KUTIYATTAM – MANTHRANKOM
Koodiyattam is one of the few age-old classic art forms in the entire world. The theatre art is around 2000-years-old. Elanko’s literature work Chilambathikaram, written in the fourth century, has the mention of Koodiyattam. Koodiyattam means combined dance. It is the theatre adaptation of Sanskrit plays. Shaktibhadra’s Aashcharyachudamony and Bhasa’s Abhishekam and Prathima are the Ramayana plays performed in Koodiyattam. In fact, 365 days are required to perform these three plays because of the subtle acting used. Koodiyattam has a special distinction among other Indian classical arts due to this kind of Sukhmabhinayam, the subtle and detailed acting. Therefore only selected act of the plays are enacted in a performance and thus the performance is called after the name of that act. Different stages of a performance are Purappadu, Nirvahanam and Koodiyattam. In first stage, a character enters and in second stage he himself transforms to narrator through a turning called Pakarnattam. In this stage, the narrator recapitulates the story. In final phase all the characters of the act enter stage and the rest of story enacted.
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Keywords: art, culture, heritage, india, kerala, kutiyattam, tradition, unesco
