Gopi Ashan's Sapthathi

A set of grant events are planned for this Festival.

I request all of you to make donations liberally according to your financial ability.

Postal address :
Gopi Ashan Sapthati Committee,
Iledam Shankaran Namboothiri,
Jayashree Lodge (old)
Guruvayoor Pin: 680101
Phone: 0487 2553360

If you can do online money transfer, please contact me through e-mail/phone (ganesh.vigneswara@gmail.com, ganesh.nelakanta@nxp.com, 9845858579), I will give you my bank account number. For the online-transfer, I will send you the receipt.

Any donations for this evet will be a great help to the organizing committee and you treat this as your GURUDAKSHINA to our Beloved Ashan.

The event details are:

Venue: Kala Padmanabhan Nair Nagar (Municipal Town Hall, Guruvayoor)
26th May:
9 AM: Photo/Book Exhibition Inaguration
10 AM: Ashtapadi -Guruvayoor Janardhanan Nedungadi
11 AM: Keli -Pookkattiri Divakara Pothuval, Cherpulasserry Sivan
12 noon: Ottantullal - Kalamandalam Geethanandhan

2 PM: Seminar - Gopi Ashan's contribution to Kerala Natyakala
(Bharat Murali, Nedumudi Venu, Dr Grama prakash etc)

Evening 6PM onwards Kathakali:

Purappadu: Panchapandavas and Panchali

1. Nalacharitham 2nd Day:

Nalan1: Gopi Ashan
Damayanthi 1: Margi Vijayakumar
Kali: Nelliyodu Vasudevan Namboothiri
Dwaparan: Kottarakkara Ganga
Indran: Kalamandalam Mukundan
Pushkaran: Kalamandalam Krishnakumar
Nalan 2: Kott. Chandrashekharan
Damayanthi 2: Mathoor Govindan kutty
Kattalan: Madavoor Vasudvan Nair

2: Duryodhanavadham

Duryodhana 1: Injakkattu Ramachandran Pillai
Dussasanan 2: Margi Muraleedharan Pillai
Panchali: Kalamandalam Rajashekharan
Dharma puthrar: Kalamandalam Keshavan Namboothiri
Bhiman: Neeraj
Sakuni: Kala Madumohanan
Arjunan: Vivaswatha Manu
Nakulan: Chinosh
Sahadevan: Aravind
Krishnan: Kalanilayam Gopalakrishnan
Dritharashtrar: Azhikkode Harikumar
Duryodhanan2: Kala Sree kumar
Dussasanan 2: Kottakal Keshavan Embranthiri
Mumukshu: RLV Pradeep Kumar
Roudra Bhima: Sadanam Balakrishnan

Music:
Madambi Subrahmanyan Namboothiri
Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan
Pathiyoor Shankaran kutty
Kalamandlam Babu Namboothiri
Kalamandalam Vinod
Kalanilayam Rajeev
Vengeri Narayanan Namboothiri
Kalamandalam Sudhish

Chenda
Kuroor Vasudevan Namboothiri
Kala Balaraman
Kala Krishnadas
Kala Nandakumar
Kott. Vijayaraghavan
Kala Aneesh
Sadanam Sreehari

Maddalam
Kala Narayanan Nair
Kala Shankara Warrier
Kala Harinarayanan
Kala Gopikkuttan
Kala Sasi
Kalanilayam Prakashan
Mattannoor Sreejith

Chutty
Kalanilayam Parameswaran
Kalanilayam Janarddhanan
Kott. Ramachandran
Kala Sateeshan
Kala Sukumaran
Kalanilayam Devadas
V Prabhakaran Pilla

27th May

9 AM: Khoshayathra and Sweekaranam to Ashan Gurudakshina Acharyavandhanam Anumodana Sammelanam
(Anjam Krishnan Namboothiri, Chovallor Krishnan kutty, O N V Kuruppu, M A Baby, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, M. D. Vasudevan Nair, Bhrat Murali etc..)

2 PM: Suhrutsammelanam (artist Namboothiri etc.)

4 PM: Tayambaka: Kallor Ramankutty Marar and Mattannoor Shankaran kutty Marar

6 PM: Kathakali

Purappadu: 4 Mudi

1: Lavanasuravadham:

Sita: Kott. Sivaraman
Kushan: Balasubrahmanyan
Lavan: Kott Keshavan
Hanuman: Ramankutti Nair Ashan

2. Uttaraswayamvaram

Duryodhanan: Sri Kala Gopi Ashan
Bhanumathi: Shanmukhan
Doothan: Kala Harinarayanan
Sabha: KAla Manojkumar, Pradeepan, Balanarayanan
Trigarthan: Kott Devadas
Viradan: Kalanilayam Vinod
Valalan: KAla Pradeepkumar
Uttaran: Kalanilayam Balakrishnan
Patni: Kala Sivadas, Kala Vijayakumar
Pashupalakas: C M Unnikrishnan, Sunil kumar
Brihandhala: Sadanam Krishnankutty
Sairandhri: Vellinezhi Haridas
Uttara: Sadanam Vijayan

2 Dakshayagam

Dakshan: Kott Nandakumaran Nair
Indran: Kala Narayanan Kutty
Veerabhadran: Kavunkal Divakara Panikkar
Bhadrakali: Kala Manoj
Sivan: Kala Gopinathan
Sati: Chavara Parukutty
Bhootaganagal: RLV Prmod, Vivaswatha manu
Pooja Brahmanar: Chinosh, Aravind

Music
Kala Gangadharan
Kala Mohanakrishnan
Kott Narayanan
Palanadu Divakaran
Kott Madhu
Nedumpulli Rammohan
Kala Rajesh Menon

Chenda
Kala Prabhakara Pothuval
Kalanilayam Kunjunni
Kala Unnikrishnan
Kala Vijayakrishnan
Kott Prasad
Kala Balasundaran
Sadanam Ramakrishnan
Kala Krishnapraveen

Maddalam
Kala Narayanan Nambeeshan
Kala Ramankutty
Kotta Ravi
Kala Rajanarayanan
Sadanam Devadas
Sadanam Bharatarajan
Kala Venu
Kala Jayaprasad

Chutty
Kala Sivaraman
Kayyandam Neelakandan Namboothiri
Kala Balan
Koot Satheeshan
Kala Sivadasan
Kalanilayam Saji

Aniyara:
Appunni tharakan
Kunjiraman
Murali, Kunjan, Balan, Appu, Kuttan

Koppu: Kerala Kalamandalam, Cheruturuthi

Duryodhana Vadham - Story

Duryodhana Vadham is written by Vayaskara Arya Narayanan Moossatu. The play consists of the main parts of Mahabharata.

[Bhanumathi tells about the newly built palace of Pandavas to her husband Duryodhana. Duryodhana decided to see that beautiful palace.]

Duryodhana and other Kauravas went to see the beauty of Indraprastha, the new palace of Pandavas. The palace was built by the Asura architect Mayan who had built the palace with his magical skills. The Kauravas were completely confused by the construction and mistook the floor to be a pond and a pond to be a floor and fell and got drenched. Draupadi and Bhīma laughed at them. Yudhishtira advises Bhīma not to laugh at anybody because it will cause unwanted events to happen. This incident filled Duryodhana with anger and embarrassment and he decided to take revenge and left the palace.

Duryodhana approaches Sakuni, his uncle. Duryodhana’s padam starts with- mamatha wari rashe---- in which he expresses the shameful incident which happened to him and how he feels hurt and humiliated by the laughter of Bhima and Draupadi. Sakuni tries to console him. Padam- Paritapam hriti karutidenta--- in which he tells Duryodhana how he can defeat Pandavas by cheating in the game of Dice. He also tells Duryodhana to seek permission from his father and invite Yudhishtira for the dice game. Duryodhana happily agrees to the plan.

Pandavas came to see the newly built “Keli Gruham” (Play house) of Duryodhana. Duryodhana tells Dharmaputhra, “Hey great son of Yama, you are an expert in the game of dice and hence I desire to watch a game between you and my uncle Sakuni. If my uncle is defeated, I promise you that I will give you the penalty.”
Dharmaputhra replies, “The game of dice brings sorrow, it destroys the happiness, it creates mayhem, but it is decided by Lord Brahma that kings should play the game of dice. So I will play without any worries after offering prayers to Lord Krishna.” (Duryodhana expresses his irritation upon hearing the word Lord Krishna). Dharmaputhra continues “But my brother Duryodhana and my uncle Sakuni - please don’t cheat me in the game.” Sakuni replies,” What is the use of cheating in the game of dice. Don’t tell such nonsense. As per God’s wish, victory and defeat will come. Dharmaputhra, please do come and sit with us for the game”.
Then the game starts. Dharmaputhra starts seeing his defeat. He gambles away not only his army, palace, wealth and kingdom, but also one-by-one all his brothers, himself and their wife-in-common - Draupadi. Duryodhana overwhelmed with joy orders Dussasana to bring Draupadi and commands her to do the servile job. When she refuses to come there, Dussasana pulls her hair and drags her to the court. She asks for mercy and nobody including her husbands (because they are now servants of Duryodhana) hears her plea. She prays to Lord Krishna to help her. Dussasana tries to disrobe her in public. Lord Krishna helps Draupadi as a savior. Draupadi curses them, “Sakuni, who cheated my husbands in the game of dice and made them servants, will be killed by Sahadev during the battle. Dussasana who tried to humiliate me in front of the public will be killed by Bhīma and Bhīma would rip him open and drink his blood and my own hair would remain disheveled until the fulfillment of the curse. Bhima will kill Duryodhana by crushing his thigh with the gada.” [Drutharashtra tells Draupadi to stop the curses and tells her to ask anything she wants. She asks her husbands along with their weapons back. She got her husbands back. This part is not shown generally.] As a result of the second dice game Duryodhana orders, “Hey Pandavas! Live in thick forest for 12 years. And 13th year, lived incognito. If you are recognized during that period, the same will be repeated again.”

[After 13 years of exile Pandavas return to ask their rightful share back which is denied by Kauravas. As a last attempt for peace Lord Krishna is requested to go to Duryodhana as a messenger. Dharmaputhra tells Krishna to ask for half country. If not, at least 5 villages. If not, at least 5 houses, or even one house is enough. That is the greatness of Dharmaputhra.]

Draupadi comes near Lord Krishna, “Krishna, When Dussasana tried to humiliate me in front of the public, you only saved me from the humiliation. Krishna, when you are going to ask for our portion, you please remember my disheveled hair.”
Krishna replies, “My friend, Draupadi, don’t worry. You are the Queen among all women. All your wishes will soon come true. Please wait for that auspicious time. The bad act of Dussasana was a decision by God.” Thus Lord Krishna consoles and sends her back Lord Krishna then makes all the arrangements for his visit to Hasthinapura (Palace of Duryodhana).

[Duryodhana tells Dritarashtra that Pandavas should get the justice and also to tell his son to do the needful.]
Duryodhana gets the news of Lord Krishna’s arrival at his palace. Duryodhana ordered all people in the palace to give no respect to Krishna. Even though they agreed with him, when Krishna arrives in the court, all of them praised him and gave full respect. [Krishna will come through the audience with Alavettam, Venchamaram, Panchavadyam, and Muttukkuda]

Krishna addresses Duryodhana. Krishna requested him to give half of his country, then five villages, or five houses or at least one house to Pandavas. Duryodhana refuses to give even to give space taken by a needle point. Duryodhana in a fit of rage orderes Dussasana to get a cord to tie Krishna. Krishna takes the Vishwaroopa(his cosmic form) and all Kauravas in the court fell down except all Mumukshu (noble hearted people). These Mumuksu told Duryodhana to give whatever Krishna requested to save his own life. Lord Krishna leaves the palace; Duryodhana and Dussasana wake up and decide to go ahead with the battle.

[Arjuna wants Hanuman to be there and Hanuman appears and tells that he will be there in the flag of Arjuna to kill the enemies. Then Arjuna and Krishna is going to the battle field,, and seeing all brothers and relatives in the battle field, Arjuna fainted. Then Krishna adviced the Great “Gita”. Then Arjuna became strong and started the battle.]

In the battle field of Kurukshetra, Bhīma filled with anger faces his arch rival battles Dussasana. With the blessings of Lord Narasimha Bhīma kills Dussasana and ripples him open and drinks his blood, thus fulfills the vow of Draupadi.

[Then Duryodhana came for the battle, after a long battle, Krishna gives the sign of killing using the “Gadha” on the thighs of Duryodhana. Bhima did the same and Duryodhana fell down. Then Bhima told each and every bad thing happened in Pandava’s life because of Duryodhana and at last Duryodhana passed away. Then “Vethalams” came there and did some dances to express there joy.]

Later Lord Krishna calms him down and blesses him.

NOTE: The scenes written in bracket is not shown generally.

Character - Relationship - Make-up type

Duryodhana - Eldest of the Kauravas -Katti ( heroic villain)
Bhanumathi- Wife of Duryodhana- Minukku (Lady)
Dussasana -Second of the Kauravas -Chuvanna Tadi ( Red Beard )
Sakuni -Wicked uncle of Kauravas -Special
Dharmaputhra -Eldest of Pandavas -Paccha ( Noble Hero)
Draupadi -Wife of Pandavas -Minukku (Lady)
Bhima, Arjuna,Nakula, Sahadeva - Other Pandavas -Paccha

Dritharashtra - Father of Kauravas- Paccha with white beard
Hanuman -Devotee of Lord Rama- Vella thadi (White beard)
Lord Krishna -Incarnation of Vishnu- Paccha with mudi (Headgear)
Mumukshu -A saint- Minukku (Saint)
Roudra Bhima -Bhīma in his terrifying form -Special
Vethalams -People who eat human meat -Special Kari

KIRMEERA VADHAM

This is a story taken from the "Vanaparvam" of Mahabharatha. It is written by the great Attakkatha composer, Kottayam Tampuran.

Immediately after Pandavas were sent to Forest by Duryodhana (so the sory starts in the middle of Duryodhanavadham), Dharmaputhra and Panchali were thinking of how to feed the Brahmins who followed them to the jungle. So they decided to see "Showmya Muni" (not sure the exact name). The sage sugested them to pray Lord Surya (Lord Sun). Upon their pray, Lord Surya is coming in front of them and presented them "Akshaya parthra" with the condition that this special vessel will be full of food until Panchali is taking food. One day, Sree Krishna came there and seeing the difficulties faced by Pandavas, He became angry and thought "Sree Chakram" to kill all Kouravas. "Sudarshana Chakram " will appear in front of Him. But then Dharmaputhra will stop Sree Krishna from doing this action.

Duryodhana came to know about the "Akshayapathra labham" of Pandavas. So he decied to send Sage Durvasav and his 10000 diciples to the place of Pandavas just when Panchali finishes her lunch. So dharmaputhra will request them to take bath and come back for the lunch. Then Panchali will pray to Lord Krishna and Lord will immediately appear in front of her tlling that He is very hungry and he will get a single rice from the "Akshayapathra" and Lord will eat that rice. Immediately sage and his disciples will feel that their stcmach is full while they are taking bath. So they will bless Pandavas from near the river itself and will go back from there.

One day, the sister of Kirmeera (Simhika) will come near Panchali in the form of a beautiful woman when Pandavas are not present there and will start talking each other. Slowly she will take Panchali to the inner forest. After some time, Panchali will tell that she wants to go back. Then the Lalitha will take her real form and will tell that she will eat Panchali then. Hearing the crying of Panchali Sahadevan will come with a sword and will break Simhika's ear,nose, breast etc. She will run away from there towards and Kirmeera will become angry uopn knowing this incident. He will fight with Sahadeva and will caught him. Then our Bheema will come there and he will kill Kirmeera in a fight.

Ususally in most stages the scene "Lalitha and Panchali" is used to play nowadays. This is a story where "Ninam" is also present. ("Ninam" will be coming near Kirmeeran). Also the crown for Lord Surya will contain some additions to indicate the rays coming out of Him. Sudarshana Chakram has special make-up on the face to reflect the charector. Also there will be "Panthams" on both hands of Sudarshana Chakram.

SANTHANA GOPALAM സന്താനഗോപാലം

Written by Shri. Mandavapilli Ittiraricha Menon (1745 AD to 1809 AD), this story is explained in Slokas 22 to 66 in 89th Chapter of the 10th Canto of Sreemad Bhagavatam (The story of Lord Vishnu). Another great story in Kathakali, Rugmangada Charitham is also written by the same author.

This is a touching story of a Brahmin whose all the 9 babies died immediately upon birth. This is also a story of Lord Krishna removing the evil thought from Arjuna that nobody is there to beat him in this world.

Scene 1: Krishna and Arjuna

One day, Arjuna will come to Dwaraka. Sree Krishna asked whether all Pandavas are fine? Arjuna told that with the blessings of Lord Krishna all are perfectly fine there. Sree Krishna then asks him to stay there for some days and Arjuna agreed with that.

Scene 2: Balarama, Krishna, Arjuna, Brahmin

On a fine day, one Brahmin will come to the Yadava Sabha carrying the dead body of a new born baby and he tells that his eight kids died upon birth and this is the dead body of the ninth one. He wanted to show this to Balarama and Krishna and ask them to help him. Lord Krishna and Balarama won't mind him at all. Hence non of the Yadavas will mind him. After some time, Lord Krishna and Balarama will go out of the Sabha without telling even a single word. Arjuna is not able to tolerate the condition of Brahmana.Arjuna will tell that he will give the next baby who will born for this brahmin. Then Brahmin will start accusing Arjuna out of desperation and when Lord is also helpless, he lost all his hope. Atlast Arjuna will tell that if he is not able to save the next baby from death, he will jump into fire along with his great bow and arrow. When Arjuna promises in the name of Lord Krishna's lotus-legs, Brahmana became happy and he left the place.

Scene 3: Brahmin, His wife

Brahmana reaches back his home and tells the entire incident to his wife. Then she replies that as Lord Krishhna is not there to help them, she lost her hope. Then Brahmana replied that Arjuna promised that he will jump into fire if he cannot keep his promise. Lord won't leave that promised Pandava. So be happy that Lord Krishna will save our next kid.

Scene 4: (After a few months) Brahmin, His wife, Mid-wife 

In due time, the Brahmana wife will become pregnant. She will tell Brahmana that the delivery is going to happen soon. So please inform Arjuna immediately. Then Brahmana will call a "Vayattatti" (Mid-wife) to take care of his wife. He then went to Dwaraka to see Arjuna.

Scene 5: Brahmin, Arjuna, Brahmin's wife, Mid-wife 

Brahmana tells Arjuna that his wife is going to deliver a baby soon. So come with him and save the baby from death. Arjuna will go along with the Brahmain and he will make a house out of his arrows in such a way that there is not even a single hole for even a single sun ray to come inside. Then Brahmana will call his wife along with the "Vayattatti" to go inside the arrow-Dom for the delivery. After sometime the "Vayattatti" will tell that even the kid's dead body is also not present there. Arjuna is shocked to hear this. Brahmin blaims Arjuna for giving unnecessary hope and tells him to go and enjoy his life.

Scene 6: Arjuna, Yama, Chitragupta (Rare scene)

Arjuna went in search of the kid everywhere and reaches Yama's palace. He asks Yama about the kids with a lot of anger. Yama replies saying that he doesn't know about those kids in Dwaraka and that he has not kept any such kids with him. Chitragupta agrees to the same.

Scene 7: Arjuna, Indra (Rare Scene)

Arjuna, then reaches heaven and asks his father Indra about the kids. Indra replies saying that he is unaware of those kids from Dwaraka. He asks Arjuna to seek help from Krishna for the same.

Scene 8: Arjuna, Krishna, Sudarshanam

As Arjuna is unable to find the kids, he decided to keep his promise. He made a fire and when he is about to jump into it, Lord Krishna will appear in front of him and will stop him from jumping into the fire. Lord Krihna told, "It is world famous that Krishna is there always for Arjuna. when I am there to help you from any problems, why are you worrying? All the kids are safe in Vaikunta and we will take them and give them to their parents ". Then they went to Vaikunta. On the way when darkness prevailed, Lord will think about "Sudarshanam" and Sudarshanam will show the way to Vaikuntam.

Scene 9: (Vaikunta Darshanam) Arjuna, Krishna, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Bhoomi, 10 kids (Rare scene)

In Vaikuntam all ten kids were playing happily. When Krishna and Arjuna called the kids, they told that they won't go anywhere from their Parents Lord Vishnu and Lord Lakshmi. Then Lord Vishnu Himself will request them to go with Lord Krishna and Arjuna. Then the kids will agree and they all left from Vaikuta after getting blessings from Lord Vishnu and Lord Lakshmi.

Scene 10: Arjuna, Krishna, Brahmana, His wife, 10 kids

Lord Krishna, Arjuna and the ten kids came to Brahmins house and Arjuna gave all kids to Brahmin and Brahmin overwhelmed with joy and praises Lord Krishna and Arjuna.

Characters in the story

Krishna                                  - Pacha, Krishnamudi
Arjuna                                   - Pacha
Balarama                               - Pazhuppu
Brahmin                                - Minukku
Brahmin wife                        - Minukku (Lady)
Mid-wife                               - Minukku (old lady)
Yama                                     -Kathi (black strip in face)
Chitragupta                            - Minukku
Indra                                      - Pacha
Vishnu                                   - Pacha (like Krishna with Keshabharam crown)
Lakshmi                                - Minukku (Lady with crown)
Bhoomi                                 - Minukku (Lady)
10 kids                                  - Nine of them minukku, 10th kid will be a doll

Nalacharitham First Day

The story Nalacharitham is written by "Unnai Varier". It is the romantic story of unlimited love between Nala and Damayanthi. The story is such a big one that it is desighed to perform in four nights. The first day is till the marriage of Nala and Damayanthi. The second day is till Damayanthi reaches her father's palace, the third day is till Nala reaches Damayanthi's palace and the fourth day is Nala again gets back his Kingdom. I am sure that those who don't know Nalacharitham, this is vague. So we will see the complete Nala-Damayanthi story.

In Nalacharitham first day, the main charecters are:

Nala - Paccha
Sage Narada - Minukku (Maharshi)
Hamsam(The gold swan) - Special dress with yellow color dress, wings and beak
Damayanthi - Minukku (Lady)
Friends of Damayanthi - Minukku (Lady)
Indra -Paccha
Yama -Kurum Kathi
Agni -Special red color dress
Varuna -Paccha
Saraswathi -Minukku (Lady with a crown)

Even though I have written so many charecters above, you may not see all of them generally.

Nala, the king of Nishadha is famous for his good charecters. He is very generous, kind and affectionate towards the people in his country. He is handsome too. One day Sage Narada arrives at his palace. Nala with great respect and fear, welcomed him and asked him about the reason behind that arrival. Sage Narada mentioned about Damayanthi, the beautiful daughter of King Bhima. He also mentioned that she is well suited to him as his wife. Then sage left from the palace. Nala, who already heard about Damayanthi before from others, now become more affected. His love towards her increased and he is not able to do any work. So he gave the administration responsibilties to his ministers and left to sit alone for some time.

Nala tried to do many activites like doing some instruments, but everything ended up in thinking of Damayanthi. Then he decided to go to the garden. In garden the mell of flowers, the cacophony of birds etc irritates him. At that moment he saw a lot of swans in the pond. He got some sort of relaxation by seeing the swans and he noticed that one golden color swan sleeps on one corner of the pond lonely. Its body is completely gold in color. Nala slowly catched the swan using his hand and the swan woke up with a shock. It tried to flew away from there, but was already in Nala's hand. The swan started crying. the swan told that because of the gold on its body, Nala is not foing to become rich. Nala is surprised when he hear the voice of the swan. It speaks just like a human. The swan also added that its father is died, he is the only son, his wife and children will become widow and orphans. then Nala told him that he don't want to kill the swan. He caught the swan out of curiosity and Nala freed the swan. The swan flew away. Nala again started thinking about Damayanthi. Soon the swan came back and started showing the symbols of affection towards Nala. The swan then told like this,"Hey Nala, I haven't seen such a generous person in my life time. You are a very good personality. As you let me free, I would like to do a favour for you. Damayanthi, the daughter of Bhima is a beautiful princess and she will be the best suite for you. I will do the necessory things for your marriage". Nala replied him to do the needful at the earliest and the swan flew away towards Damayanthi.

The case of Damayanthi was not different. She heard about the good charecteristics of Nala from many people and she was also thinking only about him. Damayanthi along with her friends came to the garden and played for some time. Then she told her friends that she wanted to greturn to the palace. Then her friends replied,"When we were in the palace you told that you want to go to garden, when we are in the garden, you are telling that you want to go to palace. What is this? You see there are beutiful flowers here and very sweets sounds of birds etc.". But for her the smell of flowers and the sound of birds were irritating.


When they were about to return from there,
they saw a brightness on the sky. One of her friends has the opinion that it is the lightning coming down to the earth. Then the other one expressed that it is not lightning, but moon is coming down to the earth. Then Damayanthi told with enthusiasm that it is a Golden Swan which is
flying down towards the ground. She was very happy to see it. She liked the swan and desired to get it. Whenever Damayanthi comes near the swan, it expressed its obedience, whereas whenever her friends came near the swan, it irritated them. So Damayanthi told her friends to go away from there so that she can catch the swan.
Then Damayanthi tried to catch it, but whenever she felt that she caught it, it flew away from her. Thus the intelligent swan diverted her away from her friends and then told her this," Hey do you think you can catch me who flys in the sky? Even though you are young, your childish behaviour is still there. The elder people will blame you for your childish behaviour. I am living in Nala's country teaching ladies "Annannada" (walking of swan) as per the order of Lord Brahma." She was very happy to hear that the swan is from Nala's country. She expressed her desire to know more about Nala and thus the swan understood that she loves Nala. He praised Nala about his good character and also told that Nala and Damayanthi is like Perl and Gold. Also he told that just like Vishnu for Lakshmi, Moon for night, and Siva for Parvathi, Nala is for Damayanthi. Before leaving from there, Swan want to assure the love of Damayanthi. So he told like this, " What if your father gives you to somebody and you also likes him. Then whatever told today will be invain and people will call me useless fellow". Damayanthi replied," Hey swan, why did you have a doubt in your mind. A river flowing will ultimately join sea, a mountain will not think in some other way. Like that my father will not think of somebody else as my husband."

With that the swan left the place. Usually only these much is played nowadays. But the sory has much more. In short, Swan will come back near Nala and will tell about all the incidents happend. Meanwhile heavenly people like Indra who loves Damayanthi will approch Nala and will tell him to go near Damayanthi and tell he to marry one amoung them. Nala reluctantly obeyed their order. Also he got the magical pwer of not being seen by anybody for doing this job from Indra. But Damayanthi informed him that she will marry only Nala. Knowing this, all Devas took the form of Nala on the marriage day. Damayanthi got confused by this and she prayed Saraswathi. Saraswathi appeared before her and informed that the person who touches
the legs on earth's surface is the real Nala, because Devas won't touch their legs on earth's surface. Thus she married to Nala. The Devas took their real form and blessed the couples.

This comes to the end of Nalacharitham First day.

Kathakali - Basic rituals

Let's discuss something about the rituals in Kathakali. We already mentioned a few things regarding the same before.

The standards and customs are standardized by Kaplingattu Namboootiri. As I mentioned earlier, it is basically adopted from Krishnanattam and Koodiyattam.

Requirements on stage
-----------------------

The three main requirements are:

1. Lamp
2. Curtain
3. Stool

In earlier days, when there is no electric lights used, the Kathakali was performed in the light of a big lamp (about 1 meter height). That lamp provided enough light for the performance. So now also as part of tradition, Kathakali performances are done with that big lamp lighted and kept in front of the stage. That lamp usually will be lit by the fire taken either from inside the Temple or from the lamp which is kept in the dressing room (called as Aniyara).

Curtain (called as Tirasseela) is used just like that used for any other drama performances mainly between different scenes. This is usually a multi-colored cloth piece bigger enough to cover the entire stage. Two people will hold it on both sides whenever required.

Stools are required for the actors to sit. It is also used by some actors to stand on it, especially when they want to simulate the chariot ride.

Some other things which are required for Kathakali at the stage are Shangu, Alavattam etc required mainly for Thiranottam (we will discuss this later).


Rituals
-------

As we discusses briefly before, Kathakali starts with the "Kelikottu" in the early evening (6.00 PM - 7.00 PM usually). This is to inform the local people that there is Kathakali in that evening.
It is a percussion concert.

There are a few items which will be done before the start of the designated play. The first one is the Arangukeli. It is to give salute to Lord Ganesha (He is the Lord who removes all obstacles). This is done by Maddalam and Cymbals. It follows Vandana Sloka (Again praises for God and Saints). This follows Todayam. One or more artists in the training dress will play some steps inside the curtain. Most of the lyrics are from Hindu mythology. Nowadays Thodayam is not usually performed in stage.

Purappadu starts after this. Usually Purappadu is suppose to give a clue about which story is being performed on that day. Usually the Hero and spouse will come and play the Purappadu. So the lyrics will be taken from some part of the first story. Nowadays, Purappadu is being performed mostly by Krishna and sometimes accompanied by Rukmini/Balarama/Subhadra. Basically the lyrics are taken from the story "Rajasuyam". It is assumed that God is satisfied with the Todayam which was performed just before that and they are coming to bless the audience. Some times the Purappadu is performed as Sree Rama and Lakshmana and some times Pandavas and Panchali and even some times Nala and Damayanthi.

After Purappadu is the Manjutara and Melappadam. If Manjutara is to show the ability of Musicians, then Melappadam is the performance to show the expertness of percussionists. The lyrics are mostly taken from Jayadeva's Geetha Govindam.

After this, the play starts. Generally for some characters, there is a ritual called as Thiranottam. This is basically looking by lowering the curtain half down. Regal characters (eg: Ravana, Duryodhana) will do this Thiranottam mainly by their eyes. the strong (eg: Hanuman, Veerabhadran) and bad (eg: Dussasana, Bali) characters also have Thiranottam which will involve more body movements.

That's all for now..................................

Chutti an essential part of Kathakali make-up

Kathakali make -up will take long time for the completion. It involves the process called "Chutti". This is basically a part of make-up in the face. You might have noticed a long extended white make-up on many Kathakali charecters. It is nothing but "Chutti". It is not easy to do this. "Chutti" by itself is a degree course in Kerala if I am not wrong. This make-up system needs very care and time. Each charecter will have different type of "Chutti" form. For example the "Chutti" for "Pacha" charecters is not te same as that for "Red Thadi" charecters.

There are some charecters who doesnot require this. For example "Minukku" charecters in general willnot have "Chutti" on their face.

The steps of performing Kathakali

Again I am back with something else. I hope you enjoyed the previous posts. Now I would like to discuss a few things about the steps before starting a Kathakali performance.

The Kathakali is usually performed throughout the night. It starts of with the so called "Keli Kottu". It will be usually conducted in the evning to indicate that Kathakali is there that night. In the night Kathakali will start of with " Todayam -Purappadu". It is basically praises of God - mostly Krishna - to get the blessings. After this will be the "Manjutara - Melappadam". It is to show the capabilities of the co-artists and singers in front of the audiance. Then starts the play of a story which is decided to play that day. Usually there will be two or three sories in a day. It can also happen that they may play only one lengthy story that day. It depends on the duration of the play as well as the length of the story.

Kathakali Make Up different types

I hope you enjoyed the last post. Now I would like to post something regarding the different types of dress forms in Kathakali. The major types are:

Pacha
Katti
Tadi
Minukku

Pacha is the form of dress mainly used for people who are "Satwik" in nature. Usually good characters like Krishna, Arjuna, Sree Rama, Nala etc. will have this form of make-up. Where Krishna and Sree Rama belongs to a special class of Pacha called as "Krishna Mudi" -means they will have small crown which is decorated with beautiful iridescent blue-green or green colored plumage. Others will wear a round shaped crown. Generally they are good characters.

Katti is used for the charecters like Duryodhana, Ravana who are kings but having bad behaviour in them . They generally belongs to the class of "Rajasa" behaviour. They will generally have a sword with them. The word Katti means sword in Malayalam. The make-up for Yama - the destroyer for all people in the world (of course the ultimate destroyer is Lord Siva) has katti make-up but it is slightly different. When usual katti forms are called as Nedum-Katti, this is called as Kurum Katti. It will have a small black mixed with green make-up unlike usual katti make-ups where the make-up is red mixed green.

Tadi is a general term where there are three different categories for it:

• Red Tadi (Chuvanna Tadi)
• White Tadi (Vella Tadi)
• Black Tadi (Kari)

We will see each one now.

Red Tadi is basically for the charecters having "Tamasa" behaviour. The examples includes Dussassana (brother of Duryodhaha), Bali, Sugreeva, Trigartha (A companion of Duryodhana) etc. who are very rude in their behaviour. They will have a huge red colored beard in their face. White Tadi is for the charecters like Hanuman and Nandikeswaran. They have a white beard in their face. Similarly the Black Tadi charecters have a black beard in their face. The main charecter in this make-up is Hunter (Kattalan - people living in jungle). Some other examples are Guhan in Sreeramapattabhiskekam (Sree Rama becomes the King of his country), Malayan in Nizhalkuttu (Killing using shadow) etc. There is another type of Kari for bad female charecters. They have complete black make-up similar to the male Kari charecters. The examples include Soorppanakha in Ramayanam, Pootana in Pootanamoksham (Moksha of Pootana), Nakratundi in Narakasuravadham (Killing of Narakasura) etc.

Now with respect to Minukku, there are several categories. Ladies, Sages, Brahmins( people belongs to the upper cast in Hindu mythology). They have very simple make-up system as compared to the above described systems.

Even though these are the main types of charecters, there are several charecters having different style of make-up. Examples are Hamsam in the story of Nala-Damayanthi, Jadayu in the story of Rama etc are birds having a beak fitted in their mouth and wings attached to it. Another category is charecters like Valalan (Name of Bhima during the period of Ajnatavasa) and servant in Uttaraswayamvaram (Marriage of Uttara), Mannan (Washer man) in Lavanasuravadham (Killing of Lavanasura). There are some funny chareters also in Kathakali. These jokers are named as Bheeru or Peeru. They will make-up not according to the rules of Kathakali. Some other rare charecters are Angatan in Balivadham (Killing of Bali), Buffallow in the story of Nala, Mandara in the story of Rama etc.

I think that is enough for now. How are you feeling about Kathakali now? Are you getting bored because of these? Then expect something else soon. What can we discuss next?

The basic process in Kathakali?

or

somethnig else? wait... wait....

Art forms of Kerala -Kathakali

Every country or region has its own traditions and practices. No place is an exception for that. There are many art forms which are formed and developed in Kerala. I want to throw a light on some of them. It includes the world famous Kathakali, U. N. recognized Kootiyattam, Mohiniyattam etc...

Kathakali is a sophisticated art form developed by Kottarakkara Tampuran. It is formed from many then then existing art forms such as Krishnanattam, Kootiyattam, Mudyettu, Garudan Tookkam, Theyam etc. The basic themes adopted in Kathakali are mainly from Mahabharatha, Ramayana, Siva Purana etc. But there are even stories in Kathakali from the life of Jesus, Sree Narayana Guru, Harichandra, Nala etc. Initially, when Kottarakkara Tampuran formed this art form it contained stories of Rama and hence its name was Ramanattam. Then later on it evolved into all major areas of Purana and the name is slowly transformed into Kathakali.

The basic form of Kathakali is to express the idea through body language. Hands, eyes, legs etc. are very much invloved for the same. The story will be narrated in the form of songs sung by two singers. According to the song, the actor will express his ideas. The background includes special Kerala drums - Chenda, Maddalam, Chengila, Ilattalam, Idakka. The songs are written in the form of a special literature stream in Malayalam called "Attakatha".

Now this is enough...

There are a few questions which I would like to post now:

When will be Kathakali played?
Where will be played?
How is the make-up?
What are different categories of actors?
Who are the veterans in this field?
and a lots more................................

I will post the answers for these after some time.