Thrissur peruma, a programme organized by tourism
department Kerala showcased Koodiyattam or Kudiyattam, the Sanskrit dance
drama. Koodiyattam, the hundreds of year old classical dance form, was
presented by Ammannur Gurukulam (Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam)
from Irinjalakkuda, Thrissur District in Kerala.
The storyboard
The Koodiyattam presentation was based on the story
of Jadayu (Jatayu) Vadham. Jatayu, the vulture who was good at heart and who
fought against injustice is a important character in Ramayana, the age old epic.
Jatayu fought against Ravana to rescue Sita from Lanka (Now called Srilanka)
the kingdom of the asura king. The bird was wounded in the fight. But the
wounded bird helped Rama and his brother Lakshmana to reach Sita.
Background Score
The dance performance was accompanied by mizhavu,
edakka and kuzhitalam or simply talam. Among these instruments, mizhavu, the
drum was prominent. Edakka also spelt Idakka is a percussion instrument.
Kuzhitalam, the instrument for the rhythm is made of metals and is a miniature
form of cymbals. The kuzhitalam is played by a nangiar woman, usually called
nagyaramma. The nagyaramma is a woman from the Nambiar community of Kerala.
The Artists
Sooraj Nambiar who had participated at the World
Theatre Project in Sweden, played the character of Ravana. Ammanur Rajaneesh
Chakyar, the grand nephew of Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, the mastero of
Koodiyattam, appeared as Jadayu (Jatayu). The character of sita was performed by Kapila,
the daughter of G. Venu and Nirmala Paniker, the founders of Natanakairali and
Natanakaisiki . Natanakairali and Natanakaisiki situated in Thrissur district
are the two important training and performing centres in traditional and
classical art forms of Kerala. Suta or sootan, who gives a warning to ravana
about the power of Jatayu (Jadayu) was charcterised by Ganesh Krishna. The instruments
which supported the dance drama were played by Kalamandalam Rajeev,
Kalamandalam Hariharan, Kalamandalam
Ravikumar (Mizhavu), Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan ( Edakka) and
Keerthi Sagar (talam or kuzhitalam).
Chutty, the costume and makeup of the whole team was done by Kalanilayam
Haridas.