Mohiniyattam

There is no precise historical evidence to establish the antiquity of Mohiniyaattam, the classical female dance-tradition of Kerala. Probably it was evolved in the eighteenth century. In the court of king Swathi Thirunal who ruled Travancore (South Kerala) in the 19th century Mohiniyaattam flourished along with Bharatanatyam, the classical dance of Tamil Nadu. The post -Swathy period witnessed the downfall of Mohiniyaattam. ‘The dance of the enchantress’ slipped into eroticism to satisfy the epicurean-life of some provincial satraps and feudal lords. Poet Vallathol rescued Mohiniyaattam form total extinction. It was added to the curriculum of Kalamandalam in 1930.

The make-up and dressing of Mohiniyaattam is simple and semi-realistic. The dancer’s face is made up of yellow and pink-paste. She wears sandal-colored jacket and sari. Jasmin flowers adorn her tied-up hair. She decorates her eyes with KAJAL and the lips are reddened. The traditional theme of Mohiniyaattam is devotion to and love of God. Vishnu or Krishna is more often the hero. This dance-form explores all the subtleties of the expression, Sringara, in all the items performed. We feel his invisible presence when the heroine or her friend (Sakhi) portrays him through hand-gestures, soft, undulating and circular body movements. In the slow and medium tempos the dancer finds adequate space for improvisation and suggestive facial-expressions, the invocation of Mohiniyaattam is known as CHOLKETTU. JATHISWARAM, VARNAM, PADAM and THILLANA are other items in a Mohiniyaattam-recital. Varnam is the piece de resistance in Mohiniyaattam.Thillana unfolds to the audience the dancer’s rhythmic virtuosity. Padam focuses on ABHINAYA. Mridangam, Violin and Edaykka lend excellent support to the vocal music and to the visual-rhythm of Mohiniyaattam.

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Thullal

Thullal is the successor of Kathakali. Kunchan Nambiar who lived two centuries ago, wrote the text of Thullal and choreographed it for the stage. All the forty or more Plays of Thullal composed by Kunchan Nambiar are replete with humor, sarcasm and social-criticism, Thullal has three divisions- Seethankan, Ottan and Parayan. The distinction between them lies mostly in the make-up and costumes and to some extent in the metres and the rhythm applied. Thullal often reflects the literary, artistic and cultural life of the medieval Kerala. In Thullal, episodes from the Indian Epics are retold in simple Malayalam poetry. The stylized singing of the lines carries with it the beauty of the dravidian metres. A rasika once called Thullal ‘the poor man’s Kathakali’. Thullal is a solo performance. As a semi-stylized dance-theatre-narrative, Thullal is a more popular entertainment than other temple-arts. The performer establishes powerful communication with the audience through verbal-acting which is interspersed with humor and social references.

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‘My lifetime devotion to thidambu nritham was God’s plan’ – Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri

Ranjan Mohapatra

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is the finest exponent or master in Indian temple dance thidambu nritham. Puthumana is the sunshine on stages at this age also. The voyage was long more than sixty years. Thidambu nritham is a ritual dance performed by carrying the thidambu (replica of the deity of Gods and Godesses) on head. Puthumana is one and only blessed artist in whose performances the ritualistic signs of the presiding God or Godess appear, but unintentionally. Puthumana’s thidambu nritham had been heavenly unique, magical and unsurpassed. The humble artist says ‘I haven’t done anything. I apply whatever I’ve learned and do as disciplined, dedicated daily practice in the early hours of the morning. It’s only God’s grace and blessings of all gurus and elders’. Puthumana applies his full concentration on the performance with great zeal and enthusiastic attention whole the time. Puthumana evokes and invokes to the inner soul and offer prayers to keep in mind the permanent denotations, gestures and demeanor of the governing god and goddess, before entering on stage. Puthumana speaks about thidambu nritham. ‘At the commencement of the dance, I forget any kind of mental or physical uneasiness in me. My reverence is to god to enter into my heart and foot movements. I do not see or hear what others do at that time.’. Puthumana showcase his intellect and prowess as manodharmma in a very sensible style. His awareness in the natyashastra  and basics is huge. He thinks that his consecration to thidambu nritham was decided earlier by God. He surrenders to god like a solemn vow, which he thinks comes out as his contributions. Puthumana says his inner feeling is that there is a consistent harmony and congruity between his heart and gods he present on his head, and less with the human beings. Art can be used as a weapon for continued existence, but once an artist start copying actions from somewhere else, no longer the art will remain unique. Thidambu nritham is a part of Indian culture, parentage and heritage. He says ‘I believe that if we do lose its value in the presentations, it will not continue as thidambu nritham, and become some other dance; whether in temple or exterior. And, when the value of any temple dance is frittered away, it may cause dislike to the audience.’ Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is abiding his ceaseless connections and eternal love with the temple gods.

 

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Thidambu Nritham – a spiritual journey - Anil

 

I remember an interview in all india radio 18 yrs back – guest of honor the legendary icon, thidambu nritham dance exponent and the ‘celestial thaandava’ dancer Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri; titled ormayile yavanika. He had given enlightenment to the listeners and replies for all the questions of the interviewer. Thousands of his admirers were not aware of his hardships and trainings. His debut performance was in Kanhangad, his native place and the event was roughly 50 yrs before; still, he is at the top. In those days, thidambu nritham was observed as a ritual in temples. Govindan Namboothiri has invigorated the dance – brought in noteworthy innovations, without rousing the originality and ritualistic traditions. ‘My ambition and passion since the age of 5 has been thidambu nritham and it continues..’ what else other than a life committed to thidambu nritham dance.. He explains the rudimentary methods and painful experiences he had during his initial days of training. ‘chavittithadal and training in the four fundamental rhythms are the basics’. Even now, he wakes up at 3 early in the morning and trains himself and disciples thidambu nritham till sunrise. Thidambu nritham is celebrated in a temple during annual temple festival. ‘In a temple, though the seva samiti invites me for the performance, it is the chief priest who gives final permission to me, because it is a divine art.’ In his words - ‘Thulasi, Chethi, Jamanthi and Mulla are main flowers used to decorate thidambu’. The color of the flower to be highlighted in the  garland depends on the main deity. ‘The dance begins with chenda melam followed by an important ritual ‘kotti urayikkal’ beginning at  north side if main diety faced eastwards, and if faced westwards, the ritual begins at the south side’. There are customary rhythms based on which thidambu nritham is structured – thakiladi, adantha, champada and panchaari further to conclude with ekathaalam. Govindan namboothiri had sacrificed each instant of his life for the development of art thidambu nritham. Several cultural organizations and temples honored the exceptional artist over the years, and the spiritual journey of the thidambu nritham legend continues. Unsurpassable divine dancer!

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A talk with renowned Indian thidambu nritham exponent Kalasree Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri.

This is the interview with by Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri after winning the Kerala tourism award. He shares his experiences of his earlier days of thidambu nritham, praise won from different parts of India and his views on thidambu nritham. His comments on other kerala classic dance form Kathakali, chakyarkoothu  and evaluation on other dances. He remembers friendship with different generations of dancers throughout the past decades.

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri got the highest award for any artist in the state of Kerala. He was very happy to know about the award and welcomed it with a smiling satisfied face. In between the appreciations through telephone calls and e-mails, he shares rare experiences on thidambu nritham dance which he has shared with none. As an introduction he told us that it is the emotional connection with the people of Kerala that impelled him to allow this interview. 

Hussain: On this fortunate occasion of winning an award, you will be recollecting many treasured moments in your temple dance career?

Puthumana: During my childhood at 5, I saw performances of thidambu nritham at temples for the first time. In those days, I used to emulate the steps after coming back home. All my elders and relatives told my father that ‘this boy has a taste for thidambu nritham’. But my father had different expectations on my education to complete a minimum of SSLC grade. My maternal uncle encouraged me to train and undertake thidambu nritham as the main in my life.

Hussain: Thidambu nritham is a less known dance in India. There are other dances Kathakali, Ottan thullan and chakyarkoothu which are discussed far and wide. What are your memories of these dances?

Puthumana: Those memories were kept secretly in my mind, please don’t think another way. Whenever I think about childhood memories of these dances, I feel happy. To name, there are several artists touched me. In kathakali,  Kalamandalam Krishnan nair, Pattikkanthodi, Kunchukkuruppu, Chemancheri, Kalamandalam Gopi. Similarly, there are many graets in ottan thullal, and in chakyarkoothu.

Hussain: It is been more than fifty years after you started debut performance. What is the contemporary importance of this dance?

Puthumana: In my opinion, currently the dance is important in every sector of life. I need many hours to explain this to you.

Hussain: How will you self assess the central feature of your dance performances? 

Puthumana: The central themes of my performance are love towards mankind and love towards nature.

Hussain: How did you interpret and relate modernization in thidambu nritham? 

Puthumana: Originality in thidambu nritham dance at temples should be retained. I was sadly following the radical change in this art form. There were changes in Kathakali and Chakyarkoothu, but not this much. The uniqueness in ottan thullal and bharathanatyam has attracted me extremely. I kept telling to myself in mind how cautiously the artists go on with the tradition. Whether they get recognition or not, whether the audience likes it or not the dancers should not slew away from the advice of gurus. 

Hussain: While the legends in Kathakali and similar classical dance forms were celebrated, you were also evaluated point by point and applauded sufficiently. How do you look at this action of review?

Puthumana: I was surprised to see that many groups of supporters have scrupulously considered and criticized my performances. A lot of them have selected me as a topic in temple dance and wrote a book about me! People from different generations and different tastes in art are writing about me. I believe that through this action, they try to uncover many levels of India temple dance. 

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A conversation with Thidambu Nritham Legend Kalashree Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri

'thidambu nritham art is my life'

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is a noted Indian dancer at temples. His thidambu nritham beats are taken in the hearts of devotees as well as dance followers in Kerala. He has captured back his dance life which would have been ended in the beginning itself. This happened due to unswerving hard work from him. In the initial segment of his dance life he loved Kathakali, the classic art of Kerala; same time committed life to thidambu nritham. Govindan namboothiri speaks on his extraordinarily long and outstanding dance life.

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri is a famous malayali temple dancer who has deepened Indian dance with basic elements blended using variety of experimented steps. Puthumana was born in Chemmattamvayal street in Kanhangad of Kerala state. Enthralled by thidambu nritham rhythms at the age of 5, he had no interest other than enacting this dance form. He has experience of more than six decades in thidambu nritham and is still active. Puthumana has done thousands of performances, won many International awards, Indian awards and Kerala state awards. Puthumana, one of the greatest dancers in India says ‘When I look back sixty years, I think whatever thidambu nritham I’ve performed till today was concentrated to refine society in one way or other. I think it is god’s blessing which permitted me to center, center and center at a point. Now you can see that point as a shining star’. Puthumana has immense respect for his village Balla and Kasaragod district. We got an opportunity to spend few hours with Puthumana at Kanhangad. He opens up on the topic of thidambu nritham, his life and present stands.

Santhosh : Sir, you started watching and following thidambu nritham sixty years back and completed nearly fifty years with it. You were paying attention to the drifts and changes, but maintained a distance from that torrent. Now also your situate stay unmoved. In all your recitals, there is a jumble of old traditions and legacy; the other side of a contemporary approach of implementation. Can you explicate on the particulars?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: You see, only because of these reasons I was one of the most sidelined artists in our country. The thinking has come from the beliefs that only from imperial surroundings and high education novelty materialize. I only backer for the call for, and consequence of these sophisticated handling. There are bigger and deeper dispute in our essentials, why to disregard?

Now, I will tell about myself. I fitted in to a category of people from a backward area in northern part of Kerala. In the opening steps in my recitals, I consciously put this in for people to understand me. You cannot map out this anywhere in Kathakali. By that amalgamation and fortification, I haggard out the crafts and approaches for the future. Many times I had told this.

Santhosh: You are described as a dancer went into the folk. Analogous to this portrayal, you are being depicted as not into modernization of dance and so on. How you look at this?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: The one and only purpose of my thidambu nritham dance is to express what I experience. The sensation comes from experiences. I can’t speak..my footsteps and footpath articulate a story. I merge all the pictures, bits, pieces, mini stories etc from my background. I do not overlook the divine is the foremost light in front. I should always build from my surroundings. I provide an individuality to myself as a thidambu nritham performer from my surroundings. I look to my adjoining places. Then, my dance starts in myself. Both are parts of the same process. Do you know what I do? Isolation, speedy augmentation, powerful soreness, frantically gladness.. I bring into dance, nowhere only in the steps. During thidambu nritham, I take myself to childhood. There I set up a bond sandwiched between me as a child and neighboring. The process connect my inner and outer. You don’t mistake there is philosophy here, there is no values. Again and again, the intention is the oneness. Here I should track ceremonies when I dance with gods.

Santhosh: Do you go with imaginary backgrounds in thidambu nritham dance?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: You should be very conscious about place, sketches and suitable stepladders. Not only for a thidambu nritham dancer like me, for a writer, for an orator, for an artist, actor and all.

Santhosh: Do you remember your suffering and poor surroundings in a remote village during your childhood? You have written a lot about it. At this point in time, do you bear in mind anything?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: There are many memoirs about my early days in education. Being a child in those years, I was not interested to go to school. Do you know what my interest was? I wanted to take cattle to feed near the river and mountain valleys. I used to watch kathakali from evening till morning while I was very small kid. I used to think about kathakali and festival which will come up in the future and will not get sleep. Do you know, kathakali is normally accompanied by songs having an important effect. All those songs and steps were in my heart. I used to act out kathakali steps near river and valleys alone. My father required me to go and attend school. I wanted to become a thidambu nritham performer at temples. In all stages and states of my life, I had the ambition to become thidambu nritham artist. My school teachers used to ask all students in my class on their aim in life. Some answered ‘driver’, ‘doctor’, ‘engineer’ and ‘teacher’ by some others. To all those questions by teachers, I had a single answer ‘thidambu nritham artist’. Today at this age I do thidambu nritham practice every day because it is my life. I cannot even imagine a single day without my feet remembering and playing with it thakilati, atantha, chempata and panchari.

Santhosh: You began with few stages in temples. After that everything is history. You have done thousands of stages that has changed the inclinations in temple dance. It was like a silent movement in India. You have produced ineffaceable impressions in thidambu nritham. It was a very long journey of hardwork, dedication and a series of events. Could you share something about this extensive thidambu nritham cruise?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: What can I tell now ! You may refer to my thidambu nritham performances. I have been working for very long to reach this place.

Santhosh: Dance supporters identify your entry as beginning of a new wave in Indian dance. In Kerala, we have dance kathakali, there are many artists, writers, film directors, film actors and all who brought international appreciations like you, there are many artists in kathakali and ottamthullyal. What was your inspiration to move forward with thidambu nritham only?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: I told you, I will be happy only if I do thidambu nritham dance. I will not be satisfied with a day if I do not do that. It is an ingredient of my everyday life. My love for thidambu nritham is not for money, not for fame, not for recognition, not for award and not for anything else. I am doing what my heart tells.

Santhosh: You have been associated with many organizations. You are doing archetypal research in thidambu nritham and languages, thidambu nritham and literature, thidambu nritham and Indian culture. Your publications are quite popular. Your life, work, involvement and inputs in dance is like a mesmerizing dance for people from young age band. What is your advice to new generation?

Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri: I do not believe in any pressure to do or instructions. You know, concerning my dance life, I never obeyed my father, mother or teachers (his eyes become wet). I have high regard just before all of them, except in my passion for thidambu nritham. ‘You should become an officer and a good farmer’ my father told me, I couldn’t. I happened to become a thidambu nritham dancer. A human being is a product of his or her thoughts and situations. One should try to dig new pathways and go forward. Another thing never forget the past, without keeping in mind your past, how can the truth in you exist?

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Folk Dance Legend of centuries

Folk Dance Legend of centuries

Thidambu nritham exponent Puthumana Govindan Namboothiri overtook the years he is alive while living and became a legend in folk dance. He is one of the greatest dancers in India for the centuries. He has mesmerized two centuries the present and the last. The dance students of India and out of the country together speak out collectively that Puthumana has gone above and afar from the height of a recitalist. Puthumana is the soul of Indian folk dance. The quintessence of dance pace visits puthumana, not the other manner. The total globe onlooker how puthumana attain place of a legend. Puthumana began from naught. Puthumana has the benefit of kathakali, by no means endeavor to dance with it. Kathakali sets an archetypal state in India representing Kerala having masters. Conspicuous works of Puthumana came from thidambu nritham. ‘How can I grow if the world of art does not encourage me?’ Puthumana asks. He declares, in the beginning, I sat down immobile without deliberate effort on where to go. Oh! Now I cannot envisage what would have happened to me if I hang about at that state. From wherever - art came to me, conception came to me and thidambu nritham dance shaped me, not I shaped dance. Kathakali dance had set an example of typical teaching and preparations. My chronicle is unusual. True. Legends are formed in colossal, mysterious!

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