An orchestral fury created on two mizhavu (large percussion copper drums) by Nepathya Jinesh and Kalamandalam Manikandan accompanies the arrival of Koodiyattam exponent Margi Madhu to the proscenium at the Capital’s CD Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre. As the drums fervently thump and throb, Madhu walks in, hidden by a white screen held by two men. As the curtain drops, Ravana is revealed – dressed in flourishing red and white attire, with a green-painted face and dramatic eyes; under the spell of Sita.

After abducting her and bringing her to Lanka, a smitten Ravan sits, almost in a trance, fixated on Sita under the Shimshapa tree in the Ashok Vatika, meticulously pouring his emotions over her beauty. He focuses on the panchagam (five aspects of her beauty) — hair, eyes, face, breasts and feet. The twitches of the eyebrows and the hand and feet move in tandem with the mizhavu, elaborating the fifth act of Shaktibhadra’s play, Ascharyachudamani. This section delineates the moment Ravan addresses the moon while he yearns for Sita.

Unlike the older days when the audience could understand spoken Sanskrit, modern-day performances, like Madhu’s, come with a screen with translations on it – also an attempt at reaching a wider audience.

“The fifth act is special and complex because the story is not moving forward. It’s all about Ravana’s passion for Sita and the actor has to express this on different levels. I think it’s the most difficult act for any Koodiyattam performance and takes about 16 days. To perform it for a couple of hours, I took a small segment from it – one scene from three scenes that are presented,” says 68-year-old Madhu, one of the foremost practitioners of the art form. He has been intrigued by the character of Ravana since a young age mainly because of the versatility of the role, leaving enough space for a performer to present a gamut of emotions.

Madhu comes from a rich lineage of Koodiyattam performers and is the son of Moozhikkulam Kochukuttan Chakyar and nephew to Ammannoor Madhava Chakyar – two of the most illustrious names in the world of the 2,000-year-old ancient Sanskrit theater tradition from Kerala. Madhu began learning early as it was the family tradition and profession.

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Koodiyattam, which also means combined acting, is a dramatized performance, that was presented only in koothambalams – temple theaters – for centuries. The art form was then the preserve of the upper castes – the Chakyars (who were the actors) and the Nambiars (who were the drummers). While the Chakyar women have historically not been allowed to participate, the female roles have been taken up by the Nambiar women. The difference between Koodiyattam and the more popular Kathakali, which also uses similar costumes and make-up and came about in the 16th century out of Koodiyattam and Krishnattam, is that Kathakali is a dance drama, while the former is mainly theater with elements of dance. . Sometimes, the Koodiyattam actor may sit and present a moment in time through minute facial expressions and hand gestures.

The parochialism and ritualistic nature of the system may have allowed for the conservation of the artform over centuries but the caste segregation also led to a lack of interest and understanding from a larger audience, thus taking Koodiyattam to a point-of-dying fall at one point. In 2001, Koodiyattam was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage. “It has led to wider popularity for the form and the government of India also got interested, We also have a center under the Sangeet Natak Akademi in Thiruvananthapuram. But I don’t think it has helped the artistes much,” says Madhu.

Things did change after Koodiyattam was institutionalized and visionary Koodiyattam performer Painkulam Raman Chakyar began heading Kalamandalam, the government institution created in 1965 to preserve the artistic heritage. Painkulam took it out of the temples and created an academic set-up, admitting anyone keen to learn. However, one has continued to hear of performers of marginalized castes not being allowed to do the ritual performances.

Earlier, even the drummers and actors wouldn’t rehearse together and meet on stage. But Madhu feels that things have changed. “The caste issue isn’t there anymore, I feel. There is a lot of harmony and everyone’s performing together,” says Madhu.

Margi, an organization dedicated to the revitalization of Kathakali and Koodiyattam, was established in Thiruvananthapuram in 1981 by D Appukkuttan Nair, a retired government chief engineer who was well-versed in the artform. Madhu’s father was invited to join the faculty while his uncle joined as a visiting professor. “The system of learning was not very different. The concept was that of a gurukul. We were living with the gurus, cooking for them. Kalamandalam had a syllabus. We didn’t,” says Madhu.

Madhu was keen to join his father and uncle at Margi, “Mainly because I had always lived in a small village and wanted to see the big town”. But after two years at Margi, Madhu wanted to join a college and study something alongside. Nair said that he wouldn’t allow but Madhu’s father convinced him. They settled on typewriting, Malayalam and shorthand. This was in case Koodiyattam was not going to be viable; Then Madhu could become a clerk. “I’d go to the public library and read so that I could appear for competitive exams. It took me six years to finally decide to only be a Koodiyattam performer,” says Madhu. But there were other reasons he grappled with, such as the lack of freedom and the complete surrender to the guru, without questions asked.

Now that Madhu himself is a guru, he says that the concept of training has seen a drastic change. While the training is almost the same in terms of method, the concept of time is different. “Earlier, we were full-time students – from morning to night this is all that we did. Now that’s not possible. Students learn for about three hours a day and also do other things. I feel that has taken away a lot of depth from this vast repertoire,” he says. But there are advantages, too. “Now, the children have recordings. They can see the masters perform on YouTube. They can also watch their own performance and correct it. After imitating for a while, they will find their way,” says Madhu.