On July 25, the curtains went up on a rare performance of pavakathakali, a kind of glove puppetry that was once widely practised in Palakkad and its surrounding areas in Kerala. Kalyanasougandhikam, a classic from the traditional repertoire, Dakshayagam, which had not been performed for more than two decades, and the premiere of Balivadham was performed at Kottichetham Theatre at Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district.
Although it was almost wiped out in the fifties and sixties, the efforts of the late cultural doyenne Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, gave the art form a second lease of life. In 1968, Kamaladevi had set off on a mission to rejuvenate fading art forms of India. During a trip to Kerala, she chanced upon two puppets in a museum in Thrissur. Enquiries revealed that there was once a flourishing group of puppeteers in Palakkad who travelled with their glove puppets, staging episodes and excerpts from well-known Kathakali plays.
Koodiyattam Guru G Venu leads a workshop on pavakathakali conducted by Natanakairali at Irinjalakuda, Kerala in association with Bhuvana Foundation. | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat
Most people had no idea whether the group still practised the art form and how to get in touch with them. G Venu, Koodiyattam guru and founder of Natanakairali, recalls Kamaladevi entrusting him with the responsibility of tracing the puppeteers and trying to find out how it could be revived. A reluctant Venu, who was focused on Koodiyattam, took it up to locate puppeteers who performed pavakathakali.
“Eventually, we discovered that Chamu Pandaram, a member of the Andi Pandaram, a communityfrom Andhra Pradesh, who had settled in Paruthippully, a small, remote village in Palakkad, was still performing with their puppets,” recounts Venu.
It is believed that their ancestors from the Veera Guru Saiva community had come to Palakkad and settled here. Some of them were itinerant puppeteers who had settled in Palakkad around 200-250 years ago. One or two vintage puppets they had with them prove that Kathakali was a later addition to their repertoire, probably after they put down roots in Kerala. Initially, they must have used it to narrate and perform stories of a different kind. “Once, they realised that Kathakali was the dominant form of theatre in those days, they may have shifted to performing pavakathakali and remodelled their puppets for that,” reasons Venu.
After learning a padam or two (songs to which Kathakali plays are performed), the travelling puppeteers would stage an excerpt or an act from a major Kathakali play. “It was an ideal way to attract children and familiarise them with the basics of Kathakali. I have heard that ‘Raudra Bhiman’ (angry Bhiman) was one of their masterpieces,” says Venu.
A glimpse of a pavakathakali recital during a workshop conducted by Natanakairali in Irinjalakuda, Kerala in association with Bhuvana Foundation. | Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat
By the late seventies, the veterans of the art form had aged and youngsters in the community were not inclined to continuing the tradition, as it could not help them earn a living.
Venu met Chamu Pandaram, Karuppanan Pandaram, and Velayudhan Pandaram to see how the art form could be revived. “Kamaladevi came up with a scheme to give a second lease of life to pavakathakali. It was decided that Vijnanakala Veedhi at Chengannur, run by French Kathakali practitioner Louba Schild, would implement the programme to teach a batch of youngsters the rudiments of Kathakali. I was then working at the School of Drama in Thrissur and did not have an institution of mine,” says Venu.
Pavakathakali artist Ravi Gopalan Nair was in the first batch of artistes who were trained in the art form at Natanakairali (File Photo) | Photo Credit: GOPAKUMAR S
Arrangements were made for the Pandarams to stay there and learn. By then Chamu Pandaram had passed away. His son KC Ramakrishnan and nephew KV Ramakrishnan were in the batch at Chengannur. They went on to learn the songs of Kathakali and its movements.
Twenty months into the programme, Venu received a telegram from Kamaladevi informing him that she wanted a recital in Delhi. By then, Thottassery Narayana Namboodiri had made the puppets and costumes for the characters that the puppets represented. However, the play was not ready.
Setting the stage
Venu G says that most classical theatre forms in the world have a puppetry tradition. In India, for instance, Yakshagana has a puppetry show. So do opera (marionettes) and Kabuki (Banraku).
In an article on pavakathakali, Venu writes that the head and the arms of the puppets of pavakathakali are carved in wood and joined together with thick cloth cut and stitched into a bag. The puppeteer puts his hand into the bag and moves the head and hands of the puppet with his fingers.
No stage or platform was required for staging pavakathakali. The musical instruments used are the same as Kathakali – chenda, chengila, ilathalam etc. At least six people are required to stage a performance of pavakathakali. Usually, a lamp is lit and a small curtain is held in front of the puppets —like in Kathakali performances—before the performance begins.
“With just two weeks for the performance, we had no time to waste. Requesting all of them to come to Irinjalakuda where we were just beginning to give shape to Natanakairali, we conducted round-the-clock rehearsals,” remembers Venu.
All of them were provided accommodation and Venu also recruited his younger brother G Ravi to learn pavakathakali. Since Venu knew Kathakali and some puppetry, they redefined the entire play of Kalyanasougandhikam, based on an excerpt from the Mahabharata. It deals with an episode when Bhima goes in search of an exotic flower that Draupadi craves for and has a series of adventures, including meeting his half-brother Hanuman.
Sreenivasa Kunnambath, then a 20-year-old working at Paramekkavu Bhagavathy temple in Thrissur, goes down memory lane. He was one of those trained at Irinjalakuda. “A troupe was formed and we worked day and night to come up with a 30-minute recital of Kalyanasougandhikam,” he recalls.
A puppet of pavakathakali being manipulated during a workshop on pavakathakali conducted by Natanakairali in Irinjalakuda, Kerala in association with Bhuvana Foundation. | Photo Credit: Surya Chittore
Venu points out that since no one had any idea how pavakathakali had been performed in the past, he reshaped the play to be performed with the puppets.
The performance at the India International Centre in 1982 proved to be a hit. “Kamaladevi herself was distributing pamphlets with the synopsis, and the hall was packed,” remembers Venu. The troupe was flooded with offers for national and international tours. Sreenivasa reminisces about travelling to Europe and festivals in India with the troupe and performing plays such as Duryodhanavadham and Uttaraswayamvaram and winning accolades.
File picture of a pavakathakali performance at Natanakairali, Irinjalakuda. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
More than four decades after that landmark recital, Sreenivasa says: “We are all past 60. It is time to infuse fresh blood into the troupe. Otherwise, it will die out with our generation.”
It was decided to select youngsters from families of the Andi Pandarams and teach them the art. In association with Bhuvana Foundation, Natanakirali has been conducting a five-week workshop with seven students to rejuvenate pavakathakali with new practitioners and plays.
Workshop on pavakathakali conducted by Natanakairali in Irinjalakuda, Kerala in association with Bhuvana Foundation. | Photo Credit: Surya Chittore
The teachers are KV Ramakrishnan, KC Ramakrishnan, Sreenivasa, Kalanilayam Ramakrishnan and Unnikrishnan PP. The participants in the workshop are Haridas AK, Harish KR, Ratheesh R, Rajesh T, Kalamandalam Vasudevan, Sreekumar and Sachin.
“Under the leadership of Venu sir, we have also taught them Balivadham, which has been choreographed now,” adds Sreenivasa. He adds that these workshops and efforts are essential to keep alive traditional art forms that may have lost its mooring due to changes in our lifestyle.
“Many puppetry traditions, which existed in almost every region in Kerala, have vanished over the years. Onakali Pavakoothu, Nookuvidya Pavakali and so on were puppetry forms rooted in the region. As an agrarian lifestyle and joint families disintegrated, many such art forms faded away due to lack of patronage,” says Sreenivasa.
He adds how Nokkuvidya, for instance, once practised only by Moozhikkal Pankajakshi Amma has now been passed on to her granddaughter. “We need to teach traditional art forms to more youngsters and empower them financially too.”
Agreeing with this is Ratheesh, Velayudhan Pandaram’s grandson. Ratheesh says although he learnt some of the movement of the puppets from his father and grandfather, he did not know enough to stage a complete recital. “Along with my work as a vendor of pappadam and other side businesses, I plan to practise pavakathakali so that it does not become obsolete. I hope to teach my seven-year-old son too this art form.”
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