Table Of ContentSPACE, TIME AND WAYS OF SEEING
This volume explores the constitutive role played by space in the performance
of Kutiyattam. The only surviving form of Sanskrit theatre, Kutiyattam is
distinctive in terms of its performance conventions and its unique culture
of extensive elaboration and interpretation. Drawing upon the concepts of
phenomenology on the processes of perception, particularly on the works
of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, it
analyzes the role of space in the communicative structures of performance
of Kutiyattam and its contribution to the production of meaning in theatre,
especially in the context of contemporary theatre.
The book explores the theatrical event as a phenomenon that comes into
existence through a triangular relationship among the ways of doing of the
performers, the ways of seeing of the audience and the space which brings
them together. Based on this formulation, Kutiyattam is approached as a
theatre of elaboration, made possible by the intimate, proximal ways of
seeing of the audience, in the particular theatrical space of the kūttampalaṃs,
the temple theatres, where Kutiyattam has customarily been performed for
more than five centuries.
This volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of
cultural studies, theatre and performance studies, cultural anthropology,
phenomenology and South Asian studies.
Mundoli Narayanan teaches at the Department of English, University
of Calicut, India. He has a PhD from the University of Exeter, UK, has
also taught at the University of Sharjah, Miyazaki International College,
Japan, and has been a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
Shimla. He writes in both English and Malayalam, and his major areas of
research and publication are Theatre & Performance Studies, traditional
Indian performance and Cultural Studies. He has also done extensive
documentation in association with UNESCO, CDiT and VEDIKA.
SPACE, TIME AND WAYS
OF SEEING
The Performance Culture of Kutiyattam
Mundoli Narayanan
First published 2022
by Routledge
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-72420-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-00037-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17237-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To the memory of
Killimangalam Vasudevan Nambudiripad
CONTENTS
List of figures viii
Acknowledgements x
Note on diacritical marks xiv
Introduction: the spatial turn 1
1 Space and ways of doing/seeing in performance 27
2 Historical contexts of Kutiyattam: incorporation
into temples 57
3 Physical space and the culture of elaboration 80
4 Performance time: digressions and dissonance 125
5 The training space: the body as live archive 160
6 The socio-cultural space: structures of ideology and
knowledge 180
Conclusion: contemporary spaces 244
Glossary of frequently used terms 266
Bibliography 269
Index 279
vii
FIGURES
1.1 Triangular relationship among theatre space, performers
and spectators 50
1.2 Triangular relationship among theatre space, ways of
doing of the performer and ways of seeing of
the spectator 51
1.3 Relationship between the ways of doing of the actor
and the ways of seeing of the spectator within
a theatre space 52
1.4 Multiple layers of social space in theatre 54
3.1 A view of the location of the kūttampalam at the
northwest corner (front-right) of the Vaṭakkuṃnāthan
Temple precincts 81
3.2 The kūttampalam at the Kūṭalmāṇikyam Temple, Irinjalakuda 82
3.3 A view of the architectural design of the
kūttampalam – side elevation. (From Kanippayyur
Damodaran Nambudiripad (Commentary), [Chennas
Narayanan Nambudiripad], Tantrasamuccayam:
Śilpabhāgam, 94.) 82
3.4 A free illustration of the floor plan of a kūttampalam.
A – Outer doors; B – Backstage; C – Stage entrance door;
D – Stage exit door; E – Miḻāvu (drum) players; F – Stage;
G – Actor’s position; H – Lamp; I – Naṅṅyārs (rhythm)
players; J – Prime audience area; K – Aisles/lower
audience area 84
3.5 Illustration of a kūttampalam floor plan (From
Kanippayyur Damodaran Nambudiripad (Commentary),
[Chennas Narayanan Nambudiripad], Tantrasamuccayam:
Śilpabhāgam, 94.) 84
3.6 Stage at the kūttampalam at Vaṭakkuṃnāthan Temple,
Thrissur 85
3.7 Stage at the kūttampalam at Kūṭalmāṇikyam Temple,
Irinjalakuda 86
viii
FIGURES
3.8 Stage at the kūttampalam at Śrīkrsna Temple, Guruvayur 86
3.9 Carvings on the stage ceiling of the kūttampalam at
Lakṣmaṇa Temple, Muzhikkulam 87
3.10 An uncredited, undated photograph, probably from
the 1930s, of members of the audience sitting on
the stage during a performance of the Vidūṣaka at the
kūttampalam at the Vaṭakkuṃnāthan Temple, Thrissur 88
3.11 A view of the audience space from the stage, at
Vaṭakkuṃnāthan Temple, Thrissur 89
3.12 The stage lamp with the three wicks in performance;
with Kalamandalam Raman Chakyar as Sugrīva in
Bālivadhāṅkam of Abhiṣēkanāṭakam 91
3.13 The small circle of light created by the stage lamp;
with Kalamandalam Sangeeth Chakyar as Rāma and
Kalamandalam Raman Chakyar as Śūrpaṇakhā in
Śūrpaṇakhāṅkam of Āścaryacūdāmaṇi 91
3.14 The make-up and costume of a pacca (green – heroic)
character; Kalamandalam Sangeeth Chakyar as Rāma in
Śūrpaṇakhāṅkam of Āścaryacūdāmaṇi 93
4.1 Temporal/spatial digressions in performance 142
7.1 A performance of Jaṭāyuvadhāṅkam on the proscenium
stage at Nāṭyagṛham, Sangeetha Nataka Academy,
Thrissur, on 3 January 2002, with a view of the audience 247
7.2 A performance of Bhagavadajjukīyam at the kūttampalam
at Kerala Kalamandalam, Cheruthuruthi, on 31 July 2002 248
7.3 A performance of Jaṭāyuvadhāṅkam on the proscenium
stage at Nāṭyagṛham, Sangeetha Nataka Academy,
Thrissur, on 3 January 2002 249
7.4 A performance of Nāgānandam at Regional Theatre,
Sangeetha Nataka Academy, Thrissur, on 6 June 2010 250
7.5 Illustrations for changes in male and female headgear from
the notebook of Painkulam Rama Chakyar 253
7.6 Contemporary female headgear after the changes
brought about by Painkulam Rama Chakyar; Artiste:
Usha Nangiar 254
7.7 & 7.8 Pages from the class diary of Painkulam
Rama Chakyar, dated 25 September 1967 and 27
September 1967, detailing the teaching/learning
activities undertaken in the Kutiyattam class
at Kerala Kalamandalam 259
ix
