On my vacation to Kerala in February this year I got an opportunity to watch “ kathakali” , the traditional dance form of Kerala. It was indeed a very heartening experience for me as I always wanted to see this dance form which I have only seen either in TV or during republic day parade in New Delhi . The best part with the performance was that they allowed us to see the live makeup for the artists and also narrated the history of its origination along with the nitty gritty of dance form. Kathakali derives its meaning from “ Katha” meaning story and “ kali” meaning dance, that is telling a story through a dance. The dance form has five elements:natya meaning dramatics; nritta meaning pure dance; nrithya meaning dance with expressions: geetha meaning vocals and vadyameaning instrument .The dance are based on mythological stories expressed through dance in various mudras and bhaav.
The performance which I watched in Munnar was “ Naraktundhi ko mila dand” (Punishment to Naraktundi). There was a brief narration before the show about the story , which goes as: Naraktundhi was a demon and fall in love with incarnation of Lord Vishnu . She disguises as a beautiful lady and tries to attract Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu however rejects her offer and asks her to leave. This make Narakthundi very angry and she comes to her original form of demon. She start the fight with Lord Vishnu and gets killed in the end. After the narration of the story the character played by narakthundi showed us various bhaav and the meaning of each one of them. After this narration the performance started.
The Performance poster of Kathakali and Punjarani :
The makeup :
Vadya at the starting of the show:
The character explaining Bhaav : Surprise:
Happiness:
Sorrow:
Anger:
Pain:
The performance starts:
Entry of Narakthundi:
Entry of Lord Vishnu Incarnation:
Narakthundi in disguise as a beautiful women perusing Lord Vishnu for marriage:
Narakthundi gets angry and comes in her original form leading to a fight:
Lord Vishnu finally kills Narakthundi :
Close up of the artist :
The artists after the show:
I am yet to watch a Kathakali performance. Thanks for the post and the pictures. I didnt know all these terms.
ReplyDeleteThe artists patiently apply makeup which can take 3-5 hours. Such passion for the classical dance.
Beautiful. Mindblowing. :)
ReplyDeleteI have always dreamt of seeing a Kathakali performance and if possible watching the make-up being done. I would love to do so sometime in life. We couldn't catch up with a performance the last time we visited Kerala. Should try again. :)
@ Insignia: I have never watched any other classical dance form ever , it was the first and a very great experience.
ReplyDelete@thegalnextdoor:Yes, you will love the dance form :)