1 Indu R Concept of Total Theatre: A Preliminary Study of Kalan Kolam in

Padayani Folk Artform in

Malayalam theatre director Kavalam Narayana Panikkar’s career, that spanned over an expansive five decades, was a mixture of plays written by him and plays adapted by him from

Sanskrit and foreign languages. Panikkar, considered the torchbearer of the Theatre of Roots movement in Kerala, utilised the rich knowledge he had in the rituals of Kerala. His theatre productions are a resultant of the creation that came to be called 'Total Theatre’. He was one among the theatre directors of pre-independent India who considered tradition as the best measure to resist the influence of colonial theatre practices in the country. The directors who belong to the

Theatre of Roots tradition made use of the folk and classical traditions of India vastly in their theatre. Panikkar , a native of Kuttanadu, a serene village in the banks of river Pampa in Alapuzha district of Kerala has drawn influences from folk art forms popular in the Central Kerala like

Mudiyettu and Padayani. This paper explores the features of Kalan Kolam, a segment in a completed Padayani performance which is considered an example of Total Theatre.

Padayani is a ritualistic tradition associated with the primitive folk theatre culture of

Kerala. This ritualistic art form is performed at Bhadra temples situated on the banks of rivers

Pampa and Manimala in central Kerala. The kolams (figures) performed in a Padayani performance includes Pakshi, Yakshi, Madan, Marutha, Bhairavi and Kalan. This art form which has its roots in Dravidian traditions, started performing stories from Hindu mythology only after the Aryan migration in the ninth century. Kalan kolam, which is based on the story of Markendeya, the Hindu sage. This is an example for Markendeya achieving immortality. Enactments of the

Kalan kolam began in the Padayani tradition of Kerala after the Aryan migration.

2 Indu R As Ludo Rocher states in his work The Puranas , Markandeya Purana is one of the oldest interventions of the genre in Hindu literature; it also happens to be most interesting and important.

The literature of Kalan Kolam is the story of sage Markandeya who is believed to be the author of

Markandeya Purana. Saint Mrigandu and his wife Marudmati worship Lord Siva and seek the boon of being ‘blessed’ with a son. A pleased Siva gives him the choice between a gifted son who will live only up to the age of sixteen and an evil son who will live for a hundred years; Mrigandu chooses the former and they are blessed with Markandeya. Markandeya, who is aware of his fate grows up to be a great devotee of Lord Siva and on the day that he is destined to die he continues worshiping Lord Siva. According to Hindu mythology, Yama, the god of death arrives to take away Markandeya’s life but failed miserably with a furious Siva fighting Yama off. Markandeya then receives another boon from Lord Siva and this time he would remain immortal and be as young as a sixteen years old forever. Markandeya purana, in the Hindu texts, is in the form of conversations between Markandeya and another sage called Jamini. Kalan kolam of Padayani enacts the story of how Markandeya, one of the most respected characters in Hindu puranas’, gains immortality.

The performance style of Kalan kolam is similar to pakarnnattam, an acting style popular among the classical art forms of Kerala, particularly Koodiyattom and Kathakalai. Pakarnnattam refers to a single actor portraying multiple actors on stage; in the case of Kalan kolam, the actor portrays by representing five different characters during the course of his performance. The characters portrayed by the actor include Mrigandu, Markandeya, a Brahmin lady, Lord Siva and

Yama, the god of death. One major deviation which can be seen in the pakarnnattam sequence of

Kalan kolam is the entry of a minor character to aid the fight between the Yama and Lord Siva. The

3 Indu R minor character takes away the sword from the actor as a representation of the victory of Lord Siva over Yama; this could also be considered as a limitation of pakarnnattam.

The head gear worn by the actor portraying the act has five faces and each face is interpreted as a character in the performance or in some cases, it is considered to represent five different faces of Lord Siva. The directors of the Theatre of Roots movement in Kerala have largely adapted the use of costumes and facial masks from the folk art of Kerala. The facial masks and head gears are made from completely nature friendly raw materials; the five colours that are predominantly used in the making of facial masks and head gear are also made from natural sources. According to Hindu mythology, the five colours namely red, black, green, yellow and white represent the panchabhootha.

Kalan kolam enters the performance space by dancing. The actor holds a burning torch in one hand and a rope on the other. The burning torch represents power and the rope symbolises death. Apart from a mortar made of wood , the performance space is mostly empty and devoid of other props. Three different spaces are represented during the course of performance- earth, heaven and Kailas, which is believed to be the abode of Lord Siva. The purpose of wooden mortar is to act as a transition between two different spaces, the actor performing the kolam climbs on and off the mortar to denote the change of performance space in connection with the literature. The act of Kalan kolam also shows the effective use of the performance space. In a particular instance, when the actor is portraying the character of Yama, he leaves the performance space in search of the sixteen year old Markandeya. The actor’s movement out of the performance space denotes a much larger world where Markandeya lives. Similar instances can also be seen in the art form

Kathakali. artistes often come out of the stage to the audience to represent the change of space in the narrative. The act from Kuchelavritham Kathakali in which the actor portrays Kuchela

4 Indu R enters the stage from the audience, his movements among the audience represent his journey towards Krishna’s palace. Similar instances can also be found in Duryodhana Vadham Kathakali ( slaying of Duryodhana ) and Nizhalkuthu.

The analysis of the narrative structure of Kalan kolam shows that the performance can be divided into acts and scenes perfectly. The transition from one shloka to another one depicts change of acts. The transition, from one scene to another in Kathakali is shown through the use of a curtain referred to as thirashila; similarly in Kalan kolam, wooden mortar plays the role of the curtain. The narrative structure of Kalan kolam’s literature can be divided into two halves - shloka and songs. The actor sits on the mortar as a character, while the singers in the background recite the shloka about the specific character. During the song sequence, the actor acts and improvises the story narrated through the shloka with the accompaniment of music and rhythm. Kalan kolam uses rhythms like adantha that are folk in nature. Use of such rhythmic patterns that are folk in nature and style can be found in the works of directors who belong to Theatre of Roots. The major instruments used in the background of the Kalan kolam performance include , Thappu and

Ilathalam.

The performance ends on a positive note as Yama, the god of death gets his life back and

Markandeya is given the boon of immortality by Lord Siva. This ending could be attributed to the

Indian theatrical traditions where a drama ends on a positive note as the traditions forbade the presentation of tragic endings on stage to maintain an idealistic atmosphere. The study of different aspects of Kalan kolam suggests that the performance tradition that appeared in the Padayani traditions of Kerala has many features similar to that of the classical theatrical traditions followed in the state namely Koodiyattom and Kathakali. Theatre of Roots, the movement that made use of elements from both ritualistic folk traditions and classical traditions has many features adapted

5 Indu R from Padayani in general and Kalan Kolam to be specific. Kavalam Narayana Panikkar often described his theatre as a total theatre.

The rhythmic body movements accompanied with music, the enactment of the text by the actor, the stylized modes of presentation with make-up and head gears, and the utilization of space by the actor during a complete Kalan kolam performance suggests that this act has the features of an early form of total theatre. In Kerala, Kathakali which is a confluence of natya, nirtya

(expressional dance ), geeta (vocal music) and vadya (percussion) is considered as total theatre.

Kalan kolam, a segment from a Padayani performance ritual also has many features similar to that of a Kathakali presentation.

Kalan kolam is a part of a folk art form called Padayani exclusive to the theatrical traditions in Kerala. One of the reasons for conceiving the paper is to widen the horizon whereby such intrinsic art forms must not go unnoticed and extinct. Kerala as a state has given space to the various folk artistic traditions to revive and thereby experiment with the art form so as to provide a variety from the already established traditional theatre that we know off. Considering that these intrinsic art forms form a vital chunk to the larger theatrical traditions, there have been a large number of research engagements to strengthen the various experimental traditions explored by writers like Panikkar.

6 Indu R BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Markandeya Purana.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markandeya_Purana.

Mee, Erin. “The Direction of Panikkar”.Theatre of Roots,Seagull Books , 2008 , pp.95-140

Ravikumar,B. Choottupadayani. Rainbow Book Publishers , 2010.

Sankaranpotti, Muringoor.Kuchelavritham.DC Books ,1995.