. Kutiyattam was being performed merely as a way to keep the home fires burning and not out of love for the art form, she explains.
Kalamandalam, an organisation, which teaches ancient Kerala art decided to propagate the art form and got Painkulam Rama Chakyar, one of the greatest performers at that time to teach Kutiyattam to youngsters in 1965. Then in 1971, for the first time, a young girl, who was not a Nangiar joined the organisation to learn this art form. The Nambiar community opposed these developments but to no avail. "I had to deal with a lot of barbs from people when I joined," reminisces Shylaja. In the next few years, two more girls, Girija and Sathy came to learn this dance form. "The art form would not have survived for much longer if it had not been brought out of the temples," says Sathy.
"Our teacher, Rama Chakyar not only made this art form available to the masses, he also brought about innumerable aesthetic changes to Kutiyattam," adds Girija. He designed certain dress codes for the men and women and also made improvisations in the dance form to make it look more appealing. Rama Chakyar was also a rebel of sorts. Wanting to break all the stifling norms of society, he took his troupe, including the three women to Paris in 1980 - a trip out of the country would have meant excommunication from his community.
"While a lot has changed since then, there are still some temples which will not allow us to perform in their premises because we are duplicate Nangiars," laughs Girija. While the art has gained acceptance and there are more and more youngsters coming to learn this art, there seems to be a dearth in appreciation from the general public, the women felt.
"People don't have any patience today. They are more worried about reaching home in time for dinner, than watch a play," says Shylaja. And ironically, Kutiyattam has not only gained international recognition and appreciation, youngsters from all over the world come to Kerala to learn it. Meanwhile, even as the audience looks on the stage in anticipation, they hear a blood-curdling scream behind them. While on the stage, chemicals are thrown into the flame of the lamp to make the flames go high up in the air, a black-faced person with blood streaming down his body and face rushes towards the stage: Chunks of flesh and blood fall off as the person rushes towards the stage. Surpanaka has been humiliated and defaced while the audience looks on mouths wide open in fear and astonishment.