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Krishnanattam

Krishnanattam is a dance drama form that originated in Kerala, India at the turn of the 17th century from the same tradition as Kutiyattam but focuses solely on episodes from the life of Krishna. It uses dance and mime to depict stories from Krishna's life from birth to ascension without words, as the actors do not speak and singing is done by two singers. It is performed only at the Guruvayur Temple in Kerala for Hindu audiences.

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863 views3 pages

Krishnanattam

Krishnanattam is a dance drama form that originated in Kerala, India at the turn of the 17th century from the same tradition as Kutiyattam but focuses solely on episodes from the life of Krishna. It uses dance and mime to depict stories from Krishna's life from birth to ascension without words, as the actors do not speak and singing is done by two singers. It is performed only at the Guruvayur Temple in Kerala for Hindu audiences.

Uploaded by

arjunalpine
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Krishnanattam

At the turn of the 17th century, Krishnanattam (Dance of Krishna)


developed from the same tradition as kutiyattam. It is a full-scale
form of dance-drama concentrating solely on episodes in God
Krishna’s life, from his birth to his ascent into heaven. In its spirit,
krishnanattam is pure bhakti art, as its function is to sing ecstatic
praise to the Dark Lord.

Krishnanattam differs from Kutiyattam in the sense that the


actors themselves do not speak. So singing is done by two
singers, and thus the actors can concentrate on abhinaya acting
as well as on dancing, which has a much more prominent role in
Krishnanattam than in Kutiyattam. Krishnanattam is performed
only in the Guruvayur Temple and it is intended exclusively for
Hindu audiences. That is why it is barely known outside Kerala.

The History

The bhakti poem Gita Govinda by the 12th-century East Indian


poet Jayadeva also gained enormous popularity in Kerala. It has
been and is still chanted in the temples. It led to an early form of a
Krishna play, Asthapadiattam, which was later, at the turn of the
17th century, replaced by Krishnanattam.

The creator of Krishnanattam was the poet Manadevan, born at


the end of the 16th century. It is said that he had a vision in which
the flute-playing Krishna appeared. This led Manadevan to create
his own praise for Krishna, the Krishna Geeti.
Krishnanattam was favoured by the rulers of the Zamorin dynasty,
which was in power for nearly 900 years, beginning in the ninth
century AD. After the decline of the dynasty, a krishnanattam
troupe was located at the Guruvayur temple in central Kerala. Only
Hindus are allowed to enter the temple, which is the only place
where Krishnanattam is now performed.

The Plays

The stories of Krishnattam, which cover the whole life cycle of


Krishna, an avatar of God Vishnu, are based on the Bhagavata
Purana, and they are always sung in Sanskrit. The episodes are
performed on eight successive nights, while the opening episode,
concentrating on the avatar of Vishnu, is repeated at the end of
the cycle, thus forming the ninth evening in the series.

In true Bhakti spirit, it is believed that merely witnessing a


krishnanattam is a meritorious act, bringing good karma to the
spectator. A kutiyattam performance is also seen as an offering
to Lord Krishna.

Some Characteristics

In many respects, Krishnanattam reminds one of Kutiyattam. The


costuming, dominated by a large skirt-like lower garment, is
similar in both genres, as are the gilded wooden ornaments. They
also both share the local, stylised and colourful make-up system.
There are, however, distinctive differences between the styles.

Firstly, as mentioned above, the actors do not use their voices in


Krishnanattam. Two singers from among the accompanying
musicians sing all the lines in the sopanam style, used for
chanting the Gita Govinda in the temples of Kerala.

The novelty of Krishnanattam was that the acting and the singing
were separated from each other. This allowed the actors to focus
on their abhinaya mime acting and dancing.However, the acting in
Krishnanattam is not as detailed as in Kutiyattam. This is perhaps
because krishnanattam is a form of bhakti worship, and a kind of
offering, and thus not a theatre form for connoisseurs, as
kutiyattam has been.

One speciality of Krishnanattam is that some of the characters


wear masks. They may be larger than a human head, and their
style is often naive and robust, even grotesque. Otherwise, the
outer aspects of krishnanattam are similar to those of kutiyattam,
although the variety of headgear in krishnanattam is larger.

As already mentioned, dance has a more prominent role in


Krishnanattam as in Kutiyattam. This is partly because the actors
do not have to recite or sing their lines. One reason may also be
that dance has a very prominent role in Krishna’s mythology.

Both mimetic abhinaya and non-descriptive nritta dance are


employed. Krishna himself dances, as do the milkmaids, Krishna’s
beloved ones. Krishnanattam's dance sequences reflect the
influence of local folk dances and underline the art forms’
emotional directness, a characteristic of bhakti art all over India.

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