The orange rays of the acting sun sets aflame the sky and the whole landscape is a bright orange Slowly the sun sets and the dark clouds of the night gather. The sloping roofs of the temple are silhouetted. The oil lamps are lit and the atmosphere takes an ethereal look. With a nod from the chief priest the huge temple lamp is lit, the drums start playing and as it reaches a crescendo I sit along with the others assembled on the floor almost transported to another world. Kerala - the yerdant land, the swaying palms, the tiled houses and the people in their stark white clothes, the temples, their rituals, festivals, music, dance and the folk arts –all form an integral part of the life and living of the Keralites.

Kerala known as Chera was in existence even in the 3^rd century B.C. the old Tamil works mention the Chera kings. The whole of South India was the home of the Dravidians. As part of Tamilagam, Chera had a lot of interaction with the country on the other side of the Western Ghats in religion, customs and language. In fact its contribution to Sangam literature is of paramount importance, llango Attigal the author of the treatise 'Silapadikaram' was the brother of a Chera king. With the advent of the Aryans there was a metamorphosis and they imbibed each other's culture. A lot of Sanskrit found its way into the language making it a unique one. In fact the Sanskrit word for Chera is Kera and alam means country. Sanskrit scholarship began shaping the cultural ethos of the region and produced Sanskrit poets and dramatists of the likes of Adi Sankara whose treatise Soundarya Lahari, etc., represent the highest form of this tradition. Theatre was a way of life and great literary dramatists like Bhasa and Harsha wrote Sanskrit plays. Many elements from the Natya Shastra was introduced in the native folk theatre to evolve a dance form peculiar to the land - The Kudiyattam and koothu.

The Kudiyattam is a unique style of enacting Sanskrit dramas. It is traditionally performed only by the Chakyars or a small sect of the Brahmin community attached to the temples. It is preceded by a number of religious rituals and the performance goes on for days. The Chakiyars also did the koothu or a solo performance. Here, he (the Chakyar) dons the rote of a Vidhushaka or jester. This Koothu or folk theatre goes by the name "Chakyar koothu". The "Silapadikaram' mentions the dance of the Chakkayan - a Brahmin versed in the four Vedas and a dancing expert from Paraiyur. He performs the koothu of the Ardhaneswara, donning the role of half-man and half-woman and extolling the virtues of both. This shows that the koothus were staged in the courts of the then ruling Perumals. In fact, in the 9th century A. D Kulasekhara Perumai composed the Sanskrit plays of Subhadra Dhananjayan and Tapati Samvaranam for kuttiyatam acting and brought about certain reforms in its presentation. Many of the slokas of the Vidhushaka is attributed to the court poet of Kulasekhars Perumal - Tolan. Tolan incorporated many non-textual elements and verbal elaborations by the Vidhushaka.

The Vidhushaka is a clown. He creates laughter He is an essential part of a kudiyattam performance as he sets the pace for the story. His is a solo performance, mono acting the character he portrays. While the rest of the cast speaks chaste Sanskrit, he has the liberty to talk in the Prakritha language or the local language. He is at once the companion of the hero, entertaining him, with freedom to visit the harems with message from the hero and vice-versa. He also makes me audience laugh. While normal mono actors talk to imaginary characters on the stage, the Chakyar in his koothu, chooses someone from the audience and treats him as the character in the story. He mocks at them, ridicules them and ingeniously brinos into relevance some event or episode from the story. With wit and humour he not only has the audience in splits but at the same time conveys to them knowledge and wisdom, tries to correct and expose the individual's defects. The Chakyar is the voice of the masses and servos the purpose of the media. Himself always inviolate, those at the receiving end of his sarcasms and jaunts have to just grin and bear, be it even the king, for as long as the Chakyar wore his outfit, taking action against him was incurring the wrath of the masses.
While the hero converses in Sanskrit, the Vidhushaka humorously parodies the speech in Malayalam interspersing his narration with witty remarks and humorous stories that not only provide laughter but also sets one thinking. Ha has malice towards none. His role thus becomes a much more important one than the hero himself. His dress is very peculiar. He wears a headgear or kiridam in red, black and white. It has small glass mirrors representing the 2000 tongues of Adiseshan signifying that he is as quick-witted as the tongues of Adiseshan and underlines the Chakyar's predisposition to sting. The headgear has a small tuft of red threads hanging like the hair. His body is painted white like a blouse. He wears a white dhothi like cloth which Is held at the back and puffed up like the back of a swan. His face is also painted white. Eyes are blackened and lines elongated till the temples. Two moustaches, one a drooping moustache and one raised up are drawn. A huge kumkum adorns his forehead. Vibhuthi is smeared on his face and on his body to look like a blouse. Red dots adorn his cheeks, tip of the nose, chin, chest and upper arms. 'He wears the poonal -sacred thread of the Brahmin community.
There is no music. It is a narrative style of slokas. The only accompaniment is the Mizhavu. It is a huge round jar with a narrow mouth covered tightly with leather. It was made out of clay in the olden times, but these days it is made of copper. The Mizhavu is usually played by person from the Nambiar community. The Kuttiyattam and koothu are performed mainly in the kuthambalam or temple theatre. Within the temple compound a little to the right of the main shrine the theatre is built. A stage is erected with a roof of its own in addition lo the main roof of the auditorium. The acoustics are perfect and such that not only can one see the artiste from any corner but can also hear every word uttered on the stage. The chief source of light is usually the light from the Nilavilakku or lamp For special occasions large torches and hanging lamps are lit giving the entire place an ethereal ambience. The Vadakunathar temple in Trichur boasts or a beautiful Kuthambalam and is one of the few in existence today.

The stage is set with two huge Nilavilakus or lamps being lit. With a nod from the temple priest the Nambiar starts playing the mizhavu. As the mizhavu reaches a crescendo the Vidhushaka walks in with a peculiar gait. He faces the Mizhavu and invokes the blessings of the Lord. Playing with the red tuft on his crown imagining it to be his hair he faces the crowd. From then on starts his communion with the audiences. The Chakiyars and the Nambiars flourished on the patronage afforded to them by the temples, which provided them with lands and met their other needs. They devoted all their time to the arts and had little time to tend their lands and farms which were gifted to them. With the Kerala Tenancy Act coming into force they lost their holds on the lands and the income from the temples became so meagre that the younger members had to give up practising the art. The art is thus languishing.

Mr. K. K. Rajendran, a Mumbai based Cost Accountant and Management consultant has taken upon himself the onus of giving a fresh lease of life to this dying art form. He has been a lone crusader in reviving and popularizing this art form and bringing the experience to audiences in cities-from the temple precincts onto the sabha stage. To achieve his purpose of reaching out to audiences even abroad, he performs the koothu in a language they understand and relate to. Lugging his mizhavu and temps he has several shows in India and abroad his credit. He draws parallels with present day conditions and social events relating them to history and mythology and he does so in Hindi, Gujarathi, Tamil, English....

Though an lyer and a non chakyar he was fascinated with the art form and bunked school to witness them at his native Trichur temple. He has had no formal training and yet mentally accepted the late Sri Paingulam Rama Chakyar as his Guru. The guru hearing of his dedication to perform art form blessed him with the title of Ekalavya. An opportunity to perform the koothu in Mumbai came his way when at a function he filled in for the main performers who did not turn up. Mumbai had not seen anything like this before and since then Rajendran went from one performance to another Until after 25 years of dedicated efforts the grand old man of chakyar koothu - Maani Madhava Chakyar acknowledged Rajendran as a chakyar and Rajendran came to be more popularly called Chakyar Rajan! Several titles have been bestowed on him by institutions including King the Kaanchi Mutt. The prestigious Kerala Sangeetha Natak Academy award for Chakyar Koothu incorporating the essence of Bhakthi and Vedanta was conferred on him "a non-chakyar, domiciled in Maharashtra for four decades". There have been criticisms from the purists to his unorthodox style. But he shrugs is off with a chuckle and that perfected mischievous innuendo. He has been invited to perform in Chennai several times. Speaking in Tamil with a Palakkad accent he has had audiences in Tamil Nadu which includes Mr. Karunanidhi and the actor Radharavi in splits. Titles have been bestowed on him by the erstwhile Chief Minister.

Having to contend with a society fed on MTV and Coke he says, "What are they doing on MTV Sat Menaka did not do to Vishwamitra? One is called an evil influence and the other culture? Drinking soma rasa is good but Coke is bad?" and the Vidhushaka holds a mirror to society. "In Kerala we are considered Tamilians. In Tamil Nadu we are Keralite brahmins, in Mumbai we are Madras... And to add to all this confusion I became a Chakyar So who am I at the end of it all? A "clown". And all the world loves a clown!

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