Currently working on select traditional performing arts of South India — Kalaripayattu, Koodiyattam, Daveli, Silambattam and Therukoothu — American research scholar Kanta Kochhar, is upbeat of their status. Contrary to the notion that this tangible heritage is falling into states of disuse and neglect, Kochhar, in the city on a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award, and affiliated to the Madhavan Nayar Foundation, Edapally, finds the momentum regarding the arts exciting. According to her there is a re-engagement with these arts and they are finding newer audiences and newer venues. Social media is boosting the scene further, she says.
“My project, Travelling Exchanges/ Theatres, Architecture and Heritage focuses on three performing arts of Kerala and two of Tamil Nadu. I am looking at their practices and histories and the opportunities to perform and protect them. Now there are a host of other venues to stage them, a variety of potential sites outside the temples, like schools, museums and galleries,” says Kochhar who is working along with filmmaker Arun Antony and Research Assistant Rahul Rajeev. In the six months, the period of her award, of interaction and collaboration with artistes, as well as interviews with masters and students of the various art forms and with scholars, she is developing a documentary film series along with written material. In conclusion she will hold a symposium with a series of talks, workshop and interactive exhibit at the Kerala Museum in the city.
Kochhar finds Kerala’s martial art form Kalaripayattu to currently exist in a steady state, with a good number of kalaris imparting the art to the next generation. Its induction into fitness curriculum of gyms and wellness centres has helped mainstream the form and brought it into current consciousness. Another contemporary innovation has been of engaging women into its fold, one that is giving the traditional art a fresh lease of life. “Most of the masters or gurus of Kalaripayattu are seniors; therefore, the biggest challenge the art faces is of transmission, in a way that it speaks to contemporary communities,” she says.
Working in Thrissur with Koodiyattam maestro Kalamandalam Raman Chakyar, Kochhar finds the Sanskrit theatre to be on strong ground. Thanks to the highly focused work done by its practitioners, after it was brought out of the temples in the 1950s, the art has evolved to its present state of strength. The contribution of Painkulam Raman Chakyar has been immense. As the head of the Koodiyattam programme at Kerala Kalamandalam, which began in 1965, he developed a curriculum for younger students. “He was committed to keep true to the form and to take it to the next generation. He improved the aesthetics behind the costumes,” she says. In 1980, Painkulam took Koodiyattam to Paris where it was performed, for the first time, outside India.
Of the present state, Kochhar finds that in addition to the efforts of many other Koodiyattam masters, such as Margi Madhu (founder-director of Nepathya), Venu G and Kapila Venu, directors of Natanakairali, the interest in the form has also grown through the work of numerous foreign scholars and students.
In more recent years, the form was recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and this has led to further exposure and interest. In 2007, Koodiyattam Kendra was launched in Thiruvananthapuram under the support of Sangeet Nataka Akademi (New Delhi) and its former director KK Gopalakrishnan, performing arts critic and promoter, helped foster new audiences for the art form.
Kochhar’s initial tryst with Daveli, a story-telling folk practice, was two years ago when she was researching on travelling theatres. Sanskrit scholar and dramaturgy expert KG Paulose introduced her to Haridas the sole practitioner of Daveli who resides in Patimattom. She first met him in 2016 and has since been in touch with the artiste. “I consider part of the research as building conversation, finding a way to build bridges and from there we can certainly reaffirm the specific art forms and honour them. This will lead to new avenues of performances,” she says.
Daveli, the narration of a story depicted pictorially on a scroll, is of a childless landlord and of Shiva’s grace and blessing. It is rendered by the artiste to a particular tune and rhythm. Narrated during the three months of the rainy season, Karikaddam , it ostensibly blesses the household that listens to the tale. Hari Das is one of the only artiste carrying forward this folk story.
“Haridas talks about the notion of purity, of being willing to be true to your word when he explains the art. Symbolism is the key in the tale,” says Kochhar who held a workshop with him. The artiste, she says, has still not found a suitable student to perpetuate the form and hence the risk of losing it remains.
It is here that her efforts count, as she aims to build a community of artistes to carry on with the task of taking these traditions into the next era.
In her wake to do so she presented Tracing Fort Cochin , a performance that combined the arts, architecture and heritage of the area.
“My role is to build a kind of artistic and research network, a sort of temporary cross cultural community that has a vested interest in promoting these forms to wider audiences,” she says looking forward to working with more artistes and scholars in Kerala.
