Kathakali The Classical Drama of Kerala.

Kathakali the classical drama of Kerala was originated in Kerala 400 years ago. Kathakali is an art form where music, dance and drama are incredibly synchronized that is in Kathakali constitutes three fine arts, abhinayam or acting, nrityam or dancing, and geetham or singand. 

In Kathakali there is a perfect combination of five elements of arts. Expressions (Natyam), Dance (Nritham), Enactment (Nrithyam), Song/vocal attribute (Geetha), Instrument attribute (Vadyam).

In Kathakali, the story is accomplished purely by the movements of the hands called mudras and by facial expressions called rasas and bodily movements. The expressions are developed from Natyashastra. There are 24 basic mudras, Each can again classify into 'Samaana-mudras that is one mudra represent two items or misra-mudras that is both the hands are used to show these mudras.

Sringaram that is amour ,Hasyam that is humour ,bhayanakam that is fear, Karunam that is desolation, Roudram that is anger, Veeram that is valor, Beebhatsam that is disgust, Adbhutam that is wonder and last one is Shantam these are the nine facial expressions of a Kathakali artist called Navarasams.

The performing artist does not sing or speak in Kathakali,Manipravalam is the language of the songs used in Kathakali. Though most of the songs are set in ragas based on the Carnatic music, there is a distinct style of plain-note interpretation, which is known as the Sopanam style. In Kathakali there are four music instruments used these are Chenda , Maddalam, Chengila and elathalam. The music created using these instruments called melam. Usually there are two singers to sing the music. In the two singers one of them uses chengila to create a rhythamic steady beat.

The most famous stories in Kathakali are Nalacharitham(story from Mahabharatha), Duryodhana vadham (concentrate in Mahabharatha war), Kalyanasougandhikam(the story of Bhima going to get flowers for his wife Panchali), Keechakavadham, Kiratham (Arjuna and Lord Shiva's fight, from the Mahabharata), Karnashapatham, Nizhalkuthu.

In Kathakali the vesha that is costume is mainly classified into four, Pacha(Sathwika, the hero), Kathi(the villain), Minukku(for female characters) and Thaadi. These are the four costumes used in Kathakali.

Pacha- The make-up known as pacha is allotted to hero of the story,Examples of those characters are Dhirodatta,noble kings like Nala , Yudhishtra, Rukmangada, Arjuna and Bhimsena. All characters under pacha wear Kiritas But when it comes to characters like Vishnu, Krishna or Rama the Kiritas changed to Mudi,so this costume is also refered to as mudi. The facial make-up are same both mudi and pacha except that Krishna wear dark jacket rather than purple or red jacket from Pacha.

Kathi- The costume is similar to pacha except that in the make-up. , a knife-shaped pattern is drawn on either cheek in red pigment and a small ball is fixed to the tip of the nose and also in the fore-head. This costume is usually for villain characters like Ravana, kamsa and Duryodhana. Except that pacha characters kathi characters make fearful noises when the emotion expressed.

Thadi-Thamoguna that is wickedness is represent in this costume, there are three types of thadis red black and white.The red Thadi is normally given to extremely wicked characters like Rakshasas or those men’s like Dussasana. Destructive evil force is represented in red thadi costume. The crown of the white thadi is known as Vattamudi, a formal military hat-like headgear and a white beard,the example of white thadi character is Hanuman(A preeminent character in Hindu mythology).Black thadi the costume is given to such a characters like kali in Nalacharitha,Like red thadi this is also represent evilness. The make-up is the same as that of the red thadi except that the beard alone in black color.

Kari-The kari is purely black costume, The make-up in face the jackets and the skits all are in black. The headgear is the same.the costume is used to characterize the human beings both women and men. They also provide some voice like howling.

                  

Chutti- The white make-up plays an important role in Kathakali make-up.In the older time chutti was laid using mixture of rice paste and lime.But now the base is laid with paste and the balance made of paper. The chutti is used to increase the outline of the face,so that the facial expression can be clearly marked out.

Minukku-The make-up is usually used for female characters. The costume and make-up is entirely different from other characters.In Minukku costume the face is painted with yellowish orange color. Women, sages and Brahmanas appear in 'Minukku'. Other characters who appear in Minukku are charioteers and messengers.

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