Kudiyattam Theatre and the Actor's Consciousness

Kudiyattam Theatre and the Actor’s Consciousness

Consciousness Liter ture the Arts

&

25 General Editor:

Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe Editorial Board:

Anna Bonshek, Per Brask, John Danvers, William S. Haney II, Amy Ione, Michael Mangan, Arthur Versluis, Christopher Webster, Ralph Yarrow

Kudiyattam Theatre and the Actor’s Consciousness

Arya Madhavan

Amsterdam - New York, NY 2010

Illustration cover: Damayanthi, Kerala Mural painting by Ranjith Vaidyamadhom. http://traditionalmurals.com. Reproduced with the courtesy of the artist. Cover design: Aart Jan Bergshoeff The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO 9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents Requirements for permanence”. ISBN: 978-90-420-2798-5 ISSN: 1573-2193 E-Book ISBN: 978-90-420-2799-2 E-book ISSN: 1879-6044 © Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2010 Printed in the Netherlands

To my first Guru My Father

Contents Acknowledgements

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Introduction

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Chapter One: The Actor’s Consciousness: Contemporary Western Approaches

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Chapter Two: The Actor’s Consciousness: Indian Approaches to Actor Training and Acting with Particular Reference to Kudiyattam

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Chapter Three: Natyasastra, Kudiyattam and Actor’s Consciousness

151

Conclusion

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Bibliography

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Acknowledgements I wish to thank Prof. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe for the support that he generously extended in my academic career and also for being extremely patient with the process that I went through as a research student with him. I am extending my gratitude to the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies for funding my studies at the University of Aberystwyth. I also thank Prof. Ioan Williams and Mrs Margaret Williams for their help, support and kindness shown towards me while I studied at Aberystwyth. I thankfully acknowledge the comments, interviews and telephone conversations between Guru P.K Narayanan Nambyar, late Guru Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, Guru Margi Sathi and Usha Nangyar for sharing their thoughts with me. Nambyar was extremely helpful in clarifying many of my doubts over long telephone conversations between us. I would also like to thank Margi Madhu the Kudiyattam performer for sharing his thoughts with me. I am also thankfully remembering Prof. Ralph Yarrow who inspired and supported my academic career and extended sincere support in my personal life when I required it the most. I am also remembering some of my friends who supported at various points of my personal life, providing me strength and support to get me to the point where I now am. I am thanking Anil Kattumadam, K.M Rema, Sarah Joseph, Vaisakhan, Vinod, Venkitesh Ramakrishnan and students of School of Drama Trissur in particular. I am thankful to my father N.S Madhavan for insisting me (despite my resistance!) on learning Sanskrit language at my very young age which enormously helped me as a PhD student. I cannot thank enough Dr. Sreenath Nair, my friend and husband to be intellectually and emotionally supportive since we met. This book may not have seen light unless he continuously inspired and generously supported my attempts and ambitions. Finally, I would like to thank my daughter Pia for offering the most welcome distractions during the writing process which were sweet and refreshing.

Introduction Topic and Structure This book focuses on an enquiry into the consciousness of the actor. I intend to examine how actors alter their consciousness to higher levels during performance and how actor training systematically facilitates that alteration. Thus I direct my enquiry into analysing how (during performance) the actor’s physical actions alter his daily levels of consciousness. For the purposes of my argument, I take Kudiyattam, a form of Sanskrit theatre, as a model of performance primarily because I am a trained performer of Kudiyattam and have first-hand experience of its actor training and acting. The actor training of Kudiyattam is highly systematised and codified and its acting places much emphasis on sattvika abhinaya1, which offers a welcome opportunity to establish links between rasa2 and altered states of consciousness. In order to achieve those aims I need to explore a range of practical and theoretical aspects, both Indian and Western, related to the actor’s consciousness. I intend to examine the remits of consciousness studies in this respect, primarily to establish what my book is contributing to this field of research. In this enquiry I refer to the practical aspects of actor-training and acting in order to examine how physical actions alter the actor’s consciousness. I identify theoretical methodologies as the predominant approach in previous comparable studies. In contrast to those, in my study embark on a different app1

According to Nataysastra, the Sanskrit treatise on Indian theatre, there are four types of acting: angika, vachika, aharya and satvika. Angika is physical acting, vachika is verbal acting, aharya refers to costumes in acting and satvika is subtle emotional acting. 2 The Natyasastra describes rasa as the pleasure derived from watching a performance.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

roach to studying the actor’s consciousness in so far as I directly apply the practical methodology of acting and actor-training. In particular, I am employing the acting and actor-training methods of Kudiyattam, which is an Indian form of performance relatively unexplored both in Indian and Western academic contexts. Current writings and research on Kudiyattam are largely limited to descriptive accounts of its performance or textual and historical aspects. I explore the performance and aesthetics of Kudiyattam by examining some of its acting principles; I assign particular importance to the analysis of pakarnnattam, a Kudiyattam acting technique from various perspectives—gender studies, consciousness studies, improvisational and imagination perspectives and Advaita theory from Indian philosophy. I look at the spaciotemporal significance of pakarnnattam and the actor who is performing in such a space and time in order to examine how his consciousness is altered in performance. The significance of my book is thus to be found on three distinct and related levels: it adds to the knowledge and understanding of acting and actor training, to the knowledge and understanding of Kudiyattam, and to the field of consciousness studies. In the context of my analysis of Kudiyattam, another significant contribution is my exploration of the deeper links between the breathing practices of Kudiyattam to Hatha Yoga by means of specific examples from Hatha Yoga and finding them in Kudiyattam practice. This is highly relevant to the deciphering of the methodology used by a Sanskrit scholar and master in Yoga, Kunjunni Tampuran, who trained two of the master teachers in Kudiyattam who are known for their subtle acting and expressing emotions through their eyes. I also present and discuss Abhinavagupta’s step by step approach to the rasa experience, which is not easily available from the English translations on Abhinavagupta. The whole book is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter I am exploring and analysing the existing debates in consciousness studies relating to acting and the actor’s consciousness, in the context of their contemporary, Western discourse. Issues of the actor’s consciousness have been relevant for several centuries among theatre theorists and practitioners, starting with Diderot, which more recently expanded through the work of twentieth century actor trainers such as

Introduction

13

Stanislavski, and Grotowski. Recent theoretical propositions by Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Ralph Yarrow and Peter Malekin in relation to consciousness and theatre have fore-grounded a non-Western perspective, while there are at least in-direct or implicit references to the relation of theatre and consciousness in the wider context of performance studies, particularly in the writings of Schechner and Barba. Given the context of current research on consciousness and theatre/performance I analyse the theoretical discourse under three broad headings: the actor’s consciousness from the perspective of consciousness studies, the actor’s consciousness from the perspective of performance studies and the actor’s consciousness from the perspective of theatre practitioners. In the context of my discussion of the actor’s consciousness from the perspective of consciousness studies, I look more closely at three issues: acting and pashyanti, acting and the Vedic model of consciousness and acting, consciousness and breath. Indian linguistics distinguishes four distinct levels of language: para, pashyanti, madhyama and vaikhari. In this hierarchy, pashyanti is the finest level of the cognitive manifestation, which is pre-verbal. Inspired by this aspect of Indian literary theory and Vedic tradition, Malekin and Yarrow discuss the concept of pashyanti in relation to consciousness and suggest training methods suitable to help actors to perform from a state of ‘neutral consciousness’, which corresponds to pashyanti, resulting in an enhanced level of spontaneity and intuition, or ‘holistic rhythm’. Next to acting and pashyanti I am exploring the theoretical proposition as argued and explained by Meyer-Dinkgräfe, who considers the actor’s consciousness from the standpoint of the Vedic Science model of consciousness. Vedic Science is a term coined by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi,3 as a result of his re-assessment of classical Vedic literature of India; it incorporates a total of 40 different texts or bodies of texts, including various distinct disciplines such as Ayurveda—traditional Indian medicine and Sthapatyaveda—architecture. This model proposes four higher levels of consciousness apart 3

Maharshi Mahesh Yogi is an Indian spiritual teacher who is today most well-known in the world as the founder of Transcendental Meditation.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

from waking, dreaming and sleeping. Pure consciousness is the fourth state of human consciousness which is the state of total ‘awareness’. Beyond pure consciousness, Vedic Science describes three further higher states of consciousness: cosmic consciousness, refined cosmic consciousness and unity consciousness. Finally in this section I am discussing breath and consciousness. This is a further recent addition to the history of analysing the actor’s consciousness. Sreenath Nair discusses human breathing as a process that produces meaning; he brings South Indian Siddha Yoga tradition into the current debate on the actor’s consciousness. Breathing in this context is not to be understood in terms of ordinary human respiration; rather, Nair introduces what he calls Restoration of Breath: a method of breathing described and practised in the South Indian Siddha Yoga system of meditation. According to Nair, Siddha Yoga offers a distinct system of breathing by means of which its importance and dynamics in attaining higher states of consciousness can be established clearly. The majority of research and publication in the field of Performance Studies is not directly linked to the current theoretical discussions of consciousness studies; however, a deeper analysis of its discursive fields reveals definite links. Performance studies also draws heavily on Asian performance theories and practice; Schechner and Barba are important in the context of my book primarily because of their interest in some of the Indian themes and also because some of their basic arguments are closely linked with theories about consciousness. Performance is a very broad category to Schechner, which encompasses everyday human activities as well as theatre, dance or art. In this section I examine restoration of behaviour, liminality, transportation and transformation and Rasaesthetics. Barba’s Theatre Anthropology is a study of the pre-expressive scenic behaviour upon which different genres, styles and personal or collective traditions are based. From his analysis of the performances among cross-cultural traditions, Barba identified some of the ‘recurring principles’ common to performances across various cultures and disciplines and devised certain terminologies helpful in analysing performance. The terms that Barba coined are essentially related to the body and its physicality and he does not directly address the issues related to the actor’s conscious-

Introduction

15

ness. However, a second reading of some of his principles suggests subtler implications of such principles on the actor’s consciousness. In the final section of the first chapter, I examine actor training methods developed by Stanislavski and Grotowski, mainly because of their emphasis on taking acting to higher levels of consciousness. Stanislavski’s system is largely aimed at reaching the subconscious mind in order to tap the reservoir of our imagination. Stanislavski was interested in Indian philosophy and some of his exercises are important in the context of the specific enquiry of this book. Grotowski stripped theatre of all its richness such as sculpture, lighting, make-up and architecture and presented only the absolutely necessary: the actor and his body. Grotowski did not believe in teaching actors acting techniques, which he considered mere ‘bags of tricks’ that block the actor’s true expression. He appeals to his actors to be ‘holy’, a type of secular saint to accomplish an act of ‘selfpenetration’. His enquiry was directed to explore the extra-daily ‘spiritual’ dimensions for the actor and hence his approaches to acting are relevant in this chapter. In the second chapter of this book, I examine the traditional Indian approach to the actor’s consciousness as explained and argued by conventional Indian scholarship. Along with the theoretical discussion of traditional Indian scholarship in this context, I also examine the actor training and acting conventions of Kudiyattam by great detail in this chapter. The Natyasastra is a treatise on theatre written approximately two millennia ago by sage Bharata. The Natyasastra (NS) is not a theoretical discourse on Sanskrit theatre; rather it elaborately discusses across 36 chapters the entire range of drama and its performance. NS maintains that rasa is the outcome of a performance. Rasa is a term popular equally among traditional scholars of aesthetics and contemporary western and eastern scholars. Rasa is literally interpreted/translated as the ‘theatrical pleasure’ emerging from any performance experienced by the audience. Compared to the elaborate discussion that Bharata provides on the means of acting, Rasa theory is discussed only in a very few verses. Nevertheless this concept invited wide interest among the scholars of aesthetics, literature and of course theatre, both in India and abroad. I discuss Rasa in great detail in chapter two and examine how we experience it.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

Parallel to the spectator’s experience of Rasa the actor’s Rasa experience is also discussed in detail here. Next in this chapter I introduce the treatise on Kudiyattam written by Mani Madhava Chakyar which I call the Kerala Natyasastra. This is followed by a very detailed discussion on the actor training of Kudiyattam and the significance of some of the theatre devices. I analyse a particular acting device called Pakarnnattam in the context of gender theories on female subjectivity and gaze. To explain this, insights about the body in the context of recent consciousness studies provide a highly complex and vivid spectrum of theoretical approaches, and lead to a variety of conclusions regarding the material and subjective status of the body. We see our body in relation to other objects around, through our perception and therefore, we simultaneously have both subjective experience and objective observations on our body. Awareness of our gender thus is a cognitive process – I am aware of my gender in relation to that of others. Here I strongly argue and prove it by means of examples that the theatrical techniques of Pakarnnattam alter the daily experience of consciousness through continuously constructing and dismantling gender categories: thus gender is a construct since it is not presented as a material reality and hence it is important in my book to understand the significance of a traditional performance technique like Pakarnnattam in addressing the current representational issues. In the third and final chapter of this book, I discuss the actor’s consciousness in Kudiyattam and precisely how actor training prepares the actor’s consciousness along with preparing his/her body for performance. This chapter is hence a more focused enquiry into the actor’s altered state of consciousness in Kudiyattam, particularly the various elements that contribute to such levels in performance. In this chapter I also closely examine Abhinavagupta’s interpretation of rasa theory in great detail and Bharata’s approach to the rasa. This chapter is divided into three sections a. Rasa and consciousness, b. Yoga and Kudiyattam, c. actor’s consciousness in Kudiyattam. In the first section, I am observing the nature of rasic consciousness particularly by examining Abhinavagupta’s perspective on rasa. I investigate Abhinavagupta’s understanding and his philosophical proposition in terms of the rasa theory. Also under this heading, I examine

Introduction

17

the actor’s consciousness as proposed by Natyasastra by undertaking a thorough investigation of its physical acting or angika abhinaya, since this may lead to the unfolding of a systematic approach to training the actor’s consciousness. Next in this chapter I analyse the philosophical links between Yoga and Kudiyattam. Studies that identify possible links between meditation and performance principles of Kudiyattam do not exist so far. Although I do not intend to undertake a comparative analysis of such connections in a highly descriptive manner, I analyse some of the philosophical and practical aspects of Yoga and find its reflections in Kudiyattam. Yoga comprises of eight limbs or eight organic parts (which is why it is called Ashtanga Yoga: ashta means eight and anga means organs). These limbs or parts are considered as the paths to reach samadhi. Similarly, Kudiyattam is aimed at the experience of rasa and I identify some of its parallels to the Yogic eight limbs. In the final section of this chapter I examine the connections between breathing techniques and Kudiyattam acting. I refer to my own experience as a student of Kudiyattam and some of the experiences shared by the performers of Kudiyattam. Moreover, I analyse the Kerala Natyasastra in detail in order to identify the traces of any breath-related instructions that might be hidden in the text. Next in this section I examine the information of breath available in Hatha Yoga and Siddha Yoga. Hatha Yoga mentions a series of exercises that are particularly helpful for a Yogi to attain laya, which is produced due to the blending between vayu (breath) and mind. I explain restoration of breath in great detail in this section and also examine the practical relevance of it for Kudiyattam. I also explain the workshops I undertook with Nair in order to examine certain performance principles. In the last section of this chapter, I examine various aspects of Pakarnnattam to examine how an actor cuts across the daily consciousness to access the altered states of consciousness. I am examining imagination in Pakarnnattam, rasa in Pakarnnattam, time in Pakarnnattam and Advaita Vedanta and Pakarnnattam in this section.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

As Kudiyattam is central to this book, I now provide a critical introduction to Kudiyattam, its history and origin as far as these can be reconstructed, the plays used for its performance, acting manuals, acting families, the temple theatres known as Kuthampalam, the plays used in the performance and the music and musical instruments used in the performance. I refer to a relevant cross section of available material on Kudiyattam accessed through various sources in order to provide a coherent introduction to Kudiyattam in this section and later analysis of its actor training in the second and third chapters. There are a few books including an unpublished thesis which gives an authentic account of the history and performance of Kudiyattam; however most of these books are written in Malayalam which is the local language of Kerala. In my enquiry, the most comprehensive account of Kudiyattam written in English is by John Steven Sowle, who wrote a PhD thesis (University of California, Berkeley) on Kudiyattam in 1982—it remains unpublished to date. This material is not easily accessible even from libraries in Britain—I obtained a copy of this thesis from an American scholar who happened to have it. I also refer to an anthology of essays on Kudiyattam edited by Ayyappa Panicker (Sangeet Natak: 1995), which comprises of considerable scholarly contributions by master performers of Kudiyattam written in English. The following section on the history and performance principles of Kudiyattam owes largely to books written in Malayalam, particularly to those written by the noted Kudiyattam historian K.G Poulose. These materials are helpful in tracing the history and evolution of Kudiyattam; I have been careful here to sieve out facts from fiction by referring to various books on Kudiyattam and assimilating and presenting them as accurately as possible. What I provide in the next section is predominantly descriptive, thus following a model of scholarship that is indebted to traditional Indian practice. I apply it intentionally here so that I will be able to give a coherent account of Kudiyattam to a reader who is new to Kudiyattam.

Introduction

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Kudiyattam Kudiyattam is a form of Sanskrit theatre that is performed in Kerala; it is considered as the oldest existing Sanskrit theatre in India and also perhaps the oldest of the still existing theatre forms of the world. Its origin is dated back to the 2nd century BC; thus Kudiyattam could easily claim more than 2000 years of continued existence. Kudiyattam is unique owing to many of its typical features that define the nature of this performance. To explain this further, Kudiyattam is performed only in very special temple theatres earmarked only for its performance known as Kuthampalam, literally the ‘performance temple’, built within the temple complexes. It is performed only by specific communities known as Chakyar and Nambyar. P.K Narayanan Nambyar, a noted Mizhavu percussionist and a Kudiyattam scholar explains how the old village structure of Kerala contributed to the preservation of Kudiyattam. Kerala, in the olden times were divided into thirty two villages out of which eighteen were important. These were Sukapuram, Peruvanam, Irinjalakkuda, Panniyoor, Karikkadu, Trissivaperur, Perinchellur, Venganadu, Alathiyur, Tiruvalla, Kumaranallur, Kidangur, Paravur, Muzhikkulam, Aavittattur, Easanamangalam, Payyannur and Kuzhur. In each village there were one Chakyar family and one Nambyar family involved in the performance of Kudiyattam. Thus eighteen actor families known as Chakyar and eighteen drummer families known as Nambyar existed. The female members of Nambyar caste are known as Nangyar who performed female roles in Kudiyattam. The Chakyar family and the Nambyar family of these eighteen villages were attached to the temples of that particular village and they worked together in the performances.4 The plays are never completed on any single night. Performance of any single act could take up to eleven nights. These are just a few examples to suggest the unique nature of its performance which are examined in detail in the following sections. I will now look at the history and origin of Kudiyattam because it is important to understand how it developed through time to reach its current status.

4

P.K Narayan Nambyar, Mizhavu, Nambyarude Kramadeepika, Killikkurussimangalam: Mni Madhava Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam, 2005, p. 231.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

The origins and history of Kudiyattam The approximate date of origin of drama in ancient India is obscure, although there are several and varied references to the existence of drama as found in Rig Veda, dated as early as c.3000 BC5 or the Mahabharata and the Ramayana both dated around c.1500 BC. The Indian historian V Raghavan mentions a 4th century BC play called Vasavadatta Natyadhara which is conceived as a play having “acts-within-acts, where the actors of one act being the spectators of the next” demonstrating that the well-developed state of dramatic art was open to experiments such as these6. However, the golden age of Sanskrit theatre as considered by K.G Poulose, a historian of Kudiyattam, is 500 BC to 500 AD. Renowned playwrights like Kalidasa and Bhasa lived during this time. The following five centuries is the period when Sanskrit theatre disintegrated. During this period the focus shifted from performance to the text, which paved way for the development of literary and aesthetic theories. The dhvani theory (theory of resonance) of Anandavardhana, for example, was developed during this period. From 1100 AD onwards we can see the total disappearance of Sanskrit theatre from India, especially in the way it existed.7 One of the major reasons behind this is the Muslim invasions of India which had a very big impact on the performance tradition of India. According to Farley Richmond “the emergence of Islam as the state religion in much of India meant that theatre was no longer encouraged or condoned at court. With royal patronage waning, performance took to the road catering to the less sophisticated tastes of rural audiences. Performers survived as story-tellers, jugglers, acrobats and singers”.8 The exact period of origin of Kudiyattam is obscure though the earliest reference of the term Chakkayyan, a term that is now widely understood to be synonymous to Chakyar (the traditional male 5

V.Raghavan, “Sanskrit Drama in Performance”, in Richard Van M.Baumer and James R.Brandon, eds., Sanskrit Drama in performance, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1993, p. 10. 6 Ibid., p. 12. 7 K.G. Poulose, Kudiyattam: Abhinayathinte Tudarchayum Valarchayu, Trippunithura: International Centre for Kudiyattam, 2001, p. 60-1. 8 Farely Richmond “South Asian Theatres” in John Russell Brown ed., Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. USA: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 449.

Introduction

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actors of Kudiyattam), is found in the 2nd century BC epic of South India named as Chilappathikaram, written in Tamil. The epic describes the actor’s or chakkayyan’s astonishing capacity to depict two different emotions in two eyes. This is now considered by Kudiyattam historians as a near origin date of Kudiyattam. In this sense, Kudiyattam may only have originated in Kerala during the golden age of Sanskrit theatre in India. According to Poulose the first Sanskrit drama written in Kerala is Ascharyachudamani (The Wondrous Crest Jewel) by Saktibhadra in 8th century9. Some historical evidence is also available for the active restructuring of Kudiyattam during the period of King Kulasekhara, who ruled some parts of Kerala during the 11th century AD. He wrote two plays himself, Subhadra Dhananjaya (The Wedding of Arjuna and Subhadra) and Tapati Samvarana (About Tapati and Samvarana). His greatest contribution to Kudiyattam is believed to be laying the foundation stones to the development of a very important acting convention called Pakarnnattam, literally the ‘play of multiple transcendences’. When talking about the re-modelling of Kudiyattam, the name of Tolan, who is believed to be an 11th century poet and that of Paravur, a Chakyar from a central Keralan province is also relevant. Chakyars believe that Tolan worked hand in hand with the King to create the unique acting pattern of Kudiyattam and to develop the role of Jester. However, there is no historical evidence for these claims. Kulasekhara is also assigned with the glory of creating a single female performance form of Kudiyattam, the Nangyar-Kuthu. He is believed to have authored the first text on Nangyar-Kuthu called Srikrishna Charitam Nangaramma Kuthu (Stories of God Krishna). A 1027 AD royal document, which mentions the name of a person who contributed a portion of his land to the temple for paying a Nangyar for performing an episode from Krishna’s story is an important supporting document to justify the existence of Nangyar-Kuthu during this period. The two centuries following Kulasekhara’s reign are a significant transformational period of Kudiyattam. This period saw an 9

K.G. Poulose, Kudiyattam: Abhinayathinte Tudarchayum Valarchayu, Trippunithura: International Centre for Kudiyattam, 2001, p. 61.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

emerging Brahmanism in Kerala when the Brahmins of Kerala gained the intellectual and social upper hand over all other castes.10 Temples became the new power centres. Kudiyattam started drifting to the theatres within the temples. In the further development of Kudiyattam there was a total transformation mainly in terms of the addition of various ritualistic aspects to its performance structure. Between the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries Kudiyattam is thought to have evolved in its current form; it became also largely confined to Kuthampalam or temple theatres. Most of the temple theatres were constructed during this period.11 Kudiyattam started declining during the 19th and early 20th centuries. There were several factors that led to this development of which the most important is thought to be the evolution of Kathakali. The performance right of Kudiyattam was always vested with the Chakyar caste and the viewership was restricted to the members of the high caste society. Kathakali in contrast did not have any such restrictions and welcomed members of any castes to watch and even perform it. Moreover, the very popular entertainment form of Ottan Tullal12 also emerged before this period. Its satire and the depiction of the life of the common man impressed masses. Moreover, it was also easily accessible to all the castes. 10 The caste system of Kerala is a complicated one and it marks stark distinctions to the prevalent system of four castes in the rest of India. Brahmanism started reigning in Kerala very late and they came to Kerala only around 7 or 8th century. The castes in Kerala largely existed in relation to their caste rites. The Brahmins of Kerala are known as Namboodiri. Nair or Menon caste are considered equivalent to Kshatriya or the warrior caste. There is no evident Vaisya caste or business class in Kerala since the wealth and land were vested mostly with Namboodiris or Nairs. However, there are a large variety of intermediary castes and a range of outcastes. Chakyars and Nambyars are just examples of such intermediary castes. The barbers known as Vilakkithala or washermen known as Veluthedathu are two examples of outcastes. During the reign of Brahmanism extending from 14th to 20th centruries the outcastes which made a large section of Kerala population had no right to enter the temples. They were also deprived of several humanitarian rights such as wearing the dress of their choice or even covering the breasts. They fought for equal rights and were permitted entry to temples in 1936 owing to the Temple Entry proclamation made by a King of Travancore (in the south Kerala) Raja Chittira Thirunal Balarama Varma. 11 K.G. Poulose, Kudiyattam: Abhinayathinte Tudarchayum Valarchayum. Trippunithura: International Centre for Kudiyattam, 2001, pp. 64-6. 12 Ottan Thullal is a satirical performance which evolved in 18 AD and was created by a poet and percussionist called Kunchan Nambyar.

Introduction

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Kudiyattam was first performed outside the temple in 1949 by the renowned master teacher, the late Painkulam Rama Chakyar; in the sixties, Mani Madhava Chakyar also started performing at venues outside Kerala. In 1965 members from other castes were allowed to its training. Kalamandalam13, under the guidance of Painkulam Rama Chakyar took the pioneering step in this direction. In this sense, he is the ‘father of contemporary Kudiyattam,’ whose contribution to Kudiyattam is invaluable. It was under his guidance that Kudiyattam made its first performance tour outside India. John Steven Sowle (who wrote a thesis on the acting of Kudiyattam in 1982) and Clifford Jones (who wrote his thesis on the theatre of Kudiyattam in 1967) both visited Kalamandalam when he was the head of the Kudiyattam section. The late master teacher Mani Madhava Chakyar is another important name in Kudiyattam. He wrote the only existing performance manual of Kudiyattam, Natyakalpadrumam. The contributions made by the late D. Appukkuttan Nair are also very important in this context. He established and developed the Margi Kudiyattam School, which offered wide opportunities for well trained artists by conducting regular Kudiyattam shows and opening doors to a wide range of national and international audiences. The next important name in the history of Kudiyattam is that of the late Ammannur Madhava Chakyar (1917 - 2008), who was the senior-most master teacher performed extensively both within and outside India. Kudiyattam was recognised by UNESCO in 2001 as a ‘masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity’. They decided to fund a 10 year project aimed at helping the reinstatement of its past glory. The project was proposed by the Margi School in coordination with other Kudiyattam schools. This is expected to generate audiences and produce new play productions. 13

The Kerala Kalamandalam is a world-renowned performing arts institution devoted to provide training and promoting Kathakali, Kudiyattam, and various other performing art forms of Kerala. Prior to its establishment students were trained by teachers who were established performers. With the establishment of the Kalamandalam the training in performance arts became highly organised and systematised. A proper syllabus was fixed and also a year-by-year progression plan as in an academic course. Institutionalisation of arts under the leadership of the Kalamandalam had a big and lasting impact on the art forms of Kerala. Later, various other performing art centres were established on the model of the Kalamandalam.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

The performance structure The performance structure of Kudiyattam is of a unique nature. Plays are never completed in one single night. The norm is for an act of a play taking at least eleven nights, which means that a normal three hours long play is elaborated to at least forty five or more hours. The story of the play up to the beginning of that particular act is enacted by means of nirvahanam. Any single act would be ideally divided into three to five days and each day focus on the elaborate acting of a single song/verse or a line of a single character. The actors enrich such lines or verses by drawing stories from Indian folk traditions, myths and even local beliefs and practices. They write their own performance texts known as Attaprakaram based on the play and directorial notes known as kramadeepika, which include detailed descriptions of scene blocking, entrances and exits of all the characters and their costume and make-up. The plays are also further prolonged by the performance of the vidushaka or the jester who is normally the friend and close confidante of the hero. Typically, more than half of an 11 nights of an act of a play consists of the verbal narration known as chakyarkuthu (literally the performance of a Chakyar) by the Chakyar. Chakyarkuthu exists as a separate genre and requires excellent command of language and in-depth knowledge of Sanskrit. The performance known as Prabandhakuthu or purusharthakuthu, which is the one-man verbal narration form by the Chakyar is very popular. This is a forty one days long narration of four important karmas of a human life such as dharma, which is one’s own duty and responsibility, artha, which is what one should earn – money or knowledge, kama, which is the desires and moksha, the liberation from worldly ties. However, this narration is also a depiction of a range of social problems that existed in society (such as prostitution for instance). Nangyar-Kuthu (The solo woman performance) Nangyar-Kuthu is the solo female performance, which tells the story of God Krishna taking 41 nights. Though it enjoys an independent status it is only an offshoot of Kudiyattam because of various reasons. Nangyar-Kuthu is in the form of a nirvahanam by a

Introduction

25

nangyar who enacts the stories of Krishna and takes the roles of all the characters appearing in the story. The performance style in terms of histrionics and rendering of verses is similar to that of Kudiyattam. The story behind the origin of Nangyar-Kuthu is very interesting. King Kulaseshara had a wife who was a very talented actress, but she was not respected by his other queens because she was a Nangyar and not a member of warrior caste. The King, who loved his wife who was an actress decided to assign importance to her by creating a solo woman performance in the form of nirvahanam. He added a nirvahanam in order to enact the stories of Krishna to the second act of his own play Subhadradhananjayam. The whole palace recognised the talents of his wife and from then on it was performed regularly. The authenticity of this story is debatable since there is no evidence to support this. However, a 1029 AD document stating that a Nangyar was paid for her performance of an episode from Krishna’s story is available which proves the continued existence of Nangyar-Kuthu for the last century. Recently, in the year 2000 Margi Sathi wrote her own Nangyar-Kuthu on Rama’s story, which is an excerpt from the Sanskrit play Uttararamacharitham (Later life of Rama). There was a gap of a long thousand years between Krishna’s stories and Rama’s stories. In this sense, Sathi’s work deserves recognition and it is also an important event in the history of Nangyar-Kuthu. Following this new work, there have been various attempts by Kudiyattam actresses to come up with their own pieces of works. Plays and playwrights In Kudiyattam plays are rarely known by their original names; Kudiyattam actors mention only the names of the acts because the focus is on acting of any single act or even a verse and not on the end result of the play. One night’s performance deals only with a couple of verses and their detailed attam or performance. These are examples of some of the playwrights and their plays taken for Kudiyattam.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

x

Bhasa Bhasa is one of the most significant dramatists in ancient India, credited with the authorship of thirteen plays, who is believed to have lived between the 2nd century BC and the 3rd century AD. He has written and experimented with most of the dramatic forms mentioned in the Natyasastra and has drawn widely from the epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata. His plays are mainly political in nature and also keen on representing the complexities of the human drama. The vision of Vasavadatta (Svapnavasavadattam) is widely accepted by the scholars to be the finest of his works. These are some of his plays taken by the Kudiyattam performers: a. Abhisheka Nataka (The Coronation Play) - Act 1 Balivadhankam (Killing of Bali), Act II Hanumaddoothankam (Hanuman the Messenger), Act III Thoranayuddhankam (The War at the Flag Post) and the Act IV Samudrataranankam (Crossing the Sea). b. Svapnavasavadattam (The Vision of Vasavadatta) Act V Svapnankam (The Dream) c. Pratijya-Yougandharayanam (Yougandharayana’s Vow) - Act III Mantrankam (The Secret)

x

Saktibhadra Ascharyachudamani (The Wondrous Crest Jewel) written by Saktibhadra in the 8th century AD is the most successful play performed by Kudiyattam actors. This play is based on the epic Ramayana, is believed to be the first Sanskrit play from Kerala. Seven acts of this play such as Act I Parnasalankam (The Hermitage), Act II Soorpanakhankam (Soorpanakha), Act III Mayasithankam (The Unreal Sitha), Act IV Jatayuvadhankam (Killing Jatayu), Act V Asokavanikankam (The Garden Asoka), Act VI Anguleeyankam (The Ring) and the Act VII Agnipravesankam (The Jumping into the Fire) are performed these days.

Introduction

x

27

Kulasekhara Kulasekhara, the 10th century ruler of the Chera dynasty (who ruled some of the provinces of Kerala), is generally believed to be the mastermind behind bestowing Kudiyattam with its current dramatic structure. He is also thought to be the creator of Nangyar-Kuthu, the female monodrama and offshoot of Kudiyattam. He wrote two plays, Subhadra Dhananjayam (The Wedding of Subhadra and Arjuna) and Tapati Samvaranam (The Story of Tapati and Samvarana). The first and second acts of Subhadra Dhananjayam and the first act of Tapati Samvaranam are performed these days.

Costume and Make-up The beginning of any Kudiyattam performance is equally ritualistic as the performance itself. After the performer purifies himself / herself by taking a bath, he lights the lamp in the green room and then ties choppu tuni, literally a red cloth just above the forehead. This narrow piece of cloth which is about one inch wide is made by stitching two narrow pieces of red cloth above and below a black colour cloth that is in the middle. This ritual transfers the performer’s daily self into that of the character that he/she is about to play. Then s/he applies ghee and make-up material on five spots on the face, which are the forehead, nose, chin and two cheeks. The actor pays respects to gods, guru and nature (such as the Sun and the planets) by verbally referring to them during the application of ghee on the face. The confidence that this ritual gives to a performer is remarkable. There are five classifications in terms of costume and make-up for the characters in Kudiyattam which are: 1. Pacha is mainly used for noble type characters (eg: Rama in the epic Ramayana). Pacha means green because these characters paint their face with green colour made out of a mixture of a natural substance from soil (which is also used for making gun powder!) called manayola, which is yellow in colour and blue colour mixed with clarified butter. Eyes and eyebrows are painted black and a tiny piece of the dried seed of the egg plant is put inside the eyes, inside the lower eyelids

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

to give red colour to the eyes. Medically, it is very important to put this seed in the eyes because it will ease off the heat produced by manayola applied on the face. The face is bordered with chutti, which is made of rice paste in about one to two inches width around the face. The legs are painted with rice paste and a white cloth worn around the waist is suspended down only in the front to cover the legs (tattu). The actors also wear white cloth folded (in layers) thickly on a long cotton string made to the shape of a pillow (mattu) which is worn on the waist. The torso is covered with a jacket called kuppayam. The actors wear head gear and ornaments such as bangles, shoulder bands or chains. 2. Kathi is the costume used for high-born, but evil-natured characters (eg: the demon Ravana in Ramayana). The face is still painted green with the only difference that there are additional chutti on the cheeks and another chutti made in the shape of a flower on the nose. The rest of the costume is similar to pacha with the only exception of head gear which is a bit bigger and more beautiful. 3. Tadi is mainly used to depict monkey characters in the epic Ramayana and Sages in all the plays. Tadi literally means the beard. Monkey king Bali has to wear a red beard and his brother Sugreeva wears black. However, there is also a white colour beard worn by Hanuman. The face paint also varies; Bali’s is a red and green face and that of Sugreeva and Hanuman a red face. There are differences also in the colour and type of head gear which helps to identify the character easily. Sugreeva’s head gear is black in colour, Hanuman’s white for example. 4. Minukku: Female characters invariably use minukku (perhaps with the exception of some Goddess characters. This is to give a special status for such characters). The face is painted with manayola with a slight tint of saffron colour to give an impact of pazuhkka or orange-red colour. Eyes and eyebrows are painted black and a seed of the egg plant is put inside the lower eyelids. The head gear is smaller but contains a snake

Introduction

29

hood at the front of it. Lots of ornaments are also worn which mainly consist of bangles, chains, and ear rings. The actresses also wear a long wig, which is more than a metre long, called pedari. The costume consists of a long piece of white cotton worn around the waist and a blouse to cover the chest. 5. Pazhukka is the costume for denoting a face painted with bright orange-red colour. Some special characters like Kapali in the play Mattavilasa Prahasana, Bhima in Mahabharata for example use this face paint. The face is mostly orange-red which resembles the colour of the ripe areca nut husk. Pazhukka used to be the face paint worn by the actresses, however, this has now mostly been replaced by minukku. I believe this is due to the influence on Kathakali on Kudiyattam. 6. Ghee make-up is a different category, which is different from the major five categories described above. Characters such as the Sutradhara apply only ghee on the face. They do not paint their faces with the exception of eyes, eyebrows and lips, but only apply ghee instead of red or green colours. They also put a seed of the egg plant inside the eyelids. These characters also wear all the other parts of the costume with the exception of headgear. There is also another costume used for ninam which can not be grouped among any of the categories listed above. Ninam literally means blood; it is a transformation of the demoness Surpanakha (in the epic Ramayana) whose breasts and nose were mutilated by Lakshmana who is Rama’s brother. Surpanakha approaches her brother Ravana to avenge the brutality that she was subjected to. It is here that ninam is used. This is a very scary spectacle and the character is drenched in blood. The ‘blood’ is prepared by mixing lime stone with turmeric. Pieces of tender coconut are also put to give an illusion of pieces of flesh. The actor applies this mixture all over his body and the entry is accompanied by fire and loud cries.

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

Musical instruments The major musical instrument used in Kudiyattam is a big pot drum made of copper called mizhavu. There are two types of mizhavu shape-wise, the round one and the egg-shaped one; these could be in three categories of big, medium and the small. Mizhavu is considered equivalent to an unmarried Brahmin (widely understood by the term brahmachari) and deserves all the birth and death rites of a Brahmin. Before a mizhavu is used for the first time it needs to undergo the sacred thread ceremony which is typical for a Brahmin boy. This ceremony marks the re-birth of a Brahmin boy and similarly a mizhavu is qualified to be an instrument used in Kudiyattam only after this ceremony. Similarly if a mizhavu is damaged it should not be reused but instead it needs to be cremated in a proper death ceremony. Mizhavu has only one narrow mouth and it is covered either with the skin of a calf which is naturally dead before it reaches the age of six months or with the skin of a black monkey. The preparation of the skin to make it suitable for using takes a long time and much effort. The other instruments used in Kudiyattam are itakka, which is a cylinder shaped drum, sankhu or a conch, kurumkuzhal, which is a wind instrument, a pair of cymbals to keep the rhythm and timila, which is again another cylindrical drum. Kurmkuzhal is very rarely used these days but the rest of the instruments are used in a Kudiyattam performance. Timila is a new addition to the Kudiyattam stage by the Margi school. All these instruments except cymbals are placed at the rear of the stage. The Nangyar playing cymbals sits at the right hand side of the stage.

Introduction

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Kuthambalam, the temple theatre of Kerala A Kuthambalam forms part of the temple complex of Kerala, built on the right hand side of Sanctum Sanctorum, situated in the outer circle. The word meaning of Kuthu is performance and that of Ambalam is the temple and hence Kuthambalam means the ‘performance temple’ or the theatre structure within the temple complex where the performance is worshipped. According to the findings of late D. Appukkuttan Nair (the founder director of Margi school at Trivandrum, Kerala who was also an architect credited with the construction of the Kuthampalam in Kalamandalam School), nineteen Kuthampalams are still remaining in Kerala, the biggest of them being the one inside Vadakkumnathan temple worshipping God Shiva, at Trichur in north Kerala which is sized 23.5 meters in length and 17.5 metres in width. Many of them are decorated with fine wood carvings such as the one at Kidangur in South Kerala. The stage or the performance area is to be constructed at the back of the Kuthambalam. Most Kuthampalam are rectangular in shape, though an oval-shaped structure is also found in the southern Kerala district of Chengannur. The stage is also rectangular in shape, ranging from 6.25 square metres as in Vadakkumnathan to 3.6 square meters as that of the one in Guruvayur temple (in north Kerala in Trichur District). The structural specifications cited in the Sanskrit texts on architecture such as Tantra Samuchaya of Narayana which is datable to the 15th century and Silparatna of Sri Kumara written in 16th century forms the base of the architecture of Kuthambalam. L.S Rajagopalan, the renowned Kudiyattam scholar and the writer of several scholarly works on this subject cites that the specifications of Tantra Samuchaya have been strictly adhered to in their construction. It is amazing how Kudiyattam was preserved by the Chakyar and Nambyar community through performing it as part of their caste rites. This is a very important preservation technique which helped the survival of this performance against the odds of time. Each Chakyar was assigned to each Nambyar family and these actor-musician families worked as a team for centuries. Such actor-musician families

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

were also connected to specific temples. They equally shared the remuneration from a performance. Together with the strict religious beliefs and a strong conviction of one’s own dharma Chakyars and Nambyars continued to perform Kudiyattam and ensured its existence and preserved its unique performance structure for the new generation. Though it was transformed with the recurrent social changes in the Kerala society it still exists and is still being performed, not only by Chakyar or Nambyar communities but by members of other castes as well. We know Greek theatre only through the remnants of its theatre structure. There is no trace of Sanskrit theatre in the rest of India either in the form of theatre structure or acting patterns. Kudiyattam, which originated at least two millennia ago, still exist with us as the only available and living model of Indian Sanskrit theatre. In the following chapters I examine its actor training and acting patterns in a detailed manner in the context of consciousness studies.

Chapter One The Actor’s Consciousness: Contemporary Western Approaches What is the nature of an actor’s consciousness? Is it possible to decipher a significant and potent sphere of consciousness specific to theatre? Is there a significant difference between consciousness in theatre performance and consciousness in meditation? Would it be possible to understand and enquire into theatrical consciousness from within theatre praxis rather than assessing and interpreting an actor’s consciousness by borrowing methodological tools from the philosophical discourse on consciousness? These are some of the major questions I address in this chapter; I am looking at the existing debates in consciousness studies relating to acting and the actor’s consciousness, in the context of their contemporary, Western discourse. During the period of the last ten years there has been seen an emerging interest in Western academia in the field of consciousness studies, reflected across a wide range of disciplines from neuroscience and physics to philosophy. In the specific context of theatre, the issue of the actor’s consciousness has been relevant for several decades particularly among theatre practitioners. The concerns shared by Stanislavski and Grotowski in respect of the actor’s state of consciousness and his pre-expressive state of mind and body channelled their enquiries beyond the confines of Western theatre. These developments in theatre practice are matched, albeit later, in emerging theoretical propositions in relation to consciousness and theatre, particularly from a non-Western perspective as reflected in the writings of MeyerDinkgräfe, Yarrow, and Malekin, and, from the perspective of performance studies, in the writings of Schechner and Barba. In the light of

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness

those approaches to the actor’s consciousness, I intend to divide this chapter into the following three subsections: The actor’s consciousness from the perspective of consciousness studies The actor’s consciousness from the perspective of performance studies The actor’s consciousness from the perspective of theatre practitioners. The actor’s consciousness from the perspective of consciousness studies Consciousness studies is relatively new discipline and we find a growing interest in it from the early 1990’s. Yarrow and Malekin were the pioneers in researching consciousness in theatre, an enquiry carried forward by Meyer Dinkgräfe, William Demastes, Jade McCutcheon, Sreenath Nair, and others 1 . This enquiry into the actor’s consciousness is a new stream of thought and an emerging subject of discussion. I shall analyse the theoretical writings on consciousness and theatre under three subsections as Acting and pashyanti (Malekin and Yarrow) Acting and the Vedic model of consciousness (Meyer-Dinkgräfe) Acting, consciousness and breath (Nair) Broadly speaking these are the three distinct consciousnessrelated strands of discourse I identified in my research. Though there is an attempt by McCutcheon to analyse and relate ritual in terms of altered states of consciousness, this analysis fails to propose a feasible practical method or sound theoretical base. In this sense McCutcheon’s discussions exists mainly as an elementary thought 2 . The three strands mentioned above, on the other hand, are important and highly significant in my analysis of actor’s consciousness. Chronologically, it is the Vedic Science model of consciousness that methodically ap1

Materials contained in the electronic journal Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/users/dmeyerdinkgrafe/index.htm and in the book series Consciousness Literature and Arts, published by Rodopi. 2 Jade McCutcheon, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/users/dmeyerdinkgrafe/archive/mccutcheon.html.

Actor’s Consciousness: Contemporary Western Approaches

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proached actor’s consciousness first, however, a systematic thought in the direction of formulating pashyanti model of consciousness was initiated by Yarrow as early as 1986 (Neutral Consciousness in the experience of theatre: 1986). Therefore I am beginning my enquiry with the analysis of the pashyanti model of consciousness. Acting and Pashyanti Inspired by the Indian literary theory and Vedic tradition, Malekin and Yarrow discuss the concept of pashyanti in relation to consciousness and suggest training methods suitable to help actors to perform from a state of ‘neutral consciousness’ resulting in an enhanced level of spontaneity and intuition, or ‘holistic rhythm’. The aim thus is to get the subtle energy flow of the performer to “arise spontaneously out of immediate cognition, from of the pashyanti level of mind”. What is pashyanti? Indian linguistics distinguishes four distinct levels of language: para, pashyanti, madhyama and vaikhari. While vaikhari is the audible speech uttered by the speaker, para is the fully unmanifest level of language. In between these lie the inner mental state represented as thoughts or the inward speech (madhyama) and the finest level of the cognitive manifestation, pashyanti, which is pre-verbal. This level is devoid of any sense of space and time and represents meaning in its fullness within the mind of the speaker. It is a liminal state of between-ness, between the unmanifest and the beginning of any manifestation. This is also the subtle cognitive space of creativity prior to the formation of its expression. According to Malekin and Yarrow, this is closer to the experience of knowing what we want to say, not having words to put it in, searching for words, rejecting trial formulations as “not what I want to say” and eventually hitting on a satisfactory formulation, or even wrenching language into new shapes and modes so that formulation shall be satisfactory. … In its fullness pashyanti is nearer the eureka experience, the “got it” of a whole new conceptualisation instantaneously present, the sort of thing that for instance composers can experience, when a whole work or movement is instantaneously present to their minds, becoming sequential when written down. 3

3

Peter Malekin and Ralph Yarrow, The Pashyanti Project, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, vol.1 no.2, July 2000, http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/users/dmeyerdinkgrafe/archive/pash.html.

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Pashyanti is thus a level of pre-utterence, pre-thought and hence pre-expression. It is the state where meaning exists in unison with the sensation or the spark of any such meaning, prior to its separation to form thoughts and speech. Pashyanti could be described as the primary flash of insight which is the spring of any idea before it fully develops into expression in terms of thought and words. This theory of four-fold manifestation of language was put forward by grammarian Bhartrihari in the 6th century CE. Malekin and Yarrow postulate that any performance from the pashyanti level of cognition would be free and beyond “egoic and category-bound experience” when the “dramatic time ceases to be self enclosed, self-defining, whether or not there is a narrative or emotional closure” 4 . When a performance, though containing its precise and structured temporal sequence and its progression, emanates thus from the pashyanti level, what remains are moments that are experienced by actor and / or spectator, at least in retrospect, as long periods of timelessness. In a performance during which the actors experience the pashyanti level of consciousness, these actors will have maximum spontaneity and capacity to transmit their energies to the spectators. Such energy transfer in turn is part of the spectators’ total and undivided involvement in the performance. This creates the illusion of a lapse in the temporal progression of the narrative. Such a performance thus cuts across the boundaries of structured, narrative time and rather replaces them with potential moments that foster an illusion of timelessness. The narrative becomes immaterial; what matters here will be the total theatrical experience. On an experiential level, the actor and the spectator’s physical breathing, as in samadhi or the yogic experience of pure consciousness, is thought to have come to a complete halt; the normal breathing returns when the actors return to normal activity from samadhi. We sometimes use the term ‘breath-taking’ in order to describe the deep impact of any event. A typical example would be mesmerising physical skills of an acrobat or ballerina or even the incredible speed of a race car. This phrase thus implies that when we experience anything that is sublimating our breath is ‘taken’, which gives us a sense of timelessness. Thus,

4

Ibid.

Actor’s Consciousness: Contemporary Western Approaches

37

the daily sense of time disappears when breath, which is the basic temporal metre of human cognition, is manipulated. What Malekin and Yarrow call the “pashyanti project” thus aims to build and add “understandings of physiological and mental functioning at generative levels” so that actors and directors can access the pashyanti level leading to “holistic rhythm” not only in the overall performance but also the way drama is conceived by the director in the first instance. Pashyanti can thus be applied to all levels of theatre production including the director, the actors and backstage artists. Malekin and Yarrow also propose means by which actors could be trained to access pashyanti. The first step in this direction is to “… bring performers… to access a state of “neutrality” where habit and familiar patterns are suspended, where both the everyday self and its forms are roles, and any easily adopted “actorly” personae, are put aside”. 5 This state is explained as a state of “waiting without expectation”, when the actor becomes a mere “readiness”. Yarrow describes ‘neutrality’ of consciousness or ‘witnessing’ as a highly potential sphere of awareness which brings a sense of completeness. The neutral state of consciousness becomes a fourth state of awareness where “silence and activity co-exist” and leads to further states of consciousness where witnessing opens up wider and subtler perceptions. 6 This level of consciousness could be attained in several ways, including neutral mask work, Yoga asanas, rhythmic movement or shamanistic chanting. Any of these, Malekin and Yarrow propose, would help actors to escape temporarily from the daily, everyday self. The next stage is to trace the ‘nexus of relationship’, which could be the subtext or the underlying rhythm, pattern or a mood. They can be developed to increase the flexibility of mind by several kinds of 5

Peter Malekin and Ralph Yarrow, The Pashyanti Project, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, vol.1 no.2, July 2000, http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/users/dmeyerdinkgrafe/archive/pash.html. 6 Ralph Yarrow, “Neutral” Consciousness in the Experience of Theater. Mosaic, Part II (XIX/4). Summer 1986.

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visualisations. However, Malekin and Yarrow suggest that prolonged training in Yoga would enable the mind to access pashyanti effortlessly. Malekin and Yarrow further state that such methods require both time and seclusion. Malekin and Yarrow briefly touch upon the ways mind and body function in the state of consciousness characterised by the experience of pashyanti. According to them: That which experiences pashyanti is the mind, and the mind is more flexible than the body, so that it is easier to move the mind to pashyanti by using the mind itself through language, thus affecting the body also, than to work primarily on body awareness to induce a mental state of pashyanti. Since the two factors, while not identical, are closely identified, it is not a question of one or the other, both are needed. But mind should not be overshadowed in the process by the body. Indeed one effect of proper body training is that the body should present no impediment to the mind, the two should move as one….

Here Malekin and Yarrow are discussing one of the many serious theoretical problems in the process of developing actor training on the basis of the concept of pashyanti. For them the mind is superior to the body in so far as it is ‘more flexible’; pashyanti is experienced by the mind and hence it is easier to ‘move the mind’ which in turn affects the body. For them this approach is far more effective than reaching the mind through the body though: they insist that it is not a question of one or the other. However, the mind should not be allowed to be overshadowed by the body. Malekin and Yarrow are not indulging in a prolonged conceptual investigation of the concept of pashyanti in relation to mind and body but only briefly outline their proposition, adding a new dimension to the theoretical speculation on the mind-body problem, leaving much room for further discussion. The pashyanti project is an ambitious endeavour in the direction of initiating a possible model of actor training in relation to consciousness (studies). Though the project is in its very initial stages, I believe that the following questions are relevant: Malekin and Yarrow assume that utilising the concept of pashyanti for actor training would generate a new genre of performance practice which provides a heightened theatrical experience, both to the actors and the spectators.

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This actor training is devised for helping the actors to be spontaneous and reach the state of heightened self-awareness by making them ‘ready’ (a “blank screen” in their own words) and exploring their pashyanti level or their whirlpool of creative potential. Performance is thus expected to originate from this source. If this is the case, does this project expect the pashyanti level in the performers to cease its function after the training/rehearsal process? If not, how do they expect a theatrical production to accommodate spontaneity? If they expect the actors to be spontaneous through the performance as well, what happens if they improvise during the performance? If pashyanti is to continue through all stages of a drama production then the possibility of instant spontaneity during on stage performance cannot be dismissed. If every team member including the back stage members are functioning from the pashyanti level of consciousness, instant spontaneity could be achieved easily. Think about a structured play production where every movement and every dialogue is carefully designed to light and music cues. If the actors are mere readiness, they could still improvise, which would affect the rest of the structure. Cues could be missed and co-actors could be confused. However, there are performance forms that would accommodate such levels of freedom: Kathakali is one example. After every segment of structured performance, Kathakali actors take the liberty to exhibit their improvising skills—the technical term is manodharmam (the word is a composite of mano—mind; dharmam—principles; thus ‘principles of mind’). Expertise in manodharmam is the ultimate aim of a student in Kathakali because what he enacts should be appropriate to the situation and to his character. I am not sure if the pashyanti project aims to be in line with the kind of performance structure of Kathakali. I will look at this issue in detail later in this book because this question is highly significant for discussing the practice of theatre. An analysis on these will be included in the conclusion of this book on the basis of the arguments that I make in the following chapters of this book. It is not clear as to how Malekin and Yarrow approach the issues related to the mind-body divide. How do they account for a more flexible mind and a less flexible body in effecting the spontaneous flow of mind (or body or both?) in pashyanti. Though they are aware that both should co-exist and the body should not overshadow the mind, what precisely are they arguing? For example, a Yogi is

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required to sit in Yoga asana for long periods of time to experience the samadhi level of cognition; to sit effortlessly in a complicated sitting posture is very important for him: any distraction resulting from this sitting posture would not allow him to set the mind free. Moreover, certain physical techniques, including the sitting posture in this instance, also alter the breathing pattern, thus facilitating easy access of higher cognitive levels. Here, the mind is reached through the body. The mind-body problem occupied a serious status in the development of various genres of humanities, philosophy and theatre for instance. There are actor training traditions which aim to train the consciousness of the actor by training the body. The very intention of this book is to find how certain physical disciplines could in a way train the consciousness of the actor as well. Certain yogic traditions, for example, assume that the flow of breath is also the flow of mind. In the following chapters of this book I will be examining how the actor training of Kudiyattam is effective in preparing the actor to alter his consciousness during the performance. The Pashyanti project is a very important discussion in the enquiry of this book on the actor’s consciousness because it puts forward a sound theoretical base (in terms of Sanskrit linguistics) and initiates a practical method based on the same, all aimed to create a performance that springs from pashyanti. Though some of the arguments made by Malekin and Yarrow are debatable, the content of their thesis is intellectually profound and promising. If the pashayanti project is theoretically based on Sanskrit linguistics, the Vedic model of consciousness is firmly grounded in the Indian philosophical discourse compiled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (see below) and collecttively termed Vedic Science. I am examining below the theoretical approach of Vedic Science to actor’s consciousness as discussed by Meyer-Dinkgräfe. Acting and the Vedic Model of Consciousness Meyer-Dinkgräfe discusses the actor’s consciousness from the standpoint of the Vedic Science model of consciousness. Vedic

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Science is a term coined by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, 7 as a result of his re-assessment of classical Vedic literature of India. In his own words: Veda means knowledge. Therefore, my Vedic Science, the science of Veda, is the science of complete knowledge. Knowledge results from the coming together of the knower, the process of knowing, and the object of knowing-knowledge blossoms in the togetherness of knower, process of knowing, and known. Therefore, knowledge is the Unified Field of knower, process of knowing, and known; therefore, my Vedic Science, the science of knowledge, is the science of the Unified Field of knower, process of knowing, and known. 8

Vedic Science incorporates a total of 40 different texts or bodies of texts, including various distinct disciplines such as Ayurveda— traditional Indian medicine and Sthapatyaveda—architecture. Meyer-Dinkgräfe Vedic Science model of consciousness proposes four higher levels of consciousness apart from waking, dreaming and sleeping. Pure consciousness is the fourth state of human consciousness. This level of consciousness is a state of complete awareness and at the basis of creation; it is beyond any perception and time and space. To quote Meyer-Dinkgräfe: “in parallel to the unified field described in quantum physics, it is timeless, unbounded, omnipresent and source of all diversification”. 9 Pure consciousness as described by Meyer-Dinkgräfe shows parallels to the pashyanti state of consciousness in terms of Malekin and Yarrow. Both in the Vedic Science and the pashyanti models of consciousness, this is the finest level of manifestation from where all creativity springs. Meyer-Dinkgräfe further clarifies that the knowledge attained from this level is direct: without any mediation of senses or mind. Thus, Vedic Science proposes pure consciousness as the basis of more expressed levels of awareness. Beyond pure consciousness, Vedic Science describes three further higher states of consciousness: cosmic consciousness, refined 7

Maharshi Mahesh Yogi is an Indian Sanyasin who has taken the lead in spreading traditional Indian knowledge across the world. He is best known in the West for introducing and teaching Transcendental Meditation. 8 http://www.maharishi.org/overview/vedic_science.html 9 Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Consciousness and the Actor. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996, p. 126.

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cosmic consciousness and unity consciousness. Cosmic consciousness is characterised by the co-existence of waking or dreaming or sleeping with pure consciousness; in this state of consciousness, pure consciousness witnesses the activities of waking, dreaming and sleeping. Meyer-Dinkgräfe provides descriptions of the experience when pure consciousness co-exists with waking, dreaming or sleeping. For example, tennis champion Billie Jean King describes her experience during a tennis match. I can almost feel it coming. It usually happens on one of those days when everything is just right. (…) It almost seems as though I’m able to transport myself beyond the turmoil of he court to some place of total peace and calm. Perfect shots extend into perfect matches. (…) I appreciate what my opponent is doing in a detached abstract way. Like an observer in the next room. (…) It is a perfect combination of [intense] action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity. When it happens I want to stop the match and grab the microphone and shout that’s what it’s all about, because it is. It’s not the big prize I’m going to win at the end of the match or anything else. It’s just having done something that’s totally pure and having experienced the perfect emotion. 10

I can relate many of my own experiences during performances to that of that report above. I remember a most recent experience that I had during my Kudiyattam performance in May 2005 at Aberystwyth, Wales. I was performing a Kudiyattam piece entitled ‘Poothanamoksham’ illustrating the story of God Krishna as an infant killing the demoness Poothana. Though Poothana was on her mission to kill baby Krishna, when she saw him, all kinds of motherly affection were aroused in her. The moment which was being enacted was Poothana’s first sight of baby Krishna; I always enacted this in a stunned stillness followed by expressing wonder with the face. This was also rehearsed time after time for the girls who accompanied me because one of them was providing running commentary to my performance. On that day, I altered the way Poothana saw baby Krishna by adding an element of devotion to it. I moved my hands to form a bowing gesture to baby Krishna in great devotion and shook myself as if in a dream to come to my real self (or the self of the character) before my hands completed that gesture. To my surprise all of this was involuntary action, which was totally unplanned and unrehearsed. When this was 10

Ibid., p. 132.

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being performed, I was watching myself performing but could not stop myself from proceeding with this. When I think of this moment, it was as if somebody was directing me to perform the ‘incomplete gesture’ to add more intensity and meaning to the sequences which followed. I was not thinking what to act but knew very well what followed next and had fullest confidence in myself though whatever I did was unrehearsed and totally spontaneous. I was completely appreciating myself and happy about this improvisation because it was undoubtedly appropriate to the progression of that performance piece. After the performance was over, the girl who was commentating the performance, and who had no idea of my experiences of improvisation, asked me why I made such a ‘mistake’ in spite of extensive rehearsal. The next higher state of consciousness after cosmic consciousness is refined cosmic consciousness where the experience of cosmic consciousness is maintained while perception reaches its most sublime level. Unity consciousness is the highest and final level of human consciousness where the subject/object divide disappears; a state where the knower becomes the sweetness (knowledge) itself rather than knowing the sweetness of sugar. The Bhagavat Gita describes unity consciousness thus: “The Yogi who is united in identity with the all pervading, infinite Consciousness, and sees unity everywhere, beholds the Self present in all beings, and all beings as assumed in the self”. 11 The duality between self (atman) and the absolute (brahman) thus dissolves, what remains is Unity (para-brahmam). Higher states of consciousness are also referred to, in Vedic Science, as enlightenment, or moksha. In terms of Bhartrihari, para is the ultimate, unmanifest level and pashyanti is the finest and subtlest state of any manifestation (which is liminal and hence always betwixt and between). Similarly, if pure consciousness resembles pashyanti and unity consciousness para, cosmic consciousness and refined cosmic consciousness could be considered as transition stages between para and pashyanti or the way in which para becomes pashyanti in the human cognitive process. 11

Ibid., p. 133.

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Meyer-Dinkgräfe further describes the qualities of an enlightened actor. The enlightened actor will be emotionally detached while acting and the actor will witness his own activities. However, an actor attains a ‘fully concentrated mind’ only in unity consciousness and such concentration will enable the actor to fully understand, appreciate and feel the emotions the character is supposed to be feeling. Meyer-Dinkgräfe further clarifies that an “actor, while completely appreciating the dramatist’s intentions, may go even beyond those intentions.” This means that the actor in a state of unity consciousness would explore the unexplored and implied meanings in the texts, thus adding to the original text of the dramatist. This observation is interesting since this argument is highly relevant and true to Indian performances, since actors normally improvise on the stage, which will be totally unrehearsed and unplanned. I have explained above one such experience in my own performance. Meyer-Dinkgräfe compares the acting techniques as described in the Natyashastra to yogic techniques: both are aimed at developing human mental potential. He suggests that Hatha Yoga techniques could be employed to gain the state of pure consciousness and eventually cosmic consciousness. He also mentions that the techniques of histrionic representation described in the Natyasastra are similar to Hatha Yoga: “through physical exercise, the actor’s nervous system is trained in a specific way to give rise to higher states of consciousness. It is only in such higher states of consciousness that the actor will be able to efficiently and fully represent the temperamental states (sattvika bhava).” 12 He suggests that Yoga helps an actor attain the quality of sattva in acting. Sattva means the ‘true essence’ or the ‘absolute entity’ where sat is the absolute sense of being, Brahman for instance. This is equivalent to unity consciousness, which is prior to the self’s division to duality. Asanas or the yogic physical exercises and pranayama or the yogic breathing exercises are related to angika abhinaya in the Natyasastra. Angika Abhinaya is the histrionic representation as prescribed by the Natyasastra. Meyer-Dinkgräfe also states that when an actor acts from the state of cosmic consciousness, the “apparent paradox of spontaneity and discipline disappears”. There are some very interesting observations made by Meyer12

Ibid., p. 152.

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Dinkgräfe which are highly relevant in the total argument in this book. I will be particularly looking at his views on spontaneity and discipline in the conclusion of this book. Acting, consciousness and breath The consideration of consciousness and breath in relation to acting is the most recent addition to the history of analysing the actor’s consciousness. Sreenath Nair in his book entitled Restoration of breath, Consciousness and Performance discusses human breathing as a category which produces meaning; he brings South Indian Siddha Yoga tradition into the current debate on the actor’s consciousness. Nair proposes that breathing is instrumental in attaining higher levels of consciousness. However, breathing in this context is not to be understood in terms of ordinary human respiration; rather, Nair introduces what he calls Restoration of Breath: a method of breathing described and practised in the South Indian Siddha Yoga system of meditation. According to Nair, Siddha Yoga offers a distinct system of breathing by means of which its importance and dynamics in attaining higher states of consciousness could be clearly established. Siddha Yoga as defined by Nair is “a combination of Saivite spirituality and the practical knowledge of yogic breathing techniques of ancient India passed down through a lineage of Siddhas”. 13 Saivism as a philosophical system developed during the Indus valley civilization is a pre-Vedic body of spiritual thought and practice that permeates into later, philosophical strands such as Vedas and Upanishads, aesthetic theories, religion, meditation practice, Tantric Yoga and even Buddhism. Worshipping Shiva in the form of a phallic symbol is central to Saivism. The South Indian Siddha tradition is an offshoot of the Indian Saivite tradition and part of Tantric-Yoga movement that spread throughout South Asia, extending from Tibet to Sri Lanka. The distinctive element that makes Siddha Yoga different from other schools of Yoga is its focus on breath-related practice. 14

13 Sreenath Nair, Restoration of Breath: Consciousness and performance. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007, p. 179. 14 Ibid., pp. 101-2.

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Nair further explains the basic principles and understanding of breathing according to the Siddha Yoga tradition. The human respiratory system operates through three paths: left, right and intermittent middle path; at any one time breath flows predominantly only through one of the nostrils. The operating nostril changes intermittently from left to right and from right to left and stays in the middle path in each changeover. This pattern has an impact on the human psychophysicality and hence the proper manipulation of breath offers perfect control over the entire psycho-physical functioning. Nair has also provided elaborate details of the ways in which each nostril is connected to the functioning of various secretions, its apparent interaction with the brain and the autonomous nervous system. Similar understanding of breath is also found in Hatha Yoga, which maintains that a ‘movement’ in breath will cause a similar ‘movement’ in the mind; if breath does not ‘move’, then the mind does not move either. A Yogi thus reaches the being of Siva (eternal or infinitude; in other words beyond the natural human patterns of birth and death) and hence breath needs to be restrained. 15

A disturbing movement of breath causes a disturbance of the mind and hence the manipulation and control of breathing (which in turn controls the mind) is what is cardinal to the meditation practice. The underlying meaning of this passage confirms the philosophical practice that Siddha Yoga maintains and proposes. Concerning to the middle path breathing, Nair explains that it naturally occurs in the human body apart from the changeovers of breath from left to right and vice versa during sexual intercourse, when a person is in deep sleep and also in the process of dying. While all these are involuntary functions of our breathing body, there are ways in which breath can be restrained or internalised in its middle path in order cut across the boundaries of daily consciousness and hence the daily self. This state of breath is what Nair calls Restoration of breath. As he explains this: Restoration of breath is an approach to breath. It denotes a particular system of breathing. It invokes an upward and downward movement of breath within the internal channels without any outward trace: the two nostril modes, the left and the right are absent when you re-store breath. There is a constant flow 15

Balananda Swamikal, HathaYogavidhi. Kollam: S.T Reddyar and Sons, 1930, p. 6.

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of air within the internal system, but it is not perceptible to the sensory perceptions of an observer. In this sense, you cannot feel and measure the outer flow of the air when restoration of breath is in operation. 16

Nair explores the subtlest of human physical manifestations which plays a pivotal role in transforming daily human consciousness to the higher levels of extra-daily consciousness. The perceptive awareness of daily self functions when breath flows through nostrils; constant flow of breath is the thread which connects self to the world or the other. When the outer breath disappears or is restored, the divisions between self and the other disappear; the daily consciousness alters and gives way to higher levels of consciousness. To quote Nair, “Restoration of breath as a technique uses the middle path breathing to internalise breathing intentionally to achieve Samadhi, a state of pure consciousness… Middle path breathing destroys the individual consciousness of daily modes of time while extending it into time-less infinite”. 17 Nair here links breath, time and consciousness. If ordinary human breathing forms the base of temporality, its restoring will cause the ordinary sense of time to disappear. The divisions between self and other exist only in the daily, cognitive levels of spatio-temporal awareness which is metered by the repetitive sequences of in-breath and out-breath; when this sequential pattern disappears and breath is channelled into the middle path, the daily sense of time disappears and is replaced with a different sense of time: Restoration of breath is a movement upward and downward through the middle path which incorporates or unifies the other two modes, left and right, to create a timeless sense of infinitude and a field of vital energy within. This act of internalisation creates a shift in the individual perception of ordinary time by incorporating left and right nostril modes. In other words, the disappearance of left and right nostril modes brings a crucial shift in the individual’s sense of time. 18

Nair further explains twenty-four patterns of sequential breathing known as Gati, literally directions “consisting mostly of sounds of birds and animals, which vibrate at different parts of the body”. Eighteen of these movements are to be performed in a sitting posture 16

Sreenath Nair, Restoration of Breath: Consciousness and performance. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007, p. 182. 17 Ibid., p. 182. 18 Ibid., pp. 184-5.

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and the remaining six are to be combined with physical movements. Time and hours for practising each of these are also strictly specified. The sequence which combines breath and physical movements is called nadanam, literally dance. During this process breath is focussed and properly internalised. Nothing more is mentioned about this system in this book though it is very interesting information from a practical point of view. Nair also brings a fund of information on breath-related theories and practice available in various philosophical traditions across Asia and introduces several texts containing valuable information on the links between breath, body and consciousness. Moreover, he also links Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta philosophy and Abhinavagupta’s interpretation of rasa theory from the standpoint of Kashmiri Saivism. However, a major drawback of this thesis is the absence of any performance technique which incorporates the practice of Restoration of breath into its performance structure. Restoration of breath as a system is valid in performance only if its practical application is positively tested and successfully employed by actors. There are also other relevant questions such as how breath could be restored when delivering lines in a play. It would be interesting to see how this ageold and specific meditation practice adapts to suit the requirements of performers of today. Nair mentions nadanam, which is a skilful combination of meditation practice and physical movements. This assures the fact that restoration of breath is possible and could be integrated in physical movements. But again another significant problem in this context is whether a performer needs to be trained like a Siddha yogi to master this technique; this poses further important questions such as how far it would be possible to relate and understand performance in terms of meditative techniques – in other words, would it be possible to isolate potential meeting points between meditative practice and performance practice. In this context it also worth considering whether a performer should necessarily undertake the training of a yogi to perform some yogic techniques. Nair briefly mentions that Kudiyattam could be a possible system which has integrated restoration of breath in its performance body, but he has not examined any of its performance techniques to prove this point. I will be examining some

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of the Kudiyattam techniques in the light of restoration of breath later in my book. I have so far examined the arguments in terms of consciousness as explained and argued by Yarrow and Malekin, Meyer-Dinkgräfe and Nair. We find intimate influences of Indian philosophy in these arguments, though Nair draws heavily on the practical aspects of Siddha Yoga in forming his arguments. What is lacking here is a practical method, a theatre practice for example which one could examine as an example. Malekin and Yarrow are trying to propose a practical method which represents their philosophy of practice and MeyerDinkgräfe makes references to the Natyasastra and few Indian performances when forming his arguments. Nair’s arguments are of course based on the principles of Yoga, nevertheless there is no theatre or dance form that he mentions as a precise example of his method – here I am not forgetting that he argues Kudiyattam as a possible performance that is important in this context. Performance studies on the other hand is approaching actor’s consciousness indirectly. Schechner and Barba have undertaken important pioneering works in this discipline. I am examining some of their arguments in the following section. The actor’s consciousness from the perspective of performance studies Performance studies is not directly linked to the current theoretical discussions of consciousness studies; however, a deeper analysis of its discursive fields reveal definite links between both. Performance studies also draws heavily on Asian performance theories and practice, the Natyasastra and Zeami for instance, in formulating some of its basic principles along with borrowing anthropological and philosophical terms. Schechner and Barba, who were among the pioneers in developing performance studies are important in the context of my book primarily because of their interest in some of the Indian themes and also because some of their basic arguments are closely linked with the consciousness theories.

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Richard Schechner In his enquiry into defining ‘performativity’, Schechner has described some important terms which are necessarily central in analysing performance. Approaching the issue of performance from the standpoint of anthropology, he draws a wide spectrum of activities which could be defined or understood as performance. Schechner maintains performances occur in at least the following fields of life: in every day life – cooking, socialising, “just living” in the arts in sports and other popular entertainments in business in technology in sex in ritual – sacred and secular in play. 19

However, he also warns performance researchers against any kind of generalisations that might creep into this discipline since as embodied practices each and every performance is specific and different from each other. He takes the example of wrestling as practised in Japan and America and states that the conventions and culture governing these two systems of wrestling are different; he applies this example generally to all other kinds of performances: Both sumo and what occurs under the banner of the World Wrestling Federation are “wrestling”; each enacts the values of its particular culture. What is true of wrestling is also true of the performing arts, political demonstrations, the roles of everyday life (doctor, mother, cop etc.) and all other performances. 20

Performance thus is a very broad category to Schechner, which encompasses everyday human activities as well as theatre, dance or art. Moving on to some of his arguments, I shall examine the following terms closely in this section basically because they are largely consciousness-related.

19

Richard Schechner, Performance Studies: An introduction. London and New York: Routledge, 2002, p. 25. 20 Ibid., p. 30.

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a. Restoration of behaviour b. Liminality c. Transportation/transformation and d. Rasaesthetics. Restoration of behaviour Schechner argues that most of the human actions are ‘twice behaved behaviours’: we are only repeating those actions that are culturally grounded and expected and contextually correct. To be precise, ‘restored behaviour’ is a human behaviour either “as I am told to do” or “as I have learned”. 21 Schechner further explains that restored behaviour could be the combination of one or several ‘strips of life’, ranging from a specific ritual (marriage ceremony, death rites etc…) to an everyday action of waving goodbye. Restoration of behaviour thus displaces any originality of human actions that we normally claim since a pre-existant original life strip can possibly be traced back to any individual human action. He further states that there are multiple selves within any individual self and the ways one’s selves behave are connected to the ways people perform others in dramas, dances and rituals and also: … if people did not ordinarily come into contact with their multiple selves, the art of acting and the experience of trance possession would not be possible…. Rituals, games, and the performances in everyday life are authored by the collective “Anonymous” or the “Tradition”. Individuals given credit for inventing rituals or games usually turn out to be synthesizers, recombiners, compliers or editors of already practised actions. 22

Similarly in the specific context of performance, actors are transforming the various forms of social behaviour – strips of life – onto the stage. “Performance in the restored behaviour sense means never for the first time, always for the second to the nth time: twicebehaved behaviour”. 23 Schechner, though not directly addressing the issues of stylized theatre in terms of restored behaviour, also mentions that “it could be actions marked off by aesthetic conventions as in theatre, dance and music”. In this sense, “restored behaviour can bring 21

Ibid., p. 28. Ibid., p. 28. 23 Ibid., p. 29. 22

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into play non-ordinary reality as in the Balinese trance-dance enacting the struggle between the demoness Rangda and the Lion-god Barong”. 24 Schechner scantily addresses the problems relating to restored behaviour in relation to stylistic theatre such as Kudiyattam or Kathakali. It is not clear how his theory of restored behaviour is applicable to the complex levels of the actor’s consciousness at least in the specific context of Kudiyattam. Kudiyattam actors learn specific performance techniques such as shaking the eyebrows, movement of eyes and several other elements of histrionic representation. The whole body (and mind) is set to behave in a very specific, stylized pattern in order to displace any realistic expressions. Of course, the expressions represented are necessarily every-day emotions such as sadness or anger or shyness. But it needs to be closely analysed if they fall in line with the restoration of behaviour as it is generally understood. Restoration of behaviour as a theory is firmly based on the assumption that any social behaviour in the everyday life is ‘twice behaved behaviour’ because it is culture-specific and encoded deeply within our consciousness. In the case of realistic theatre acting we can find that these actions maintain closer allegiance to the natural behaviours that we exhibit in our daily lives. This is because of the histrionics which are largely realistic in nature. Stylized theatre on the other hand is essentially based on stylized physical, speech and acting techniques that are normally acquired by actors by subjecting themselves to long years of training. Though Schechner briefly touches upon the aesthetic conventions and stylized theatres such as Balinese trace-dance I am doubtful about the relevance of restoration of behaviour in their practical principles. I will now look at a specific example from Kudiyattam to analyse this further. Kudiyattam students learn a whole range of physical movements including facial, eye, hand, and leg movements during their long years of apprenticeship. All these movements are also used in Kudiyattam performances. A student is instructed to gently shake his eyebrows, move his eyes in circular motion culm24

Ibid., p. 28.

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inating in a side glance, and bend down the head slightly to enact female erotic love. They learn to aesthetically co-ordinate these complicated physical movements by practising them for several years. They further learn these movements by carefully observing the performances of established performers. Shyness is also socially acceptable and customary to Indian women; hence these movements will contribute and justify one’s own perception and understanding of shyness associated with female erotic love. Students practise this in such detail that the very reference to female erotic love will stimulate these movements in performance. Here the movements are restored in the sense that it is the restoration of the restored that is in a way taking place. Stylized body techniques as described above may be considered as twice behaved behaviours since the actors are repeating actions which are mastered by years of perseverance. In the next sub-section I will examine Barba and his arguments in terms of the actors’ extradaily actions, which continuously adhere to the physical principles of stylized theatre (consistent inconsistency). He discerns a second nature in the performers. In this sense, the actors could be considered as restoring their learned behaviours, which become part of their daily personae. On the other hand many of these highly stylized movements are informed by the social codes of behaviour: in India shyness is naturally associated to the nature of women. However, the histrionic representation of female shyness does not comply with the daily ‘strip of life’ even that of an Indian. Although restoration of behaviour in this sense may be partially applicable to stylized theatre like Kudiyattam, I am not fully able to justify its significance in the stylized theatre traditions because of their delineation in terms of representation. There is a real potential for a very long discussion on the Restoration of behaviour here which also opens the requirement of redefining and clarifying the term stylization and stylized theatre. However, I am not entering into such prolonged discussion since that in itself could be another book; however, this is an area which I would pursue in future. Moving further with the analysis of Schechner’s arguments I proceed to the concept of liminality.

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Liminality Liminality as a term is borrowed into performance studies from Victor Turner’s approach to anthropology. Here, liminality is a transformational phase in the life of a person, which is ‘between and betwixt’. It is a stage of life in which people pass from one stage to another, such as birth, puberty, marriage, parenthood, and death. Each of these passages of time consist of three phases – pre-liminal, liminal and post liminal and out of these three, the key phase in liminal – “a period of time when a person is betwixt and between social categories and personal identities” 25 During the liminal phase, the actual work of rites of passage takes place. At this time, specially marked spaces, transitions and transformations occur…. Persons are stripped of their social world; they enter a time-place where they are not-this-not-that, neither here nor there, in the midst of a journey from one social self to another… during the liminal phase, persons are inscribed with their new identities and initiated into their new powers. 26

In another words, liminal moments are the turning points in one’s life, a point which transforms the realities of life permanently. The practices and life style of that particular person are changed for ever when he/she has gone through that unique phase in life. Schechner is not extending this term into the theatre discourse in his writings. However, liminality is highly relevant in the life of a Kudiyattam performer both male and female. According to the accounts of Margi Madhu, a leading Kudiyattam actor, a male performer, Chakyar becomes a Chakyar only after making his debut performance, which needs to be followed by a ceremonial sacred thread ritual. Similarly, a female performer in Kudiyattam, known as Nangyar, is a Nangyar only after wearing a long piece of cotton cloth around her waist in a typical manner on the night of her debut performance. Both these rituals mark the rebirth of an ordinary human to be qualified to perform their caste roles. The in-between state is what the actor experiences during and prior to the performance. The actor at the same time being a character is also ‘not-not’ a character. The actor’s consciousness is not a daily 25 26

Ibid., p. 58. Ibid., p. 58.

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consciousness since he is halfway between himself and the character. The physical actions complete the process of characterisation but they have not begun yet. He is a mere ready-ness which is clearly liminal. The actor is betwixt and between daily consciousness and extra-daily consciousness – this is a transitional stage. Pre-expression is characteristically marked by the between-ness since the actor is ready for action but has not yet begun it. During the performance the actor experiences the witnessing self which appreciates and oversees all his actions. He is also in a liminal state since there are different selves participating in a performance – witnessing self, performing self and finally the character’s self. Related to this is Schechner’s theory of transportation and transformation. Transformation/Transportation Schechner formulates the theories of transportation and transformation as an extension of liminality. His major argument in relation to these two terms is that transformation occurs in a liminal state as in a ritual, and that in a performative process, it is the transportation that is taking place. According to Schechner From a spectator’s point of view, one enters into the experience, is “moved” or “touched” and is then dropped off about where she or he entered. For performers, the situation is more complex and long-lived. 27

A transformative experience is a kind of process where a performer becomes a Chakyar, for example. This is a transformational experience which impacts his/her cognitive process and identity for ever. In this sense, transformation is to be understood as a permanent change whereas transportation as a kind of journey or a short trip starting from a particular location coming back to the very same location: after taking a short sight-seeing trip, towards the end of the trip, the traveller reaches back to the same spot where he/she started that journey. Schechner takes an example of a tribe called Gahuku in New Guinea to justify his point, describing how a young boy was initiated to become a Gahuku man, describing the days’-long initiation rituals 27

Ibid., p. 63.

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which the boy had to pass through and how the boy was transformed into a Gahuku man in the end. A further example Schechner provides is of how people are affected by trance for a short duration and come back to the ordinary life after the short period of being in trance. He then applies this to performance and says Actors, athletes, dancers, shamans, entertainers, classical musicians – all train, practice, and/or rehearse in order to temporarily “leave themselves” and be fully in” whatever they are performing…. A theatrical performance takes place between “not me… (and) not not me”. 28

Schechner argues that transportation is what occurs to both spectators and performers in a performance. Schechner observes that actors and spectators are not quite transforming during a performance as a Gahuku man for instance. He also argues that both actors and spectators get dropped off at the same point where they began their journeys from. If this is the case, Barba’s consistent inconsistency theory is not applicable. If the performance principles are observed as becoming the second nature of an actor he can not be assumed to be totally unaffected by a performance. As far as Schechner is concerned, transportation starts only from the point when a performer starts his performance. If this is the case, how does he account for pre-expressivity? The trance possession of a shaman is also considered as transportation. If this is the case, how do we distinguish between the trance-possession of the member of particular community who went through a transformation process (eg: Gahuku men) and another person who has not been subjected to such a process? These are valid questions, which problematize Schechner’s theory of transportation/transformation. Being an actor myself I cannot confirm that my self stays completely unaffected after a performance and I come back to the same point I was at prior to my performance (or even before I start the dressing up). Rasaesthetics Inspired by the concept of rasa, Schechner developed what he terms rasaesthetics. According to Schechner it represents an approach 28

Ibid., p. 64.

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in performance studies that goes beyond performance art. In his search for a more than just visual experience that of theatre – something more of a sublime sort – he directs his enquiry into an experience of a rasic, or a spectator engaging with a spectacle from a different level of consciousness: What NS [the Natyasastra] supplies are the concrete details of that style, which at its core is not literary but theatrical, not plot-dominated or driven. Indian classical theatre and dance does not emphasize clear beginnings, middles and ends but favours more “open narration”, a menu of many delectables – offshoots, side-tracks, pleasurable digressions – not all of which can be savored at a sitting. 29

Schechner here stresses the importance that Indian theatre or dance assign to theatrical pleasure or the experience of rasa. Moving on further, Schechner mentions that a rasic performer, during the course of a performance “opens a liminal space to allow further play – improvisation, variation and enjoyment”. 30 Here the performer is the first spectator herself – the performing self and the observing self, all in one. The performer thus does not become affected by the character but remains a ‘partaker’ in this process. The performer, like other partakers, appreciates the emotions of the character that she is playing along with being moved by her own feeling towards those emotions. Thus, the spectators are empathizing with the performer rather than with the plot unlike responding sympathetically to the character and the plot in Western theatre. This powerful, liminal space of immense freedom created mainly by the performer, is at the core of Schechner’s Rasaesthetics, in other words the experience of rasa. Schechner’s argument parallels the concept of ‘enlightened actor’ who witnesses his own actions at the same time as appreciating it as proposed by Meyer-Dinkgräfe. Though Schechner and MeyerDinkgräfe approach the same issue from the perspectives of two different disciplines, the enquiry is basically consciousness related in nature. 29 Richard Schechner, Performance Theory. London and New York: Routledge, 2003, p. 345. 30 Ibid., p. 356.

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Eugenio Barba Eugenio Barba’s “Theatre Anthropology is the study of the pre-expressive scenic behaviour upon which different genres, styles, roles and personal or collective traditions are all based”. 31 The term ‘anthropology’ is not used in the sense of cultural anthropology but refers to a “field of investigation” into the “pre-expressive behaviour of the human being” in performance. From his analysis of the performances among cross-cultural traditions, Barba identified some of the ‘recurring principles’ common to performances across various cultures and disciplines and devised certain terminologies helpful in analysing performance. He divided performers into two categories, North Pole performers and South Pole performers and then identified the relevant performance characteristics for both. The terms that Barba coined are essentially related to physique and its physicality and he does not directly address the issues related to actor’s consciousness. However, a second reading of some of his principles suggests subtler implications of such principles on the actor’s consciousness. I am here also examining any traces of suggestions in line with altered state of consciousness in Barba’s findings since that is the specific enquiry of this book. Daily and extra daily Daily and extra-daily is the first theory that Barba postulates in his effort to analyse performance; the rest of the principles he proposes as governing performance are based on this fundamental principle. His observation of the North Pole performers, dancers, mimes of the Decroux school and also those from Asian tradition reveals that they possess a quality of energy that draws the spectators towards them, even when they are involved in “giving a cold, technical demonstration”. As he explains: The body is used in a substantially different way in daily life than in performance situations. In the daily context, body technique is conditioned by culture, social status, profession. But in performance, there exists a different 31 Eugenio Barba, The paper canoe. Tr. Richard Fowler. London and New York: Routledge, 2003, p. 9.

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body technique. It is therefore possible to distinguish between a daily technique and an extra-daily technique. 32

He explains that daily techniques are rather unconscious and functional and that the extra-daily techniques “do not respect the habitual conditionings of the use of the body” 33 . Also, the daily body techniques generally follow the “principle of minimum effort that is obtaining a maximum result with a minimum expenditure of energy”. 34 Extra-daily techniques, on the other hand, are based on the ‘wasting of energy’. Daily techniques may be culturally specific, whether people walk with or without shoes or whether they kiss with their nose or lips for instance. Different from the ‘incredible body’ of an acrobat, extra-daily techniques “literally put the body into form, rendering it artificial/artistic but believable”. 35 It is noticeable here that Barba in fact does not define extradaily, all he says is that it is neither daily nor acrobatic. Then what is extra-daily? Barba says that he derived this dichotomy of daily and extra-daily from two words that the Indian dancer Sanjukta Panigrahi said him, lokadharmi and natyadharmi. As she explained this to him, lokadharmi means daily life and natyadharmi means behaviour in dance. These two terms are found in the Natyasastra when Bharata, the author of this text explains rasa. As he says “ Lokadharmi and Natyadharmi, there are two dharmi’s as remembered.” 36 Later in the NS Bharata details what LD and ND are. LD is the natya that represents a. only normal or ordinary activities of our lives; b. that which is devoid of any ‘beautification of physical actions’ (the series of physical movements as normally found in Indian performances) c. expressing only the performer’s own thoughts and not those of a character and 32

Ibid., p. 15. Ibid., p. 15. 34 Ibid., p. 16. 35 Ibid., p. 16. 36 Bharatamuni, Natyasastra, tr. K.P.Narayana Pisharodi. Kerala Sahitya Akademi: Trichur. 1987, p. 243. 33

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d. the theatre that has a mixing of various men and women. 37 ND refers to elements of dance, music and percussion, imitation and representation of the words and emotions of others and superhuman actions. I have only given a summary of what Bharata wrote about LD and ND; there is however, a prolonged discussion in the later sections of NS that further explains how and why ND is significant in natya. Bharata’s above explanation does not seem to demarcate LD and ND in line with their common interpretation of realistic and stylized. However, the most common translation and interpretation of these two terms are realistic versus stylized or daily versus extra-daily (as in Barba). What is the importance of stylization (if at all ND is meant to be interpreted as stylization) in acting? I will be exploring this area in my next chapter which mainly discusses Indian approaches to the actor’s consciousness. Consistent inconsistency Consistent inconsistency is an extension of stylization. Barba identifies risks of two errors in limiting ourselves to stylization: ignoring their kinaesthetic effectiveness and losing one’s own ability to marvel at and be curious about watching a performance from another performance tradition. It is interesting to observe how some performers abandon the techniques of daily behaviour even when they have to carry out simple actions (standing up, sitting down, walking, looking, speaking, touching, taking). But even more interesting is the fact that this inconsistency, or initial lack of adherence to the economy of daily practice, is then organized into a new, systematic consistency. The puzzling artificiality that is the characteristic of the extra-daily techniques elaborated by North Pole performers leads to another quality of energy. The performer, through long practice and continued training, fixes this ‘inconsistency’ by a process of innovations, develops new neuro-muscular reflexes which result in a renewed body culture, a ‘second nature’, a new consistency, artificial but marked with bios… 37

This is my own translation of a Malayalam version of NS as interpreted by a well known scholar of NS known as K. P. Narayana Pisharodi.

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When their craftsmanship is of high quality, they transform a codified system into a ‘second nature’, whose logic is equivalent to the logic of organic life. 38 Barba here is not directly addressing actor’s consciousness, though this observation is highly relevant from a consciousness studies point of view. I argue this because some of the body postures and some specific muscular movements are known to create a different kind of consciousness in actors. For example, standing in the bent-knee posture (explained in the second chapter), creates various muscular tensions along with generating preparedness, and a total ‘charging’ of the body. What it does is to create a different breathing pattern. Thus, a well- trained performer who is systematically trained in maintaining the ‘bent knee posture’ will be capable of adhering to the physical principles of this posture while undertaking day-to-day activities like cooking or walking. During such daily activities the actor need not maintain the posture since he would have attained skills in adhering to the physical principles without maintaining the posture. There is a definite shift of consciousness which is necessarily associated with such behaviours. Thus what Barba argues with reference to consistent inconsistency is true of actor’s body as well as consciousness. Pre-expressivity and presence “Theatre anthropology postulates that there exists a basic level of organisation common to all performers and defines this level as pre-expressive”. 39 Barba’s enquiry throughout his research was bound to the pre-expressivity of a performer. As the word itself suggests, it is a state before expression but not merely a state of body or mind but a very pragmatic field of action. If so then how is the preexpressive defined? The level that deals with how to render the actor’s energy, scenically alive, that is, with how the actor can become a presence which immediately attracts 38

Ibid., p. 26. Eugenio Barba, Nicola Savarese, Ed.Richard Gough, Tr. Richard Fowler A dictionary of theatre anthropology: The secret art of the performer. London and New York: Routledge, 1999, p. 187

39

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Kudiyattam Theatre and Actor’s Consciousness the spectator’s attention, is the pre-expressive level …. The pre-expressive level, thought of in this way is therefore an operative level: not a level which can be separated from expression, but a pragmatic category, a praxis, the aim of which, during the process, is to strengthen the performer’s scenic bios. 40

Barba maintains that pre-expressivity is that quality which utilises principles for the acquisition of presence during performance. It is understood as an active agent in expression, which is contained by the performer in its totality; a quality which he gains also by means of regular and rigorous practice of his performance. Barba explains it also as a state of readiness or ability to act and as a life ready to be transformed into precise actions and reactions. However, he does not try to explain how a performer reaches this state or what moulds a performer to this state and also if the pre-expressive is alike to all the performers or if there are variations. However, for Barba, there are some common principles governing pre-expressivity of which a ‘fictive body’ and a ‘decided body’ are important. Such principles of the pre-expressive are normally found in codified genres where the technique which puts the body in form is codified independently of the result/meaning. As he says Fictive body means an intermediate state of body between action and preaction, a condition of mind (and body) immediately preceding the entry to stage to perform for instance. He is performing his absence since the daily self has given way to the expressive self, however, not yet expressing – a very liminal state of mind. This is a “‘fictive zone’ which does not perform a fiction but which simulates a kind of transformation of the daily body at the pre-expressive level”. 41

A ‘decided body’ is a codified body. Any basic posture of a performance is a decided body which is ready to leap to action. Barba mentions a study of the relation between martial arts and personality which found that the learning of a martial art by means of the constant repetition of physical actions leads students to a change of their awareness of themselves and the use of their bodies: One objective of martial arts is to learn to be present at the very moment of an action. This type of presence is extremely important for performers who wish

40 41

Ibid., p. 188. Ibid., p. 195.

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to be able to recreate, every night, that quality of energy which makes them alive in the spectator’s eyes. 42

The concept of presence is found over and over in Barba’s writings. Though he does not clearly describe what presence is, it can be understood as a quality of the performer’s body that is charged with energy. Presence is also used to denote the readiness of the performer or that quality in him which makes a marking impact on the audience. Barba’s findings, though from the perspective of an onlooker, are highly significant for various reasons. Primarily these were the first of their kind in the genre of performance studies. Secondly most of these are derived from his close interaction with Eastern performers. But most importantly these are closely related to the questions addressed by consciousness studies in terms of the actor and his consciousness. Barba often leaves some of his terms inadequately explained – presence and pre-expressivity for instance. Barba’s terms sometimes are parallel to those of Schechner’s; pre-expressivity, for instance is the actor’s liminal phase where he is betwixt and between. But at the same time Barba’s terms mark a stark difference to that of Schechner; Schechner is based firmly in the methodology of cultural anthropology, especially due to Victor Turner’s influence. Barba’s methodology, though anthropological in nature does not borrow terminology from anthropology; on the other hand it is necessarily performance based. Finally in this section I examine the approach to actor’s consciousness particularly from the perspective of theatre practitioners: Stanislavski and Grotowski. Artaud is another name that is important from a consciousness studies perspective but he has not developed any actor training method comparable to Stanislavski and Grotowski and hence this section focuses on how these two approached the actor’s consciousness.

42

Ibid., p. 197.

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The actor’s consciousness from the perspective of theatre practitioners In this section I am looking at the actor training methods developed by Stanislavski and Grotowski, mainly because of their emphasis on taking acting to higher levels of consciousness. Stanislavski Stanislavski’s system is largely aimed at reaching the subconscious mind in order to tap the reservoir of our imagination. 43 This is to allow the actor to feel and live the character as fully as possible every time he/she portrays the character. Stanislavski is not aware of or concerned with the higher levels of consciousness in acting. However, Sharon Marie Carnicke argues that Stanislavski, influenced by his knowledge of Yoga, imagines communication as the transmitting and receiving of rays of energy, much like psychic radio waves. Our breathing puts us in touch with these rays. With every exhalation, we send rays out into the environment, and with every inhalation we receive energy back into our bodies. 44 Note the stress on the relation between breathing and rays of energy. Later, Artaud considered theatre as a frightful transfer of forces from body to body. 45 Stanislavski argues in the context of the non-verbal communication of the subtext (described as anything that a character thinks or feels but can not put into words) and states very clearly that actors communicate subtext through body language, the cast of eyes, intonations and pauses. Stanislavski appeals to his actors to improvise on situations that involve naturally silent moments in their effort to refine the nonverbal communication. The importance here is on the meditative quality an actor should develop that contributes to his preexpressivity, a transitory level which is beyond the subconscious 43

Constantin Stanislavski, Tr. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood, An actor prepares. London: Methuen, 1988, pp. 13-16. 44 Sharon Marie Carnicke, “Stanislavsky’s System”, in, ed. Alison Hodge, Twentieth Century Actor Training. London and New York: Routledge, 2000, pp. 21-22. 45 Antonin Artaud, Theatre and its Double, tr. Victor Corti. London: Calder & Boyars, 1970, p. 30.

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mind. Stanislavski also maintains that actors should incorporate words only after grounding firmly on non-verbal means. Stanislavski also prescribes a step by step method to manipulate the rays of energy: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Close your eyes, relax, and feel your breath moving through your body. Visualise the breath as warm, yellow sunlight, energising you. As you inhale, the light is travelling from the top of your head down to your toes; as you exhale, reverse the direction of the breath. Close your eyes, relax, and feel your breath moving through your body. As you inhale, breathe the energy in from the surrounding room; as you exhale, send the energy back out into the furthest corner. Stand apart from the group, hands held with palms outward. Radiate energy from your hands to someone else in the room. Does anyone in the room feel a transmission? One actor stands behind another in a single file. The person behind concentrates on a simple command (open the door, sit down, shake my hand), then radiates it to the person in front, who carries out the command. 46

The focus here is on the basic energy levels that could be reached through manipulating the breathing patterns. Not a lot is known of Stanislavski’s awareness about or enquiry into altered levels of consciousness in performance. However, his reference to, and training of manipulating rays of energy, and his emphasis on the silent moments in non-verbal acting of the subtext mark clear distinctions from his other methods. Grotowski Grotowski’s ‘poor theatre’, in the words of Peter Brook, is the only “avant-garde theatre whose poverty is not a drawback, where shortage of money is not an excuse for inadequate means which automatically undermine the experiments”. 47 Grotowski stripped of theatre of all its richness such as sculpture, lighting, make-up and architecture and presented only the absolutely necessary: the actor and his body. Grotowski believed that rich theatre depended on ‘artistic kleptomania’ which drew richly on other disciplines to construct hybrid-

46

Sharon Marie Carnicke, “Stanislavsky’s System”, in, ed. Alison Hodge, Twentieth Century Actor Training. London and New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 22. 47 Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor theatre, London: Methuen Drama, 1991, p. 11.

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spectacles. Poor theatre, he believes, delivers ‘pure impulse’ in theatre. Grotowski did not believe in teaching actors acting techniques, which he considered mere ‘bags of tricks’ that block the actor’s true expression. Poor Theatre, also known as via negativa, aims to eradicate the blocks. Rather, Grotowski demands that the actor sacrifices himself completely to the theatre. Grotowski considers this as the integration of all the actor’s psychic and bodily powers which emerge from the most intimate layers of his being and his instinct, springing forth in a sort of “translumination”. 48

Grotowski’s theatre laboratory considered the core of the theatre to be the personal and scenic techniques of the actor. He believed that theatre existed in the direct communication or flux between actor and spectator. Spectators sometimes were included in the performance by subjecting them to a sense of pressure and limitation of space or by deliberately playing among the spectators. This avoiding of dichotomy was a very important aspect of Grotowski’s productions. Theatre was necessarily a journey into one’s own self, into the truth of life and a process in which “what is dark in us slowly becomes transparent” – in terms of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 49 tamasoma jyotir gamaya, leads towards light from darkness. All these positions imply a ‘sacred’ element in Grotowski’s theatre. He appeals to his actors to be ‘holy’, a type of secular saint to accomplish an act of ‘self-penetration’. Spectators, for Grotowski were equally part of the process; he expected them to have spiritual needs and expected them to always analyse themselves through the performance. In this sense spectators also were expected to be ‘holy’. According to Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Grotowski’s ultimate goal for both

48

Ibid., p. 16. The Sanskrit term Upanishad means sitting down beside. Upanishads are a collection of Hindu philosophical discourse which are generally considered as interpretations of Vedas. There are over 200 Upanishads, of which Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya are the oldest, dating back to the 8th century BC. 49

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actor and spectator was a transcendental state of consciousness 50 where the acting and reception originated from the very same intentions – satisfying the spiritual needs. Grotowski asserts that the term ‘holy’ is not to be understood from a religious perspective; it only implies that the actor eliminates any disturbing elements so as to overstep every conceivable limit. Being true to oneself and to one’s own actions is what Grotowski expects ‘holy’ actors to do; he believed that the prerequisite for the actor is to be able to give oneself to theatre totally as one gives oneself in love. This act, according to Grotowski cannot be achieved by means of technical skills which serve only as a ‘bag of tricks’. According to Lisa Wolford, what is central to Grotoswki’s conception of performance was the ‘total act’ which is “a culminating moment in the actor’s role in which s/he is able to transcend the performance score and the technical demands of the part, revealing a truth that is paradoxically both personal and universal”. 51 Grotowski believed that the elimination of any blocks brings forth the true nature of the actor and he will be able to perform the total act which transcends the performance to higher spiritual levels. Grotowski further states that The actor who in the special process of discipline and self-sacrifice, self penetration and moulding, is not afraid to go beyond all normally acceptable limits, attains a kind of inner harmony and peace of mind52 .

Here the utmost importance is assigned to sacrifice, pain and the satisfaction attained as a result of this which very much echo the Christian values. Though Grotowski does not use ‘holy’ in a religious sense the word carries an underlying religious fervour. 53 He discards any material benefits assigned to actors in theatre, such as success or fame. Unlike Stanislavski’s actors who were concerned with the 50 Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe, Consciousness and the Actor. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996, p. 45. 51 Lisa Wolford, “Grotowski’s vision of the actor”, in, ed. Alison Hodge, Twentieth Century Actor Training. London and New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 197. 52 Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor theatre, London: Methuen Drama, 1991, p. 45. 53 Jennifer Lavy, Theoretical foundation of Grotowski’s Via Negativa and Conjunctio Oppositorum in The Journal of Religion and Theatre, Vol4, No.2, Fall 2005. http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_4/no_2/lavy2.html

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character, feeling and role, Grotowski’s actors were only concerned with sacrifice, truth or pain. Within these parameters, Grotowski describes what he means by training. Grotowski considers an untrained actor who has difficulty in opening his/her larynx consciously while breathing. He/she will be blocked because of his/her incapacity to do this properly and effecttively. Grotowski further says: If an actor is conscious of his body, he can not penetrate and reveal himself. The body must be freed from all resistance. The body must virtually cease to exist… He must learn to perform all this unconsciously in the culminating phases of his acting and this, in its turn, is something which demands a new series of exercises. 54

Grotowski maintains that the exercises that he devised are not techniques in themselves but only a set of exercises which are aimed at eliminating the blocks. However, every exercise necessarily is a technique, which has a set pattern to be followed in strict discipline. Though Grotowski dismisses the prevalence of any technique in his actor training, a reading of his actor training patterns confirms the use of various techniques for attaining perfection in certain body kinetics. For instance: … the type of training for the facial musculature used by the actor from the classical Indian theatre, Kathakali is appropriate and useful. This training aims to control every muscle of the face, thus transcending stereotyped mimicry. It involves a consciousness and use of every single one of the actor’s facial muscles. It is very important to be able to set in motion simultaneously, but at different rhythms, the various muscles of the face. 55

Grotowski acknowledges the essential benefits of using some of the techniques of Kathakali face exercise for his actors, especially in attaining flexibility of every single facial muscle. He also notices that such techniques could create a specific consciousness in the actor. Being a trained performer myself in all of these techniques, I can understand and possibly try to explain what Grotowski means here. Quivering the eyebrows very swiftly is effective in creating a joy, 54 55

Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor theatre, London: Methuen Drama, 1991, p. 36. Ibid., pp. 113-4.

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similarly, shrinking the eyebrows combined with lowering the tips of the lips create sorrow in the actor. On regular practice of such physical techniques, an actor can instantly tune to a different state of consciousness easily during performance. In the previous quotation, Grotowski also articulates that an actor should learn to use all these techniques unconsciously, implying that the practice of these techniques should be thorough enough to make them one’s ‘second nature’. What Grotowski says in the context of Kathakali facial exercises is true for many other techniques as well. Grotowski’s dismissal of techniques needs to be understood in relation to an actor using the techniques without properly mastering them, a feature possibly true of many eclectic approaches to actor training. Grotowski has also used a large amount of material from Yoga. However, he believes that the pacification effect characteristic to Yoga is not for actors. He, at the same time maintains that certain Yoga postures are very good for actors because they help in relaxing the spine and several other body parts. To sum up, Grotowski’s quest was towards a spiritual theatre comprising holy actors and spectators who performed and watched from an altered state of consciousness. He was deeply influenced by various Asian performance traditions and employed them in his Laboratory. His actors excelled in his direction, nevertheless lacked success with other directors. However, his efforts are important in the history of actor training and mark a notable drift in its aesthetics. Conclusion There is not a great deal of discussion and hence available information on the actor’s consciousness until now, except for the writings and observations of the consciousness theorists. Apart from the three distinct approaches to the actor’s consciousness that I described in the beginning of this chapter, what we have are some related discourses which could be interpreted to this effect. Although Schechner and Barba are not directly addressing the actor’s consciousness in performance, there are clear indications that their inferences lead us to the

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analysis of the possible factors that could result in altered state of consciousness in performance. What we lack here is a precise and useful, practical methodology, a tangible performance which clarifies some of the theoretical and practical problems as identified in this chapter. We also find a considerable interest in putting Asian performances and aesthetic theories into close analysis in this enquiry as prominently found in practitioners or the number of theorists referred in this chapter. It is central at this point to subject a performance form to further enquiry and analyse some of the aesthetic theories governing Indian performances such as the Natyasastra for instance.

In the next chapter, I examine the actor-training and acting conventions and techniques of Kudiyattam; in addition I provide a thorough enquiry into some of the Indian aesthetic theories important to its performance. Kudiyattam is the Keralan theatre which is perhaps the oldest existing theatre form in the world.

Chapter Two The Actor’s Consciousness: Indian Approaches to Actor Training and Acting with Particular Reference to Kudiyattam Introduction In the previous chapter, I have discussed and analysed the various approaches to actor’s consciousness from a Western perspective; I found a range of philosophical and theoretical approaches but consideration of practical aspects was limited. Parallel to this, the traditional Indian approach to actor’s consciousness as explained and argued by conventional Indian scholarship also needs to be examined here in order to get a complete picture of this complex enquiry. Along with the theoretical discussion of traditional Indian scholarship in this context, I am also examining the actor-training and acting conventions of Kudiyattam to a great detail in this chapter. The Natyasastra, written by sage Bharata, which is dated back to between 2nd century B.C and 2nd century AD, inaugurated an extensive scholarly discussion on the actor’s consciousness by focusing on rasa. Rasa is a term popular equally among both traditional scholars of aesthetics and contemporary western and eastern scholars. Rasa is literally interpreted/translated as the ‘theatrical pleasure’ emerging from any performance experienced by the audience. Though rasa as a term was used first in the theatrical context, it has later deeply impacted on, and been widely applied to all other aesthetic disciplines. Rasa theory is also extended to the doctrine of dhvani, literally, the implied meaning or suggestion in poetry. Dhvani is defined by

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Dvanyaloka, a treatise on dhvani, as the resonance of a (metal) bell which follows its main peal. As the noted Sanskrit scholar K Kunjunni Raja mentions, “there is no conflict between the theory of dhvani and the theory of rasa; the former stresses the method of treatment, whereas the latter deals with the ultimate effect”. 1 Dhvani is here considered as a step towards the attainment of rasa. The Natyasastra has also been subjected to several later interpretations, for example by Bhattalollata, Srisankuka, and Abhinavagupta. Among these the contributions made by Abhinavagupta stand apart mainly owing to his remarkable efforts in linking the Natyasastra with Saivism and the Advaita theory of monism. He also discusses extensively in his treatise Abhinavabharati the debates and arguments proposed by his predecessors (Bhattalollata and Srisankuka) around the issues of the experience of rasa, precisely by whom and how rasa is experienced, whether the actor or the spectator; he also puts his own proposition in this lengthy intellectual debate and extends it further. This phenomenological approach to rasa has largely informed and influenced the later, contemporary interpretations of the Natyasastra. Interestingly, Abhinavagupta also mentions that he writes his treatise as an answer to some of the important performancerelated questions raised by a few actors from Kerala. This being the general background of the enquiry undertaken in this chapter, I also endeavour to examine the performance aspects of Kudiyattam and its actor training. Enquiring into the acting principles of Kudiyattam is particularly important in my enquiry into the actor’s consciousness in performance because it is the only existing model of Sanskrit theatre in India, its actor training method is highly systematic and I have first hand knowledge in its performance. Based on the various factors described so far I will divide this chapter into the following sections and subsections: The Actor’s Consciousness: The Traditional Indian Approach a. The Actor’s consciousness and the Natyasastra b. An introduction to the ‘Kerala Natyasastra’ 1

K. Kunjunni Raja, Indian theories of meaning. Chennai: The Theosophical Society, 2000, p. 285.

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Actor Training in Kudiyattam a.Physical training b.Nityakriya c.Rasa training and Rehearsal d. Acting devices in Kudiyattam The Actor’s Consciousness: The Traditional Indian Approach The Actor’s consciousness and the Natyasastra The Natyasastra is not a theoretical discourse on Sanskrit theatre; rather it elaborately discusses, by means of 36 chapters the histrionics of drama. It says how an actor should move his hands, face or limbs to produce a bhava or emotion. It also categorizes all elements of theatre such as emotional acting and dance, music and percussion, vocal rendering and literary aspects, including scenography and theatre structure. However, Bharata does not mention anything at all about text or illustrate even a single textual example in the Natyasastra though he mentions the various qualities of text that are central to a play text. Rasa as a term is used in Taitareya-Upanishad to define the sublime pleasure or ananda that is attained. It says “(that cognition) is rasic in nature. One who knows rasa knows ananda”. 2 Here it is possible to see that rasa is essentially understood in direct progression to ananda. Though rasa as a term was identified with ananda in philosophical discourse, the term gained popularity in the theatrical context when placed by Bharata in the Natyasastra. Bharata illustrates the rasa theory in the sixth chapter of the Natyasastra. He explains rasa in the form a sutra, a short passage as vibhava anubhava vyabhichari samyogat rasanishpattih. Vibhava in Sanskrit means ‘determinants’, anubhava means ‘consequents’, vyabhichari (bhava) means ‘transitory emotions’, samyogat means ‘ in combination’ and finally rasanishpattih, which is a combination of two words, rasa and nishpattih meaning ‘squeezed out’ or produced in this particular

2

K. Bhaskaran Nair, Upanishad Deepti. Thiruvananthapuram: Kalpaka Printers, 1977, p. 76.

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context. To put this in a sensible sentence order, rasa is produced by the combination of determinants, consequents and transitory states. Bharata says: rasa means enjoyable. Bharata also clarifies the interlinking importance between sthayi-bhava and rasa in order to explain how rasa evolves from sthayi-bhava. Sthayi-bhava is the dormant or underlying or the basic emotional state. He says that “an actor is producing the theatrical pleasure, rasa by expressing various acting techniques; hence they (the expressions) are called bhava… without bhava there is no rasa and vice-versa… it is as if a tree growing from a seed and flowers and seeds from a tree”. K.P Narayana Pisharodi, a noted Sanskrit scholar and translator of the Natyasastra into Malayalam, interprets these verses thus: “Sthayibhava and rasa are in fact same. They are called different when the mental states are different. When you are enjoying, it is rasa; when you are not it is sthayi”. 3 Bharata argues that sthayi-bhava, which itself is a combination of various emotions, is manifested as rasa. As Pisharodi interprets them, when we are enjoying it is rasa and sthayi-bhava when otherwise. As interpreted by Lollata, Sthayi-bhava are the dormant but basic emotions which are evoked by the determinants, consequents and transitory emotions: sthayi-bhava is reflected upon by the actor by means of consequents and nourished or enriched by means of transitory emotions. 4 Lollata even re-structures the verse that explains the rasa theory thus: rasa is produced by the combination of determinants, consequents and transitory emotions to the sthayibhava. Given the explanation of rasa, the next question is how does anyone enjoy it? It is in the combination of determinants, consequents and transitory states that rasa is experienced. This can be explained by means of an example that Bharata explains in relation to the ‘erotic rasa in union’ (between the hero and heroine) which is termed as sambhoga-srungara. 3

K.P. Narayana Pisharodi, Bharata Muniyude Natyasastram, vol.I. Trichur: Kerala Kalamandalam, 1987, pp. 247-48. 4 Vedabandhu, Abhinavaguptante rasasidhantham. Trivnadrum: State Institute of Languages Kerala, 1986, p. 22.

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The determinants of this rasa are the appropriate season, flowers, anointments such as oils and sandal-wood paste, jewellery, entertainment …. experience/hearing/sight of a garden, water-sports and dallying acts… the consequents are the histrionic representation of erotic srungara by means of (sensuous) looks, (inviting) eye-brow movements, sensuous physical movements and sweet words. 5

There are thirty three transitory emotions as prescribed by the Natyasastra out of which thirty are suggested to provide complete impact of erotic rasa. Some of the thirty prescribed emotions here are apprehension, pride, callousness, anger, and happiness. When enacting erotic love it is possible to feel the subtle reflections of some of the transitory emotions; when I reflect on some of my training sessions, I remember being instructed to show anticipation, fear, shyness, happiness and sensuousness to express erotic love in its complete perfection. If this is the way in which rasa needs to be perfected in acting, what does the spectator experience? Bharata describes a genuine spectator as a person “who can see well, hear well, distinguish between good and evil (in other words, holding moral values), can distance himself from worldly emotions such as love and hatred, and also someone who is interested in theatre arts”. 6 The spectator is someone who is educated, moralistic and spiritually elevated from mere worldly pleasures. He is genuinely interested in theatre and wishes to ‘sympathise’ with the emotions expressed by the actor. Bharata thus places the consciousness of a spectator at a different plane. Note that he is required to be detached from worldly pleasures or pains and hold a genuine interest in theatre. He also needs to feel joy when joy is expressed and feel sadness when it is expressed, thus sympathising with the actor’s emotions, in other words, enacting himself or acting by reflecting upon the emotions expressed by the actor. How does he appreciate the erotic love as described above? He perceives and is delighted by the determinants and consequents. He is also watching the various transitory emotions expressed by the actor. All the various elements of erotic love are transferred to the spectator 5

Ibid., pp. 250-51. K.P. Narayana Pisharodi, Bharata Muniyude Natyasastram, vol.II. Trichur: Kerala Kalamandalam, 1987, pp. 211-12.

6

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by the actor. The spectator has received the total experience of erotic love and feels the pleasure, rasa of the stayi-bhava. Now the important question here is how the actor experiences rasa. If there is a potent and active sphere of actor-spectator interaction as described above there are, naturally, his own histrionics associated to his expressions. The actor here is the spectator, not by perceiving directly but by sensing the subtle reactions from the spectator. The actor on the stage experiences rasa by reflecting upon the ‘acting’ or responses from the spectator. Actor responds to the spectator’s feedback by means of ingenious improvisations newly created for the rasic spectator. Both the actor and the spectator experience rasa in this highly interactive and vibrant flux, both of them being actor and spectator at the same time. Both the actor and the spectator are in the active, perceptive level of extra-daily consciousness – the rasic consciousness, one supporting and contributing the other. A closer examination of this process reveals that the actor also experiences rasa by means of determinants (play house, ideal spectator and an inspiring play) and consequents/transitory emotions (histrionics by the spectator) although their boundaries are too vague to be identified precisely. The determinants, consequents and transitory states are combined together to give way to create rasa within both the actor and the spectator. Determinants, consequents and transitory emotions mediate the rasa experience in both of them. The only thing that remains after the performance (and of course during the course of performance as well) is rasa; it is neither the determinants nor the consequents nor the transitory states. Parallel discourses to actor-spectator interactions as I described above can be found both in Western phenomenology and Sanskrit literary theory. In his phenomenology of reading, Wolfgand Iser explores similar interactions between the reader and the text. He systematically explains the process of reading which culminates in the synthesis which is neither manifested in the printed text, nor produced solely by the reader’s imagination, and the projects of which they consist are themselves of a dual

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nature: they emerge from the reader, but they are also guided by signals which project themselves in to him. 7

According to Iser, the successful reader-text communication results in the text controlling the reading. Similarly, the ‘readerresponse criticism’ considers literature as performing art where every individual reader creates their own unique text-related performance. 8 The 9th century Saivite philosopher Abhinavagupta interpreted various stages of rasa experience detailing the conditions attached to the proper appreciation of the performance. All these arguments suggest the presence of an active phenomenological level of extra-daily consciousness within the theatrical communication shared by the actor and the spectators. Bharata outlined the theoretical ground of the Natyasastra in his rasa theory, which is only a concise condensation of a significant aesthetic argument. He remains silent on theory for the rest of his treatise and speaks only about the histrionics, music or rhythm. I find his approach to be very interesting. Bharata speaks in volumes about the minute details of histrionics – nine types of movements for eyelids, seven types of eyebrow movements for instance and also includes various hand movements, gestures, and hundred and eight body postures known as karana. He also describes in detail the spectator, the theatre building and scenography. One cannot find a further explanation of rasa theory anywhere later in the Natyasastra. For Bharata, rasa is deeply rooted in the theatre practice, both being closely attached and absolutely inseparable. If the practice is proper, the experience will naturally follow. Therefore, the Natyasastra is concerned mainly with practice. I have analysed the Natyasastra’s vision on acting in the above sections. Before I move on to the description of the actor training of Kudiyattam it is important to examine a treatise written on Kudiyattam acting and actor-training which I call the Kerala Natyasastra. This is the only available comprehensive treatise on Kudiyattam. I am not forgetting a manual on hand gestures followed by Kudiyattam 7

Wolfgang Iser, The Act of Reading: The theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978, p. 135. 8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader-response_criticism

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performers known as Hasta-lakshana-deepika here. However, this treatise, as far as known, deals only with hand gestures. Also there are several palm-leaf manuscripts followed by Kudiyattam families, but the access to these is restricted to a limited number of family members since they are treated as family property of Chakyar or Nambyar families. The Kerala Natyasastra in this sense remains as a unique manual on Kudiyattam. An Introduction to the Kerala Natyasastra Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar was a master of Kudiyattam who lived from 1899 to 1990. He wrote the Natyakalpadrumam, a treatise on Kudiyattam with a comprehensive description of the Kudiyattam acting, actor-training and acting manuals spread over eight chapters. By his sixtieth birthday Chakyar had become upset by not finding a suitable student to whom he wanted to bestow his deep knowledge and performance experience that he gained over long years of his acting career. He deeply regretted that his knowledge would die with him without allowing it to be transferred. He expressed his concerns to his Guru, Pareekshit Tampuran, who also was a noted Sanskrit scholar. He recommended to Chakyar to write a treatise to share his knowledge with the world. As a result, the Natyakalpadrumam, or the Kerala Natyasastra was written; it was published in 1974. The Kerala Natyasastra was written in Malayalam and to date there is no English translations. It contains invaluable information about Kudiyattam acting, which is mainly informed by Chakyar’s own training as a student, performer and teacher. As a norm the Chakyar community pass the actor training notes on from generation to generation in the form of sloka – four lined Sanskrit verses and acting manuals preserved in the form of palm leaf manuscripts. Each Chakyar family has their own unique texts or performance technique (parakkum kuthu or ‘the flying’ is one such technique where the actor is treated as a marionette and brought down to the stage by means of one thousand strings tied to his body and controlled by the accompanying Nambyar who is trained in how and where each string is

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attached) which is only passed strictly to the next generation within their immediate family circle 9 . Mani Madhava Chakyar compiled these invaluable resources which were restricted to the Chakyar community until then in his Kerala Natyasastra and made them accessible to the actors and scholars outside the community. This is the real significance of his work. The information available in this book represents the Mani school of acting which is slightly different from the Painkulam or Ammannur (Also spelt as Ammannoor) schools (who take their names from the Kudiyattam gurus Painkulam Rama Chakyar and Ammannur Madhava Chakyar). Such differences are largely maintained in the usage of hand gestures, the style of voice rendering and significantly in the acting manuals. The late Kudiyattam Guru Painkulam Rama Chakyar criticised Mani Madhava Chakyar for summing up the total number of swara 10 in Kudiyattam as only twenty. According to him there are twenty-four swara in total which could be clearly and easily identified and he finds twelve further points of departure from the Kerala Nataysastra in terms of voice rendering patterns. I have not found any other written material criticising the Kerala Natyasastra; Kudiyattam actors consider the material available in this text as authentic. Most importantly there is no similar text that compiles the acting principles of Kudiyattam. Mani Madhava Chakyar is known as the one ‘who gave eyes to Kathakali’ because of two reasons – a. Chakyar himself possessed surprising mastery over his own eye movements and their expressiveness b. he taught eye-exercises to some of the Kathakali masters who decided to include the detailed eye-exercises of the Kudiyattam style in Kathakali training. K.P.Narayana Pisharodi wrote about him at his death in a local magazine (Mathrubhumi Azhchapatippu: Feb 1990) thus “the eyes of Kudiyattam have closed (for ever)… the great 9

The technique of Parakum Kuthu is dormant now and has not been performed for several centuries. Some of the Chakyar families possess the attaprakaram for its performance but even they are unaware of how a single Nambyar could have manipulated these thousand strings at the same time and how these strings are attached to the actor’s body. 10 Swara is the emotive music used in Kudiyattam. I am explaining this in detail in the further sections of this chapter.

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lineage of Sanskrit theatre is adversely hit by the loss of this genius”. He was known for his expertise to act with his eyes and was referred as the greatest eye-wizard of the world. Also a scholar of Sanskrit, he mastered the Natyasastra along with a range of Sanskrit literary and aesthetic manuals. He was honoured by the government of India on various occasions and was awarded several fellowships. I will now examine the actor-training of Kudiyattam and also some of its acting devices. In this I refer to the Kerala Natyasastra at various points—all such references are my own translations from the original Malayalam. Actor Training in Kudiyattam The practice of starting physical training at a very early age is a unique feature of most of the Indian performance forms and martial arts traditions. Early years of any person is thought to be ideal for beginning any performance training since ardent and focused training with perseverance and concentration for long years is required for training the body of a performer for being able to perform vigorous movements requiring physical stamina and emotional concentration. Moreover, it is easier to mould a performer to the required level of proficiency if the apprenticeship is started at a young age basically because this is the age when students are quick in learning new skills though they might cultivate a deeper understanding of them only at a later age. The characteristics of a performing body are thus inscribed in the physique of an Indian performer in a highly systematic way at a very early age. Kudiyattam training is also started at a very young age. Traditionally, a Chakyar boy and a Nangyar girl are initiated to training at the very early age of 7 or 8 and an actor becomes an actor by birth in the sense that they are not offered a choice to decide otherwise; according to the duties and rites of their caste, acting is thought to be mandatory or dharma 11 for them. The story of the senior 11

Dharma is a term that could be translated as ‘way of life’. But the word carries much more depth than that. Hinduism describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy, and to save themselves from degradation and suffering. Dharma is the moral law combined with spiritual

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most maestro of Kudiyattam, Ammannur Madhava Chakyar (19172008) who decided to go to school and learn English at a very young age is relevant in this context. When he expressed his ambition to learn English to his maternal uncle who was his traditional Kudiyattam Guru and the head of his family, the uncle was very upset and did not give consent for the boy to do so. When Ammannur’s uncle broke this information to the other members of his family, everybody, especially his mother feared termination of their centuries-old family tradition and caste dharma and advised him against his decision. Ammannur finally decided not to go to school and continue the caste rite of acting after much persuasion and prayers. Although an actor is traditionally initiated at the very young age of seven or eight he may start performing independently only by as late as forty. However, a student who joins the Kalamandalam at the age of twelve makes his debut performance three years later—at the age of fifteen. The students are encouraged to take up small roles in performances thereafter and are provided with regular performances both within and outside the Kalamandalam. A talented student these days starts performing professionally between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. In this sense it takes between ten to twelve years for an actor to master Kudiyattam acting. Although an actor professionally takes to his career by twenty-five, he/she need not be sufficiently prepared to write their own attaprakaram. It may still take several years of experience and maturity in his profession before actors write their own performance texts. Kudiyattam masters used to insist that Nangyars make their debut performance before reaching puberty. Traditionally, the young students were initiated by their Guru who was ideally a close relative discipline that guides one's life. Hindus consider dharma the very foundation of life. Atharva Veda which is last of the series of four holy texts of Hinduism known as veda describes dharma symbolically: Prithivim dharmana dhritam, that is, ‘this world is upheld by dharma’. Dharma is also the first of the four objects of life as per the Hindu philosophy, the others being, artha, money/meaning, kama, pleasure and moksha or salvation or unison with the supreme soul (which could also be defined as God) of being liberated from the cycles of birth and death.

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and undertook eight to ten years of training coupled with occasional performance opportunities. Though this was the practice commonly followed by Kudiyattam actors until recently, from the time students from other castes were permitted to its learning this is not found applicable except for those from the community itself. Moreover, institutionalisation of art forms also helped to change this system though the practice of apprenticeship still continues very strictly and the devotion towards one’s own Guru is also central to Kudiyattam training; the art is learned and further understood by the continued assistance offered to/from his/her Guru for long years. The initiation begins when the student prostrates him/herself in front of the teacher facing east, touching his/her feet and presenting three betel leaves and an areca nut split into half (this ritual is known as dakshina vakkuka). A token fee and some times cotton clothing will also be given along with it—a white or off white cotton cloth, about two metres long and one and a half metres wide, known as mundu, was the traditional dress of the high caste men in Kerala. Women wear mundu and an upper garment known as veshti, which is another piece of cotton cloth which is about two and a half metres long and a metre wide. Now, mundu for men and mundu & veshti for women is the national dress of Kerala. Silk is not a traditional Keralan dress material, but only occasionally used by the ruling class. Moreover, there is significant difference in the dress code followed by the people in Northern Kerala and Southern Kerala. White or off-white cotton cloth also forms an integral part of the costume of classical performances like Kathakali, Kudiyattam, Mohiniyattam or Krishnattam and folk forms like Mudiyettu or Teyyam. The priests in temples also wear mundu during the temple rituals. An integral part of Hindu marriage ritual in Kerala is a ceremony named pudava kodukkal or presenting clothing, or mundu & veshti to the bride performed by the groom (as a term pudava kodukkal is denoting the marriage ceremony of the Nair caste. Most of the castes in Kerala except Brahmins follow this ceremony. Among the Brahmin caste both the groom and the bride give mundu to each other). The guru admits the student as his disciple by accepting the fee and blessing him. The classes are normally begun after the student pays respect to various gods and goddesses by repeating the names of

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each god or goddess upon the instruction of the teacher. Following this, the basic stance, mudra and sometimes swara is taught. The initiation need not necessarily be in the early morning hours when the classes are normally taken. On the other hand, the initiation is always started at an astrologically auspicious time on an auspicious day. However, the regular classes are continued from the very next day onwards. Kudiyattam training is unique in several respects and it shares several aspects of actor-training which are common to most of the Indian performance styles. There is no concept of warm-up in Indian training or performances and almost all the physical training or voice training are employed directly in the performance and they do not remain merely as exercises. To explain this further: contemporary (Western) theatre training is used to a series of warm-up exercises which are performed prior to any training session; such a warm-up may take up to half an hour depending on the capability of the group. None of those exercises are later found to be employed in a production. They merely serve the purpose of moving the body prior to the physical work that is part of the performance. Warm-ups are performed even before the production, after putting the costume on. In contrast, in Indian performances in general and Kudiyattam in particular, the concept of warm-up is totally unheard-of and completely absent. Actors get up early in the morning and learn the posture for approximately an hour which is followed by jumping high up a hundred times. As John Steven Sowle rightly puts it, no director in his right mind would let his actors do this without a long session of physical warm-up. There is also no warm-up prior to the performance, but any classical Indian performer takes a long time for make-up and dressing up and there is normally a silent interval between dressing up and entering the stage. Teachers normally advise their students to take complete rest on the day of performance, not making it hectic with activities, but only enough sleep, food and rest. The second noticeable aspect is in relation to the training. The techniques learnt in the course of training do not remain as exercises, but most of them find their way to the performance. To make this clearer, the elements of physical exercises such as postures or eye training are employed in the performance and they are not independent of the performance. In fact, students are not taught any movements which are not directly emp-

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loyed in the performance. This is very unlike contemporary (Western) theatre since most of the exercises remain only as exercises and are not used in performance. They are mainly intended to provide flexibility to the body. Physical Training Kudiyattam training begins as early as four in the early morning hours. As such there is no specific reason assigned to this practice by the masters, all they say is that before and after sunrise and sunset are suitable times for physical and eye training since the body is more supple. The students start their daily exercises after ‘washing hands and feet’ (implying excreting, brushing their teeth and washing face, hands and feet). 12 Though the early hours of training are insisted by all the teachers, these days the sessions do not start until five or half past five. The morning sessions, which normally finish at eight in the morning comprise of eye training, physical training, posture training and voice training except in the traditional Chakyar ways of teaching which is mainly followed at Ammannur Madhava Chakyar’s training centre. The institutionalisation of art forms under the initiative of the Kalamandalam has paved the way to introducing uniformity in performance training in accordance with the modern school system. This has led to delaying the starting of training hours along with several other changes that have affected the total discipline of the training. In the Kalamandalam, the students also undertake a regular school curriculum every day during the afternoon, which has also made an impact on the concentration in their training. This difference is obvious when it comes to the performances of recent graduates from the Kalamandalam and those from older times who used to dedicate all their time on training. The quality of performers from the older generation of the Kalamandalam is higher, compared to those who started combining both school curriculum and training in performing arts. This is mainly owing to the undivided attention that those students of the older generation were giving to their training.

12

Mani Madhava Chakyar, Natyakalpadrumam. Cheruturuthi: Kerala Kalamandalam. 1973, p. 134.

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Prior to the starting of the Kalamandalam and also during the early years of its existence, a student used to undertake training for about eight to nine hours a day. This is the number of hours that a student is expected to dedicate on training on any single day. In fact it is the teacher who decides the number of hours that a student should work; the student does not have any right to voice his opinion regarding the number of hours that he must dedicate to his training, nor can he demand rest periods during the sessions. In fact it is not the norm for the teacher to offer rest periods in between sessions. However, the students will be allowed to rest a couple of minutes in between when they are repeating specific eye or eyebrow movements or rotating the wrists for example. According to the strict rules of Guru-Shishya 13 system, which is meticulously adhered to in conventional training of Indian performers, students exercise no right or discretion regarding the nature of hours or years of training once they have submitted to the tutorship of their Guru. Moreover, the students will also assist their teachers in dressing up for a performance, travel with them and also sometimes perform small roles. This practice continues for a long time or until the time the teacher decides that the student is mature enough to be independent. Such discipline has obvious advantages since the student will be watching the performances of his teacher, assisting him in dressing up and travelling with him to various locations and meeting with the organisers of the performances. In this way the teachers introduce their students to their careers as performers. Moreover, performing a small role along with their own teacher on a stage gives a lot of confidence. This is also a good method to deal with stage fright since the students will be convinced that the person who taught them the performance is there to support them during their performance. The teacher is normally a person related to the student, usually the father or uncle. This is an added reassurance. In this way, a student gains considerable on-the-job training and learns all aspects of elaborate

13

This is the traditional name given to the apprenticeship undertaken by the student with his teacher. The student is expected to stay with the teacher’s family, serve him and learn from him along with learning a way of life. Students still take internships in the dance institutions like Kalamandalam in Kerala or Kalaksetra in Tamil Nadu and stay in their institutions away from their families. These students are supported by the institution by providing a small sum of stipend.

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make-up and dressing up. He is also introduced to various venues which might offer him future performances as well. During the monsoon season, massage known as chavutti thirummal (massage with the feet) and stomping exercises are also given to students. These massages are performed as early as half past four in the morning and continued for about an hour. According to Dr. T.S Madhavankutty Varier, who is an acclaimed Ayurvedic physician based at Trivandrum in Kerala, the monsoon season is ideal for rigorous massage offered to performers because it is a season that offers the perfect physical condition for such massage. In Kerala, the monsoon follows a very warm summer season and cools the body down, which is warm due to scorching heat during summer. According to Varier, the body would not be prepared to accept the rigorous nature of chavutti thirummal (CT) during summer because the energy in the body needs to be channelled to protect itself from the heat. During the Keralan winter (which is nothing like the winter in the west, and the temperature drops only to a minimum of 17 or 18 degree Celsius) the metabolism of the body increases due to the increase in a dosha called Pitta. 14 This is a natural action of the body to ward off the adverse effects of the cold weather. CT during this time would create a malfunction in the body and create an imbalance of its equilibrium. Hence, the rainy season, which is neither too hot nor too cold offers an ideal physical condition for CT; the body will be more prepared to accept the rigorous CT. If this is performed during early morning hours, one would be assured of continued rain and colder atmosphere because during the monsoon season in Kerala it normally rains during the early morning hours. Traditionally massage and stomping exercises were not part of Kudiyattam training sessions but a later addition to Kudiyattam by Mani Parameswara Chakyar, the uncle of Mani Madhava Chakyar in 14

In Ayurveda the diagnosis of disease and individual constitutions is in terms of three dosha or elements called Vata, which is a combination of space and air element, Pitta or a combination of the fire and water element and Kapha or the combination of water and earth element. Each person’s psycho-physical constitution can be described in terms of one or a combination of these doshas. When these doshas are in balance, a person enjoys good mental, physical and spiritual health. A person becomes unhealthy when there is an imbalance in these elements which needs to be treated.

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the early 20th century; the first Kudiyattam performer to have received this training was Mani Madhava Chakyar. 15 During the morning sessions Kudiyattam students are also trained in nityakriya or the daily exercises. They learn chari (stylized movements used for detailed descriptions of living and non-living objects such as a mountain, tree, woman, preparation for a war etc.) and various other choreographic movements that are fixed according to the nature of each character also in the early morning hours. Students then break for bath and breakfast. When the sessions resume at late morning hours they learn plays and Attaprakaram. Nothing is taught during the afternoon and the students take a rest. Sessions resume after teatime and they continue with learning Sanskrit or literature. Any teaching is normally avoided during sunset. After sunset, eye movements are again practised, as well as the wrist and finger exercises. Hand gestures and singing verses are also learned during these hours. Each of these aspects of training are explained in the sections below. Eye training The importance of eyes in the Kudiyattam performance can not be over-emphasised. Without expressive eyes, Kudiyattam acting is lifeless. There are sequences where the actor uses only his eyes for detailed descriptions like that of a mountain where the eyes are not expected to blink for more than ten to fifteen minutes (known as Kailasodharanam) or the portrayal of flies falling into fire and flying back unhurt (known as sikhini-salabham). Eyes give life to the hand gestures and give a bigger than normal feeling to the physical movements. Hence, eye exercises in Kudiyattam are intended to train the pupils to move freely and create patterns that give the effect of drawing with the eyes. The effect of these exercises is the immense capability of the performer to produce very subtle expressions through the eyes.

15

Das Bhargavinilayam, Manimadhaveeyam. Thiruvananthapuram, Department of Cultural Publications, Government of Kerala, 1999, p. 69.

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There are also two exercises which act as forerunners to the eye exercises; their purpose is to enable the student to bring vayu or breath to the eyes and make the eyeballs protrude. These exercises are repeated before starting the eye exercises proper and continued for several months. According to MMC, presence of breath in the eyes is the secret of rasa acting. Unless a student is trained well to push breath into the eyes, he cannot be successful in acting. His success in acting also depends on the skills of the teacher. 16 Learning to protrude the eyeballs is the first step in bringing breath into the eyes. Continuing those preliminary exercises for a few months initiates the student into the process of bringing breath into the eyes. Once he has learned how this can be done he will not need to practice these preliminary exercises any longer. During the beginning of training, bringing breath to the eyes will be extremely difficult for a student because he will not only be ignorant of the technique, but the concept or idea itself will be unfamiliar to the student: there is no trace of systematic breath training in Kudiyattam. The teacher would not advise how to bring breath into eyes and it is highly unlikely that the teacher would know how breath is brought into eyes because of the absence of a systematic methodology to explain this. However, the result of such training assures a strong presence of breath in the eyes. These exercises are as follows: a. Take a full breath in. Then closing all the holes in the face (two nostrils, mouth and two ears) except the eyes the student has to exhale through the eyes. This will result in a watering in the eyes and protruding of the eyeballs. b. The next one is a rather advanced exercise. Both the student and the teacher sit face to face, both of them in the cross legged posture. The student is asked to look far away, as far as possible and then to look closer, and alternate constantly between the two for some time. Interestingly, the student looks far and close into the palm of the teacher when the teacher moves his palm far from and close to the student’s face. This means that the student cannot look physically far away when asked to do so, but technically, he is learning to make 16

Mani Madhava Chakyar, Natyakalpadrumam. Cheruturuthi: Kerala Kalamandalam, 1973, pp. 137-38.

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the eyeballs protrude. The effect of these exercises on bringing vayu (the Sanskrit term for breath) to the eyes is really commendable. The eyes will water and the illusion of a farness is created in the eyes. In my personal experience, this exercise helps me to get a clearer vision without the use of spectacles and helps to ease tired eyes. Eye exercises are always performed in a cross legged sitting posture. Masters say that one has to observe the spinal principle of arakku vayu koduthu tanu nilkkal, literally translated from Malayalam as ‘bent knee posture by applying breath on the spine’ when sitting or standing in a Kudiyattam performance. Arakku means ‘on spine’ vayu means breath koduthu means ‘by applying’ tanu means ‘bent (knee)’ nilkkal means standing. Application of ‘breath on the spine’ is the basic and most important feature in Kudiyattam. This will be described in detail below. Eye exercises are done by lifting the eyebrows up, to the maximum extent and opening the eyes widely. When the students start they apply ghee or purified butter to the eyes and massage lengthwise. They are also asked to hold their eyelids with the thumb and the index finger so as to keep them wide open. Once the eyes are wide enough, fingers are not used for keeping the eyelids open. The asan (in Malayalam the Guru is called Asan) or Guru sits in front of the student with his right hand out stretched and palm down, holding the index finger and ring finger in a ‘v’ position and guides them through various movements by drawing them in the air. It is always insisted that the student look at the direction of his fingers and not at the fingers themselves because there are physical limits where his hand could go, whereas eyes can go as far as the vision reaches. While giving training in this manner, special care is taken not to produce a “serpent eye” (when the pupils of both eyes become pointed and eyes positioned as in squinting). This is a common problem when learning eye exercises for the first time. “Serpent eye” could also be caused due to lack of proper attention from the part of the student or increase in the speed of movements. Students in the early stages of learning are advised not to practice eye exercises in the absence of their Guru because students would not be able to correct themselves when they accidentally produce “serpent eye”. If this become a practice, it would be incredibly difficult for the Guru to correct them and could prove to be detrimental to their acting skills in future.

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As far as eye exercises are concerned, there are twenty-one patterns of eye exercises out of which seven are very important and basic. These seven patterns are 1. horizontal

2. semicircle a.

3. semicircle b.

4. clockwise and anticlockwise circles

5. two diagonal movements

6. figure of eight



7. vertical.

The other patterns are 8. train eyes like ‘ǐ’ 9. reverse of the previous one which is like ‘m’ 10. write a big ‘3’ with the eyes 11. the reverse of the previous one 12. draw ‘V’ with the eyes 13. draw the reverse of this which would be like a reverse ‘v’ 14. draw like a ‘W’ where the middle point reaches only half of the tail ends. 15. draw the reverse of this. 16. ‘>’ train like this.

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17. ‘<’ reverse of the earlier one. 18. ‘’: train the eyes in this pattern where three distinctive variations of this pattern could be seen. 19. reverse the pattern described in (18) 20. draw a normal ‘8’ with the eyes 21. a Eyes need to practice this highly complex pattern where there will be circles in all four corners connected by straight lines. This is possibly the most complex of all eye exercises where a student has to adjust the distance inside the eyes so as to maintain the pattern. 17 Most of these patterns are used in the performance in accompanying gestures and hand movements. Usually these eye exercises are performed at the beginning of a day’s schedule. The eye exercises will continue through all the years of training. Face training Face exercises are also practised in the early morning hours in a cross legged sitting posture on the floor. This set of exercises starts with shrinking and expanding the face. When shrinking the face, all the muscles on the face are shrunk to a centre point of the face, showing tightly closed eyes, shrunk eyebrows, and a lifted nose. In expanding the face particular attention is given to the eyebrows, eyes and cheeks. After regular repetition of this, the face exercises are started. These are the four elements of face exercises: Eyebrows: Eyebrows are lifted up and down first at a slow pace culminating in very frequent moving. The movements need to be mastered in such a way that it looks only like a quivering of the eyebrows. These movements are particularly important while showing happiness and wonder (Srungara rasa and Atbhuta rasa) 2. Eyelids: Special training is given to the lower eyelids. The lower eyelids need to be lifted up without closing or moving the upper eyelids quickly to create a slight quiver on them. This is done by lifting the eyebrows and opening the eyes to the maximum and moving the lower eyelids, first at a slow 1.

17

Ibid., pp. 136-37.

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pace which then becomes very fast. Muscles around the eyes will be activated when this exercise is done. The training should aim at giving a natural capacity to the student to be able to quiver his eyelids in the manner stated above when expressing anger. 3. Cheeks: The next exercise trains the cheeks. Moving the cheeks to produce a slight quiver while showing wonder is the main intention of this exercise. This is started by moving the air inside the mouth as if swilling water. The intensity of the movement is reduced when the student advances and finally only a slight quiver is produced on the cheeks. 4. Lips: Both the tips of the lips are trained to bend down and this movement is to be used when expressing melancholy, mockery and disgust. Voice Training The voice training of Kudiyattam is not meant to produce a ‘natural’ voice as in contemporary voice training in Western theatre. Rather, the intention of these exercises is to create an emotive voice known as swara in Kudiyattam. Actors speak or sing in swara, which is a particular cadence. According to Mani Madhava Chakyar Swara are used in defining the nature of a character, rasa and situation. 18 The twenty-one swara that are in practice today are as follows: Indalam: Normally used by secondary heroes like Lakshmana (Ramayana). This mode is also used by Arjuna in the presence of Draupadi (Mahabharata). Cheti Panchama: This is used for characters like servants and children. Antari: For telling stories or narrating Veladhuli: Indicates fear and is also used for shouting from far away. Bhinna Panchama: This is used to denote extreme joy like that from sexual activity Srikamara: This is used in unexpected joy Artan: This is the swara used for erotic love 18

Mani Madhava Chakyar, Vachikabhinaya, Sangeet Natak 111-114, New Delhi:Sangeet Natak Academy. p. 74.

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Pourali: To be used in the extreme sorrow of separation in love and also in extreme love. Muddan: This is used for expressing the sexual love and also the love of demons Muralindala: This is used to vocally express Srirama’s sexual love Kaisiki: Used in odious and mockery rasas Tarkkan: For showing anger Viratarkkan: For showing the heroic rasa Dukha Gandharam: For expressing sorrow Danan: For expressing wonder Ghattantari: At the news of the death of an evil person. Thondu: For expressing devotion and peacefulness Korakurinji: For monkeys Poranir: Description of rainy season Srikandhi: Used at the end of an act. It is also used for devotion and also the description of sunset and noon. 19 Virapanchama: Used in highly valiant actions. 20 Kudiyattam actors and scholars differ in their opinions when coming to the number of swara used in Kudiyattam. There are twenty of them according to the inscriptions of Hastalakshana Deepika (A Light to Hand Gestures) written by an unknown author, which is the text book used by Kudiyattam actors. There are twenty-four swara in the opinion of the late Kudiyattam master Painkulam Rama Chakyar who claims that these were passed on to him by his Guru. His Guru is also said to have advised him that only twenty-one on these have been known to actors. 21 It is not clear what sources he refers to when he claims that there are twenty-four swara. Earlier in this book I referred to the criticism voiced by Painkulam Rama Chakyar with regard to the use of swara as described in the Kerala Natyasastra. He raises twelve points altogether in order to justify his opinion. Most of these are related to the examples provided by the Kerala Natyasastra for various swara. I discussed these criticisms with my teacher Margi 19

L.S Rajagopalan, Music in Kutiyattam, Sangeet Natak 111.114, New Delhi: Sangeet Natak Academy. p. 115. 20 Painkulam Rama Chakyar, Swaras in Kutiyattam, Sangeet Natak 111-114, New Delhi:Sangeet Natak Academy. p. 95. 21 Ibid,. p. 90.

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Sathi and she maintains that these only reflect the ways in which individual schools treat swara in their performance. Painkulam Rama Chakyar, however, lists Varati, Vimala and an unknown swara (the name of which is unclear to him) apart from the twenty-one that I have listed above. 22 However, he is unable to clearly identify the purposes of these swaras. These discrepancies need further research. Since Kudiyattam follows the Vedic style of chanting as followed by the Brahmins of Kerala known as namboodiri, when it comes to the rendering of the dialogues and verses, the notes used here are anudatta, udatta swarita and prachaya; 23 they do not comply with the seven note system of Indian classical music. Training given for such rendering is also different from the classical music training of the Carnatic style (in India there are two predominant classical styles of music – Carnatic, which is prevalent in South India and Hindustani which is prevalent mainly in North India. The music training in classical Carnatic is prevalent in four states of South India including Kerala. The training in Carnatic style focuses on creating melody). The focus of Kudiyattam vocal training is on a well controlled, loud and expressive voice and not on any kind of melodious aspect because the intention of swara is to bring an emotive voice to various dramatic situations and not to exhibit one’s skill in singing. The intonations are difficult to master and render and it requires long years of training and practise to master this. Individual variations and improvisation are not normally permitted in swara. Though exact breathing patterns are not prescribed, the in-between pauses and the total control in the rhythm is followed universally by the actors of all the various schools. As with eye and face training, voice training is also undertaken during the early morning hours. Normally, this is practised by adhering to the strict rule of the basic bent knee posture by ‘applying breath on the spine’. Students also rotate their wrists along with chanting swara and learn them by repeating the verses after their teachers. Teachers normally sit in front of them and sing the verses to their students. Normally the verses are taught as they are sung during

22

Ibid,. p. 90-1. L.S Rajagopalan, Music in Kutiyattam, Sangeet Natak 111.114, New Delhi: Sangeet Natak Academy, p. 113.

23

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the performance and teachers do not follow a note by note pattern as found in conventional music training. Oil Massage Oil massage is an integral part of Kudiyattam training these days. Starting at very early hours of morning, along with other early morning exercises, massage is preformed only during the monsoon season which lasts for approximately two months from the middle of June. During massage seasons, the early morning eye training and the rest of the exercises are repeated with the exception of physical exercises. The oil prescribed for this kind of massage is called vazhukka; it is a combination of coconut oil, castor oil and buffalo ghee mixed in equal proportions and spiced with ground fenugreek; plain sesame oil is used these days instead. This is mainly due to the huge expense involved in buying ghee and castor oil for a relatively large number of students. Before the massage student applies oil on the body and performs a number of foot exercises known as kalsadhakam according to the rhythm starting in a slow tempo or kala in the beginning which finally culminates in a faster tempo. The movement consists of stamping the foot and raising the leg according to the rhythm. It is performed with rhythmic sequences known as vaythari. It is typical of Indian performances to set movements to a pattern of rhythmic syllables as that makes it easier for the students to remember the movements and their rhythmic pattern more easily. The vaythari for this movement is dhi tha tha tha. The feet are turned inward, close to each other and from this position the right foot is raised to the height of the left knee and stomped on the floor strongly to the syllable dhi. This is repeated on the left foot to the first tha. Following this, the right foot is raised to the knee height and placed approximately half a foot away to the third syllable in this sequence, the second tha; this is followed by repeating the same movement with the left foot, the third tha, to complete the sequence. This exercise is continued for about half an hour. The massage starts only after the body becomes supple by the heat generated by this exercise and is covered with sweat.

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The massage is performed with the student lying on a straw mat on the floor and the teacher applying pressure on various parts of the body using his foot. The student lies in a face-down position with the legs kept as if in the bent knee posture while standing. At the Kalamandalam, two thick rings are also placed under the knees to increase the curve at the hips when massaging. It is not unlikely for the teacher to stand over the student to control the pressure he applies on various parts. The only time he uses his hands is for massaging the face of the student. The student continues to perform the foot exercises once the massage is over. 24 The oil massage given to Kudiyattam students was traditionally not in line with the Kathakali massage and in Kudiyattam initially they did not place the thick rings under the knees as they do in Kathakali massage. According to the noted percussionist in Kudiyattam, Guru Narayanan Nambyar, the reason for this can be traced to the notable difference in the basic stance between Kudiyattam and Kathakali. The basic Kudiyattam posture, the bent knee posture naturally produces a curve at the back whereas the Kathakali posture does not. The feet in the Kathakali posture are not turned sideways as in Kudiyattam, but they are kept straight to front (samapadam). This has a major impact on creating the curvature on the base of the spine: the Kathakali posture would not create a back curve as in Kudiyattam. It is for the attaining this spine curvature that Kathakali places so much importance on oil massage. Nambyar also says that applying oil before the physical exercises was the prevalent practice prior to the introduction of oil massage in Kudiyattam. This kind of extensive oil massage is only given to the male students. The reasons for this is not known though it is generally understood by actors that female body is naturally more flexible than the male body and would not require a thorough massage and softening of muscles as in the case of boys. Actors normally mention that they would find it increasingly difficult to perform prolonged manual labour such as farming because of the lack of endurance of their muscles (their muscles are softened by rigorous massage over long 24

John Steven Sowle, The traditions, training and performance of Kutiyattam, Sanskrit drama in South India. University of California, Berkeley, 1982, pp. 125-38.

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years) in undertaking such jobs in hot summer. They seem to be able to do nothing but acting. The female students are anyway asked to apply oil themselves when taking a bath. Body training The body training of Kudiyattam comprises of three important elements: posture training, body strengthening exercises (jumps, various stretches etc.) and gestures and wrist training. The most important aspect of physical training is the basic posture of Kudiyattam, the ‘bent knee posture while applying breath on the spine’ (arakku vayu koduthu tanu nilkkal). Posture training is initially started by standing close to the wall and the body pressing against it. Also practised during the early morning hours, the student stands keeping approximately half a foot distance between his two feet and turning them outward; he also bends his knees down but keeps the rest of his body straight. In the bent knee posture, there is approximately one to one and a half feet distance between the floor and the knees. Sometimes the master keeps a stick in between the knees so that they do not come any closer and the teacher squats in front of the student and extends his arms half way in order to hold the student’s knees. This gives the student an idea of how much he should bend down. In the bent knee posture, the student aims to stand in approximately two thirds of his normal height because the head-gear, which is an integral part of the costume compensates for this height in performance. When a student starts training he stands for about five minutes in this posture; gradually he will be trained enough to stand for more than an hour. Though an hour long continuous standing is not required in performance this kind of rigorous training helps the student to maintain his posture for the required length of time without being exhausted by the weight and heat of the heavy costume that is tied on to his body. The most important part of this posture is the ‘application of breath on the spine’. The student is asked to push slightly inside the small section between the spine and the buttocks towards the belly button, without causing the buttocks to project more; this means that he is in fact creating a curve at the base of the spine to ensure the proper balance of the body. The effect is seen and experienced on the

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shoulders. The shoulder frame is expanded as a result of this and this in turn ensures a straight posture. Interestingly, during the massage, special attention is given by the teacher to create this curve in the body by practically creating a ‘dip’ in the region of spine; this is achieved by keeping a pair of thick rings under the knees (the student is lying in the bent knee posture for the massage) and the student lying in the Sphinx posture with his head up and his upper body supported by his forearms 25 in a palm-down position. The effect of these exercises is to create a ‘charged’ body which is ready-for-action. While the students stand in this posture they also rotate their wrists in various patterns, keeping the rest of the arm immobile because in Kudiyattam style of acting the arms are not expected to stretch out as they do in dance forms or in Kathakali; all the hand gestures are kept close to the body, ‘within the chest’ frame (technically known as maradakkam). Thus most of the hand gestures are confined to the wrist and lower-arm. Moving on to body strengthening exercises, there is a series of physical fitness exercises in Kudiyattam training. Among these, the most important one is a series of one hundred jumps around a lighted oil lamp. These are the preliminary exercises in this series. “The feet begin in a parallel position, insteps together, with the foot turned so that the weight rests on the outside of the foot…. In the jump the feet are lifted as high and that much forward, in front of the body, as possible, the feet remaining together throughout”. 26 The hands which begin in a palms-closed position held in front of the chest are outstretched above the forehead when jumping high and they are dropped at the sides as the jump ends. These jumps are not to be stopped in between until the full hundred is finished. If the student happens to stop in between he is expected to start from the very beginning. Generally, the jumping exercise is performed only by boys though girls are encouraged to jump a few times. Though girls learn all the movements learned by boys, they did not have sufficient opportunity to perform all the vigorous performance pieces until about twenty years ago, when female performers started to come forward to devise 25 26

Ibid., p. 132. Ibid., p. 125.

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and perform such pieces. Hence, in the past, girls might not have required all the vigorous exercises as boys did, but in today’s situation it would perhaps be right to give intensive physical training to both women and men alike because it is through these exercises that a performer builds up proper stamina. Swinging the legs (kaal veeshu) sideways as highly as possible leaning against the wall with the outstretched arms supported on it is another important exercise. The student needs to look at the wall and is not expected to look at his legs while doing this exercise. Rotating the arms (kai veeshu) around and sideways while standing in a feet-parallel position and stretching the legs in the sitting posture are among other physical exercises. The leg stretching is done by shifting the weight from one leg to another and extending one leg and bending the other one in a squatting position. Attention is paid to keep the spine straight and also not to bend the knees while coming up from the sitting position. The stretching of the legs is very important in the war movements known as yuddha chari. The non-verbal communication in Kudiyattam is primarily through the medium of highly codified and systematised pattern of hand gestures known as mudra which, along with fulfilling the purpose of translating the meaning of the text, also precisely follow its exact Sanskrit/Malayalam grammar. Unlike the gestures of Indian dance forms like Mohiniyattam or Bharatanatyam (and Kathakali to some extent), which totally ignore the grammar of the text, Kudiyattam, being a dramatic form, pays meticulous attention to the grammatical structure of each of the sentences which together form the text or the sub-text of a play. The seven different hand positions with a mudra called pataka can easily denote all the seven clitics 27 of the Malayalam grammar. Thus, ‘of Tom’ and ‘by Tom’ are shown differently in Kudiyattam; however, the mudra denoting ‘Tom’ itself would remain the same but the arm/hand position and angle of the gesture denoting ‘of’’ and ‘by’ would differ slightly. 27

Clitics are used to describe a word that cannot be stressed and is pronounced as part of the word that follows or precedes it. Malayalam grammar contains seven such clitics namely nominative, accusative, ablative, dative, instrumental, possessive or genitive and locative. All these clitics are not found in English grammar and hence description of an equivalent to cite and use as example is sometimes difficult.

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The movement of each of these mudras and their connected arm movement is restricted to within the chest frame. To explain this further, the movement of any particular mudra needs to be restricted to the twist and turns of the wrist bone and one should not employ the whole arm to perform a mudra except on the particular occasions where it is required of the actor to move his whole arm to represent the meaning. For example an actor need only move his wrist bone and fingers to show ‘lotus flower’ or ‘path’, ‘search’ or ‘sun’. But showing ‘house’ involves the moving of his lower arm. In fact, movements engaging the whole arm are very limited in Kudiyattam. Moreover, the arm is very rarely stretched out completely. A slight bend at the elbow is always maintained by the performer throughout the performance. Thus the chest frame denotes an imaginary square shape in front of the chest, which is achieved when the lower arm is moved up and down from the normal hand position of Kudiyattam. The normal hand position of Kudiyattam looks somewhat like the drawing given here. As in this figure, the upper arm slightly descends from the shoulder joint followed by the further descent of the lower arm from the elbow to create two different triangles on both sides of the body which are joined in front of the chest, leaving approximately half a foot distance between the chest and the hands.

Upper arm Lower arm

Concentrated wrist and finger exercises become highly relevant in Kudiyattam training due to the restriction the form imposes on the hand movements. As mentioned earlier, students exercise their wrists when standing in the ‘bent knee’ posture. These exercises are intended to give total flexibility to the wrists when showing certain gestures, to open them fully without stretching the arm as a whole. There are four variations for hand positions when doing this exercise.

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These are rotating wrists giving them a complete 360º turnout in a palm-open or palm-closed position; rotating in a vertical position; joining the thumb and the index finger by bending it and keeping the rest of the fingers closed, rotate the wrist in a more restricted circle; and shaking the whole hand along with the wrist very swiftly in forward and backward motions. Repeating these exercises for several months would give good flexibility to the wrist. Finger exercises are also very important in Kudiyattam because there are several instances when fingers are vibrated swiftly along with certain gestures. These are joining index finger and thumb, shaking the rest of the fingers which are kept upright; shaking the ring and the middle finger by keeping the index finger and the small finger upright and without moving them; and closing all the fingers except the index finger and placing thumb on them, shaking only the index finger. Coming to the hand gestures which serve as the letters which form the base of the visual communication of Kudiyattam, there are twenty four of them according to the Hastalakshana Deepika. According to Sowle there are about five hundred signs which could be formed using these basic letters. Words or ideas are gestured by combining one or more basic gestures. Thus, some gestures when they are combined with meaningful lower arm movements could denote the obvious meaning of the word of the text while many are simply a combination, which could in some way be connected or not connected to the meaning implied. Gestures denoting ‘fire’ or ‘lotus’ are very obvious when they are coupled with the movement of the lower arm and augmented by the required facial expression, whereas the gesture denoting a demon or a king or a woman does not obviously mean demon or king or a woman if they are shown as they are; however, facial expression and body language could make it a lot clearer. The hand gestures used in Kudiyattam do not follow the Natyasastra. The twenty-four gestures are pataka, mudrakhyam, katakam, mushti, karthareemukham, sukatuntam, kapithakam, hamsapaksham, sikharam, hamsasyam, anjali, ardhachandram, mukuram, bhramaram, soochikamukham, pallavam, tripataka, mrigaseersham, sarpasiras, vardhamanakam, aralam, oornanabham,

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mukulam, katakamukham. The photographs of these mudras are as seen below: 28

1. Pataka

2. Mudrakhyam

3. Katakam

4. Mushti

6. Sukathuntam 5. Karthareemukham

7. Kapithakam

8. Hamsapaksham

9. Sikharam

11. Anjali

12. Ardhachandram

28

10. Hamsaasyam

I have taken these pictures from http://www.cyberkerala.com/kathakali/mudra.htm .

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13. Mukuram

14. Bhramaram

15. Soochimukham 16. Pallavam

17. Thripathaka

18. Mrigasirsham

19. Sarpasiras

20. Vardhamanakam

21. Aralam

22. Oornanabham

23. Mukulam

24. Katakamukham

Among these pictures, No. 24, katakamukham is shown slightly differently by Kudiyattam actors by inserting the thumb between the ring finger and the middle finger. The Natyasastra also describes about 400 different gestures which can be created with the

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use of these twenty-four basic gestures. Kudiyattam does not follow the instructions of the Natyasastra in terms of all the gestures. The reason for this aberration is not known. In fact, Kudiyattam follows the oral tradition which is passed through generations of actors. Written code is not always strictly adhered to by actors in several cases. So far I have discussed the physical training of Kudiyattam. It is interesting how each individual part of the actor’s body is meticulously trained to perfection for years. According to masters of Kudiyattam a student trains for over ten years to learn acting, which is followed by another ten years of apprenticeship with his Guru and learning more poetry and literature. He starts performing small roles and gains considerable experience in performing. The next ten years are devoted to establishing himself as a performer. If the performer is really lucky he can be an accomplished performer and continue to perform for another ten to twenty years. However, an actor devotes nearly thirty years to train and establish himself but his actual career may be limited to two decades. This might seem to be a paradox for the modern world, but Kudiyattam survived for centuries because of the whole-hearted devotion from Chakyars. Once the actor is confident in the physical exercises mentioned above he is taught Nityakriya, which is a performance; it integrates the physical exercises that the student learns from his Guru. Nityakriya Nityakriya is also known as sutradharan purappadu, (meaning the ‘preliminaries of Sutradhara’, translated in English as the narrator, director or manager. However, the exact word meaning is the ‘string holder’), Nityakriya is a series of movement patterns comprising continuous jumping, trunk rotations, and detailed description of the physique of God Siva and his wife Goddess Parvathi. Nityakriya is both the daily exercise and also a performance piece. A Kudiyattam student learns Nityakriya after attaining reasonable physical flexibility and some training in eye and voice. The movements that make up Nityakriya are all set to specific rhythmic cycles and music or akkitta sung by the Nangyar. There are some preliminary

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akkitta sung by the Nangyar with the rhythmic accompaniment of Mizhavu played by the Nambyar, technically known as goshthi kottal. The actor will not have yet made his appearance on the stage. Once the premiminary akkitta is over, a half curtain is held by two assistants signifying the entry of the actor. Nityakriya literally means daily rituals. The performance of Nityakriya lasts for approximately an hour. Nityakriya is normally performed by boys before the age of eleven and girls before they attain puberty. Performing Nityakriya to a public audience is a major milestone in a Kudiyattam actor’s life. That will be his/her first performance; and it also marks performing his/her caste rite for the first time. As I explained in the context of restoration of behaviour in the previous chapter, an actor born in the Chakyar or Nangyar community is acknowledged and addressed as Chakyar or Nangyar following the debut performance of Nityakriya. It offers the possibility of a comprehensive movement pattern providing a complete workout to various muscles in the body. The accompanying rhythm and music help to avoid any monotony involved in these exercises. Thus, Nityakriya ensures the complete physical flexibility of a performer. Nityakriya is a very important performance of Kudiyattam and serves four major functions apart from the very important social and caste-related purpose. These are training; the religious and devotional aspect; the debut performance; and being part of a full-blown Kudiyattam performance. It is sometimes hard to compartmentalise these four functions owing to their complexity, though I will describe each of them individually since it is important to understand and identify these for obtaining a better understanding of Kudiyattam. Training Nityakriya comprises of precise and prescribed patterns of physical movements that allow no scope for improvisation. I will describe its sequence when describing the performance aspect of Nityakriya. The teacher chants various vaytari or the sequence of rhythmic syllables and teaches their related movement patterns to the students. The students memorise these movements along with their vaytari and repeat them day after day until they perform this to an audience for the first time. Normally, the teacher decides when the

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student is ready for his debut which will usually be after a year of starting to learn Nityakriya. However, the appropriate age for that debut is considered to be eleven for boys but for girls, this needs to be completed well before the age of eleven so that she has performed for the first time before her puberty. An auspicious day is astrologically charted and the actor prepares. The religious and devotional function Nityakriya contains a very important devotional aspect. I am quoting Narayanan Nambyar, who shared this information during an informal conversation. On the day of his/her debut performance the actor, after having a bath goes to the temple he is assigned to and prays to the main deity. The priest of the temple picks a wick of lamp from inside the sanctum sanctorum which is lit in front of the deity. The wick is then placed on another lamp and will be handed over to the actor. The actor carries this lamp to the dressing room and lights the lamp in the dressing room from it. He then performs the ritualistic offering, pooja, to Ganesha. Before the pooja is finished, the actor ties the ‘red cloth’ on his forehead and concludes the pooja. The lamp on the stage is lit from the lamp in the dressing room by the percussionist, Nambyar. In this sense it is the same flame that is glowing inside the temple that is glowing on the Kudiyattam stage as well. Once the actor has dressed up, he enters the stage and performs some movements behind the curtain which is called marayitkriya (hidden performance). The actor goes back to the backstage area and another pooja is performed by the priest of the very temple from where the wick was brought. Nityakriya starts only after completing these rituals. Once the Nityakriya is concluded, the actor, while still wearing the costume, goes back to the temple with the lamp given from the temple and hands it over to the priest. The priest takes the lamp inside and places the wick back on the lamp in front of the deity. The actor is known as a Chakyar or Nangyar thereafter. This ritual is a significantly important transition stage in an actor’s life in the sense that it marks his ‘transformation’ from the state of a non-actor to that of an actor. This ritual also serves as an effective technique to alter his daily consciousness since the actor assumes that the performance starts and culminates in front of the

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deity. The deity’s presence is continuously assured in the performance by means of the wick brought from the sanctum sanctorum which is placed in the green room and also on the performance area. Three wicks on the stage represent gods themselves; gods witness his performance and serve as audience. I have heard about many such ‘offerings’ which went almost without any audience at all; I believe that it is this unique devotional aspect that inspired performers to perform for an empty auditorium. Once the red cloth is tied on the forehead no sort of worldly matters including death or birth is supposed to affect him. He should not untie the red cloth without completing the performance either. His entity is only that of a ‘divine actor’ performing in a ‘sacred theatre’. The First Performance Nityakriya consists of a chain of several small segments of movements and intermittent ‘connecting movements’ known as dhruva and bhramari that help to stretch the limbs and provides a much deserved, intermittent rest period. The first part of the Nityakriya is known as Marayitkriya – literally translated as the activity behind the curtain. Marayitkriya consists of a series of seven simple movement patterns that are performed facing the musicians sitting at the rear of the performance space. This is a very intimate yet highly stylized performance involving the actor and the drummers. Devotion is the key element in Marayitkriya. Nityakriya starts with the rendering of a few lines of a character of the play and a short elaboration of those lines using hand gestures and facial expressions. Boys normally perform a few lines of Rama from a play known as Ascharyachudamani (The Wonderous Crest Jewel), written by the 7th century playwright Saktibhadra. Girls normally perform a few lines of a maid in a play known as Subhadradhananjayam (Princess Subhadra and Prince Arjuna), a play written by the 9th century playwright and King Kulasekhara. The lines are repeated once the actors have completed their gestural expansion. A series of physical movements follows. As for any other movement pattern in Kudiyattam, there is a specific vaitari for these as well. The first set of movements is mainly jumping sideways followed by a simple dance performed to a song sung by the Nangyar who sits on the right hand side of the stage and keeps the rhythm using a pair of cymbals. This dance is performed only by girls

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mainly owing its soft nature. The songs are known as akkitta, they are sung in praise of various gods such as Ganesha, Shiva, Goddess Saraswathi or Parvathi. There is an intermittent connecting movement consisting of lifting the legs from the ground, stretching them or sometimes even a stylized walking. This is followed by a series of very vigorous sixty-four jumps and sixty-four trunk rotations all set to another akkitta. This dance is very exhausting, also due to the heavy costumes that are worn by the actors. Next follows a head-to-toe description of God Shiva and Goddess Parvathi (kesadipadam), which is shown by walking in a forward and backward motion, placing three steps each way. The actor then worships the guardians of the eight corners of the world, termed dikpalavandanam, which is followed by dance in a movement patterned like a ‘z’. Nityakriya culminates in a larger view of world. The actor offers a dance in worship of all living beings including ants, grass, trees, all animals along with gods and demons. He enacts plucking flowers from the trees and offers to all these and prostrates him/herslef to ‘nature’ and prays for an uninterrupted performance career. Nityakriya as part of a full blown performance Nityakriya is performed prior to the beginning of each act of a Kudiyattam performance. Though Rama and the maid are the characters performed for the debut performance, Rama or the maid are not always presented. The character opening any specific act will be performed at Nityakriya by rendering his/her first line. In this sense, Hanuman or Ravana could be presented at Nityakriya. Nityakriya also suggests the storyline that will be presented in that act. Note that the spectators know the story already and only need to know what they can expect to be watching on any particular night. Rasa Training and Rehearsal So far I have described physical training that culminates in a performance sequence, Nityakriya, which incorporates various physical movements that the students learn from their very initiation. All these various components, eyes, voice and body movements are further enriched by adding emotional acting or rasa acting to it. However, I need to mention here that teaching each rasa one by one in

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their proper order is relatively a new method in Kudiyattam. The Kalamandalam, when it institutionalised Kudiyattam training, decided to teach this as a separate lesson to their students; this is a very sensible idea because some sort of codification is always required in academic discipline and it makes such complex training patterns as that of Kudiyattam a lot easier. Previously, rasas were taught to the students as they progressed with the systematic learning of the Sanskrit plays/acts of certain plays. However, for the last fifty years, the learning of rasas has been an integral part of Kudiyattam training. Kudiyattam teaches nine rasas to the students; the students are also taught the principles of expressing each rasa in the form of fourline verses. These verses are more or less similar to the ones in the Natyasastra, though Kudiyattam actors learn them directly from their teachers; these verses and their interpretation are transferred from generation to generation. Each rasa is associated with a specific facial instruction, with special emphasis on the eyes. The verse does not bring up any information on the breathing practice associated with rasa, though the interpretation of the verses (by the teacher) sometimes includes a breath-related instruction. Nine Rasa 29 All the nine rasas and their corresponding facial and eye functions are described below: Srungara (Erotic): Srungara is understood as pure happiness. Fluttering eyebrows, a smiling face and eyes denoting desire are means to express Srungara. There are four variations for this which are 1. The erotic love that a woman feels towards a man, which is shown by the eyes travelling slowly from the base of the eyes and looking at a point slightly above eye level (denoting the height and face of a man who is looking back at the woman), which are retracted to the initial position due to the extreme shyness that the woman feels. 29 I have given here the original Sanskrit names of the nine rasa. Although one may find different spellings for the same words – Beebhatsa which is the Sanskrit spelt as Veebhatsa in a book authored by a Hindi speaking researcher – I am taking the original Sanskrit version in this book.

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2. The erotic love that a man feels towards a woman, which is shown as an extreme desire to attain the complete enjoyment of her body, coupled with fixed eyes and frequent breathing pattern. 3. The love of a mother towards a child. 4. The devotion towards God. According to Mani Madhava Chakyar (MMC), the eyes in Srungara should be reasonably opened and the pupil of the eyes should contain love, desire and happiness. The look needs to be to a side. With this stance, look at the object of pleasure by fluttering the eyebrows and the cheeks and also by pushing one vayu 30 through the eyes. 31 Hasya (Mockery): Hasya is performed with lowered lips, lifted eyebrows and the eyes looking towards one direction as if in a mocking stance. MMC describes the eyes in Hasya as those without blinking, the pupil of the eyes withdrawn slightly and moving the eyes to either direction, full of sarcasm. 32 Karuna (Melancholic): Eyes are full of sadness and contain tears in Karuana. The eyelids are not much open. The look of the eyes is towards the front. The actor should also lower the tips of the lip, moving them slightly. Raudra (Furious): Lifted eyebrows, completely open eyes and flickering eyelids are the obvious characteristics of this rasa. MMC, in addition, mentions that the eyes should have a fixed stance powered with a good amount of vayu pushed to the eyeballs. 33 Veera (Heroic): Lifted eyebrows and fully open eyelids are the characteristics of Veera. MMC adds to this by stating that the actor should also push vayu to the eyes. 34

30

Vayu is the Sanskrit term for breath. Mani Madhava Chakyar, Natyakalpadrumam. Cheruturuthi: Kerala Kalamandalam, 1973, p. 115. 32 Ibid., p. 115. 33 Ibid., p. 116. 34 Ibid., p. 116. 31

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Bhayanaka (Terrible): Eyes need to look at a point and moved to either sides in terrible fear as if being frightened at a sight. The tips of the lips are slightly lowered if necessary and eyebrows lifted as in the depiction of the melancholic rasa. Beebhatsa (odious): The nose is lifted up, tips of the lips lowered and the eyebrows are shrunk in this rasa. The eyelids are half open and the stance denotes a complete hatred on seeing something disgusting. Atbhuta (Wonder): The eyebrows are moved frequently, eyelids are fully opened and the cheeks contain a slight flicker. The eyeballs in a fixed stance completely show the wonder by pushing a good amount of vayu to the eyeballs. The eyeballs reflect a great amount of happiness on seeing something nice. Santha (Peaceful): There is no expression on the face and no movements of lips or eyebrows or eyelids. Rather, the eyes are withdrawn from every sight until a blurred vision occurs. This is how Santha is taught. Chari or the physicalized image Once the student has started practising all the aspects discussed so far, he learns various movement patterns known as chari or kriya or attam. Chari is a physicalized image. To explain this further, the gait of a horse, for example, is represented by a series of physical movements involving jumping and hopping. When performed with the accompaniment of Mizhavu, this gives a convincing effect of the movement of a horse. When presenting a ball play for instance, an actor shows a series of movements naturally involved with the ball play like hopping and jumping and bouncing. However, these movements are presented aesthetically but involve the natural movements of the limbs associated with such a game. Though these movements are restricted to the acting principles of Kudiyattam, not lifting the hands beyond the head level for instance, actions that cannot be represented by hands, the ball bouncing higher up in this case is represented and augmented by the eye movements. Chari is essentially part of Kudiyattam acting and students have to learn them during the course of training. These are also very helpful for a student

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to start his/her own imaginative process in a systematic way. He also gets plenty of opportunity to improvise, though it is not expected of him to change any aspects of vaithari. These acting conventions, in a way, teach a student how to employ imagination during a performance and add to his spontaneity. Some of the examples are given below: Yuddha Chari/pada purappadu – Preparation for war It is a series of very vigorous and energetic movements, which is a highly creative improvisation of the Keralan martial art movements, Kalari payattu. The actor acts how a soldier prepares for war and also how he uses different weapons such as sword, bow and arrow, or spear. Preparation for war also consists of such movements as stretching the leg, jumping high from a squatting posture, imitating animal gaits. The performance of preparation for war resembles an active work-out that gives movement to the whole body. Performing Yuddha Chari takes roughly about forty-five minutes. Parvata Varnana – Describing the mountain The description of a mountain becomes part of a very interesting piece of acting in Kudiyattam popularly known as Kailasodharanam or ‘lifting of the mountain Himalaya’. The actor first looks at the height and breadth of the mountain only with his eyes, without blinking, followed by a very detailed description of the mountain itself including the deep forests, animals in that forest, their actions, the rivers originating from it etc. This could be elaborated and improvised on the stage according to the actor’s abilities. He then shows the elaborate acting of lifting the whole mountain, which lasts for more than 2 hours. The actor shows that the mountain has disappeared as a result of the strength of his throwing. While waiting for the mountain to come back, he drinks alcohol, eats meat and plays chess to overcome the monotony involved in waiting. This is a highly celebrated piece specially shown for Ravana, who is the demon character in Ramayana. However, the description of the mountain as it is could be used to describe any mountain independent of the character or the play.

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Udyana Varnana – Describing a garden This is a detailed description of the garden comprising such actions as bees taking nectar from the flower (vandukalude madhupanam), the singing of a cuckoo (kuyilinte snageetam), the dancing of a peacock (mayilattam), an elaborate description of a tree (vriksha varnana) etc. The bees’ drinking nectar is enacted in a peculiar way. The body movement is largely imitating the pattern of the flying of the bees, which is followed the eye movements in a figure of eight (the body movement is also in this pattern). The description of a tree touches upon every element of a tree such as trunk, roots, the branches which stretches out in search of sun light, leaves, fruit, flowers, buds etc… Mayilattam – Peacock dance The dancing of a Peacock is performed in a highly naturalistic (the Indian understanding of naturalism differs largely from that of the West) way compared to the dance forms of India such as Bharata Natyam or Kuchipudi. The performer shows how a peacock cleans his feathers both with his beak and legs, which is followed by close steps movement at a very slow pace according to the rhythm, dhi, tha, tha, tha. Each cycle of movement follows a circular pattern with the time of the rhythm increasing with every circle. When the pace of the rhythm reaches its peak, the orderliness of the circular pattern is broken and paves way to free movement of the body to the sides and to the front. The dance culminates by closely imitating a peacock’s dance movements. This is a good example for a creative blend of stylistic and naturalistic movements. Kesadipadam – Describing a woman/man from head to toe This comprises of a very detailed description of the physique of a woman and a man, though more importance is normally given to the description of a female body, normally taking half an hour. Valiya Kesadipadam or the ‘extended kesadipadam’ is a rare repertoire item performed by the demon king Ravana to describe the beauty of Sita, while she is held as a captive in his palace garden. The hand movement for each description (of a body part) is strictly adhering to the set rhythmic pattern unique to it. Interestingly the actor performing Rav-

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ana stands in the bent knee position and moves very slowly from the rear of the stage (right hand side) to the front (left where Sita is imagined to be present). This movement (walking about two meters) takes roughly an hour and a half. This testifies to the actor’s control of his body movements, his performing skills and the concentration in maintaining the continuity (sthayi) of one emotion for a longer period of time. Koppaniyikkal or the elaborate ‘dressing’ Koppaniyikkal or ‘dressing’ is another convention closely related to kesadipadam. This very beautiful piece of acting is the elaborate dressing of the heroine by her maids, starting with tying her long hair. This goes into details of every aspect of traditional dressing by women and beautifying each part of her body is shown with meticulous attention. When the maids take turn in dressing her, they discuss, finalise things and appreciate each other during this process. Interestingly, all these impersonations are performed by one actor but with his actions he successfully creates the presence of three characters on the stage. Koppaniyikkal is finished with the application of the red colour on her feet. Acting this piece takes an hour. Ball and swing play This is yet another interesting piece of acting performed by a single actor. Ball play or pandattam is performed to a specific rhythm. The actions include holding the ball, hitting the ball on the ground, the rise of the ball which is shown with the eyes, holding it in the other hand and playing with it by hitting it on the ground for a short duration. The same rhythm is followed for the swing play as well. This is normally shown with two persons or more playing on a swing and one person assisting in swaying and the other person sitting on the swing. The actor shows all the possible movements when playing with a swing with his eyes, which makes it all the more beautiful. Cholliyattam – the rehearsal A student now has received training in all aspects of histrionics though he would repeat them daily for long years. Eye training will

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be continued throughout his artistic life. He now proceeds to learn to incorporate all these aspects in the specific context of a play. All the independent factors described above come together to make sense in the course of the interconnecting sequence of a play structure. He is now learning how to perform various roles, and also how to act with co-actors on the stage. This rehearsal process is known as cholliyattam. He also reads Sanskrit plays, poems, the epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata along with reading and learning Attaprakaram and Kramadeepika. When he learns to act, he sits on the floor and learns all the hand gestures, mudras, of the Attaprakaram. This is repeated a few times until he is fully confident in memorising the lines without the help of his master. He then moves on to learning Ilakiyattam or the acting with the help of gestures or mudras and physical movements like stamping the leg, jumping, turning, swinging and twisting the body. Here he gets a chance to incorporate the chari that he learned before. A student then proceeds to Cholliyattam. Once the student is proficient in Cholliyattam, he then starts with small roles in performances along with his teacher and slowly proceeds to perform more important roles. However, between his initiation and proper stage performances, there would be long, intensive years of hardship and perseverance. After his initiation, it may take a good eight to ten years of training before his performance career starts. It may take another ten years before he will be known as a performer. An actor reaches maturity by continuously engaging with the performance for more than three decades. He may just be lucky to be well known and established as a master performer and a teacher or ends up as a member of the caste undertaking his caste rites.

I have so far provided a very detailed description of the actor training in Kudiyattam. I have referred to the thesis written by John Steven Sowle when describing oil massage, and leg/feet training and also to the Kerala Natyasastra. However, a good portion of the above description is based on my own experience as a student and also from the accounts of my teacher Margi Sathi who was trained in the Kalamandalam about two and a half decades ago.

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The Kudiyattam actor training represents a holistic approach to training, through which both the actor’s physical, and psychological features are actively trained. The aim of such training is to achieve presence and that quality that delivers actors who are free from expectations about any success, fame or any other virtues that might result from their efforts. This may appear unconventional in a Western context—its significance emerges in the context of Indian philosophy: in the Bhagavat Gita Krishna emphasises the importance of says nishkama karma—the ability to act without attachment. In my experience of talking with Kudiyattam masters, I have felt the practical existence of ‘acting without attachment’ in their artistic life, a quality which I find lacking, unfortunately, in a new generation Kudiyattam performers (including myself to be truthful). The training prepares as actor to be involved and detached at the same time, especially when it comes to performing Pakarnnattam where the actor takes the roles of various characters without the physical transformation in terms of costume and make-up. All the while he also maintains the emotional continuity of the main character that he is supposed to portray. The actor is at the same time emotionally involved with the character and detaches him/herself by continuously bringing other characters into the action. This kind of improvisational quality is the major contribution of the long and strenuous training. The actor’s nature is one of readiness and only readiness, radiating with presence. In this context it is worth comparing Kudiyattam actor training with psycho-physical training in Western actor training contexts. This is undertaken to find parallels between the two and to establish how Kudiyattam could contribute to the actor training in a contemporary context across the world. The large number of Western actor training approaches would warrant an entire long chapter of its own. However, for the purposes of this book, I will examine only two selected systems as examples. They are Michael Chekhov and John Martin, selected because of the importance that both these actor trainers assign to the essential co-existence of physical and psychological qualities. I will also illustrate, with reference to a practical example, how the Kudiyattam imagination exercise can be integrated into to contemporary Western theatre practice

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Western Actor Training and Kudiyattam Physical training: Chekhov recognises that the three important requirements for an actor are 1. “the extreme sensitivity of body to the psychological creative impulses” 2. “the richness of the psychology itself” and 3. “the complete obedience of both body and psychology to the actor”. 35 Chekhov emphasises the co-existence of body and mind and most importantly that the actor should be in control of both: this implies a well trained actor who knows the improvisational skills and the one who knows how to employ his body to respond well to his ideas. Chekhov suggests exercises to his actors to help them achieve this kind of knowledge. Amongst them, walking with a focus on the chest very interesting one in our context: the actor has to imagine that there is a centre within his chest from where the impulse for all his movements flows. The actor should not apply any pressures on the rest of his body and needs to imagine that hands and legs actually originate from this centre and not from shoulders or hips. He has to move in the space by maintaining this body principle and he will gradually experience “more and more strong feeling which may be called an actor’s presence on stage”. 36 It is not at all difficult to see what is happening here to the actor’s body when approached from the Kudiyattam perspective. The actor puts a pressure on his chest in order to make it the centre of the body. This naturally creates a bend at the back of the spine – it is impo not to create this if the chest is slightly pushed forward. The shoulders are broadened and the entire torso becomes ‘charged’. Similarly in the ‘bent knee posture’ in Kudiyattam presence in created by bending down and pushing the centre of the spine towards the belly button. The effect is seen on the shoulders, chest and torso. A well trained Kudiy performer need not bend his knee in order to create the required effect on his spine, chest and shoulders. Chekhov advises his students also to exercise the hands and fingers, although he does not provide any precise movement patterns.

35 36

Michael Chekhov, To the Actor. London and New York: Routledge, 2004, pp 2-5. Ibid,. pp 7-8.

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However, he is fully aware of the beauty of expressive hands and fingers and advises actors to exercise them individually. Becoming aware of one’s centre is also discussed by John Martin. His work is deeply influenced by Asian traditions and recognises that “the centre and the breathing are the bases of the strong, flexible and active body we need for presence”. 37 Martin also speaks about the energy levels that go beyond the physical and psychological levels and observes that our energy levels change with a change in the emotional states. Informed by Kathakali, Martin’s approach to training is from the visible physical expressions to reach at the subtler emotional expressions – a method central to Indian performances. His exercises reflect the basic body principles of Asian performances like Kathakali, Noh and Kabuki. His actor training method even contains the replica of eye exercises as in Kathakali: moving the eyes by following the patterns created by the hands. Martin is trying various principles related to eye exercises including the looking at the distance exercise of Kudiyattam. There are also a number of Yoga postures along with breathing exercises. Martin places particular importance on the rhythm and movement exercise and links it with the ‘timing’ of the actor. After performing a few rhythm exercises the actor has to speak very simple things in the rhythm – what he had for breakfast for example. This is a very interesting exercise and will be very useful for understanding a sense of ‘timing’. The actor should take particular care not to make this mono-rhythmic 38 . This is a very useful example to show how an Eastern technique could help a contemporary theatre practitioner to improve his acting skills. Imagination: Chekhov devised many imagination exercises suitable both for individual and group work. Among these, ‘the atmosphere and individual feelings’ are highly significant from a Kudiyattam perspective. For Chekhov ‘atmosphere’ refers to the underlying or the guiding emotion of the scene/plot/play. Chekhov observes that the atmosphere exerts an extremely strong influence upon acting beca37 John Martin, The Intercultural Performance Handbook. London and New York: Routledge, 2004, p. 8. 38 Ibid,. p. 98.

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use it changes the movements, speech, behaviour and thoughts. From the Natyasastra perspective this is the sthayi or the dominant emotional state – love, or sadness for instance. According to Chekhov individual feelings to the ‘atmosphere’ could be entirely different to one another. Such clashes between atmosphere and individual feelings could be potential of creating dramatic situations. These inner feelings in turn create a movement/physical pattern which fully corresponds to the total strength of the feeling. These are psychological gestures as termed by Chekhov 39 . Here the approach is totally from internal to external – internal feeling manifests as an external gesture. This approach to imagination is unlike the external to internal approach of Kudiyattam. A Kudiyattam actor when expressing sadness starts to bend the tips of his lips low and curls the eye brows up. The emotional state of sadness follows after the constant repetition of these movements. I can clearly identify three stages of imagination training in Kudiyattam. 1. Actors right from the beginning are taught how to physicalize images. All the physical apparatus such as hands, eyes and face are properly trained so these are helpful when the actor engages with his imagination. Individual imaginative capacities are trained to manifest in a specific way right from childhood so that the actor learns to imagine only in a certain pattern, the Kudiyattam pattern. 2. Parallel to the physical training the actor is taught various attaprakarams, poetry, epics and history along with Sanskrit grammar and literary theory. Right from his early childhood actors read and listen to the stories of gods and goddesses which will feed into his later career as an actor. 3. Third stage is the cholliyattam where the actor is taught to compile these various aspects in a performance. There is a step by step process to cholliyattam: first and foremost the actor sits on the floor and gesticulates the attaprakaram that he already learned along with the appropriate eye and facial expressions. In the second stage, charis and movements are added to the gesticulated piece. In the third stage musical acc39

Michael Chekhov, To the Actor. London and New York: Routledge, 2004, pp 4776.

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ompaniment is also supplemented. It is not uncommon to combine stage two and three once the student is adept in cholliyattam. The actor at this stage does not write their own attaprakaram but he only learns how it is written; he also reads as many different attaprakarams as possible. At a later stage in their careers actors may also write their own attaprakaram and engage imaginatively with the text right from the stage of making their own performance text. Actors at this stage would have already learned how to break free from the structure, while at the same time adhering to its guiding principles. I now illustrate an example to explain how Kudiyattam’s approach to imagination helps the contemporary stage. In 2004 I had participated in a production of Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan in order to work with the lead actress to devise a small monologue in scene seven. This monologue is packed with activities involving a pregnant woman and her imaginary child. The mother imagines the activities that she may engage in with her child once he is born. The actress was merely rendering the lines before I started working with her. She was incapable of imagining the whole sequence and more importantly to physicalize her imagination. I applied the Kudiyattam method of writing attaprakaram to this monologue and divided it into small segments of activities. Together with the actress I expanded each line into a sensible event and connected the lines with adequate movements. We added extra short sentences to make sense of such movements all within the structure. The actress was then asked to show the height of a child, his slow gait and the way he pauses in between or waits for his mother to come and drag him. She was taught which muscles to tighten or relax in order to make the audience feel the weight of carrying the child or dragging him. By then she slowly started to physicalize her imagination because she got some tools to apply her ideas. The actress was asked to take a deep breath from the stomach and widen the lips as if in engaged in a smiling gesture in order to feel joy; this was maintained throughout. The whole piece which would have taken only a couple of seconds was thus elaborated to a five minutes sequence of solo acting using the acting techniques of Kudiyattam.

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I developed some meeting points between Kudiyattam and two systems of actor training in Western theatre. Both these systems emphasise the co-existence between the physical and psychological categories of the actor. Since Eastern performances have developed through centuries of trial and error and drawing influences from local medicine, meditation, martial arts and folk performance forms these performances have the advantage of being developed into a well established system that can creatively contribute to the physical and imagination training of Western theatre and its actor training. I am unable to justify the idea of using an Eastern training method as it is for a Western actor because many Eastern training methods are also culture specific. The importance needs to be assigned to understand and assimilate the basic principles behind these exercises (rhythm example of Martin as cited above) and apply them to the specific context. I am confident that Kudiyattam actor training has a lot to contribute to the contemporary theatre. I shall now explore some of the acting devices of Kudiyattam to further examine how the actor’s imagination is trained. Acting devices in Kudiyattam I have by now outlined the structured performance training that prepares an actor step by step to start performing, in their chronological order. There are also a series of acting devices that define the performance nature of Kudiyattam, without which it may be reduced to a straight-forward representation of play texts as any other play production. Most of these conventions are unseen in any other of the Indian theatre genres. Moreover, the Natyasastra does not prescribe most of these conventions probably because theatre in terms of the Natyasastra is more ‘naturalistic’ in nature. This does not mean that the Natyasastra does not prescribe any kind of ‘stylization’ but both these terms and their corresponding compartmentalising are immaterial to the period when the Natyasastra was compiled. Concepts and understanding of time and space of the Kudiyattam theatre marks vivid a difference to that of the Natyasastra. However, in this section, I am describing some of the acting conventions.

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Pakarnnattam – the play of multiple transcendences Pakarnnattam literally means the play of multiple transformations. Pakarnnu means transfer from one to other and attam means the performance. Combined, Pakarnnattam means ‘performance by transferring from one to another’. It gives an impression of a ‘chain of transformations’ from one to another and in the specific context of acting it is the ‘chain of transformations’ undertaken by the actor from one self to another’s self. In simple terms, it is the characterisation since the character is transferred into the actor or vice versa. However, in terms of Kudiyattam it implies an important acting device which also represents a larger philosophical idea. Let me explain this further. To provide a clear understanding of Pakarnnattam I want to take an example from Kudiyattam and examine it. Subhadra-dhananjayam is a play written by the king Kulasekharavarman 40 in the 9th century AD. An excerpt from the Mahabharata, Subhadra-dhananjayam dramatises the story of the wedding between Prince Arjuna and Princess Subhadra, the beloved sister of Krishna. Arjuna, having heard of Subhadra’s beauty and good nature falls in love with her and also wishes to marry her; he decides to go to Mathura, Krishna’s kingdom in the disguise of a Sanyasin. On the way he happens to save a woman falling from the sky, who was being kidnapped by a demon and becomes attracted to her. This woman is Subhadra herself but Arjuna is unaware of that; Subhadra, on the other hand is equally attracted to Arjuna, not knowing who he is. Arjuna describes the beauty of the lady whom he saved thus: This woman’s eyes, beautiful as a pair of blue lotuses, Adorned with black collyrium, agitated from fear The fragrance of her face attracting a flight of bees-

40

The 9th century king Kulasekharavarman, also known as Kulasekhara is believed to be responsible for a thorough restructuring of Kudiyattam with the help and advice of his minister and literary person Tolan. He also wrote two plays himself 1. Subhadradhananjayam and 2. Tapatisamvaranam. Subhadradhananjayam dramatises the story of the wedding between Prince Arjuna and Princess Subhadra who is the sister of Krishna.

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Who is she to unfasten my heart from Subhadra? 41

Arjuna finds that the girl who he saved has captivated his heart, which has been monopolised and sealed by Subhadra. When the actor enacts the meaning of this verse he describes that her eyes resemble the glory of blue lotuses and also they are adorned with black collyrium. He, instead of continuing with the enactment of the rest of the verse, takes a pause and expands upon the black collyrium. He enacts the woman (heroine) in the company of her maids who were dressing her to utmost precision. The heroine summons her maids to dress her, which they happily paid heed to. They dress her long hair and adorn it with jasmine flower, put various jewellery on, apply sandalwood paste to her breasts, and dress her in silk. They take turns in finishing this task to its perfection and seek comments and suggestions between them. Finally they complete the dressing and look at the heroine in order to appreciate the full worth of their effort. They are a bit unhappy because she is lacking something that has its effect on her usual glow. They look at her from top to toe to cross-check if everything is alright and find to their shame that they forgot to apply the collyrium to her eyes. One of them finds it and applies collyrium to her eyes. She is now restored to her usual glow. The actor now continues and says that such are her eyes. He continues with the enactment of the verse and finishes it. An elaborate enactment of this piece takes at least three quarters of an hour. Elaboration of this sort is a major characteristic of Kudiyattam. As quoted by Ayyappa Panicker, a noted scholar from India, “it delights in delaying, deferring the end… The minimal text is thus made maximal”. 42 This is the most important feature of Kudiyattam that makes it unique; in fact all the various aspects of actor-training in general and chari in particular are meant to teach students the beauty of elaboration and how to undertake this aesthetically and logically. As Panicker rightly observes Kudiyattam is seldom concerned with the mere telling of the story. In fact it never tells a story from the beginning to the end but always defers the end. The texts selected for a 41

N.P Unni and Bruce M Sullivan, The Wedding of Arjuna and Subhadra: The Kudiyattam drama Subhadra-Dhananjaya. New Delhi: Nag Publishers, 2001, pp. 138-39. 42 Ayyappa Panicker, “Introduction” in Sangeet Natak, (Special issue), no. 111-114, 1995.

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Kudiyattam performance are also quite specific. Kudiyattam prefers under-worded plays with a minimal verbal structure, like that of Bhasa to that of Kalidasa which is too literary and leaves little room for the actor to improvise. In the introduction to this book I have provided a list of plays popular with Kudiyattam and it confirms this fact. Among the plays written by Bhasa Swapna Vasavadattam (Vision of Vasavadatta), particularly the dream scene is a very difficult one to devise and act. In this scene the King is speaking to his supposedly dead wife in his dream while his wife is responding to the King from the real world, outside his dream. Finally the King feels as if being touched by his wife who in fact was real. He wakes up but is unable to distinguish between dream and reality. Panicker maintains that the Kudiyattam actor contributes to the text by means of elaboration in four different ways: a. Narration of the events starting at some point in the past and leading up to the particular point in the present time (Samkshepam which is explained later in this thesis); b. Narration in reverse: from the present moment to some time in the past. This technique is called anukramam; c. Narration entirely through gesticulation without rendering the dialogues; d. Explication or illustration by narrating an implied story within a story. 43 The actor’s imaginative capacities are at their peak when elaborating by narrating an implied story within a story. Such nonlinearity is the unique characteristic of Indian story-telling, which has been adopted by Kudiyattam. At each individual moment of time the actor first pause, then those moments are expanded and enriched upon by means of the actor’s imaginative capacities. The actor becomes the preceptor, playing with the infinite time – constantly pausing, expanding and contracting time, creating and dismantling images and continuously shifting between various levels of space and time. The actor, like a Yogi requires a certain mental and emotional state, or more importantly a higher state of consciousness in order to cut across the 43

Ibid,. p. 9.

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linearity of time, in order to perform his meditation in motion. He requires a meditative quality of consciousness in order to perform this ultimate lila of creation. Later in this book I shall examine what makes performance a meditative process for an actor. An actor performing multiple transformations does not depend on external accessories such as costume and make-up; rather, simple suggestive techniques are often employed in order to convey such transformation effectively to the audience. A male actor, for example may employ simple techniques to suggest that he is now showing a woman, by tucking one end of their costume on a waist band. Once the actor tucks his costume, he is understood to be representing a female character. To come back to his original character, he simply puts his costume in its normal manner. However, I should mention here that no such technique is performed by actresses when performing men; they can represent a man only by means of their histrionics. The reasons for this disparity is unknown, however, I assume that this could possibly be owing to the tendency to eliminate female characters from Kudiyattam stage and absence or infrequency of acting sequences which demanded the application of Pakarnnattam technique from them. At this point I think it is necessary to examine the usefulness of Pakarnnattam as a representational tool in debating some of the key points of discussions central to feminist discourses. Pakarnnattam and female representation The spectrum of gender-specific theories in almost all the disciplines of contemporary knowledge is vivid in nature and complex in theoretical formulations. Rather than attempting to survey this entire vast field, my focus is on gender subjectivity and representation in the context of theatrical performance. Initial observations, from a feminist perspective, about the history of theatrical representation illustrate the absence of women in the tradition. Elaine Aston, citing Sue-Ellen-Case, describes the history of women in theatre as that of an identity that is ‘hidden from history’ of theatre. 44 Similarly, while

44

Elaine Aston, An Introduction to feminism and theatre. London and New York: Routledge, 1995, p. 2

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putting across suggestions for theatre historians, Nancy Reinhardt says: The theatre historian should re-examine this historical evidence with a lens which focuses more closely on the position of women in productions of earlier centuries. The dominant public action both on the stage and in the audience stresses a male world in which women are either kept to the sides, in recesses, or placed on display for the male viewer.45

In later developments, feminist critical theories establish various strategies and approaches to deconstruct male-authored images of women in theatre and subsequently develop a conceptual and methodological framework for critiquing how women are ‘imaged’ in dramatic texts. These investigations arrived at the predominant conclusion that the image of woman in male representation, by and large, is a cultural codification of male values. According to Case, through this politics of suppression of ‘real women’, the patriarchal culture invented its own representation of the ‘fictional woman’ who appeared on stage. 46 Case’s arguments are highly relevant to issues of altered states of consciousness, performance and gender in the following sections of this chapter. Case argues that the sign as well as the process of cultural encoding are marked by ideology; and this very patriarchal ideology through its various positions, such as set values, beliefs and ways of seeing controls the meaning of the sign in the culture at large. As a consequence, the dominant notions of gender, class, and race in a cultural context compose the meaning of the text and the stage pictures of the theatrical presentation including audience reception. Therefore, for Case, the elements of theatrical representation as well as communication as language and enactments no longer appear to be objective, utilitarian or in any sense value free. 47 She further states that women on stage directly participate in ‘the dominant ideology of gender’:

45 N.S Reinhardt, “New directions for feminist criticism in Thetare and the related arts” in E.Langland and W.Gore (eds), A feminist Perspective in the Academy: The difference it makes. Chicago: University of Chicago press, 1981, p. 25. 46 Sue-Ellen Case, Feminism and Theatre. London: Macmillan, 1988, p. 7 47 Ibid., p. 117.

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Social conventions about the female gender will be encoded in all signs for women. Inscribed in body language, signs of gender can determine the blocking of a scene, by assigning bolder movements to the men and more restricted movements to the women, or by creating poses and positions that exploit the role of women as a sexual object. 48

Case’s historical and cultural analysis of the representation of consciousness of the ‘Other’ is illuminating in various ways to understand the implications and pressures of the participation of the dominant ideology of gender in shaping theatrical models. She is successful in providing an effective tool for analyzing cultural politics of gender in representation. However, in addressing the issues related to the nature and experience of consciousness in performance, her approach built upon (and is thus reduced to) the foundations of historical conditions, the very methodology by which any subjective investigations are not acceptable or even possible. Case’s approach to issues of gender construction and representation is not the only one. From a psychoanalytical point of view, Laura Mulvey presents a different angle in the context of filmic narrative. While demonstrating feminist arguments in relation to gaze, representation and subjectivity, she explains male gaze as an operative tool of the dominant ideology of gender: In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active male and passive female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role, women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. 49

The argument in relation to the ‘male gaze’ thus justifies the position that female representation is largely for pleasing male eyes. This act of male voyeuristic pleasure activates in the field of performance. This consumption of the female body by the male gaze is related to the female image that is depicted in the narration and the performative elements such as gestures, movements and postures, that encourage the voyeuristic pleasure, largely highlighting the female 48

Ibid., p. 117. Laura Mulvey, Visual pleasure and Narrative cinema, Screen, 16(3):6-18, 1975, p. 11. 49

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sexuality and sensuousness. The female body, Coward argues, thus becomes the site where the “society writes its sexual messages”. 50 Besides, the assumption drawn here is that female spectators would, likely, identify with the ‘hero’ who is strong, courageous and would thus internalise the masculinity in the process of reception. Internalization of male values takes place through the practice of established cultural means and subsequently, this practice generally defines female subjectivity. Established notions of femininity created by male articulations play key roles in defining gender categories in culture at large and then, in a process of reverse action, the female internalizes the male constructions of femininity through narratives and other cultural products. Rousseau, for instance, provides a valuable example: his narrative significantly sets the cultural values of gender through establishing value-oriented categories. Rousseau describes the roles of male and female in society thus: The man should be strong and active; the woman should be weak and passive; the one must have both the power and will; it is enough that the other should offer little resistance… When this principle is admitted, it follows that woman is specially made for man’s delight. If man in his turn ought to be pleasing in her eyes, the necessity is less urgent, his virtue is in his strength, he pleases because he is strong… If woman is made to please and to be in subjection to man, she ought to make herself pleasing in his eyes and not provoke him to anger; her strength is in her charms, by their means she should compel him to discover and use his strength. 51

Note the superiority and qualitative attributes of the male gender in relation to female attributes, which are reduced to the merely physical level. Aston rightly identifies this problem and asks how the female spectator, the woman-as-viewer, can ‘look’ when the economy of the gaze is male? 52 Obviously, the female spectator’s natural tendency will be to identify with the ‘hero’ as it is quite likely for human beings to identify with the virtuous. In short, according to 50

R. Coward, Female Desire:Women’s sexuality To-day. London: Paladin, 1984, p.

60 51

J-J Rousseau, Emile. tr. B.Foxley. London: Dent, 1911, p. 322. Elaine Aston, An Introduction to feminism and theatre. London and New York, Routledge, 1995, pp. 42-43. 52

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the key arguments of gender construction outlined above, the male gaze, in various ways formulates the representations of female subjectivity as a major category. In contrast, Chris Weedon, from a post-structuralist point of view, argues the non-existence of a fixed feminine subjectivity. As she defines subjectivity, the term is used to refer to the conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions of the individual, her sense of herself and her ways of understanding her relation to the world. 53 Weedon argues that these conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions are indirectly defined by the society and culture we live in, and will be subjected to change with variation in the discursive categories which constitute them. The major feminist argument in this context is that cultural and social codes of practice contain the invisible patriarchal power. Hence, directly or indirectly, the meaning of female subjectivity in and through various forms of representation, by and large, is a male construction. The non-existence of the fixed female subjectivity within the structure of representation formulated by employing the values and categories of dominant culture described by Weedon has subsequently received significant attention among different groups of feminists who employ phenomenology and deconstruction as their methodologies; the examples of those are available in Judith Butler and Barbara Freedman. In her re-examination of Simone de Beauvoir’s famous phenomenological claim that “one is not born, but, rather, becomes a woman,” Butler argues that gender is a performance. 54 Gender relations are constituted, partially, through the concrete and historically mediated acts of the individuals. The body is invariably transformed into his body or her body, the body is only known through its gendered appearance and apparently, the body becomes its gender through a series of acts, which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time. The feminist appropriation of the phenomenological 53

Chris Weedon, Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory. New York, Basil Blackwell Inc., 1987, p. 32 54 Judith Butler, ‘ Performative act and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory’ in Case Ellen-Sue, ed: Performing Feminisms: Feminist critical Theory and Theatre. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1990, pp. 273-79.

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theory of constitution might employ the notion of an act in a richly ambiguous sense: if gender attributes and acts, the various ways in which a body shows or produces its cultural signification, are performative, then there is no pre-existing identity by which an act or attribute might be measured. Genders, then, can be neither true nor false, neither real nor apparent. 55 Gender, therefore, is not passively scripted on the body, and neither is it determined by nature, language, the symbolic or the overwhelming history of patriarchy. It is, on the contrary, for Butler, what is put on, invariably, under constraint, daily and incessantly, with anxiety and pleasure: the continuous act that is neither natural nor linguistically given. In short, what Butler stands for is the denial of a binary gender system largely based on the cultural materialist assumptions. Similarly, Barbara Freedman also rejects the idea of a stable representation of female subjectivity: the feminist discourse places and displaces the subjectivity in representation. 56 The key argument in brief, as highlighted in this review is that the concerns of gender theories by and large are focused on the formulations of female subjectivity in any form of cultural representation. In that sense, the available gender assumptions of female subjectivity look at the political and cultural implications of the ways in which the female sign is encoded in the narrative or in any other forms of representation. By doing this, the cultural materialists argue that any form of cultural representation reproduces the male values, which are predominant within the social relations. On the other hand, psychoanalytical assumptions identify the male gaze as an operative tool for any establishments of female subjectivity. Finally, the arguments from a phenomenological perspective distrust the validity of any stable gender subjectivity within the textual discourse of representation. In summary, my review of the gender theories offers two recurring arguments on the ways in which the female body functions within the framework of representation: 1. The female gender subjectivity is a cultural and historical construct, visible within the field of representation, which

55

Ibid., p. 279 Barbara Freedman, ‘ Frame-up: Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Theatre,’ in Case EllenSue, ed: Performing Feminisms: Feminist critical Theory and Theatre, Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1990, p. 64. 56

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predominantly operates within social relations through certain patriarchal values. 2.

Representation is nothing but recurrence and reproduction, and therefore, there is no fixed category of feminine subjectivity within the field of representation, rather the gender identity is constantly reproduced and trapped by another’s gaze.

The first assumption is mediated by a historical approach towards the representation of culture, whereas the latter is mediated by the post-structuralist assumptions, particularly the idea that the subject or meaning lie in the process of reading/seeing. However, both these major theoretical approaches, unfortunately, do not explain much about the questions that is at the centre of this particular enquiry. How certain specific techniques of acting or the presence of the devised body of a performer displace and reverse the fixed gender meanings in a performance will be my focus in the following sections. The possible question here might be how Pakarnnattam becomes significant in this analytical context. This is because by means of Pakarnnattam, the actress takes the role of different characters regardless of gender distinction and hence she does not stick to the emotional state of any single character and therefore the representation of gender identity in performance as well as its narrative seems ambiguous. Moreover, and finally, Nangyar-Kuthu is an important female theatre form, which internalises the multiple transformation of characterisation, and the stylisation of acting, which are characteristics of Pakarnnattam, into its performative structure. Cultural context of female elimination Given the context and assumption of feminist discourses on female representation in theatre, it is necessary to understand how gender politics play an important role in influencing the performance techniques of an age-old theatre like that of Kudiyattam. The evolution of an acting technique can always be connected to social customs, belief patterns, rituals and customs, though the theatrical representation of these elements demands ingenious insights and practical experience. Some of the acting devices of Kudiyattam also

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represent the social values, customs and practices of the society of a foregone era. A typical example is the ‘Dressing of a woman’ by her maids: the dress and ornaments, make-up and other accessories, enacted in Kudiyattam and Nangyar-Kuthu, represent the physical appearance of Brahmin women in Kerala or the Namboodiri caste. The cultural representations of Brahmin social values, on the other hand, more precisely, indicate another tendency to eliminate the female from the performance, because of its patriarchal values and the examples can be derived from the performance itself by analysing its stage conventions. In Saktibhadra’s Ascharyachoodamani, there is an interesting technique by which Sita is represented as a lighted lamp on stage and Hanuman, the monkey messenger of her husband, Rama is talking to her. Sita’s dialogues are delivered by a Nangyar, whom plays cymbals on stage. Representing a woman as a lighted lamp is a brilliant theatre technique but it also implies a dangerous tendency, the tendency to replace female characters with practical theatrical devices; in plain and simple words, the elimination of women from performance. In the same play, in another act, demon king Ravana is proposing to Sita and he acts both his part and Sita’s part and again in this sequence, Sita’s dialogues are rendered by a Nangyar. These eliminations are neither prescribed nor practised by the legacy of Indian theatre. While coming to some accounts of Indian theatre, Bharata, in the Natyasastra, ensures the participation of women in theatre. The Natyasastra is what accepted as the treatise on Indian theatre, though there are several other treatises on theatre, suitable to the performance forms developed in different regions of India. Similarly, Kuttanimatam, a narrative poem written by Damodara Gupta in the 9th century AD, emphasizes that women used to perform in drama in that epoch. He speaks about cross-gender casting, women in the role of men this time, and explains how the actress in the lead role of a King became highly successful due to her acting skills. 57 However, Yarrow, in his attempt to map out contemporary trends in Indian theatre, supports the tendency of female eliminations inherent in the history of Indian theatre, especially with those performances that are closely related to ritual and classical forms using male performers in female roles; such tendencies are predominantly seen in 57

M.P Sankunni Nayar, Natyamandapam, Calicut.

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Kathakali, and Yakshagana and the rituals related to the story of Kli, the powerful mother goddess, known as Mudiyettu in Kerala. 58 Similar arguments can be found in Case as well, on a more theoretical level in relation to ‘male gaze’: she describes the female presence as being ‘hidden from history’. 59 These arguments, in fact, clearly state the cultural and historical tendencies to female elimination in Indian performance traditions. I would like to raise an objection to these arguments: predominantly, Western notions of Indian performance traditions are formed on the basis of Indian classical dance forms such as Bharatanatyam, Odissi, and Mohiniyattam. The distinctions between dance and drama are not clearly marked in the context of classical Indian performance. The evolution of classical Indian dance forms could be traced in the Devadasi 60 system, which later happened to be reduced to prostitution; thus, servants of God became servants of men. Therefore, elements of the ‘male gaze’, and the historical elimination of female performer are embedded in the aesthetics of Indian dance forms, precisely because the performance, in all ways, was a celebration of satiating male sexuality. The elimination of women from the stage and the male representation of female roles are, thus, the same historical phenomenon. Men represented women in performance through stylization of movement and gesture and they also learned lightness in gesture and modesty and passion in facial expressions. 61 But this may affect their movements and body postures in daily life as I have observed among 58 Ralph Yarrow, Indian Theatre—Theatre of Origin, Theatre of Freedom. Surrey: Curzon, 2001, p. 86. 59 Elaine Aston, An Introduction to Feminism and Theatre. London and New York: Routledge, 1995, p. 2. 60 Devadasi means servant of God, Deva – god and dasi – female servant. Young women were offered to temple at very young age to serve god and they remained throughout their lives as virgins. They learned dance and music to appease god and did not perform anywhere else. At a later stage, they started to perform for kings and thus slowly the higher spiritual status of these women was reduced to the status of prostitutes. Later, this became a family tradition and children born to Devadasi sustained the tradition. 61 Elaine Aston, An Introduction to feminism and theatre. London and New York, Routledge, 1995, p. 88.

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Kottakkal Sivaraman, Margi Vijay Kumar and several other performers who specialise female roles in Kathakali. Yarrow says in this context that there are several excuses put forward for justifying this elimination which could range form “physical stereotyping” in terms of using heavy headgears for some roles and employing elements of martial art in movements as in Kathakali and Yakshagana to “temperamental unsuitability”. 62 This argument, however, can be easily questioned even within the context of Keralan performance tradition because Kalarippayattu, the martial art tradition, which has been identified as the primary resource for most of the performance forms, was taught to both men and women alike. There are so many such instances in Vatakkan Pattukal, the narrative poems about warrior heroes and heroines prevalent in Kerala, who won or lost in some of the famous duels of Kalarippayattu. Among these songs, the fight of Unniyarcha, the female warrior, who fought against several men with a winding sword called Urumi, specially used for Kalarippayattu, to safeguard herself and her husband from a planned attack of some thieves, is very popular. However, male actors are traditionally taught to represent women through light movements, soft gestures and other body movements attributed to the female gender. Kathakali is another art form which evolved in Kerala in the 16th century AD and it has totally eliminated women performers form its performance structure: Kathakali owes a lot to Kudiyattam in terms of acting, costumes and histrionics: in other words, Kathakali is the culmination of the tendency of Kudiyattam to avoid women in its performance structure. But the performance structure of Kudiyattam itself cannot completely eliminate female performers from its structure. There has to be a female percussionist on stage along with a male percussionist and she is supposed to control the total rhythm of the performers and percussionists. She should leave the stage only after all other persons have left. Likewise, in performance there are certain scenes which demand the presence of a female performer. Moreover, Pakarnnattam of such scenes as well could prolong the already prolonged plays: this in a way may have helped the continued presence of actresses on stage.

62

Ibid., pp. 88-89.

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There are also certain stage conventions in Kudiyattam, which are only performed by women and which also demand a mastery and control over the physical movements as the male roles demand. I have an example of a striking acting technique called Kettinjalal in Nagananda, the play written by Sri Harsha Deva. It is an acting device, which is rarely performed these days, in which actress has to act a suicide scene where she has to hang from the ceiling of theatre by using a cotton cloth of 9 yards in length. Acting this scene demands skill and experience; this is no longer performed on stages now, though efforts for its renovation are going on. In short, summarizing my arguments in this context, I do agree with the critical views on cultural and historical tendencies to eliminate women from the stage, and examples of this can be found in the performance itself, with Pakarnnattam. I wanted to emphasise my other point: that the elimination of women from the stage is not part of the hidden agenda in Sanskrit theatre because there is clear evidence of female performers and even descriptions of cross-gender casting in the earlier accounts on Indian theatre. Even though, due to some specific historical reasons of male domination in the cultural practices, women were eliminated from the stage and the examples of this cultural mutilation are inscribed in the performance it self. But, my key argument in this point, particularly, in the context of Pakarnnattam is that the very same symbols of the act of female elimination, which is an acting technique here, can be used as an effective tool by which male constructions of female subjectivity can be reversed and/or dismantled within the framework of representation. Let me look at the further performative implications of Pakarnnattam, the ways in which this acting technique negates the authority of text and stability of gender meanings in the context of gender subjectivity. Sub-text in Pakarnnattam Although Kudiyattam performances are mainly based on Sanskrit plays written by Bhasa, Saktibhadra or Kulasekhara Varman, actors usually perform the Attaprakaram or the sub-text written by the actors themselves. Attaprakaram, which acts as a performance text usually contains, apart from the text, very many additional elements of elaborate acting meant to create the rasa experience. The term sub-

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text that I use here has got no connection with Stanislavski’s use of the term. In Stanislavski, sub-text is a term that “describes anything a character thinks or feels but does not, or can not, put in to words” 63 and the actor gathers the sub-text through interpreting the silences in between words and actions all over the play. According to Stanislavski, the actors express the sub-text mainly through non-verbal communication and it is also considered as the thought process that motivates the character’s action. It is a logical structure of a non-verbal base hidden beneath every word in a play, which informs and justifies the playwright’s intentions as well as the performance of the actors. In contrast, sub-text in the context of Kudiyattam is neither a logical emotional structure nor something that can be gathered within the gaps of words that attributes motivations and thus justifies the acts. Here, the sub-text or the Attaprakaram is a combination of acting conventions and stage directions which exists only in the negation of the text. This performance text is an elaboration of acting the situations and moods of the characters, which are meant to create the rasa experience, rather than carving an emotive and logical structure around the text. Therefore, the performance text of Kudiyattam is an elaborated sub-text of the main play, which is never performed as it is in any performance of Kudiyattam. To demonstrate the sub-textual significance in the performative context of Pakarnnattam, let me cite a specific textual example from Nangyar-Kuthu from the 4th and 5th verses of Srikrishna Charitam. The maid servant, Kalpalathika, who tells the story of Krishna starts the story from the point when the Kingdom of Mathura, Krishna’s birth-place, was built. She mentions Lord Krishna’s forefathers, his grandfather, his uncle etc... This situation that I have now taken to illustrate is the verse that explains how Krishna’s grandmother, Souraseni, while walking in the forest along with her maids, happens to be fascinating in the eyes of a demon called Dramila: She reached Mountain Ymunam Along with her maid servants And she was in her periods 63

Sharon Marie Carnicke, ‘Stanislavsky’s System: pathways for the actor’, in Twentieth Century Actor training, ed: Alison Hodge, London: Routledge, 2000, p. 21.

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Longing to see the forest 4 Wife of King Ugrasena Who is ever so attractive of her menstrual bath 64 Dramila the demon saw her And became sexually motivated. 65

5 The performance text or the Attaprakaram ( sub-text) is: After that Souraseni takes her purification bath in the pond in Ymunam mountain (asked her maids) “Please dress me up properly.” After she told this, take the position of maid and show ‘Dressing up’ (Koppaniyikkal). After ‘Dressing up’ properly, she told her maids ‘Can we play for a while?’ Show ‘Playing’. While they were playing, Dramila, the demon, at a distance, was playing Chess and also drinking (alcohol) while playing. He heard a song. “Amazing. Who is singing so sweet in this forest? Let me go and search” He rose up took a stylized gait and took a flight in his plane. He saw the Souraseni, glittering of her beauty. He describes her physique starting from hair to toe. He suffers from deprivation of physical pleasure and becomes sexually motivated. 66

This text offers plenty of opportunity for Pakarnnattam. There is an elaborate dressing as mentioned in the introductory paragraphs of the Pakarnnattam section, apart from the presence of several charis such as ‘ball playing’ and ‘description of woman from top to toe’. An imaginative performer could also describe the Yamunam mountain, which will further elongate the already elongated text. Subtext adds a lot to the main body of the text, which in turn enriches the acting. The elaborate acting of these two verses in Kudiyattam takes about one and a half hours of performance. 64

Women during menstrual cycles should abstain from physical relations with their husbands and should distance themselves for three days from all daily routines. They are not supposed to touch any other person, excluding babies who are breast fed by them and also the vessels, beds or any other thing which is used by others. They take their ceremonial bath on the fourth day of their menstrual cycle only after which they are allowed to have physical relations with their husbands. This practice is there among some of the communities in India, even now. 65 P.K,Narayanan Nambyar, Srikrishna Charitam Nagyramma Koothu. Kerala Kalamandalam, Cheruthuruthy, 1984, p. 15. 66 In this translation, the grammar is not strictly followed, in order to give a rough idea of what an Attaprakaram looks like.

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Analysing the sub-text, there is one important element that I noticed to be very interesting: it is the surfacing of a number of activities during the process of a performance. A new logical narration, which is helpful for acting has evolved in the development from verse to sub-text; this process has also impacted upon the status of some of the characters as maids (who are supposed to assist Souraseni); while they had practically no importance in the text they have emerged with a better status in the sub-text. They also have many and varied activities to perform now. New activities have been added to the scene, such as playing together, dressing, chess playing etc… In some other sequences even new characters will be added to the performance area as if from no-where. In another section, of Nangyar-Kuthu a demoness is sent by her master to kill all the new-born babies in a particular area called ‘Ambadi’, specifically Lord Krishna. The text only says that she reached Ambadi and breast-fed Krishna by applying poison on her breast, but Krishna consumed her breath and life as well along with milk. The subtext narrates that she, by deception, transformed herself to be a beautiful woman and reached there, went into several houses, found Krishna out and fed him only to be killed herself. The actress, in performance, embarks on the detailed description of Ambadi, and acts how women milk cows, prepare curd, dance with sticks, how children play with ball etc… The actress introduces a lot of characters to the stage that are not found in the text. The acting text is also amended when the actress decides to incorporate the contents of a good piece of poetry or some other narrative, which she finds to be suitable to the performance body. The only performer on stage is an actress who plays the maid servant to Princess Subhadra, (in the main play of Subhadra– Dhananjayam), who in turn enacts the story of Lord Krishna. The actress first narrates in brief the preceding incidents to the story that she is going to narrate (act) on that particular day. She sits in a storytelling posture and rises from her sitting position after finishing the flash-back: before she rises from her neutral expression, she will show in her gesture, ‘then Souraseni’ (in this instance), which signals that she is a character now. She puts aside the stool (Peetham) to denote that she, now, is Souraseni. The stool, the only prop used in a Nangyar-Kuthu, represents the neutral, story telling position of the actress till the point she puts it aside; when she uses it again, in the

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midst of her performance, it could represent a tree or an aeroplane or a mountain or whatever she wants it to be. Souraseni, after taking her bath, summons her maid servants to dress her up properly. Souraseni gives way to her maid servants, within the actress, which could be two or more in number. These maids consult with each other for confirming the perfection in each one’s aesthetic sensibility in dressing their mistress up. After ‘dressing’ they play together. These different secondary characters that come out of the primary character of the maid servant of Subhadra, play with a ball, dance or sing: all these primary and secondary characters first emerge and then submerge into body and consciousness of a single actress. The actress then becomes Dramila, the demon who is fascinated by the physical beauty of Souraseni. S/he, while drinking alcohol and playing chess, becomes fascinated by a mellifluous music and finds out Souraseni at a distance. The audience then sees Souraseni as Dramila sees her. This Souraseni is different from the one we met earlier. Dramila, with the helps of his demonic powers, transforms himself into Souraseni’s husband Ugrasena and enters into physical intercourse with her. Meanwhile, Souraseni is seeing her husband in Dramila: the Maya-Ugrasena (Ugrasena, the unreal) is mating with Souraseni. Then, the actress winds up the day’s performance by saying that ‘thus it happened like this’. In the coming section I am analysing the various spatial levels associated with this performance. Spatial significance of Pakarnnattam: meta-presence There are a number of significant performative elements throughout those sequences, such as the characters in disguise, shifting of time and places and so on. Let us look at the concept of space in these sequences for further enquiry. There is only one actress, representing a character that is in the time and space of the dramatic situation related to the main play of Subhadra-Dhananjayam. The related various levels of space and time in the context of performance text are: 1. Physical space: this is visible space, within which the play is going on, that is the performance area where the main course of action is taking place. The actress is supposed to be in the real time of the main play called Subhadra-Dhananjayam and

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she represents the character of the maid in that real time, but has already created her own time and space by deciding to narrate a text of her own imagination. 2. Fictional Space: fictional space, in this context has two levels: visible fictional space and the invisible fictional space. The visible fictional space, in the context of Nangyar-Kuthu, is the narration of the maid through which stories of Lord Krishna are unfolded. The invisible fictional space is the space and time of the play - Subhadra-Dhananjayam from which Nangyar-Kuthu evolved. But these two levels of space and time may differ in accordance to whether the main play (SubhadraDhananjayam) or the subtext (Nangyar-Kuthu) is being presented, which means that the invisible fictional space for the main play of Subhadra-Dhananjayam will be the narrative of Nangyar-Kuthu and vice versa. The spectators are quite aware of this Lila, the play, of both the spaces because the invisible space in Nangyar-Kuthu which is the play of Subhadra-Dhananjayam is always referred to by the actress when she takes the position of a story teller. 3. Meta space: it will be interesting to trace the space in which the characters, both within the subtext and beyond the subtext act, in other words the space of the characters. The primary characters in the context of Nangyar-Kuthu move in a semiconcrete space and time in the sense that the space and time in which they are active are not the ones specified by the main play, Subhadra-Dhananjayam but the ones that are stipulated by the text of Nangyar-Kuthu, which is its main text: these primary characters do, at the same time, belong to the main text of Nangyar-Kuthu but the subtext of SubhadraDhananjayam. Hence their position is concrete in terms of Nangyar-Kuthu and variable in terms of Subhadra-Dhananjayam. The secondary characters move in a fluid space. The emergence of this fluid space depends upon external factors, such as the duration of the performance of the story line selected for performance, whether it gives ample opportunities for allowing other characters to come into the performance structure, etc… and the imaginative level of the actress. There

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are so many characters in the physical space, but these characters have nothing to do with the main text of the play, and the play will advance even in their absence. These characters do not possess any space of their own because they are created by the actress to enrich the narrative of the subtext, but they are present in the body and consciousness of the actress. Hence this is the tertiary spatial level, which is totally depending upon the will of the actress. If you take the performance structure of Nangyar-Kuthu, the whole performance is, by and large, a performance in this metaspace. It is as if some shadows are floating in a fluid space. One character performs his/her function and gives way to the next one who awaits his/her turn. There are no fixed categories or characteristics that are represented by means of presenting a single character in one body. The very concept of body itself is subjected to constant change. The body that represents demons and beautiful women and valorous warriors in the course of one performance is that of a woman. But the body perceived by the audience is not that of a female, which means that there is no fixed body as such in the performance and the physical body is not a concern for the performance. Performance of NangyarKuthu is a meta- presence; it is a performance in the meta-space in which the characters in performance are neither present in the text (play) nor in the sub-text (performance text). The aim of NangyarKuthu is not to enact the text, but to perform the Lila or the play of multiple transcendences, of the levels of consciousness in terms of experience and reality. Let us go back and take a look at the various points that I have made altogether, before I sum up my arguments. As we see in the performance example, the female performer is presenting various roles without any gender distinction: she becomes a queen first, then a maid, and also the demon that is sexually attracted to her and finally Dramila in the guise of King Ugrasena. The actress does not establish any fixed gender identity, either male or female in the course of performance. Rather, she appears as a story teller, enacting the story line with subsequent re-presentation of various characters mentioned in it through Pakarnnattam, the multiple transformation of her Self identity as actress as well as the character. In effect, the actress enacts

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a mating scene in which the elaborate descriptions of female and male bodies are performed from both points of view and experiences of both the parts. The crucial question regarding this sequence that I would like to ask is: what gender identity does she possess in this particular instance: the male or the female or is she in an elevated state of consciousness, where she can experience the both gender subjectivities within a flux of time? Of course, the narrative that is being enacted by her has had clear gender distinctions through the descriptions of character representation. However, in and through the performance, while erasing the clear outlines of gender identities, on what level of consciousness is she? Does the male gaze operate still on that level of consciousness regarding female representation? The male gaze, as observed by Mulvey, is a display of sexual desires in which women are always presented as a sexual object to be looked at by men. Similarly, in Case, the dominant male values reflect on the female images in any form of representation through voyeurism and internalization of gender roles. How far are these assumptions true in the example cited above, particularly, considering the means of expression—Pakarnnattam, the multiple transformation and transcendence of consciousness—more important than its goal: the representation or the expressed? The representation of the female body and the sexual impact of it on a man, both are re-presented here by another woman who is in disguise. By describing a female body as it appeals to Dramila, the male, the actress here uses symbolic gesture and other related movements of the limbs and eyes, in detail, which means that the acting is highly stylized and it takes longer to complete the acting of the sexually inspiring female organs coupled with the expressions of the male desire to enjoy them. This stylization of acting and stretching out of the ‘real’ time sense are the immediate points that I wanted to underline here for the further arguments. The body that is looked at is that of a woman and the looking part is also performed by a woman but as a man. What happens when a woman presents a male is a complex question of gender consciousness in performance that is yet to be tackled with more theoretical clarity and practical accuracy. However, my point, in this particular context of the female performance in Nangyar-Kuthu is that the elements of stylization in acting as well as gender crossing, in more precise terms, the multiple transformations in characterization, defuses the gender distinctions

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through a significant distancing between performer and characters and between the audience and the performance. Let me expand this point bit further while taking examples of a male performing the female appearance and the female performing as male, experiencing the female presence. I have found marked differences in the body language and expressions of a male observing a female presence and vice versa, in the particular context of NangyarKuthu. Male performers show the gestures denoting lips or breasts coupled with the predominant male gaze and give more importance to the experiencing parts of it, rather than appreciation: when they show lips, for instance, they will combine the gesture denoting lips and also emote the experience of kissing the lips. This clearly justifies Mulvey’s argument that women are depicted for ‘strong visual and erotic impact’ for men. The relevance of the feminist arguments regarding the female representations is not negligible when a male performs looking at a female, even in the context of Kudiyattam. Female body is an object for pleasure, in many ways, as depicted by male performers. In contrast, when a woman presents a man, I have noticed and also experienced in my own performances that the expression of lust is rather from the level of appreciation and not from that of aggression, as it was in the case of male performers. It is a self gaze rather than the gaze of the ‘Other’. Since the female performer does not show the joy and sexual stimulations resulting from the appearance of a female as the male performer does, the arguments related to the ‘internalization of male gaze’ in female performers are no longer relevant and at least, in the context of Nangyar-Kuthu, mainly because, the predominant male gaze, from a consumerist point of view, is constantly displaced in the performance through its acting technique that is Pakarnnattam. Hence, Pakarnnattam, the technique of multiple transcendences of identity and consciousness, and also an important tool for dismantling the male gaze, functions on the following levels: 1. The establishment of any fixed subjectivity, male or female, is put in question by approaching male perceptions of a female differently through a female view point.

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2.

By transforming oneself into different roles, regardless of gender distinctions, the gender subjectivity becomes ‘unreal’ and experiential rather than an objective entity.

3.

Pakarnnattam creates an aesthetic distance through the techniques of stylization in acting and elaboration of the actual sense of time; and dismantles the male gaze and gender identity in performance by employing those within the structure of performance.

Case’s arguments that in the blocking of a scene, women are bestowed with more restricted movements, thus making them participate in the gender ideology and its power relationship do not become relevant in the context of Nangyar-Kuthu and Kudiyattam. Firstly, women do present male characters by and through the technique of Pakarnnattam and secondly, the modesty in movements is not observed by actresses because the stage conventions and movement patterns for both men and women are largely similar. In Nangyar-Kuthu, the actresses also present various highly technically codified and complex acting sequences, such as the ‘preparation for war’, which incorporate the vigorous movements of Keralan martial art, Kalarippayattu. In short, the fixed categories of gender consciousness no longer exist in the performance structure of Nangyar-Kuthu, because of its highly stylized performance aesthetics. There are a few areas which I have not discussed in this section. These are: a.Time in Pakarnnattam b.Consciousness in Pakarnnattam c.The importance of stylization in acting in the particular context of Pakarnnattam. These aspects need a different approach, particularly in terms of extra-daily consciousness and hence it would be more appropriate to discuss these in Chapter Three. Pakarnnattam is a very important performance technique of Kudiyattam, which gives it a unique character. It gives ample opport-

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unity to the performer to exhibit his acting skills. Next I am discussing Nirvahanam where an actor recaps the story up to the previous night’s performance. Nirvahanam Nirvahanam is the next important device relevant to Kudiyattam. If, for example, it is the second act of a Kudiyattam play that is being performed on a particular night, the story until then needs to be enacted by the opening character of the second act by means of verses. The verses will be sung by the accompanying Nangyar. In this way, the spectator does not miss out on the story line of the play and the performance always refers back to the text that is being enacted. This device is termed as Nirvahanam in Kudiyattam. However, it is right to say that it is a very elaborate Pakarnnattam where the entire story, which is sometimes as vast as the Ramayana, will be enacted by a single actor. One such instance is the Nirvahanam of Hanuman in the 6th act of Ascharyachoodamani where he enacts the whole of Ramayana to Sita while she is held hostage at Ravana’s palace. Hanuman’s Nirvahanam is particularly long, taking 41 night’s of performance. Similarly, Srikrishnacharitam Nangyar-Kuthu is known as Cheti-Nirvahanam, meaning Nirvahanam of the maid (Kalpalathika), also lasting for 41 nights. Samkshepam Samkshepam is another device, which is part of Nirvahanam, performed on every night where the actor briefly reflects upon the story that happened till that particular night’s performance. This should not be misunderstood as Nirvahanam. Nirvahanam enacts the story from the previous acts whereas Samkshepam enacts the story of the verses immediately preceding a particular nights’ performance of Nirvahanam. In this sense, this is a kind of ‘flash back’ which helps the audience to locate the exact point of the story which the actor is enacting on that particular day.

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Kettattam (performing hearing) Kettattam is employed to present the dialogues of a character who is either in disguise or somebody who is shouting from a distance. This is also used in order to avoid bringing a less significant character on the stage. Another actor would sing the verses or dialogues of the character (in disguise or at a distance) from off stage while the actor on the stage would be paying attention to this by bringing his right hand in Suchikamukham gesture close to his ears. While the verse or dialogue is being rendered, the actor need not enact their meaning. At the end of this dialogue the percussionists change their rhythm to indicate the enactment of these verses and the actor enacts the word-by-word meaning of the dialogue by means of gestural language. Following this the expansion of these verses is continued by the actor on the stage. Enacted Scenography in Kudiyattam Unlike the other terms explained so far, there is no particular name to indicate this device. However, it is highly significant to describe this aspect here in order to appreciate the high level of imaginative quality required from both the actor and the spectator of Kudiyattam. I am taking a specific performance example from Kudiyattam in order to explain this performance device. One highly appreciated performance piece in Kudiyattam is Kailasodharanam, ‘lifting of mountain Kailasa’ (a peak in the Himalaya which is considered to be abode of God Siva and his family) which is part of Ascharyachoodamani. This performance piece is a skilful combination of the detailed description of a mountain, which is followed by its lifting and playing with it. The storyline of ‘lifting the mountain’ is a very interesting one. While travelling by plane Ravana was once obstructed by a mountain and his plane could not move any further. He then decided to lift the mountain and move it from his path; he was successful in this task. Meanwhile, on top of this mountain (of course in his own house!!), Siva just had a rough time with his wife Parvathi and she had decided to leave him for ever! She was leaving her house with her

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maids, though she was only sad that her husband had not tried to stop her from leaving home. It was at this point that Ravana lifted the mountain and threw it away. Parvathi became highly terrified with the shaking of the mountain and went back and hugged her husband. The tussle between them was ended in this way; Siva became very happy with Ravana since he indirectly helped to resolve the difference between him and his wife and blessed him with a new sword. Kailasodharanam is thus indented to establish the pride, strength and determination of Ravana. Performing this piece is a real test for the actor. Spectators evaluate the actor’s skill based on his expertise in performing Kailasodharanam because the acting of this piece requires physical stamina and highly expressive eyes. Let us look at the performance in more detail now. There is a bare space, with an actor and some percussionists to support his performance. The actor first looks at the mountain, taking a long time and without blinking. He acts the height, the width and the depth of the mountain only with his eyes. He then describes the forest in detail, which includes trees of different sizes and height, trees which are covered by creepers and also trees which are huge. This is followed by the detailed description of several incidents that take place in that forest: the activities of different animals such as a lion waiting to attack an elephant, which is already being attacked by a python. A very creative actor could add anything suitable to this sequence as his wishes. Then he describes how several streams break off from the mountain which slowly turns into a big river, the Ganges in this case. He then describes the tall peaks of the mountain, thus incorporating every possible description of a massive mountain, which is a world in itself. After detailing every inch of the mountain Ravana states that “lifting this mountain is not a simple task”. He gets prepared for lifting it and succeeds finally. Interestingly, this piece is named ‘lifting of the mountain’ and it is assumed that the lifting part will be given more importance rather than the description of the mountain. The impact of watching this performance, given its intention, without describing every detail of the mountain would be different and less convincing than watching it after the description because the description helps the audience to get a clear picture of the enormity of the effort that the character is emba-

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rking upon, thus taking the audience to the aesthetic space created by the performer that results in heightened theatrical pleasure. The tensed faces among the audience who experience every moment of pain and pleasure that the character is facing in his effort and also their relief on lifting the mountain and throwing it away cannot be left un-noticed. When observing these descriptions very closely, I find that the actor before performing the main action of any particular scene, is actually describing the context of the scene or the physical space in the play in which that event takes place; in the sense it is the scenography that is being enacted and that is why the descriptions take longer than the main action. Since Kudiyattam theatre does not use any external scenographic devices as sets, nor many props, the theatrical space of a play, scene changes and the like are depicted by enacting the scenography or the scenic space in which the actions of the play occur as we have seen in the performance here. Coming to the physical space of the performance, the stage space for any Kudiyattam performance will normally be between twelve to fourteen square feet. Out of this, the performer will get about six to eight square feet for his performance and this is his performance area, after giving space to percussionists. Coming to their movement patters, the actors mostly take circular, backward and forward, diagonal and very rarely square movements. Thus the actor uses still less space for his performance, may be about four to five square feet and out of this again, his body is restricted to half a foot in the sense that the measures of his body should be exactly half a foot. The actor enacts this enormous mountain and all the related sequences by means of his trained eyes and the spectators would watch the face and eyes of the performer and experience the enormity of the spectacular actions. The actor thus internalises spaces of any play and with his body, face and eyes enacts the spaces that he has internalised. Going back to description of Himalaya, there will be as many Himalayas as the number of people sitting in this room because the imagination of the spectator is not forced to be restricted to any one Himalaya. Also, the internalised Himalaya of the performer is not the

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internalised Himalaya of the spectator. In this sense there is no Himalaya as such and what we see is an ‘enacted real’. Since the actor is not supported by any kind of external accessories to perfect the make-believe, actions need to be made intense, very powerful and also convincing so that the spectators can experience the presence of Himalaya in its absence. Theatrical experience is thus mediated by body and imagination in the particular context of Kudiyattam. In an informal conversation with Mr.Simon Banham who is a teacher of scenography at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he mentioned to me that the theatrical setting of a mountain to substitute the enactment of a mountain would only undermine the audience’s experience of watching the enacted mountain because it is not possible to reduce a mountain into the special constraints of a theatre space. Moreover, the placing of the image of the mountain in the theatre space would not justify the above- mentioned intention of this piece because the image of a mountain is already set in the minds of the audience. The actor’s effort in lifting this mountain would not be convincing either. If enacting the scenography is the intention of this piece, establishing a more logical reason for the dramatic situations could be the cause of several other descriptions as the one that was illustrated in the Pakarnnattam section. There are some descriptions that are created to add to the aesthetic appeal of the acting such as the ‘ball play’ and the ‘swing play’. However, these descriptions could also be argued as compensating the absence of some of the important aspects of any drama productions such as its scenography and different costumes for different characters. Note that as far as Kudiyattam is concerned, the costume is not generally for the characters but for describing the characteristic nature of certain characters. Thus a particular costume pattern is prescribed for all the characters exhibiting particular characters. In this sense, the costume of Sita does not show any difference to that of Subhadra who is Krishna’s sister and the heroine of the play Subhadra-dhananjayam or to her maid servant Kalpalathika who tells the story of Krishna in Srikrishna Charitam Nangyar-Kuthu. However, in certain special situations some specifications are imposed in costume for signifying certain divinely characters.

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Conclusion In this chapter I have examined the actor-training and acting devices of Kudiyattam in intimate detail. During this analysis there are some important points that I notice which makes Kudiyattam unique in its nature. These are: a. plenty of references to breath without any actual training in breathing b. a highly organized approach to training giving equal importance to every single part of the body in order to make it a significant presence. c. a trained body which serves as a tool to dismantle fixed gender categories d. a highly complex performance structure which demands high physical and imaginative qualities from an actor The analysis undertaken in this chapter leads to the further enquiry on how the actor’s consciousness is systematically altered and trained in performance. In the next chapter I am investigating the Natyasastra’s approach to the actor’s consciousness along with a detailed analysis of rasa theory, the connections between Yoga and Kudiyattam and also how the training and performance of Kudiyattam alters the actor’s consciousness.

Chapter Three Natyasastra, Kudiyattam and Actor’s Consciousness Introduction So far in this book I have examined various views relating to the actor’s consciousness, starting from the theoretical and practical approaches of the contemporary Western scholarship to a brief description on the Natyasastra view of the actor’s consciousness in performance which was followed by a very long and descriptive account of actor-training and acting devices of Kudiyattam. The intention here was to assimilate the various views on the actor’s consciousness and also to identify a performance form which might serve as a model of an actor-training and acting which contains structured and highly systematised training method providing the actor with presence, spontaneity and imagination. What is also crucial here is whether this training method can systematically train the actor’s consciousness in a structured way and if so whether we can identify such elements in the actor-training of Kudiyattam. This chapter is hence a more focused enquiry into the actor’s altered state of consciousness in Kudiyattam, particularly the various elements that contribute to such levels in performance. In this chapter I am also closely examining a few materials on Indian philosophy and performance along with a detailed discussion of rasa model of consciousness. This chapter is mainly divided into the following sections and subsections: Rasa and consciousness a.Abhinavagupta and Rasa b.Natyasastra and consciousness

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Yoga and Kudiyattam Actor’s consciousness in Kudiyattam a.Breath and Kudiyattam: training and performance b.Pakarnnattam and consciousness Rasa and Consciousness I had elaborately discussed what is meant by rasa theory in the previous chapter along with a brief outline of a different level of the actor’s rasa experience. In this section, I am observing the nature of rasic consciousness particularly by examining Abhinavagupta’s perspective on rasa. In this subsection, I am investigating Abhinavagupta’s understanding and his philosophical proposition of the rasa theory. I will also be examining the actor’s consciousness as proposed by NS by undertaking a thorough investigation of its physical acting or angika abhinaya, since this may lead to the unfolding of a systematic approach to training the actor’s consciousness. Abhinavagupta and rasa Abhinavagupta is a Kashmiri Saivite monk who is the most important among Bharata’s commentators. His Abhinavabharati not only offers a very elaborate discussion on Bharata’s rasa theory but also summarises the earlier commentators of Bharata such as Bhattanayaka or Lollata whom we now know of only by means of this summary. He is also credited with the introduction of a ninth rasa known as santa (expressing no emotions). The interpretation that he offers on rasa theory is highly systematic and based strongly on Advaita philosophy of monism. In the process of interpreting rasa in par with brahmaananda, Abhinavagupta categorically distinguishes between worldly happiness and rasic pleasure. Brahman is characterised by the Advaita philosopher Sankara as existence, consciousness and bliss. In this sense, it is the non-dual entity as a ‘whole’ and there is no split or no distinction between self and other. The ananda aspect in this non-dual entity is brahma-ananda. It is also translated as the ‘absolute bliss’, which is free from the worldly, material cycles of wish and despair. Abhinavagupta says that “since our daily experiences and hence our

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consciousness are culturally specific, subjective and naturally bound to daily space and time we fail to experience any event in its ultimate and realistic totality”. 1 In terms of aesthetic experience, on the other hand when we view an actor expressing fear and trepidation on an unexpected tragic event in a play such as a house on fire or one’s son drowning in the river, we do not physically respond to that event by means of explicit physical expressions such as running to offer help. Rather, we sit and watch the actor, appreciate his brilliance in showing his reactions to the tragic events and sympathise with the situation, experiencing every emotion that he expresses. Thus when rasa is experienced the consciousness is totally liberated from the daily dualities of space and time, subject and object and self and other: this is a pleasure, bliss or ananda – rasa-ananda. Here, there is an aesthetic mediation that transcends daily consciousness to extra-daily levels. Process of rasa experience: Abhinavagupta also analyses the step-by-step process of the rasa experience. This is based on an interpretation of Abhinavabharati written in Malayalam which gives a highly detailed account of Abhinavagupta’s rasa interpretation. It is rare to find such detailed interpretation of Abhinavagupta’s rasa theory elsewhere. The first stage is the perception of ‘meaning’, both the explicit and the implicit meaning (dhvani). The perceived meaning is further enriched by means of histrionics, which provides it with the aesthetic appeal. This is the second stage. The third stage is a very important one. It is termed in Sanskrit as sadharanikaranam, which is translated variously as ‘generalisation’, ‘universalization’ or ‘trans-personalization’. Dharayati in Sanskrit means sustaining or containing and sadharanam means sustaining or containing it. Dharana, which is a derivation of the Sanskrit term dharayati, means concentration. In a literal and philosophical sense, this term denotes a cognitive state. During the stage of sadharanikaranam the imaginative spectrum of both the actor and the spectator become one due to which the determinants, consequents and transitory emotions become 1

Vedabandhu, Abhinavaguptante rasasidhantham. Trivandrum:State Institute of Languages, Kerala, 1996, p. 101.

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To make this clearer; prior to the beginning of transpersonalization the spectator believes that the heroine is the lover of the hero only (and not the spectator’s). However, during the course of the performance the spectator identifies the heroine to be the characterisation of his own passion (towards his lover), thus transpersonalising the emotions expressed by the actor. It needs to be clearly understood that the spectator does not believe that the heroine is his lover, but he only engages with the emotions of the hero towards the heroine by projecting his own emotions towards his lover on the heroine. He is thus capable of appreciating the emotional states of the hero. (If he believes that the heroine is his, the aesthetic distancing, which is integral to Abhinavagupta’s theory would not be justified.) This helps him to identify and associate (tanmayi-bhavam) with the character. This process is trans-personalization. Abhinavagupta also clarifies that trans-personalization starts in the spectator prior to his entry into the theatre complex because he is appropriately prepared to witness a play that he expects to be enjoyable. Next to this and the fourth stage is called as abhivyakti. This term is generally understood as the self-manifestation. During the stage of trans-personalization the spectator was identifying with the emotions expressed by the actor. In the fourth stage of self-manifestation the spectator stimulates his own emotions by reflecting upon the actor’s expressions; the spectator then expresses his basic emotions or sthayi-bhava, which he himself stimulated under the inspiration of determinants, consequents, transitory emotions and trans-personalization. In other words, rasa is produced by the aesthetic manifestation of self of the sthayi-bhava. Thus, rasa is produced through the step-by-step process of expression of meaning, aesthetic mediation of this meaning, trans-personalization and manifestation of self. Abhinavagupta holds manifestation of self as the direct cause of the rasa experience. He also argues that the term nishpatti of Bharata’s rasa-sutra (explained in Chapter Two) actually means abhivyakti or 2

Ibid., pp. 113-22.

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manifestation of self and samYogat in the same sutra means the interaction between the meaning and its histrionic representation. Given the process of rasa, Abhinavagupta outlines seven conditions that will cause a hindrance for the rasa experience. To summarise them briefly, these are a. the unimaginative actor and/or spectator; b. a prejudiced spectator (who can not trans-personalise); c. a spectator with disheartening personal problems; d. problematic dramatic devices; e. a play that gives too much importance to its literary aspects rather than the theatrical ones; f. a play and/or performance that gives too much importance to subsidiary characters; g. confusion in the clear identification of consequents, determinants and transitory emotions. Abhinavagupta’s cardinal contribution, however, lies in the interpretation of rasa-ananda in closer allegiance to brahma-ananda by approaching it from the perspective of the Advaita theory of monism termed in Sanskrit as pratyabhinja. Literally it means the ‘knowledge of known’; the knowing self knows what is known. What the knower knows is “not the subjective knowledge of the reality of the object. Instead it is the awareness of the identity of the knowing subject with reality itself… When the essence of the knowing subject, the Self (Atman) is known, all reality is known”. 3 The dichotomy of the self and the world disappears; only the cognitive unison with the sublime reality or Brahman exists. This being is the basic theoretical proposition of Advaita Vedanta, Abhinavagupta proposes that rasaananda is comparable to brahma-ananda (brahma-ananda sahodaram – brotherly to brahma-ananda). In other words, he proposes rasa as a stepping stone to unity consciousness or brahma-ananda. Abhinavagupta notices that there is a cognitive union that is taking place between the actor and the spectator in the rasic flux, which could be interpreted in parallel lines to the experiential terrain of ananda in the union between self and the absolute (atman and brahman). This observation is the foundation for his justification that rasa-ananda is close to brahma-ananda. However, the experiential 3

William M. Indich, Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2000, p. 7.

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difference between rasa-ananda and brahma-ananda needs to be clearer since there is a sea of difference between both. Rasa is experiential because of the presence of perception, the preceiver and the object of perception. During the process of perception, the actorspectator dichotomy in terms of the emotional expressions is transcended by means of trans-personalization; consequents, determinants and transitory emotions become united with the sthayi-bhava. This produces rasa or aesthetic pleasure in the spectator. Rasa is experienced from the level of pure consciousness or the state of complete awareness or from the pashyanti level. Rasa-ananda is not totally unbound or liberated from the worldly impulses or inclinations; on the other hand these impulses are only sublimated to produce an aesthetic pleasure out of them. To explain this further: sadness and love, for example, are daily emotions or impulses in our daily life. When these are presented on stage by the actors an aesthetic distance is produced in the spectators followed by rasa. The spectators are not liberated from these impulses because they are enjoying and appreciating their representation. However, there is a sublimation of these impulses (aesthetic distancing). Brahma-ananda on the other hand is beyond the levels of pure consciousness where self exists in total union with the absolute; this is an undivided state of ananda. Sublimation is characteristic of rasa-ananda and transcendence to brahma-ananda. Hence, rasa is identical to brahma-ananda. To summarise, Abhinavagupta interprets rasa and its experience in conformity to the experience of brahma-ananda in the following manner: 1. 2.

3.

First of all he distinguishes between the daily experience/joy and theatrical experience/joy or rasa experience; He then enquires into the nature of rasa by interpreting the rasa experience and analysing it thoroughly to identify its processes and conditions. Here he argues that transpersonalization is a process similar to the union between self and the absolute in higher levels of ananda. Finally he interprets rasa in closer allegiance with brahmaananda.

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This systematic approach to the analysis of rasa makes it clear that rasa is an extended level of consciousness where the spectator experiences total cognitive sublimation separated from daily experiences. Hence, rasa as an aesthetic experience is a form of consciousness. Abhinavagupta’s metaphysical interpretation of rasa is remarkably ingenious mainly because of the subtle connection that he establishes between the experience of theatrical pleasure and the ‘absolute bliss’ experienced by a Sanyasin, for example. Before Abhinavagupta, rasa was only an objective reality as far as the other commentators of Bharata were concerned and their discussions were largely limited to the examination of consequents, determinants and transitory emotions in relation to sthayi-bhava. What is significant here is the interest generated by the short definition of rasa that invited a wide range of discussion, which did not leave out any aesthetic discourse from its remit. Bharata does not provide any further theoretical discussion on rasa in Natyasastra; instead, he only writes about how limbs should be stretched, bent or raised, how eyes or eyebrows should be moved or how the music should be played to enhance the experience of any particular emotion. However, we can find him occasionally referring back to rasa theory for example when he explains determinants and transitory emotions in the seventh chapter. Consciousness for Bharata is governed by the actor’s physical activities; thus rasa for him is firmly grounded in histrionics and hence he gives a highly meticulous and systematic account of their usefulness in theatre. Bharata devotes nine chapters among thirty-six to the elaborate discussion of physical acting. In the following section, I am examining the actor’s consciousness in relation to physical acting as described by Bharata. Natyasastra and consciousness Bharata divides acting into four areas, angika (physical acting), vachika (verbal acting), aharya (costume and make-up) and satvika (representation of the temperament). He subdivides physical acting into three areas: body, face and gestures. Physical acting has six categories, which are head, hands, hip, chest, sides and legs. These have six sub-categories: eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, cheeks and chin.

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Bharata provides an exhaustive list of movements assigned to various parts of the head/face and categorises their use in terms of eight rasa. I am listing the movements of the head, and rest of the facial movements that Bharata suggests to understand their deeper implications on acting and the actor’s consciousness. Please note that I am referring to the interpretation of Natyasastra by K.P Narayana Pisharodi written in Malayalam and the translations given here are my own. Head There are altogether thirteen patterns of head movements. The first of these are a pair of vertical movements. There are two variations of these such as 1.‘slow vertical’ (aakampita) and 2.‘fast vertical’ (kampita) when repeated several times. Some of the situations where ‘slow vertical’ is employed are for indicating, advising, questioning or instructing; whereas, ‘fast vertical’ could be used for enacting forceful situations such as violent questioning or anger for example. A pair of horizontal movements follows next which are 3.‘slow horizontal’ (dhutam) and 4.fast horizontal (vidhutam). Disagreement, sadness, wonder, trust or void are shown with ‘slow horizontal’ head movements and fear, cold weather or fever are shown with ‘fast horizontal’ head movements. If the head is moved totally to left and then right it is called 5. parivahitam. This is a repetition of the previous head movement and Bharata recommends this to be used for denoting wonder, happiness, recollection, enjoyment or anger. 6.The sixth one is tilting the head to one side (aadhutam), which is used for showing pride, self-praise or looking up. 7.Bowing the head once (avadhutam) is the seventh movement, which is used for showing a message or a discreet gesture. 8. Suspending the head (as if resting on the shoulders) to one side is the next one (anchita). This is used particularly to denote sadness, unconsciousness, a drunken state or illness. 9.The ninth pattern in prescribed only for women; this is performed by slightly and gently lifting the shoulders up and tilting the head gently towards that particular side (nihanchitam). 10.Turning back (paravruttam) is the next movement, which is used for looking behind. 11.If the head is held high it is utkshiptam. This is recommended for describing divine things and respectable people. 12.The head-down position (adhogatam) is the next one which is used to

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show shyness, bowing and sadness. 13.The last one is head-rotation (lolitam), which needs to be used for showing such emotions as unconsciousness, emotional disturbance or drowsiness. Each of these head-movements and their suggested application follows the rules of common-sense, though some may be culture specific. However, I can confirm the accuracy of these movements since many of these are used in Kudiyattam performance; they also give the exact impression of the situations/emotions mentioned by Bharata here. For example the 13th movement of head-rotation is used for enacting the very mental states such as unconsciousness or drowsiness. Of course there are several other accompanying gestures, eye, facial and leg movements involved in showing this. But the basic head movement remains the same. I have noticed their significance in the specific context of Kathakali. However, I should mention here that head movements as such are highly limited in Kudiyattam although shyness, sadness, bowing and head-rotation are shown according to the exact instruction of Bharata. Eyes and face: Bharata’s approach to explaining sentiments and their relating eye movements is highly precise and comprehensive. The following is the step-by-step process that he adopts to establish the connection between eye-stances with each of the sentiments and transitory emotions: explaining the eight sentiments, sthayi-bhava and transitory emotions  explaining their eye stance  describing the 20 transitory eye stances  assigning the transitory eye stances to transitory emotions which in turn nourish the eight basic sentiments  upholding the relevance of eye-movements by mentioning that theatre is firmly grounded in the eye-stances of the actor  detailing the movements of the eyeballs  finally assigning each of these movements to the eight sentiments. Bharata states “drama is surely grounded in these eye-stances” (Natyasastra:8: 37). Here, Bharata maintains that theatre is grounded in rasa and rasa in turn in the eyes (rasa drushti (eyes), thus arguing that theatre is firmly located in the eyes of the actor.

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I will now look at rasa eyes in some detail. To make this description easier I am providing a table of each rasa, their corresponding rasa eyes and sthayi-bhava eye stances in the table given below: rasa

rasa eyes

Srungara

Seductive: the seductive expressing happiness.

Hasya

Mockery:moving eye balls and slightly closed eyelids, which is used to show making fun.

Karuna

Melancholic: drooping upper eyelids, tears, fixed eyeballs gazing at the tip of the nose because of intense sadness.

Raudra

Furious: widely open eyelids, protruding eyeballs and wriggly eyebrows.

Veera

Valorous: eyes wide open and fixed eyeballs at the centre of the eyes.

Bhayanaka

Fearful: widely opened eyelids and shaken eyeballs.

Beebhatsa

Drooping eyelids and withdrawn and fixed eyeballs.

eyes

Sthayi-bhava eyes Affectionate: enlarged pupil, expressing desire with fixed gaze Happy: Slightly withdrawn and smiling eyeballs, slightly lowered gaze and without blinking. Miserable: drooping upper eyelids, full of tears and eyeballs moving ever so slightly. Angry: eyes widely open, eyeballs terrible to look at and wriggly eyebrows Radiant: immobile eyeballs, blooming eyes, valorous gaze Afraid: eyelids wide apart, eyeballs shaking with fear Disgust: shrunk eyelids, eyeballs

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withdrawn, eyes distancing instantly from the object of vision Amazed: slightly curved tips of Smiling: the eyes, protruding eyeballs and protruding slightly expanded (nose). 4 eyeballs, rejoicing eyeballs which are full of light

Bharata also recommends twenty transitory eye stances. I am explaining some of them and their corresponding transitory emotions here to illustrate how they nourish the expression of the transitory emotions. However, it might be difficult to locate any particular rasa for these since Bharata recommends transitory emotions to more than one rasa. Having said this I will clarify how these eye stances will impact on the transitory emotions of any particular rasa based on my experience as a performer. Sunya (empty) is the first of the transitory eye stances that is characterised by motionless eyeballs and eyelids with their gaze withdrawn from any spectacles, whereas malina (unclear) is marked with drowsy eyelids, dragging eyeballs and a pale gaze. Mukula (blooming), on the other hand, is the eye stance that is half open eyelids and eyeballs shining due to pleasure. Vibhranta (confused) is the glance marked by moving eyeballs that are nervous and travelling to all sides. Sunya is to be employed when expressing the transitory emotion of ‘thoughtfulness’ and mukula when expressing ‘dream’, ‘sleep’ and ‘pleasure’. Thoughtfulness, dream and pleasure are all particularly useful when acting the erotic rasa. Vibranta is recommended to be used for expressing ‘nervousness’ which is turn is recommended to be used in erotic rasa. Malina is recommended when showing the transitory emotion known as ‘callousness’; this transitory 4

Bharata here only says “one tip expanded” and does not specify the usage of nose. But from my experience of doing it I assume that it is nose because that is the way it is taught and shown in Kudiyattam.

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emotion is recommended to be used in erotic rasa and melancholic rasa. Bharata now moves on to explain the facial movements that are central in enacting these glances, as explained above. There are a set of nine eye movements, nine movements recommended for the eyelids, seven eyebrow movements, six nose movements, six cheeks movements, six lip movements and seven chin movements. These are also associated with the expression of rasa. Bharata maintains that all the eye movements are based on the natural eye movements which are employed by us in daily life. He distinguishes eye movements as rotating, triangular, downwards movement, shaking the eyeballs, withdrawing the eyeballs, moving them to the tips of the eyes, upward movement, protruding them and the normal eye stance. Rotation, upward movements and protruding movements are recommended for being used in valour and anger, withdrawing when expressing mockery and disgust, gazing from the tips of the eyes while showing the erotic rasa. As Bharata says, many of these movements conform to the day-to-day movement patterns of the eyes, though some of them are bound to be culture specific. For example, the side glance as prescribed for the erotic rasa is the popular female gaze when looking at their lover or husband. This denotes their respect for men in general and shyness, which is customary in the man-woman relationship. However, this eye stance is not prescribed for men even at the point of expressing the erotic rasa. The nine movements of the eyelids are opening them wide, closing them, keeping them slightly closed, lowering the eyelids, the normal stance, lifting them up, shaking them, shutting and opening and closing them continuously. Lifting up and opening wide are suggested to be used when showing anger; eyelids are lowered when expressing disgust, and normal stance is suggested for the erotic rasa, for example. Naturally eyes are shut when enacting sleep, wind, fumes, or conjunctivitis. Likewise, it is quite normal for any one to lower their eyelids on seeing something which is disgusting. Next is the eyebrow movement. The seven eyebrow movements are lifting up, lowering down, lifting the tips of both

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eyebrows, slightly quivering them, bending either or both down slowly, lifting only one eyebrow and the normal stance. Bharata provides examples as to when each of these should be used - lifting the brows to be used when expressing wonder or anger and lowering them when expressing disgust and mockery. There are also six nose movements that Bharata recommends. Shrinking the nose continuously, without any movement, expanded nose, inhalation, nose shrunk to one side and the normal stance are the six nose movements in their order. When the actor is enacting sobbing, ‘shrinking the nose’ is the recommended nose movement. The nose is expanded when enacting gasping, anger or fear and inhaling deeply when showing a deep sigh and nice smells. The six cheek movements are keeping the cheeks tucked in the mouth (to give the impact of poverty or sadness), expanding, inflate the cheeks, quivering, pointing and the normal. Cheeks are expanded in happiness, tucked in when showing sadness and quivering in chill, fever and fear. Some of the lip movements are quivering (when enacting fear, chill or anger) and biting the lips (as in anger). Some of the chin movements are rubbing the teeth together (when expressing fear or anger) and keeping the mouth open (showing yawning). Based on the description of various face movements as provided here it is possible to make out the facial expressions involved in sadness or happiness or any other emotion. Taking sadness for instance, the rasa eyes for enacting the melancholic rasa are characterised by drooping upper eyelids, tears and fixed eyeballs gazing at the tip of the nose because of intense sadness. The necessary facial movements for obtaining this expression are a slow downward movement of the eyeballs, slightly closed eyelids, continuously shrinking nose and cheeks tucked in the mouth. Bharata does not recommend any specific eyebrow movements but naturally the eyebrows are curled up when showing the shrunk nose and slowly falling eyes. These movements, together with the transitory emotion eye stances will create the impression of the melancholic rasa. These movements naturally generate melancholy in the actor. Similarly, the erotic or wondrous or any other rasa could be expressed and mastered in this manner.

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Bharata also identified sixty-four hand gestures, mudras, which need to be used in acting. He details what each one of them denotes. These hand gestures consist of single hand gestures, combined hand gestures and dance hand gestures. Single hand gestures have only one gesture to denote anything and can be shown with one or both hands. For instance pataka, which is shown by folding the thumb against the upright other four fingers is used to denote ‘pushing’ or ‘referring to one-self with pride’. ‘Pushing’ is shown with both hands and the ‘self referral’ is shown with a single hand. Combined hand gestures make meaning only in the combination of both hands holding the same hand gesture, sometimes touching each other. Pushpapudam is an example that is shown by joining both hands together by bending their tips (the word meaning of this gesture is ‘flower basket’; hands are joined together as if accepting something). Dance hand gestures are a different set of combinations of hand gestures, which also prescribe a specific arm movement. There are three different kinds of dance hand gestures: a. those are shown closer to a body part, chest or shoulder for example b. a combination that is formed by concealing one gesture within the other and c. combinations of hand gestures that start with one and finish with another hand gesture. Both combination hand gestures and dance hand gestures are based on the single hand gestures. Bharata also suggests that new hand gestures can be created if required and approves of the use of daily hand gestures if appropriate. Similar to face movements Bharata also prescribes a range of movements for the stomach, thighs, hips and chest. The hand gestures prescribed by Bharata are not much related to Kudiyattam hand gestures. As I detailed in the second chapter there are only twenty four hand gestures in use in Kudiyattam and all of them could be shown with either one hand or both hands. Whereas Bharata categorises sixty four hand gestures under three categories of single hand gestures, combined and dance hand gestures. However, the principle of combined hand gestures exists in Kudiyattam as well: ‘father’ for example is shown by combining two hand gestures (and interestingly one of these, mudra, is not listed among the twenty four hand gestures). Another significant difference is in the meaning that these gestures represent. For example, the Natyasastra recommends the use of tripataka (bending the ring finger down) hand gesture to

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show ‘snake’ whereas Kudiyattam uses the hand gesture sarpasirassu (the tips of the four fingers bent down slightly) to show ‘snake’ Though similar names of the mudras are found in both Kudiyattam and the Natyasastra they often are not shown the same way. For example pataka is shown in the Natyasastra by folding the thumb against the upright four fingers; on the other hand the same gesture is shown in Kudiyattam by bending the ring finger down and keeping the other four fingers upright. Though Bharata devotes much space to describe physical acting, he only says a few verses about training mainly to advise the actors about their eating habits or on applying oil to the body to attain good flexibility. But it is clear from his descriptions about acting that one needs extensive training to undertake them. A brief analysis of Bharata’s acting principles point out some very interesting approaches to the actor’s consciousness. I explored details of facial acting, particularly acting with the eyes and their movements as described by Bharata in a good detail here. I have also provided an example of how the combination of these would create a particular facial expression that is crucial in producing rasa. Over and above the complicated face movements the actor also needs to show hand gestures, and walk only in aesthetically codified movement patterns. The important problem here is whether the actor effectively produces rasa if he has to concentrate on moving his eyebrows or eyes in a particular way. Extensive training helps him to perform these movements and continuous repetition of these movements conditions the actor to express sadness effortlessly during performances. What is more important here is the way in which these physical movements create different states of consciousness in the actor. I can argue this from my experience of learning and performing Kudiyattam for many years. Sadness is usually expressed in Kudiyattam by curling the eyebrows up, lowering the tips of the lips intermittently, moving the eyeballs vertically first and fixing them at the tips of the nose later and shrinking the nose slightly as if in a silent sobbing. Shrinking the eyebrows and lowering the tips of the lips instantly creates a sense of sadness in the actor. I have experimented with this in my workshops with school children and university students in

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England who had no knowledge about the acting techniques of Indian theatre. To their astonishment and sometimes to the teachers of school children (and to myself) they begin to express sadness after repeating shrinking the eyebrows and lowering the lips a few times. In experienced actors this creates real tears effortlessly; the impact of sadness is aggravated with the movement of eyes and sobbing gestures. When the physical actions are perfected in this manner even to create real tears in performance how does that affect the actor’s consciousness? Unquestionably the actor’s daily state of consciousness has been transferred to an extra-daily consciousness by means of aesthetic mediation in terms of various facial movements, in this instance. When the actor moves his hands in a particular hand gesture by looking at (the direction of) them and moving his body in specific patterns his consciousness detaches itself from the daily world and creates an aesthetically mediated inner space in him. When he applies the specific emotions appropriate to such movements rasa is created. Referring back to the theory of trans-personalization as argued by Abhinavagupta, the spectator projects the reflection of his own emotions on the actor and manifests his own self. This causes the rasa experience in the spectator. What causes trans-personalization and manifestation of self is the psycho-physical acting represented by the actor; his acting in turn comprises of various facial or body movements such as that of eyebrows or eyes. When we look at the rasa theory and the acting of Natyasastra in this manner, we come to the conclusion that it is the various physical movements expressed by the actor that create the rasa experience. That is why Bharata argues that rasa is grounded in the actor’s eyes. Similarly, histrionics is what causes rasa also in the actor. He experiences rasa directly by means of his own physical actions and also by means of reflecting on audience’s responses. If manifestation of self is the final stage immediately preceding rasa experience in the spectator, reflecting on audience’s responses is the next stage and immediately prior to the rasa experience in the actor. In both these the physical actions cause the rasa experience. Bharata argues that rasa as an aesthetic experience is deeply rooted in the physicality of the actor. That is why he only discusses acting in his treatise and not the theory. He maintains that rasa is only

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a natural consequence of various physical actions that are combined together to form a sublime experience; since the aim of Bharata’s theatre is rasa he discusses the means for its proper attainment. This is the Natyasastra model of consciousness. Bharata’s methodological approach in his enquiry into altered states of consciousness is firmly based on praxis. He systematically argues that ananda or rasa is the ultimate aim of performance, which is attainable (for both the actor and the spectator) by means of the physical actions performed by the actor. Similar to Natyasastra we find this approach shared by the discourses of various genres in traditional Indian scholarship, be it on philosophy or music or art or architecture or sex. Indian meta-physics holds that the state of Brahman is accessible by means of any one of the following four paths: the path of devotion (bhakti Yoga), the path of knowledge (jnana Yoga), the path of action (karma Yoga) or the path of meditation (raja Yoga). One attains ananda by the concentrated practice of any of these. Like theatre, Yoga and Tantra are two other means for attaining ananda by following the path of action. If rasa is ananda in Natyasastra, samadhi is the term used by Yoga, which is rooted in the body. Interestingly Yoga also influences the principles and praxis of various Indian performance forms including Kudiyattam. It is worthwhile here to discuss how Kudiyattam incorporates the practical and philosophical principles shared by Yoga in its praxis. Yoga and Kudiyattam So far, there have not been many studies that identify the possible links or rather influences of meditation on the performance principles of Kudiyattam. Although my intention here is not to undertake a comparative analysis of such connections in a highly descriptive manner, I need to analyse some of the philosophical and practical aspects of Yoga and find their reflections in Kudiyattam. The intimate relation that Yoga maintains between body and ananda is very interesting. Hatha Yoga places breath control as the principal objective in attaining the cognitive state of Brahma. It says that when breath moves mind also moves (not concentrated and hence disturbed) and if breath is immobile (controlled or restored) so is the

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mind. Hence breath needs to be arrested (controlled or restored) if one wishes to attain the state of Shiva (the continued presence or infinitude). 5 Please note that ‘immobility’, and ‘arresting’, in the previous passage, do not denote a complete stoppage of breath, but they only refer to the restoration of breath. Hatha Yoga further explains the anatomy of the human body to analyse how breath functions within us and where it is located. It details the skeletal structure of vertebral column and locates an air duct that runs through its centre called sushumna, which is the most important; however there are altogether ten air ducts that run through the vertebral column of which three, known as ida, pingala and sushumna, are the most important. Breath flows either through the left or right nostril and the ida air duct is connected to the left nostril and pingala to the right nostril. Sushumna is the middle path and the channel where breath stays between the transitions from left to right and right to left (Nair gives a much detailed analysis of breathing patterns in his book entitled ‘Restoration of Breath’.) Pranayama is the systematic Yogic method of channelling and manipulating breath on either left, right or the middle path. Hatha Yoga also lists a number of physical benefits of practising pranayama on a regular basis. Better digestion, a strong vertebral column, better sleep, better skin texture, better analytical skills, perpetual youth and mental peace are some of the examples. Hatha Yoga prescribes pranayama mainly to purify and strengthen the internal systems so that one is able to practice breathing exercises without being tired. The purification methods of Ayurveda are prescribed for internal cleansing just as the postures or asana are for better flexibility, since both these are cardinal aspects in being able to practice breathing exercises without being concerned about physical problems. Yoga thus systematically establishes meaningful connections between body, breath and ananda. Yoga comprises of eight limbs or eight organic parts (which is why it is called Ashtanga Yoga: ashta means eight and anga means organs), which are considered as the paths to reach samadhi. The first 5

Balananda Swamikal, HathaYogavidhi. Kollam: S.T Reddyar and Sons, 1930. p.6.

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of these are yama or the mental preparation to follow the yogic path to its fulfilment. It consists of a number of instructions such as not killing, not lying, not drinking, not lusting, possessing marked virtues, being good, being just, sharing the good things of life with others, and knowing no blemish. 6 Niyama is the second stage. This is the discipline that one needs to observe when undertaking such practice. There are twenty virtues that one needs to observe when practising Yoga, such as patience, steadfastness, forthrightness, meditation, charity and sacrifices. Next comes asana or the postures. It is this aspect of Yoga which is most popularly known to the world. There are seven important postures that one needs to practice. Pranayama is the next stage, which is the manipulation of breath in order to cleanse the internal systems. This is followed by pratyahara, which is the subjugation of the senses to the mind. Dharana or concentration is the sixth stage, together with dhyana or meditation. Thirumandiram also says that there are two kinds of meditation: the first one is saguna, which is meditation on a form: the second one is nirguna, where the self is its own object. The final stage is samadhi or the union in which, according to Thirumandiram, the breath is halted. I have got neither the scholarship nor the adequate practice (I have been initiated but have not practised this long enough to comment on its yogic meditative experiences) to explain the experience of the halting breath. However, the state of halting breath is understood and explained by Nair as the restoration of breath. This is the systematic approach and path to samadhi as explained by Yoga, it will be interesting to examine the performance practice of Kudiyattam and rasa in this context. Kudiyattam training normally starts at very young age. Mental preparation or yama for a Kudiyattam student starts from his or her family. He is born to be an actor because that is his caste rite. He has seen his father or uncle or other close relations rehearsing and performing Kudiyattam. Thus, he is conditioned to follow the career of theatre in this manner. There are some rituals also associated with his initiation when following this path such as paying respects to his family deity and bowing to his Guru. That marks his path in search of Samadhi. This practice is set to 6

Siddhar Thirumoolar, Thirumandiram; A Classic of Yoga and Tantra. Tr. by B Natarajan and ed. by M Govindan. Canada and Pondicherry: Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and Publications, 1999. p, 3-2

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extremely strict discipline (niyama), which is also sometimes imposed physically by the teacher. He has to get up during the early hours of the day and undertake all his daily exercises, a practice that needs to be continued for long years. Parallel to asana are the postures and exercises in Kudiyattam, which are central to the effectiveness of emotional acting. Yoga maintains that one needs to be able to master the postures to be able to undertake continuous breathing as in pranayama or samadhi without being disturbed by physical discomfort. If you can not sit well and feel pain when bending or flexing knee or spine the concentration gets diverted and it will eventually affect the experience of ananda. Similarly Kudiyattam also insists upon some body postures - the actor to stand by applying breath on the spine – so that the acting is properly channelled to create rasa. The bent knee posture is a very difficult one to master and the student is instructed to stand in this posture for an hour every day. If the disciple is not confident in doing this posture his performance is sure to get affected adversely. Application of breath on the spine is a principle that is observed throughout the Kudiyattam exercises, be it eye exercises or voice exercise. Kudiyattam also contains subtle breathing exercises that are practices along with physical exercises. They may not be directly identifiable or necessarily articulated but there are clearly decipherable traces of breathing exercises concealed in its training and performance (see Breath and Kudiyattam in the next section). The actor also needs to withdraw his senses from being distracted (pratyahara) and concentrate (dharana) on his performance. This is absolutely necessary for a performer because a distracted performer will not be successful in his career. It is inevitable that he would pay total concentration in his training and his career and build up as a performer. Mani Madhava Chakyar is one such maestro who lived and died as a Kudiyattam performer who put total concentration and undivided devotion to his art. As his daughter once spoke to me about his last moments, a few hours before his death he communicated to his family members by means of Kudiyattam hand gestures that he is starting his journey to the cemetery. Though he was able to talk, he preferred gesture language than spoken language to express his thoughts; in every sense he was a great performer who lived and died as a performer. For a performer who follows his path into ananda in this manner his performance becomes his mediation or his dhyana. Meditation is the undivided focus on something (breathing or mantra

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chanting or a deity. In any case it is connected to an activity) which transcends our ordinary sense of time and space or consciousness. Similarly the performer focuses on his histrionics and subtle rasa acting in such a way that his mind, body and cognition all are concentrated in one single direction. Peter Malekin argues that “a trained Indian classical vocalist is a Yogi, trained from childhood to produce overtones in the voice conducive to a settling of the mind even during intense enjoyment of the movement of the music”. 7 What Malekin observes about Indian music is true to Kudiyattam as well. He notices a condition where rasa co-exists with total awareness (Malekin uses ‘settlement’ to denote this), which is true to a performer. He identifies in a performer a co-existence of the outer level of activity and the inner level of mind that ‘remains beyond movement or rest in boundless infinitude’. He argues that it is this union which acts as the reason for great performers being regarded as saints. Finally, the performer attains rasa from his performance by means of observing the rest of the seven austere Yogic paths to ananda However, there is a very important question that is valid and highly significant in this context – whether the performer ‘is’ a Yogi or as a Yogi or even needed to be a Yogi. This is a question that this book carries right though from its first chapter. I will discuss this in detail in the following section. Theatre thus establishes the union between the ‘outer level of activity and the inner level of mind’, a cognitive condition which is similar to that of Yoga. Finally in this book I am examining the actor’s consciousness in Kudiyattam theatre and also how Pakarnnattam is instrumental in altering daily levels of consciousness. The actor’s consciousness in Kudiyattam In the previous chapter I had described the Kudiyattam actor training and acting devices in a great detail and also looked at Pakarnnattam and its significance in terms of gender theories. In this section of this chapter I am mainly examining some of the training methods in detail to examine how far the breathing techniques become an integral part of its acting. I am examining two important aspects of 7

Peter Malekin, Performance and Consciousness as Freedom in Performance and consciousness ed. by Daniel Meyer Dinkgräfe, Vol.1, Part 4, p.iii. Harwood Academic Publishers: 1999. p. 97.

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spontaneity and imagination in the first subsection and in the second sub-section I am looking at Pakarnnattam in great detail. Breath and Kudiyattam Kudiyattam refers to vayu or breath at nearly every point of its actor training and there are several breath-related instructions given to the students at different points of training for example, ‘bent knee position with the application of breath on the spine’, ‘bringing breath into the eyes’, bringing ‘breath into the wrist’. As a student of Kudiyattam I remember how I was initiated to its performance training. My teacher stood in front of me and demonstrated the basic posture emphasising the various physical principles that I need to bear in mind. She was also repeating that I need to bring vayu to my spine. I was bending down properly but my body didn’t ‘seem’ to be energetic according to my teacher. She observed me carefully for a couple of days and finally pressed me gently on the base of my spine with the tip of her thumb – between the base of the spinal column and the beginning of the buttocks there is a soft part which feels soft on pressing – and suddenly my body ‘became energetic’ as per my teacher. She instructed me that I would need to apply breath to that point of the spine when performing. Later I asked her how and why I bring breath to my spine and she said that it is only for a body that is able to perform for a longer time. Similarly there are also instructions related to bringing vayu to the eyes. There are even two eye exercises that act as the fore-runners of the proper eye exercises. These exercises also have a good impact on the eyes since they are particularly helpful in making the eyes feel fresher and in bringing focus to the eyes. According to the late master teacher Mani Madhava Chakyar, training should be aimed at bringing three vayu to the eyes and rasa acting should be taught only after this. 8 But it still remains unclear what he meant by three breaths, where they are taken from or how and why it should necessarily be three instead of two or four or some other number. Chakyar also says that for enacting the emotion of amorous love (srungara), one breath 8 Mani Madhava Chakyar, Natyakalpadrumam. Cheruturuthi: Kerala Kalamandalam. 1973, pp. 136-138.

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(vayu) needs to be pushed into the eyeballs and for anger (roudra) a good amount of vayu needs to be brought to the eyes. There is always a breath-related instruction, which is incorporated in the actor training. 9 In fact, all of these remain just as verbal references in practice because a specific breath-related exercise pattern is not found in Kudiyattam actor training. I am now investigating the relevance of the Kudiyattam breathing exercises and their significance in acting by closely examining the rasa eyes as explained by Mani Madhava Chakyar in Kerala Natyasastra and also by referring to interviews with Kudiyattam artists. I also refer to my own personal experience as a student and a performer of Kudiyattam. A close examination of the Kerala Natyasastra reveals that there are a number of very clear and precise instructions of ‘pushing vayu’ in the eyeballs, particularly in the context of rasa acting. Kudiyattam actors base their acting on the instructions in the form of slokas or four-lined verses that contain meticulous details of all facial and eye movements that are suitable to each rasa. These verses are in Sanskrit and the source is not disclosed in the text, though it was found inscribed at the end of Hasta Lakshana Deepika written by an unknown author. 10 It is not clear if these verses were originally part of this text or not because the former part of this text describes the hand gestures used in Kudiyattam. Scholars believe that Hasta Lakshana Deepika is a chapter that is part of a larger acting manual which is yet to be found. Normally these verses are verbally passed on through generations. However, according to L.S Rajagopalan these are similar to the rasa eyes found in Natyasastra, which is true; I have verified this and the verses are similar to that of Natyasastra with some changes mainly in terms of swapping the words with Sanskrit words but retaining a similar meaning. Therefore it is not impossible to conclude that Kudiyattam actors adopted the verses from Natyasastra and rewrote them to suit their purpose. Chakyar has given both original Sanskrit verses and their Malayalam translations in the text. These translations are very important because they contain various breath9

Ibid., pp. 115-6. This was informed by L.S Rajgopalan in an interview given by him.

10

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related instruction that are originally absent in the Sanskrit verses. I will cite an example here. It is that of the ‘valorous’ eyes (state of eyes in vira rasa). The original verse is: Fully bloomed, proud look and eyeballs in centre Fearless look and courageous is Vira rasa 11

The Malayalam translation of the very same verse is: Eyes keeping fully open and keeping eyeballs exactly at the centre without any movement and pushing one ‘vayu’ through the courageous and static eyeballs, without bothering anybody or anything with a strong proud state is (the state of eyes in) Vira Drushti. 12

Please note the reference to Vayu in the translation. The translation is more in the nature of an interpretation rather than translation because Chakyar is in fact describing the secret but incandescent element that actually produces the state of eyes as described in the verse, which is breath. He is describing the practical method that is instrumental in producing the effect of vira rasa in the eyes, whereas this secret is not revealed in either Natyasastra or the Kudiyattam version of Natyasastra verses, though Natyasastra does mention the importance that needs to be given to the projection of the eyes while expressing rasa. Here, reference to vayu needs to be understood as the interpretation of ‘fully bloomed’ in the original Sanskrit verse; vayu causes the eyes to bloom fully. If the actor expresses valour by following of the narration of these verses he will not succeed in effectively expressing valour; he is required to undertake training in performing the eye exercises from a master teacher in order to express the emotions in the eyes. It is highly unlikely for a Kudiyattam master to share the ‘secrets of his trade’ especially in the form of a written text. Unlike any other teacher, Chakyar is unfolding the secrets of Kudiyattam acting in these verses and hence this text is highly important in researching Kudiyattam. He also leaves open a large area of research leading to the re-invention of

11 Mani Madhava Chakyar, Natyakalpadrumam. Cheruturuthi: Kerala Kalamandalam, 1973, p. 111. 12 Ibid., p. 111.

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an unknown knowledge and practice of breath which contributed a different dimension to the acting practice of Kerala theatre. Chakyar gives comprehensive instructions related to the use of breath in acting when describing each rasa, which is primarily informed by his training, practice and intellectual involvement with Kudiyattam. According to Chakyar, the acting of the erotic rasa should have ‘one vayu’ in the eyes and the acting of the ‘mockery’rasa should be devoid of any vayu in the eyes and the eyeballs should be drawn in. The same principle applies to the ‘melancholic’ rasa as well. In the acting of the ‘furious’ rasa there should be ample amount of vayu in the eyes (three vayus) and in ‘valorous’ one vayu is required to be pushed into the eyes. In acting the ‘terrible’ rasa vayu should be dispersed when eyeballs reach both corners of the eyes and in ‘disgusting’ rasa there should not be any vayu at all. In acting the rasa ‘wonder’, there should be good amount of vayu in the eyes; however for santa rasa or the peaceful all the emotions should be distanced and it needs to be a state of complete tranquillity. 13 In the context of actor training Chakyar says that: When the student gets rather well-trained in these movements, the rest of the eye training involving ‘breath’ (vayu) in the pupil of the eye depends entirely on the skill and practice of the teacher. While undertaking this complicated vayu exercise, special care should be taken to avoid the “serpent-eye”. The training should make the student bring three vayus to his eyes. Only after completion of this training does the actor become capable of expressing adequate rasa in his abhinaya. 14

Chakyar does not describe any methodology or practice to bring breath effectively to eyes. He also does not explain how breath is brought to the eyes by doing eye exercises. All this points to the fact that we are unaware of a vital link that is not fore-grounded in Kudiyattam training of today, the presence of which would have assigned another dimension to it. It is also not clear why there needs to be more vayu to some emotions in comparison to others and also how the eyeballs are pushed out and drawn inside according to different rasa. He does not describe how or why vayu could be counted numerically 13 14

Ibid., pp. 109-17. Ibid., pp. 136-38.

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in terms of its presence in eyes. There are two major questions that come up in this context: 1. Where does Kudiyattam borrow this methodology from? 2. What is the connection between Kudiyattam and Yoga in practical terms? During the course of my PhD I conducted interviews with two Kudiyattam actors, Ammannur Madhava Chakyar and Usha Nangyar, one Mizhavu percussionist, Narayanan Nambyar who is the son of Mani Madhava Chakyar and L.S Rajagopalan who is a critic and exponent of Kudiyattam. Ammannur Madhava Chakyar (popularly known as Ammannur) is the oldest surviving and the most experienced master Guru of Kudiyattam and Usha Nangyar is his student. Narayanan Nambyar is the most experienced percussionist and has authored and compiled several books related to Kudiyattam. He is also the eldest son of Mani Madhava Chakyar. These interviews were conducted to identify how and why the application of breath is so important in Kudiyattam acting. Ammannur’s school of Kudiyattam claims that they are specialising in directly employing breath in acting particularly owing to the use of a technique called svara-vayu. This is a technique in which breath (vayu) is applied in musical notes (svara) to give better emotional appeal to the singing. In this technique specific notes are connected to emotions and subsequently their breathing. The link between emotions and musical notes is found in Natyasastra as well, but the addition of the breath aspect to it is the contribution of the king of a small province in Kerala known as Kodungalloor. The king’s name is Kunjunni Tampuran. He was a profound scholar of Sanskrit, Yoga, Ayurveda, music and acting and according to the renowned Kathakali scholar Tekkinkattil Ramunni Nair, he applied the svaravayu to acting (Natyarachana, 1955). Ramunni Nair explains how an actor would use svara-vayu in acting: he first needs to understand the consequents, determinants, transitory emotions and the eye movements clearly and following this he needs to identify the appropriate emotional musical note corresponding to the situation. He then identifies the breathing patterns related to the selected note and consciously applies this in acting. I have not come across any Kudiyattam actor or

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school specialising in such an acting in my twelve years of experience as a student or performer. The king of Kodungalloor had three students: Mani Madhava Chakyar, Ammannur Madhava Chakyar and a Kathakali Guru named Pattikkamtodi Ramnunni Menon. Ammannur is the only survivor. Ammannur mentions that he learned eye exercises and rasa acting from him and that he spoke and explained to Ammannur about the breathing and its effect on facial expressions. 15 Ammannur mentions that he was not taught the svara-vayu method of acting since he was not an exponent in singing. He also acknowledges that he was taught the acting of death by Tampuran, which was applied in Balivadham Kudiyattam (part of Ascharyachoodamani) when acting the death of Bali. However, in an interview (July 2004) he mentioned to me that he learned this by observing the death of his mother. Perhaps he meant to say that he learned this piece of acting earlier from Tampuran and this was later related to a real life incident of the death of his mother. When I asked Ammannur about any specific practice that may have influenced this methodology of acting, he was not found to be aware of any specific breath-related practice or methodology that Kudiyattam incorporated into its performance practice. He preferred to use the word ‘strength’ instead of ‘vayu’ throughout this interview. However, I notice that the rendering of voice in the Ammannur school is quite unique and highly expressive, which is unlike the vocal rendering of other Kudiyattam schools. I remember the verse rendering of Aparna Nangyar, one of Ammannur’s students, who sang a verse expressing erotic love. I have noticed the particular way in which the emotions are expressed in such a remarkable way by means of the voice. Usha Nangyar is Ammannur’s student. She demonstrated enacting rasa by employing breath in acting as she was taught by Ammannur. Nangyar demonstrated how in each rasa breath is drawn from the abdominal region and arrested at the chest or the neck or exhaled through the nose to produce the required effect. However, she 15 Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, My Training, My Gurus, in Sangeet Natak, 111-114, edited by K. Ayyappa Panicker. New Delhi: Sangeet Natak Academi. 1995, pp. 14546.

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is not aware how breath is or could be drawn from several locations in the body and also whether it would be possible to draw breath from these regions as she was taught (though she does the same); she justifies that it is in fact a ‘sankalpam’, the imaginative process because breath goes to the lungs and logically only the lungs are active in the breathing process. The same question was also put to Narayanan Nambyar who also maintains that it is only a pressure or force and not vayu. I spoke to L.S Rajagopalan who is a noted Kudiyattam scholar about breath in Kudiyattam. He is also not exceptional in this, regarding vayu as an imaginative process of the actor. Having examined the textual references and actor’s experiences on breathing and acting, I want to examine my own personal experience as a student of Kudiyattam to trace any possible clues relating to the specific breathing method useful in this enquiry. My training in Kudiyattam was not in the conventional method described in the second chapter since I don’t belong to the Nangyar caste. Besides, I started the Kudiyattam training later than the traditional norm of between the age of seven or ten. I started training to be an actor because of my interest in learning more about Kudiyattam. Prior to this, I had watched Kudiyattam performances continuously for more than seven years. My classes started every day at 6.30 in the morning and finished at 12 noon for a period of 2 years and were reduced to weekends eventually to balance with university education. Once my eyes were properly trained I was asked to practice from my home during the early hours in the morning. The training with my teacher consisted of repeating eye and facial exercises, bent knee posture, voice exercises, movement classes and all other physical exercises. The method of eye exercises and bent knee posture was in the same pattern as described earlier and I completed learning all the eight basic eye movements within an year. My teacher also used to tell me repeatedly to bring vayu to the eyes and the spine but when asked the method in which I should do this, she replied that it is only stress and basically an imaginative process and that vayu will come to the required places ‘naturally’. From my training, and from the accounts of my teacher who had the systematic training as described above, I can clearly state that there is no specific system that is employed to bring vayu to the eyes. At the same time my experience of learning

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Kudiyattam for many years assure me of the strong presence of vayu in eyes as a result of the intensive training process in Kudiyattam. Moreover, I was not taught the preliminary eye exercises – looking at a distance and withdrawing eyes, inhale through mouth and exhale through eyes – I was taught these by Usha Nangyar. I was initiated in the Painkulam school of Kudiyattam that was being followed by Kalamandalam; my teacher was taught Kudiyattam by Painkulam Rama Chakyar who was responsible for starting Kudiyattam training at the Kalamandalam. Ammannur mentions in his essay about his training that ‘looking at the distance’ was taught to him by Tampuran. When I interviewed Narayanan Nambyar, he also had mentioned these exercises, particularly the ‘looking at the distance’ exercise undertaken by his father Mani Madhava Chakyar. I was not taught this exercise by my teacher since she was trained at the Kalamandalam which follows the Painkulam School of acting. Both these accounts point to the fact that breath as a distinct category was the latest introduction to Kudiyattam by Kunjunni Tampuran through his disciples Guru Ammannur and Guru Mani. This does not mean that Kudiyattam has not got clearly distinctive traces of breath in acting but it incorporates the breath-related tradition in its performance (applying breath to the spine, applying breath to the eyes) by means of instructions that remain mainly as verbal references. It has merged into the training and performance of Kudiyattam so well that we require the application of other disciplines to sieve out the category of breathing from the practice. Mani Madhava Chakyar clearly notes what he learned from Tampuran in his book and that is why Malayalam translations contain breath-related instructions different to the original Sanskrit verses. What we understand of Ammannur’s methodology through Nangyar’s demonstration does not justify the application of breath as explained by Mani Madhava Chakyar. For example, Mani explains that fear is shown by applying breath when the eyeballs reach either tips of the eyes. Nangyar’s acting, which is taught by Ammannur does not demonstrate this principle. According to her, breath is always drawn either from the navel or the chest and arrested or compressed at the neck/chest. This is clearly not what we read in Mani’s writings. He does

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not specify anything about where the breath is drawn from or where it is arrested. But his writings suggest that the practice of breath application is entirely different from what we understand from Nangyar. It is clear from the analysis of existing information on breath that we need the help of some other breath-related practice to identify and research further into the importance of breathing in acting. Hence I am looking at some of the Yogic breathing techniques to analyse this further. Hatha Yoga: analysis on breathing and acting In my enquiry into tracing the breath-related methodology that may have influenced Kudiyattam I am now examining the information of breath available in Hatha Yoga, followed by Siddha Yoga. Above, I have explained the connection between Yoga and Kudiyattam in philosophical terms. Here I am investigating any practical exercises in Hatha Yoga that may help in establishing the link between breathing practice in Kudiyattam and Yogic practice. Hatha Yoga recommends a few exercises that are particularly helpful in attaining ananda (laya is the word that Hatha Yoga uses to denote this. Laya literally means the pleasure gained through ‘merging’ or ‘blending together’). Hatha Yoga mentions a series of exercises that are particularly helpful for a Yogi to attain laya that is produced due to the blending between vayu and mind. Hatha Yoga maintains that “laya is produced where drushti (eyes) is placed (Yatra Drushtir Layastratra)”. 16 The translator of the Sanskrit verses translates eyes as mind. However, some of the exercises that follow this verse emphasises the importance between eyes, breath and laya. Hatha Yoga describes the practice of sambhavi mudra like this: One should fix his gaze on an object as if looking at it and his eyelids should not be blinking; his meditation should be directed to ‘within’…. In this manner, when the Yogi attains laya between mind and vayu he does not see the object that he looks at though he is looking at it. 17

16

Balananda Swamikal, HathaYogavidhi. Kollam: S.T Reddyar and Sons, 1930, p. 163. 17 Ibid., p. 164.

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The yogi is instructed to look at an object with unblinking eyelids but the object fades away slowly from his vision as he keeps on looking. Though he is looking he is not seeing anything at all. However, it takes a lot of practice to keep the eyelids open for a long time and Hatha Yoga instructs a Yogi to keep looking at a point without blinking the eyes. When a Yogi becomes capable of holding his eyes open in this way, he will be able to perform this exercise without any difficulty. Coming to Kudiyattam this precisely is the ‘looking at the distance’ exercise which is undertaken prior to the eye exercises. This is also the way Santha rasa is expressed in Kudiyattam. Whenever it is required in Kudiyattam to enact a Yogi, the performer sits in the Yogic posture and keeps on looking at a distance on an object until the object fades away. When the object disappears from the vision, the face becomes devoid of any emotion. The performer, when enacting this, takes as long as it takes for him or her to get the true effect of Santa in performance. The next exercise that Hatha Yoga recommends is very interesting. Next to sambahvi mudra as explained above, a Yogi needs to practice unmani, which is an extension of it. The gaze will be fixed at the tip of the nose and eyebrows need to be lifted up. One has to practice the previous one (exercise) in order to attain ananda. 18

Note the importance Hatha Yoga places on lifting the eyebrows in attaining ananda. Hatha Yoga recommends this technique to a Yogi who wants to attain ananda. All the Kudiyattam acting is undertaken by lifting the eyebrows and the students are particularly instructed to lift their eyebrows when performing eye exercises. This verse suggests that lifting the eyebrows helps the Yogi to breathe in such a way that he attains laya. Hatha Yoga calls this taraka brahma – brahma related to the eyes. The eyes are thus thought to be cardinal in attaining brahma. Hatha Yoga also states that a Yogi attains laya when he controls his mind by looking at the tip of his nose in the way mentioned above and by balancing his ida and pingala air ducts by doing this. Hatha Yoga thus also maintains that the proper practise of both the exercises mentioned above balances the two central air ducts: 18

Ibid., p. 165.

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thus air flows equally through both of them. In other words, his breath flows through the middle path – sushumna – where the breath flows equally through both the nostrils. Examination of these two exercises mentioned above leads to the conclusion that the ‘looking at a distance’ eye exercise and lifting the eyebrows both help an actor in breathing in his middle path. Middle path breathing is recommended by Hatha Yoga for the proper attaining of laya. These two exercises are particularly recommended for activating the middle path breathing in a Yogi. The ‘Looking at the distance’ exercise was introduced by Tampuran who was an expert in Yoga which resulted in the ingenious blending of Yoga and performance. There is one more exercise in Hatha Yoga that is particularly important in this enquiry. A Yogi has to primarily perform sambahvi mudra mentioned above. He has to listen with his right ear to the sound produced by his middle path, sushumna; following this, he then has to close his eyes, nose, ears and mouth with his fingers. This exercise is known as shanmukhi mudra. It is the culmination of all Yogic exercises. He attains total laya or samadhi by the continuous practice of this exercise or in other words, a Yogi needs to practice this until he masters this exercise and attains samadhi. This description does not makes clear what the Yogi hears with his right ear, however, if he is listening to his sushumna it is his own breathing that he is listening to. Kudiyattam recommends the very same eye exercises but the eyes are kept open. In fact the student is asked to exhale through the eyes. Another variation is that the principle of middle path breathing is not observed when performing this exercise. I would recommend a slight amendment to this exercise and its practice in Kudiyattam, a. this exercise need to follow the ‘looking at the distance’ exercise since the breath is in middle path as a result of it. Exhaling through the eyes should be undertaken only once the student has mastered the previous one. This exercise also points to the apparent variation between performance and Yoga. A Yogi undertakes these breathing exercises to concentrate on laya between mind and breath, thus he reaches the samadhi state of cognition or the total union between the mind and the

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absolute. He does not need to keep his eyes open since rasa ananda is not his aim, on the contrary his aim is brahma ananda. An actor, on the other hand, does keep the eyes open since his aim is rasa and not brahma. Thus the actor’s meditation is half way through samadhi but not samadhi itself, but the actor is also a Yogi and performance is meditation in the true sense. I consider my findings on the connections between Hatha Yoga and Kudiyattam highly important and relevant to the argument of this book. Basically it emphasises the deeper connections between Yogic breathing and Kudiyattam in the sense that middle path breathing is attained by a Yogi by means of some specific exercises. But secondly and more importantly the above mentioned Hatha Yoga exercises clarify that the same exercises could be adapted in order to help an actor to alter the levels of consciousness. Tampuran who was an expert in both Yoga and performance successfully experimented and proved that it is possible. Here I am directing my enquiry to the specifics of middle path breathing and will therefore investigate Siddha Yoga in closer terms, where middle path breathing is described in detail. Siddha Yoga and Kudiyattam In my first chapter, I have discussed Siddha Yoga as explained by Nair particularly what he calls the restoration of breath. However, for the purpose of this chapter I am explaining restoration of breath is some more detail. Nair explains restoration of breath as a technique and a breath-related practice through which one can totally internalize the respiratory function in order to explore physical and mental presence in training and performance. 19

He explains the process to ‘total internalisation’ and also provides a brief description of human breathing patterns. An average human being breathes thirteen to fifteen times a minute or 21,000 to 21,600 times in a day. Nair says that according to Indian Yoga, the human respiratory system operates through three paths: left, right and 19

Sreenath Nair, Restoration of Breath: Consciousness and performance. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2007, p. 179.

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middle and at any time breath flows predominantly through either the left or the right nostril. It changes at regular intervals between left and right nostrils and stays at the middle path during each transition. The right nostril operates predominantly on Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday and the left nostril on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; during sleep we all operate middle path and breath starts to change to either left or right 90 minutes before sunrise. 20 Nair further states that Middle path breathing is discussed elaborately in Siddha Yoga as a source of vital energy and sometimes more than that. It occurs naturally in the human body: 1. In the intermittent intervals between changeovers of the daily breathing 2. At a heightened point of the transformational experience of the sexual act. (the breath is internalised in this act and therefore, the body is more focused and vitally charged than any other daily behaviour). 3. When a person is in deep sleep (the disappearance of the notion of self in sleep is associated with middle path breathing). 4. As the last breath a person takes before death. Restoration of breath, as a practice, is an attempt to investigate the function of middle path breathing in body in terms of preparing actor’s physical and mental faculties aimed to develop a new psycho-physical system for training. Restoration of breath is an approach to breath. …It invokes an upward and downward movement of breath within the internal channels without any trace: the two other nostril modes, the left and the right are absent when you re-store the breath. There is a constant flow of air within the internal system but it is not perceptible to the sensory perceptions of an observer. In this sense you can not feel and measure the outer flow of the air when restoration is in operation. 21

Restoration of breath is a very secret practice and not available in the texts on Yoga and many of his arguments are informed by Nair’s own practice of it. Moreover, Siddha Yoga is not among the popular Yoga practices and hence unknown even to many of the Yoga practitioners; there are not many texts written on Siddha Yoga and the available materials are mostly written in local languages and preserved in the form of palm leaf manuscripts.

20 21

Ibid., p. 180. Ibid., p. 181.

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A brief analysis of three breathing exercises mentioned in Hatha Yoga establishes the link between middle path breathing and acting. This also means that an actor’s capacity in performance could be improved by restoring breath. Therefore I am explaining a few workshops that I undertook with Nair in order to find a few links between Yogic breathing and Kudiyattam. This is important to establish the ways in which meditation principles have merged into the performance practice of Kudiyattam, thus narrowing the borderlines between meditation and performance. In the process of finding parallels between the breathing patterns of Siddha Yoga and Kudiyattam I identified seven potential areas. These seven were identified by conducting a few preliminary exercises. When it comes to the eye training, and expressing emotions through the eyes, breath is always thought to be playing a significant role. This being the hypothesis, I identified some of the aspects that required closer examination. We did the workshop keeping those elements in mind. We have conducted workshops on four elements out of the seven listed below; we did not purposefully leave the other three out but those require much more thought and precise conditions. These are the seven points we identified that could provide and establish further links between Kudiyattam and Siddha Yoga. a) Beginning eye exercises: As I explained above, Kudiyattam prescribes some exercises which acts as the forerunners for the eye exercises. These are intended to give the student sufficient training in pushing the eyeballs when doing the eye exercises and also to bring vayu to the eyes. b) Exercise hours: Eye exercises are always started in the early hours of the day and finish well before sunrise. As a practice, eye exercise starts at 3.30 in the morning and last for about an hour and other exercises follow. The eye exercises are repeated in the evening, after sunset for another hour. It is also to be noted that these exercises are not done during any other time apart from these mentioned above. The relevance of these hours in terms of Yoga needs to be explored, particularly any reference in Yoga to the specification of breath during these hours.

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c) Hollow Space: During eye exercises, I had experienced a strange phenomenon inside my mouth, which is the creation of a hollow space. This was also coupled with withdrawing of the tongue slightly inside. I am explaining this in the coming section. d) Nostril operation: According to Yoga, breath changes from one nostril to another in regular intervals; there will be a particular nostril operating for any particular day. There are also specific body functions corresponding to each nostril operation. 22 When the right nostril is the operating nostril, the right part of the body is found stronger and likewise the left side of the body when the left nostril is operating. I intend to examine the application of ‘breath to the spine’ in this context to see the relevance of this basic Kudiyattam exercise for eye training. e) Dasa Vayu: Ayurveda (the Indian science of life and medicine) and MarmaSastra (the science of vital points in the body) speak about ten kinds of breath (vayu) in a human body, terminologically known as ‘Dasa vayu’. These ten kinds of vayu are active in certain specific parts of the body, for example, Kurman is operational in the eyes and opens the eyelids, whereas Dhananjaya, another vayu, produces sound. 23 It is worthwhile to exploring the importance of ten vayu in acting, particularly to examine the relevance of the assumption that a particular vayu is activated when emoting a particular rasa and that there are some vayu important to eye exercises. It would also be helpful to find out if it is vayu in this sense that is operating in the eye exercises where Chakyar 22 According to HathaYogavidhi written by Balananda Swamikal (published in Malayalam calendar year 1105 [1930] by S.T Reddiyar and Sons, Kollam, India) reading, learning, teaching, fighting, writing, pubic speaking, lying, running etc… has to be done when right nostril is operating. A new venture, marriage, planting a tree, sending messengers, wearing new clothes, wearing new ornaments, praying, visiting temples etc… should be undertaken when the operating nostril is left. When middle path is operating neither good nor bad things should be undertaken. It is only good for doing Yoga. 23 Siddhar Thirumoolar, tr. Natarajan, B, ed. Govindan. M, Thirumandiram A classic of Yoga and Tantra. Canada, Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and Publications Inc. 1993, p. 3-29.

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mentions three vayus in the context of training. Further research is required in order to establish if there are specific instructions in the above-mentioned manuals regarding the qualities of each of these forms of vayu and also how each of these forms of vayu could be employed to heighten emotional acting in Kudiyattam. f) Eyebrows: Eye exercises are always done after lifting the eyebrows and ‘applying breath to the spine’; in fact there are separate exercises of eyebrows. Technically speaking, lifting the eyebrows helps in opening the eyes wide, but I think it is important to examine if the eyebrows are any more important than the present understanding of their relevance principally in the light of Siddha Yoga meditation practice. The question here is how eyebrows help bringing breath to the eyes, physiologically and yogically? g) Restoration of breath: Finally and most importantly, I also intended to find out if ‘Restored breath’ is the same as the position of breath during eye exercises. This is very important to be examined because our basic assumption in is that the actor’s acting capacities would be improved by restoring breath. In the previous section on Hatha Yoga, I had explained the relevance of eyebrows in Kudiyattam training, such as the importance of the ‘looking at the distance’ and the ‘breathing through the eyes’ exercises. What follows now is more of a practical analysis of physical changes in the actor’s body. Workshop Apart from the exercises that I conducted with Nair, I am also referring to the private conversations between my Guru, Margi Sathi and myself on several occasions, my interview of Usha Nangyar and also the conversations between my student, Myfanwy Meyer Dinkgräfe and myself during the classes I gave her for an hour every Sunday from October 2003 to August 2005 at Aberystwyth.

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1. Creation of hollow space: As I mentioned earlier, I had noticed a hollow space inside my mouth when doing the eye exercises in particular. This observation was basically informed by my experience of learning the Siddha path of meditation from Nair in which the hollow space is created inside the mouth in the same way as in Kudiyattam eye training. This is experienced initially by lifting the eyebrows which is followed by widening the eyes. Workshop: Our workshop was in the following manner: a. undertaking the same eye exercises primarily without lifting eyebrows and also by putting the tongue to the upper part of mouth and then with eyebrow support b. creating the hollow space artificially and do the eye exercises and observe the effect of it. Result: This workshop carried out by Nair and I was mainly observing because I am trained in Kudiyattam and hence my body would have a natural tendency to adjust to the situation (as I have seen in Usha Nangyar in my interview with her); I wanted to avoid this problem in order to obtain better clarity of these exercises. Nair, who is inexperienced in doing eye exercises found it difficult to open his eyes properly without lifting his eyebrows and sticking his tongue to the upper part of mouth. He, while doing the same exercises, released his tongue and lifted the eyebrows to create the hollow space (involuntarily) and the change was very evident and quite noticeable. His eyes started showing presence of vayu and gave ease to his eye movements. The second part of this workshop was done by me because I was rather experienced in Siddha meditation and Nair was mainly observing the result in my eyes. This was mainly done by not lifting the eyebrows but by widening the eyes to see if there is any difference on the eyes. There was remarkable difference as observed by Nair and he also noticed my tongue drawn slightly inside creating a slight visible expansion around my throat. In one of my training sessions with Myfanwy Meyer Dinkgräfe, I had asked her if she noticed any change in her mouth.

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She confirmed that there is a slight difference in her mouth but couldn’t explain further because she was only eight years old. However, I had noticed the expansion around her throat to confirm that the same action is happening in her body as well. 2. Nostril Operation: The main purpose was to identify the functional significance of this principle in the context of Kudiyattam practice. We wanted to check if either of the two eyes felt stronger than the other one during eye exercises especially when the ‘breath on the spine’ principle is not applied. Workshop: Undertaking the eye exercises without giving much importance to the ‘breath on the spine’ principle and observing if either of the two eyes felt to be weaker or stronger. If one of the two eyes felt to be stronger than the other, observe breath and check through which nostril the breath flows. Repeat the same eye exercise by observing the principle of ‘breath on the spine’ and check if there is any difference. Do the same exercises in the standing posture without applying breath on the spine and with its application on the spine and observe the difference. Result: In the first case, I felt my left eye to be stronger than the right one and the feeling was a lack of proper push in opening my right eyelids and also pushing its eyeballs. Nair was observing the effect on my eyes and he confirmed that he felt a clear imbalance in strength between my two eyes and that my left eye looked more prominent than the right. I continued doing the eye exercises and came to the breath on the spine posture and after a few minutes I felt more ease in opening my right eyelids. After a few more minutes distribution of energy was balanced in both eyes and I felt confident in continuing the eye exercises. Nair also observed the significant distinction between the first case and the second case. We also checked the position of breath in the standing posture and did the same eye exercises and the result was same as that in the sitting posture.

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During one of my recent visits to India I had requested my Guru to perform the eye exercises without applying the ‘breath on the spine’ principle. After performing the eye exercises as per this suggestion she confirmed that the difference in the distribution of power in her eyes when doing eye exercises without the application of breath on the spine was significant and could be easily experienced. 3. Restoration of breath: The final and the most important workshop was examining whether restoration of breath is practically possible in Kudiyattam. If it is true then the link between Siddha meditation practice and performance could be established, thus paving the way to re-invent the lost system of knowledge that is still imbedded in the performance and training of Kudiyattam. Workshop: This workshop was performed at two levels a. Being a trained performer in Kudiyattam, my breath was checked by Nair during eye exercises and also during the standing posture of Kudiyattam. b. It was also important to check the breath of another person who is not as trained as I, to prove that restoration is possible during performance and hence I decided to do the same with my student whom I have taught for a very short duration (I may have taught her for roughly sixty hours or equivalent to ten days training that a Kudiyattam student undertakes) Result: Nair who is trained in Siddha meditation practice checked my breath during both eye exercises and the standing posture of Kudiyattam. When I was standing in the posture I was restoring my breath as he confirmed; however, the middle path breathing was not as precise as that in meditation practice. In Myfanwy Meyer Dinkgräfe also there were clear tendencies in the direction of restoration but whenever she lost her concentration in exercises she started breathing normally. But the result of this short duration of training was really amazing considering the fact the duration of the training was short and also because of her young age.

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These exercises serve only the purpose of examples that would inspire me to direct my future enquiry in this direction. These are not conclusive of establishing any precise links between Kudiyattam and Yogic Practice but they serve as a guide to prove the intrinsic inter-connection between them. I have not extended my research on dasa vayu in this book because that requires much more resources and it is a large and separate area of research. However, I firmly believe that a further research on Dasavayus would help me to answer the puzzle of three vayu which is repeatedly mentioned by Mani Madhava Chakyar. So far in this section I discussed the Yogic breathing techniques explained by Hatha Yoga and Siddha Yoga and also the efforts of Tampuran in linking these disciplines together. He believed that breathing is the category that gives total presence to the actor and the results of his research and practice is profoundly significant in Ammannur’s acting. His research is also preserved in the writings of Mani though it still remains unresolved how an actor applies three vayu to one rasa and only a slight amount of vayu in acting some other rasa. To conclude, it is clear that Yogic breathing patterns have found their way in to Kudiyattam practice, thus making its acting totally unique and highly significant in the enquiry into the actor’s consciousness. In this sense breathing exercises clearly alter the consciousness of the actor to make it his meditation in motion. Actor training of Kudiyattam, particularly training in expressing rasa can also be considered to be instrumental in training the actor’s consciousness. It is equally important to assess how the performance of Kudiyattam alters the consciousness of the actor. In the final section of this chapter, I am including a thorough analysis of Pakarnnattam mainly from a consciousness point of view, examining its various perspectives. Pakarnnattam and consciousness In Chapter II, I had explained Pakarnnattam and also discussed its spatial significance and its clear tendency to displace any fixed gender identities by means of its performance. In this section, I am intending to discuss the following themes:

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Imagination and Pakarnnattam Rasa in Pakarnnattam Time in Pakarnnattam Advaita Vedanta and Pakarnnattam Imagination and Pakarnnattam Kudiyattam is in all ways an actor’s theatre. Actors write their own performance text and directions based on the play by expanding upon the untold subtext that is left unexpanded by the playwright. They engage with the text with their imagination and create performance pieces that, while remaining connected to the main body of the text stay completely independent at the same time. Imagination as a quality is not recommended for the actor in Natyasastra. It suggests that an actor need to have physical presence, be handsome, be experienced in watching several plays and each other’s acting, have a good memory, be knowledgeable and skilful in acting. Similarly an actress should be beautiful, young, attractive, skilful in singing and acting and knowledgeable of rasa and bhava. The Natyasastra model of theatre does not require an actor to be imaginative to the extent required by Kudiyattam actor or improvise on the text as normally done by Kudiyattam actors. All he needs to do is act according to the directions of a Guru. However, one may argue that the imaginative quality of an actor is a basic requirement and need not be stated clearly and separately. Bharata recommends very specific casting rules based on the nature of the actor. War movements, for example are not suitable to women but they need to be performed by men; similarly, only an actor who has appropriate physical attributes of a King (someone who looks like a king in Bharata’s terms) can perform the role of a king in a play. 24 Whereas in Kudiyattam, by means of Pakarnnattam, the actor taking the role of the hero also enacts the heroine, her maids or a demon in order to expand and convincingly deliver a dramatic situation. Bharata accommodates no scope for Pakarnnattam by any means in his theatre. 24

K.P. Narayana Pisharodi, Bharata Muniyude Natyasastram, vol.I. Trichur: Kerala Kalamandalam, 1987, pp. 538-39.

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Abhinavagupta suggests that an unimaginative actor would be a hindrance in producing rasa. Kudiyattam requires an actor to be imaginative since he has to write his own performance text and needs to be knowledgeable enough in various disciplines to be able to be adequately imaginative. Various acting devices teach him how to be imaginative. Ball play, for instance, requires the actor to imagine two or more persons playing the ball with him apart from creating an imaginative physical setting – forest, playground or river side - an appropriate ball and the required physical movements. He needs to calculate the height at which the ball bounces and imaginatively perceive and enact its bouncing. In order that he does this convincingly enough, primarily he is required to be absolutely clear about the weight of the ball and its shape (large, small or medium). The muscular tensions created in his body need to be realistically corresponding to the nature of the ball the actor imagines or otherwise the audience would not be convinced of his acting and rasa is not produced. Kudiyattam in this sense fully understands and appreciates what Stanislavski maintains when he recommends an actor to treat fictional circumstances as if they were ‘real’. Let us take an example of how he trains his actor to imagine a tree: Close your eyes and imagine that you are a tree. Define your species (see the shape and colour of the leaves), how old you are (see how thick your trunk, how high your branches), and conjure a vision of where you grow. Then, pick a particular moment from your life and create it imaginatively. What was the weather? The time of the day? What could you feel? See? Hear? ... imagine a single harmonious picture. 25

The actor gets a whole vision of a tree that he has seen before in his life and relates to the imaginative tree that he sees in his mind’s eye. Among the Kudiyattam acting devices there is also the enacting of a tree known as vriksha varnana, which is also taught to the actors. The actor describes the tree in a very detailed manner by first seeing it properly by walking around it and appreciating its height, beauty and glory. He may also enact how several illustrious people (like kings or priests) rested in its shade or a similar story which might enrich his acting in a convincing manner. He then enacts the width of its trunk, branches that reach out to Sun, thickly spread roots, leaves, fruits and 25

Sharon Marie Carnicke, “Stanislavsky’s System”, in, ed. Alison Hodge, Twentieth Century Actor Training. London and New York: Routledge, 2000, pp. 20-1.

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flowers. He may also enact the bees that get to the flowers to drink nectar or the birds that sing sitting on its branches. The histrionics employed by Stanislavski and Kudiyattam are different but the principles governing both are the same. Kudiyattam is normally described in terms of stylistic theatre since the histrionic representation is stylistic in nature. However, the actor’s imagination is governed by the principles of realism but his acting is not realistic as commonly understood in Western theatre. One may not find apparent resemblances between Stanislavski and Kudiyattam but the acting technique of Kudiyattam is instrumental in understanding and interpreting Stanislavski from a different perspective. The ball play that I described as an example at the beginning of this section is set to a precise rhythmic sequence. The actor is supposed to move only in strict accordance to the set rhythm. Having said this, he is also allowed immense freedom to improvise his own unique ball and playing with it or the number of times he may prefer to bounce it. In this sense, in Kudiyattam, spontaneity and strictness co-exist. Actors are taught the systematic method of imagination in a very organised manner by means of acting devices. They may thus start to simply apply these in their performance and later may make their own devices or add to the existing ones. It is for this very reason that Kudiyattam recommends an actor to read poems and literature so that he is adequately resourceful as an actor. It is also not uncommon at all for an actor to improvise spontaneously on stage, which will add freshness and new appeal to each of his performances. When the actor improvises by bringing new and imaginative ideas to his performance, the knowledgeable and experienced spectator or the rasic experiences rasa. Pakarnnattam, which is a unique characteristic of Kudiyattam, is a particular technique by means of which an actor displays his imaginative qualities in performance. Rasa in Pakarnnattam Rasa theory is built upon the basic assumption that rasa is experiential in the combination of consequents, determinants and

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transitory emotions. So there need to be three, clearly identifiable and independent but interconnected categories such as consequents in terms of characters and situation, determinants or actions and reactions (histrionic representation) and transitory emotions which further nourish the other two. For example, a specific scene in act One of the Sanskrit play Subhadra-dhananjaya has very specific consequents and determinants. The play opens with the entry of Arjuna, the hero of the play who is staying away from his kingdom and family for an year on a self-imposed penance. He is accompanied by his friend and vidushaka (literally clown, but he is more than a clown as he is educated, knowledgeable and normally from a priestly class. He helps the hero to bring ease to highly difficult situations with wit and the right type of advice) known as Kaundinya. Arjuna and Kaundinya are travelling through the forest and both are tired and missing their home. Arjuna in particular is desperate without the love of his dear wife Draupadi; moreover his mind is pre-occupied with the thoughts about Subhadra who is the beautiful princess and more importantly, Krishna’s sister. Arjuna is proud about his friendship with Krishna and hopes to be united with Subhadra. When he is walking past a beautiful hermitage he hears the screaming of a woman from the sky; as he looks up he catches sight of a girl being abducted by a demon. He warns the demon to leave the girl and goes and fastens his bow ready to attack. Before Arjuna has to do anything demon drops her and flies away and Arjuna stretches his arms to save the girl. The girl is now safe but a bit startled by all these developments; however, she offers a most welcoming feast to his eyes. Arjuna, who is deprived of his wife’s love and intending to marry Subhadra in due course is now attracted to the girl whom he saved from the demon. The girl, who in fact is Subhadra herself, in turn is also showing clear signs of attraction towards the man who saved her. The characters and the situation are so carefully arranged by the playwright that the setting is just perfect for a love story. The actions and reactions by means of histrionics add to the beauty of this situation and is further supported by transitory emotions. The conditions are properly built up for rasa experience. But what happens when the actor takes pauses in between to expand upon some of the verses, precisely how does the rasa experience work in Pakarnnattam?

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The above scene of the first act of this play also contains a detailed description of the hermitage that they see while walking through the forest. This hermitage is quite unique and the playwright describes it as a place where opposite forces in nature co-exists. Flies that fall into the fire come alive and fly back again, the elephant calf and the lion co-exist and so on. The actor enacts the flies falling into the fire in a very unique way that requires commendable mastery over the art of eye movements and related expressions. Fire is shown both with the hand gestures and the eyes, followed by showing the movement of the bees. The eyes are moved in a figure of eight very quickly several times, which is then followed by the vertical movement of eyes denoting the falling. The actor looks at the fire in a desperate way denoting that the flies are dead but is amazed on their rising from the fire and flying back free. Once the hand gesture denoting fire is shown, the rest of the enactment is undertaken only by means of the eyes. This piece of acting requires exemplary skills in eye movements. I have heard the story about Mani Madhava Chakyar’s enacting the ‘flies and fire’. Once when he was performing this sequence, among the audience was the well known Kathakali maestro Pattikkamthodi Ramunni Menon. After the performance Menon met with Chakyar in the green room and exclaimed that he noticed female flies also among the flock of flies that fell into the fire. Chakyar replied that such rasics are rare and the acting meets its purpose when the audience is really appreciating such difficult sequences. I am examining ‘flies and fire’ closely to examine how rasa works here. The consequents here are the hermitage and the hero, the determinants are the histrionics and transitory emotions are fear, anxiety and amusement. However, these are not independent categories and the border-lines between these are narrow and nearly imperceptible because there is only one actor and all the related acting is performed by the single actor. It is clear that the spectator experiences rasa from this sequence. However, ‘flies and fire’ is independent of the play’s overall rasa. Moreover, the totality of the play and its rasa is insignificant in Kudiyattam since plays are never completed in a single night. The complexity of the rasa experience in Pakarnnattam is even clearer in the example of the actor enacting the painted eyes that

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I explained in the previous chapter. When enacting the verse, the actor takes a pause to elaborate upon the painting of the eyes. In this acting piece there are very specific consequents, determinants and transitory emotions. The situation is dressing the heroine, probably with preparing her to meet her lover and the characters are the heroine and her two maid servants. There are specific histrionics and also a range of transitory emotions such as shyness. However, there are not three independent bodies that are present in representing three different characters; rather, there is only one male actor to represent these female characters. Moreover, none of these characters are relevant or present in the play, perhaps for the exception of the girl who is saved by Arjuna. Rasa is created purely by means of imagination – imagination of the actor and imagination of the spectator. The spectator is seeing all the three characters and their interactions. Rasa is generated when the actor enacts them in a skilfully convincing manner. Moreover, the rasa experience itself is fragmented since it is experienced by means of several small and independent acting sequences and not in the totality of the play. The rasa experience in Pakarnnattam is thus a very unique experience and it is totally a play of the imagination which represents all the three categories. Time in Pakarnnattam I have above explained in good detail how the actor creates a highly imaginative terrain in his performance which creates the rasa experience in the spectator. Related to this is the time element of the performance since the real time is disregarded by the actor in the imaginative process and hence it is important to analyse the time element of Pakarnnattam. Earlier in the second chapter I had discussed in detail the spatial significance of Pakarnnattam and the concept of meta-presence or the performance in the meta space. Related to this concept, I am now examining the time element of meta presence. Time and Pakarnnattam are discussed here in this chapter and not in the second chapter because the discussion of time in this chapter links very well to the next section of this chapter which discusses the metaphysical aspects of Pakarnnattam. Moreover, I am discussing imagination in Pakarnnattam in greater detail in this chapter: I am now linking imagination and time. Due to these reasons I believe it is more appropriate to place the discussion on time in this chapter.

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I have illustrated various examples of Pakarnnattam at different points of this book. In all these we find that the actor is consistently taking pauses in the text to expand upon his own imaginative sub text. Such consistency in subsuming his own subtext in order to replace the main text – play in this context – has a remarkable impact on the continuity of the time element and the progress of the plot. There is no observance to the logic of narrative but at the same time these consistent interventions are not completely illogical either. If we take the lengthy nirvahanams that were inserted into the text such as that of the maid servant Kalpalathika that appears in the second act of Subhadra-Dhananjaya or Hanuman’s nirvaham in the fifth act of Ascharyachoodamani (The wondrous crest jewel) they stand totally independent of the rest of the play. If Hanuman’s nirvaham could arguably serve the purpose of convincing Sita of his positive intentions (he meets Sita in her captivity at Ravana’s palace) Kalpalathika’s is merely an addition which is totally irrelevant in the development of the plot. However, both these are important for an actor since these provide him with excellent opportunities to exhibit his acting and imaginative skills. If this is the case, what happens to the temporal sequence in Kudiyattam performance? We find the actor expanding upon the ‘painting eyes’ part of the verse by means of Pakarnnattam. He is taking a pause in the play’s narrative to expand upon the untold text, which is also insignificant from the play’s point of view. This moment is thus elongated and expanded to form a parallel text to the main text. Time is not frozen in this sense, it is only paused to make it vibrant with imaginative inputs. This time is not the linear time of the narrative but it is the meta time significant in the non-linear narrative. Pakarnnattam thus is the meta presence in meta time. This meta temporality of Pakarnnattam has infinite potential. Let us look at the example of Kalpalathika’s nirvahanam in order to explain this further. Kalpalathika tells the stories of Krishna in her nirvahanam, beginning from a verse in the second act of the play and ideally comes back to that particular verse, thus affirming the significance of the play and her role that she needs to perform in the play. However, I have heard from my teacher of the instances where the nirvahanam did not reconnect to the play but ended on its own with the death of Krishna. However, if the performer wishes to expand further on Krishna’s

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stories, she need not limit herself strictly to its performance over fortyone days (it is the accepted practice to complete the performance of Srikrishna Charitham Nangyar-Kuthu within forty one-days). She can enact as many stories as she can imagine as long as they are somehow connected. This could also be infinity since it is not the narrative of any particular play that is adhered to by the actor but only the rasa that is evolved from a performance. The performer liberates himself from the structured narrative of the text and thus is able to exercise his ultimate freedom when performing in meta time. Meta time is the ever-expanding, free space within the narrative that creates an ‘imaginary time’ which is guided by the individual imaginative capacity. The pauses are thus made vibrantly pulsating moments, which are moving but in stillness. The performer, in meta time is able to cut across the boundaries of logical time and to access his creative terrain of imagination by means of Pakarnnattam and liberate his consciousness. Meta time is a universe within a universe that is ever expanding and timeless, infinite. If a Yogi is liberating his consciousness from the daily time through his meditative practice, similarly a performer cuts across the logical time by means of Pakarnnattam. From a consciousness point of view, the actor transcends his daily consciousness into extra daily cognitive levels by means of displacing the logical temporal structure with meta time in the play of multiple transcendence –Pakarnnattam. In meta time we are able to perceive the highly productive co-existence of spontaneity, imagination and pashyanti of the actor. I have so far explained the significance of Pakarnnattam in the imaginative process of the actor. Performing in meta-time, the actor liberates himself from the structured patterns of the text and performs the lila (play) of ever-expanding temporality. The actor, as a Yogi transcends time and liberates consciousness though Pakarnnattam. This is a highly meta-physical act that the actor plays. Now I explore how Pakarnnattam is linked to the principles of Advaita Vedanta. Advaita Vedanta and Pakarnnattam In Pakarnnattam we are seeing that the actor is continuously creating and dismantling images purely by means of his imagination

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and employing histrionics. The actor creates mountains and rivers, trees and flowers, stars and heaven and constantly dismantles them to create another set of images. In the Kudiyattam theatre of imagination, he is the ultimate and the omnipotent creator (in Sanskrit the creator is termed as prajapati). His principal intention is to create rasa-ananda and not to convey the meaning of text. How does the audience experience rasa? Pure consciousness, in theatrical terms, is related to a state of mind in which the rasa is experienced. It is a state of mind in which both perception without attachment or with a critical distancing, and the process of appreciation and enjoyment take place together. It is an altered state of mind, which has got a deep link with the rasa experience. As William S. Haney says, …the audience can remain detached from all specific passions and thereby appreciate the whole gamut of possible responses without running the risk of being overshadowed by any one of them…rasa enables consciousness to experience the unbounded bliss inherent within itself, those levels of awareness associated with Pashyant and par. 26

The Indian concepts of para, pashyanti, madhyama and vaikhari are used in literary terms of expression to explain the gradual development of an idea from its un- manifested level of para to vaikhari, which is the verbal or any kind of expression. Haney cites that rasa experience operates on para and pashyanti levels of awareness and not on the level of outward expression as vaikhari: hence it helps in experiencing unbounded bliss. Therefore, in its various explanations, the pure consciousness and the rasa experiences are analysed and their experiential similarities in terms of altered states of consciousness are also observed. When Sankara explains the distinctions between the ordinary discursive and the higher state of consciousness called Nirvikalpaka Samdhi and Savikalpaka Samdhi, he makes distinctions between the dynamics of the knower, the known and the process of knowing, as “the resting of the mental activity in the pure Brahman in that form without the merging of the distinctions of the knower, the known and knowledge is called 26

William S HaneyII, Literary Theory and Sanskrit Poetics-Language, Consciousness and Meaning. Lampeter,UK: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1993, pp. 46-47.

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Savikalpaka Samdhi… Giving up the consciousness of the triple distinctions, being firmly established in the known only is the Nirvikalpaka Samddhi”. 27 According to Sankara, the triple distinction between the knower, known and the process of knowledge is not ‘real’ but rather an intellectual construct. Deriving linguistic examples, similarly, from Bharthruhari, the sound (process of knowing) and meaning (object of knowledge) of a word are both experienced in terms of the Self (knower). 28 This is a state in which the subject is united with the object, in such a way that the unity of language reflects the unity of pure consciousness or turiya at the source of thought. This, turiya or “the pure consciousness constitutes the basis of the latent impressions enlivened through the experience of rasa or aesthetic rapture – an experience in which the self savours the bliss of its own unbounded Self”.29 Yarrow, when he explains Pakarnnattam says that “the performance is intended to change the laukika (worldly) nature of things to the alaukika (non worldly) and the ultimate aim is to arrive at the nondualistic state in which performer, performance and reception are one”. 30 Yarrow clearly suggests a similar cognitive unison of the knowledge, knower and knowing during the course of performance. However, the performance structure of Pakarnnattam clearly reflects the Advaita Vedanta assumptions of the play of the ‘real’ and the ‘unreal’ put across by Sankara. Mediated by Pakarnnattam, the characters become present out of the performer and then become absent into his own body, after presenting the agony of being, marked by desires of lust, rage and desperations; as the performer winds up the performance by saying, ‘thus it happened like this’. The spectators are watching only one performer who represents several characters: the performer here is a site for the constant recurrence of presence and absence, which ultimately is non-existent in the field of theatrical representation. He is like the moving time and like the consistent creative female energy of the nature, Sakti, through which the eternal 27

Ibid., p. 40. Ibid., p. 41. 29 Ibid., p. 41. 30 Ralph Yarrow, Indian theatre: Theatre of origin, Theatre of Freedom. Surrey: Curzon Press. 2001, p. 79. 28

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Lila of creation, maintenance and destructions are played. Ironically, all that is perceived are some physical movements, some facial movements or hand gestures which create a meaning and eventually ananda. It is like a constant play of maya or the perceived unreal. “Maya is said to be the power by which brahman is concealed and by which a distortion, in the form of apparent world, takes place”. 31 Maya is a philosophical concept that is closely related to lila or playfulness. It implies that the truth or knowledge, Vidya that is imperceptible is always concealed by Avidya, ignorance (of the truth of life) or maya – the ‘cosmic illusion’. Pakarnnattam justifies this principle through its performance since what we perceive isn’t real but only the experience that is gained out of our perception is real. The histrionics are only a ‘cosmic illusion’ or only the means to realize ananda. Conclusion In this chapter, I have examined a range of practical and philosophical concepts relating to the actor’s consciousness by exploring Natyasastra, Abhinavagupta and Kudiyattam. Natyasastra’s approach to consciousness is particularly relevant in this book since it is approaching the actor’s consciousness through the practice. The practice of acting in Kudiyattam is significantly different to that of Natyasastra, particularly owing to Pakarnnattam, which helps an actor to exercise his own freedom to intervene into the text and enter into the meta time where the logical narrative is cut across. Pakarnnattam or the performance in meta time alters the consciousness of the actor by rousing his spontaneity and imagination skills from pashyanti and making him a pure presence or a source of ananda.

31

William M Indich, Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta. Deihi: Motilal Banarsidass. 2000, p. 5.

Conclusion The intention of this book was to study the links between rasa and altered states of consciousness, how physical actions alter the consciousness of the actor. This book also intended to investigate how the actor training of Kudiyattam systematically trains the consciousness of the actor. My book, thus was an effort to place the actor’s consciousness as a physical category which is necessarily linked to bodily actions – physical actions altering the consciousness of the actor. In doing this I tried to analyse actor’s consciousness by relating to the approach of the Natyasastra in this regard – rasa theory explained and understood through analysing and describing the means of histrionic representation - acting. In the first chapter of this book I have mapped the available theoretical material on the actor’s consciousness from the perspective of consciousness studies, relevant arguments from the perspective of performance studies and practical examples from a range of noted actor trainers necessarily related to the actor’s consciousness. From the analysis of theoretical writings of Yarrow and Malekin, MeyerDinkgräfe and Nair what is lacking is a precise and useful, practical methodology, a tangible performance which clarifies some of their arguments. Actor trainers like Stanislavski and Grotowski on the other hand failed to devise a system that reflected elements of extra-daily levels of consciousness in training. I then moved to the analysis of the Natyasastra’s approach to actor’s consciousness in the second chapter. Here I also discussed the actor’s experience of rasa. I had discussed and analysed the actor training of Kudiyattam in greater detail including a critical analysis of some of its acting devices. Finally in the third chapter, I discussed marked distinctions between brahmaananda and rasa, particularly by discussing Abhinavagupta’s critical thoughts on rasa theory. I have clearly argued how actions are helpful in altering consciousness. I also discussed intimate connections betw-

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een the philosophies of practice between Yoga and Kudiyattam, specific breathing exercises in Kudiyattam and provided detailed analysis of Pakarnnattam. When I explained the concept of the pashyanti model of acting proposed by Malekin and Yarrow in the first chapter, I described a cardinal problem related to spontaneity of the actors that might affect the performance. I also mentioned the example of Kathakali since its performance structure provides a space for the actor to improvise and insert his/her own imaginative segments into the performance. Such performances known as manodharmam are part of the performance though they are treated by the actors as an independent to the rest of the performance since they can be free to improvise their own performance piece in such interludes. To explain this further, usually for any Kathakali performance there are songs sung by specially trained Kathakali singers which serve the purpose of dialogue or monologue by the characters. Apart from singers there are drummers who participate in the performance. During manodharmam the singers are free to go backstage and may come back when the actors are just about to finish their improvising, though the drummers still need to remain on the stage. Thus in a Kathakali performance clear boundaries are set between actor’s improvisations and structured acting. As far as Kudiyattam is concerned, improvisation works quite differently since the actors insert imaginative sequences right from the stage of creating their own Attaprakaram or performance text. It is also not rare to improvise on stage since there are enough chances for the actors to exercise their imaginative skills. The actors also need not wait for their opportunity to improvise as in manodharmam. However, since the whole performance itself is improvised from the very beginning actors are more likely to adhere with the structure that they have already created. This does not mean that the actors are not spontaneous on the stage, but any improvisations that they make during each performance fall well within the structure that they already created and rehearsed with the drummers. The performance is thus benefited from creating lesser confusions. Moreover, the theatrical devices used in Kudiyattam are more natural including the music used in performance when compared to contemporary theatre. Since the drummers also are provided

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adequate training in improvising and being supportive of actors’ improvisations, spontaneity of actors will not surprise them and would not create any confusion in the total performance. In addition, performances like Kudiyattam are free from the exceeding influences of technology that we find in contemporary theatre. A microphone or electrical lights are the only un-natural means that one may find in Kudiyattam. It is not unusual at all to perform for the three wicks of the lamp lighted in front on the stage especially in temple theatres. Distancing or replacing the human factor with technology in performance could be a major problem and a hindrance to spontaneity. The Kudiyattam model of theatre could be adapted to suit the contemporary stage. Actor training is the major factor here to enable the whole crew to perform from their pashyanti level of consciousness. Kudiyattam shows definite traces of Yogic breathing practices in its eye and physical training. The physical training offered by Kudiyattam also benefits the non-Kudiyattam performers since they learn to alter their consciousness through some of the acting techniques such as applying breath to the spine. A trained Kudiyattam performer need not necessarily stand in the bent knee posture to benefit from the physical principles of application of breath to the spine. The training also trains the actor and the supporting members of crew to be highly imaginative. The spontaneity need not cease with the training but could easily be transferred to the performance. I am putting forward a conclusion of my argument, developed throughout this book, which now needs further, empirical research. Meyer-Dinkgräfe mentions that during the performance that is from the state of cosmic consciousness the paradox between discipline and spontaneity disappears. This is the state of consciousness where there is a complete co-existence between waking, dreaming and sleeping states and also the pure consciousness. I had also provided an example from my own performance of Kudiyattam which supports this argument in the first chapter. What Meyer-Dinkgräfe maintains about the relation between spontaneity and discipline is true in this sense (though I am not sure if he had any specific performance form in mind when writing this. It would have been useful if he had made references to any performance form which justifies these claims.)

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When the consciousness is altered in performance the actor becomes spontaneous and a radiating presence. Training also narrows the borderlines between daily and extra-daily in the actor. The performance thus establishes the union between body and consciousness, one complementing the other. Meyer-Dinkgräfe also mentions that the performer in unity consciousness will be able to go beyond the intentions of the dramatist and fully appreciate the feelings of the character, thus exploring the unexplored possibilities of the text. This argument is significant in the specific context of Kudiyattam since actors, right from the moment of devising performance and reading a text intervene into it and write their own performance texts or Attaprakaram. They then further improvise within the performance text (the performance text might only say ‘describe a garden’ for instance. But it is up to the actors to design and define their own garden though they have learnt ‘description of garden’ during their training. When they finally enact a garden modifications are always made to make it suitable to the particular situation) which details each and every single segment. Finally when they rehearse there are further additions or modifications and the improvisations continue also when performing it to an audience. So what the audience watches is the actor’s version as a result of his three fold intervention into the text – play to Attaprakaram, Attaprakaram to the noting of detailed acting sequences and the final stage of intervention during the rehearsal process. The actor does require a ‘fully concentrated mind’ to carry out these interventions in a sensible way and he is by no means expected to distract from the total structure of the play. Meyer-Dinkgräfe’s observation is completely justified in this sense. Nair maintains that breath is restored during a performance. According to him it is the restoration of breath that alters the consciousness of the actor. He does discuss about the Yogic dance of nadanam, which is performed by Siddha Yogis. This justifies the claim that restoration of breath is possible during physical actions. When describing Nair’s arguments in the first chapter I had expressed my concerns regarding the training that an actor needs to obtain, particularly if it needs to be in line with that of a Yogi - in which case what is the distinction (or relation) between meditation and theatre.

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Parallel to this I also have clear links of how Tampuran skilfully matched meditation techniques to performance as I explained in the third chapter. Hence it is clear that an expert in both meditation and performance can research the links between meditation and performance and how both these could be complementary to each other. Nadanam is taken as an example of a total performance where breath, body and consciousness are all focused to one direction – attainment of ananda. Nair does not seem to have known a great deal about nadanam and he himself has left this for his further research. In the third chapter of this book I had referred to the workshops undertaken by Nair and myself in order to examine some of the physical principles of Kudiyattam in the light of Siddha Yoga. We had also found several interesting links that justify claiming an intimate relation between performance and meditation practice. In this sense, is it true to consider performance as a meditative process? If meditation is the concentration of body and consciousness focused on ananda, performance is the concentration of body and mind focused on rasa. The principles are the same though the results are varied and of varied nature. In this sense, it is justified to posit that performance is meditation in motion, actor’s meditation in motion to be precise. Based upon the research that I carried out throughout this book I conclude as follows: a. Consciousness can be altered by means of physical actions and more importantly it is possible to train an actor in order to alter his consciousness during performance. The actor training of Kudiyattam justifies that consciousness as a physically grounded category. b. Pakarnnattam provides the actor with a ‘gap’ in time, a potential spatio-temporal sphere to access his extra daily levels of consciousness. c. The basic principles of Kudiyattam actor training could be skilfully adapted to suit Western actor training especially in the context of imagination training and improvisation.

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There is a large area of research which I have left unaddressed in my third chapter. There is lot of potential in enquiring further into the links between Siddha Yoga and Kudiyattam which would contribute to a new approach to actor training - the consciousness actor training.

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