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KOOTIYATTAM:-
It is a unique temple art of Kerala and is the only surviving form of Sanskrit drama. The performance is confined to temple theatres known as koothambalams. The performers belong to the communities of chakkyars and nambiars. The chakkiars are the actors and the female members of the nambiar community undertake the female roles. Mizhavu is the accompanying instrument besides edakka, and kuzhithalam.
The plays:-
They belong to the Sanskrit series of Thiruvananthapuram-namely, those of Bhasa, kulasekhara Varman, sree harshan, Mahendra Vikrama Pallavan, Bodhayanan, apart from Aschary choodamani by Sakthi Bhadran.
Presentation:-
The Kootiyattam presented today was choreographed ten centuries ago by King Kulasekhara Varman with the assistance of Tholan. The presentation was highly stylized in Aharya Abhinaya (make-up, costume, and scenic spectacle) Angika Abhinaya (gesture) and Vachika Abhinaya (oral rendering).
In angika abhinaya the haasthamudras are liberally used, which are not totally or faithfully adapted from Natysastra or other texts in Hindu dramaturgy. The mudras are adapted from Hasthalakshanadeepika which draws from the Tantric mudras prevalent in Kerala. The charis, gatis and the movements of the angas and the upangas also do not follow Natyasastra.
In aharya the make up and costume do not copy the external features of the characters. It is symbolic. There is no typifying of characters as in Kathakali.
In Vachika ABHINAYA, THE TEXT OF THE SANSKRIT drama is rendered by the actor in intonations reminding us of the Yajur vedic chantings of the Nampoothiri brahmins. There is no attempt at making the speeches naturalistic. Even the ragas (they are called swaras in kootiyattam) do not have the solfa symbols of music.
Kootiyattam are never presented in full. It is elaborate and time consuming. It is played in parts. Swapana vasava datha is played as six different performances-each one called an anka. In Prathinga Nataka there is one anka called Mantrankam which requires 41 days to perform. There will be an oral exposition of the vidhushaka. Anguliyankam of Ascharya chudamani lasts for 12 full days. It tells the story of Ramayana including Vanarolpathi, by Hanuman by hand gestures alone.
Since one anka is performed at one time there a prelude to the performance called Nirvahana. Here one of the characters sums up the story presented in earlier acts. This takes many days and if this nirvahana is rendered by vidhushaka, it is an oral exposition. Other characters use only hand gestures for this.

There are plays in which Vidhushaka palys a dominant role-first act of subhadradhananjayam and Tapatisanvaranam. Here the emphasis is on the Vachika Abhinaya.
The slokas are enacted in such a way that the hidden meanings of the slokas are explained. For example, in Abhishekanataka, in Thorana Yudha, there is a sloka in which Ravana speculates that the reason for the attack of monkeys is due to the disrespect shown to him to Nandikeswara. The actor describes in detail the war between Ravana and Devas. Then the preparations of the war, the triumphant journey, description of Lanka, the blocking of pushpaka vimana by mount kailas, the features of the mount, the fight between Parvathi and Siva. The angika abhinaya takes three to four hours.
This seems tedious to an indifferent audience. For entertainment the vidhushaka spices it with humor and vulgarity. He expounds the four purusharthas (the four ultimate attainments in human life)-Rajaseva, aSanam(greedy enjoyment of food)Vinodam (sexual enjoyment with prostitute) and Vanchanam (betrayal). It is interpreted in place of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
(To be continued)
The Nangiars:-
The female members of the Nambiars are the nangiars, who have chosen the profession of dancing, acting and singing. Their spouses accompanied them on the mizhavu or edakka. The contribution of nangiars and nambiars to Kutiyattam is immense.

As said earlier, kootu and kootiyattam are practiced by chakkyars of Kerala. It was Kulasekhara Perumal who laid a strong foundation to this art form. He was a great connoisseur and one of the scholars of his court, a manual explaining the presentational aspects of his plays. Thus vyngya vakhya was composed.
Perumal introduced Nangiar into kootiyattam. They essayed the female roles along with the Nambiars and later solo performances of nangiars too developed which is called Nangiarkoothu. It is always the Nambiar who played the mizhavu. Thus the nangiars performed the female roles, with the chakkiyars (kootiyattam), performed nangiarkoothu and rendered songs and maintained tala with cymbals (kuzhithalam).
The chakkyars, wear upanayanam and they perform sandya while the nambiars don’t. If any nampoothiri woman is made an outcaste, her sons cane be made into chakkyars, and her daughters nangiars.
Duties of Nambiars:--. They play mizhavu. They help in the green room. He has to recite “arangu thaLi” just before the play. Certain plays are tough language wise. Nambiars translate them in the vernacular language (which was then Tamil) and it is called Nambiar Tamil.
Yet another role of Nambiars is the performance of Padhakam. They narrate stories on the basis of Chambu-s in Malayalam. He wears a special head gear called mudi. In olden days the nambiars is asked to perform Padhakam in the temple of ThaLi in calicut. If he passed the test he is entitled to wear the mudi.
Padhakam is different from Chakkyar koothu (Prabhanda koothu). Mizhavu is essential for the prabhanda koothu. The chakkyar has the liberty to make sarcastic remarks on anything under the sun. He passes comments at the audience. This liberty is not provided for the Nambiars while performing Padhakam.

One who recited Padhakam is a Padhakan. The Nambiars who play mizhavu are called Panivadan. Kunchan Nambiar the legendary poet who invented Thullal, was a panivadhan.

(To be continued)