A typical performance of Mudiyettu spans around five to six hours and are done mostly in temples or Kutambalams. .

The Theatrics of Mudiyettu

Divya Suresh

After the initial research and couple of conversations with the artist about Mudiyettu, we arrived at the temple with a lot of expectations. It was a quaint little temple in a small town and to its one side was the green paddy field. The banyan tree inside the temple stood in one corner and claimed a tiny space without any qualms. A perfect setting for the performance, without much to distract us away from Mudiyettu.
K L Unnikrishnan, when we first met him was a little reserved but was warm and mostly humble. He is the chief artist(who plays Kali) and the head to this group of artists. There was a small stage where the preparations for the show had just begun, little did I know then that the stage had nothing to do with the performance. The whole group of artists, about twelve of them, seemed quite at home tying flowers for the attire and preparing the grand head gear and make up. Soon after that I did learn that it is a self-sufficient team of artists who handle each and every aspect of Mudiyettu themselves.
The very first step of Mudiyettu is Kalamezhuthu, the etching of a picture of the deity inside the temple. In this case, the picture is that of Goddess Kali. There were two or three from the team, who were drawing the kalam accompanied by the Asan(master) himself. K L Unnikrishnan who had inherited Mudiyettu from his father, who in turn had inherited it from his father, did the major part of the Kalam(drawing of Goddess Kali, in this art form) with such ease and finesse that when he said that this was his 996th performance as Kali, it came little as a surprise. He fondly recalled his childhood as always surrounded with Mudiyettu and at the age of ten he started accompanying his father on his trips to perform Mudiyettu in various temples. He used to perform the role of Lord Paramasivan then. Apparently there was no formal training involved for him, in learning and mastering this art form. From a tender age, in most cases in his group, they just start accompanying a learned master when he goes for his performances. The learning happens primarily through observation and instructions from the master. Any new addition to the team, starts his learning from the bottom of the ladder, doing the basic preparations for the performance. Then they start learning Chenda(a traditional drum), to understand and imbibe a sense of the beats since it is of foremost significance that an artist follows the rhythm of the beats even if he has only a trivial role in the entire show. Mudiyettu needs a minimum of 12 and up to 16 people to be successfully performed. A typical performance of Mudiyettu spans around five to six hours and are done mostly in temples or Kutambalams. The artists involved in this art form are predominantly men, even though in the recent times there are masters emerging willing to train women. K L Unnikrishnan has trained each and everyone in this group and also has trained several students the same way he was trained by his father. However when it comes to training women, he said as much as he believes that women are talented and as capable as men are he has never trained one. Primarily because he believes that it can be too physically demanding on the women as performances need to last several hours, without losing any vigour. Also, according to him, since this is part of a ritual and performed in temples mostly, many of these cannot be fulfilled by women at all times as per the customs. The performers used to be part of the communities of Kuruppu and Marar, while the instrument players, make up and costume artists belonged to other communities. Mr. Unnikrishnan mentioned that it is not strictly community specific anymore and once somebody joined the group for training, he can rise up to any level based purely on his talent and attitude these days.
There are seven characters throughout the performance; Lord Shivan, Sage Naradhan, Demon Dharikan, Goddess Kali, Kooli, Koimpidar Nair and Danavendra. The most surprising element about Mudiyettu for me was that it was unabashedly interactive, we the audience had a part to play in the whole performance. It was only an hour before the routine I realized that the stage will not be used for it and they will dance predominantly below that lone banyan tree in the quiet corner of the temple. And as the performance unraveled I learnt that it is not bound by space, the artists reveled around the temple pulling everybody in as the enactment progressed. This made it accessible to people of all communities, both backwards as well as forward alike and thus deemed the whole caste system irrelevant at a time when the caste system was the backbone of the society.
The pretext for Mudiyettu is the rising power of the demon Dharikan, who attained his clout after the blessing he received from Lord Brahma because of his years of penance. The rule of the demon king not only caused struggle among the people in his kingdom, but also an alarming level of insecurity in the Deva king Indiran. This dramatic dance art starts with sage Naradan sounding this concern of king Indiran to Lord Shivan and requesting him to finish the malicious rule of the demon king, Dharikan. This is the first scene among the seven scenes that form the whole performance of Mudiyettu. In the consequent scene, Dharikan enters the grounds showing off his apparent invincible powers. The third section begins with the chief artist playing the role of Kali, taking on the headgear after self-purification and much prayers. It is believed that once the artist adorns this headgear the spirit of Goddess Kali enters in to his body and the performance that ensues is in this possessed trance state. The on-lookers call out at this point, as they are believed to have taken up the role of Bhoothaganams(the army of Kali) and thus enable bringing in the spirits. It was amazing to see such a big crowd gathered at the temple especially for Mudiyettu and actively participating in this process. Soon after the artist took on the role of Kali there was this surge of energy which kept him revolving amidst the audience for a considerable time. As if this did not do enough to contain this outburst of verve, Kali danced around with her sword and at times even chased people. At one point, a crew member of ours was chased and he hugged his camera tight and ran for dear life, the whole crowd burst out in laughter. Surprisingly our camera man recovered from this attack quickly and was following around Kali with even more curiosity in no time.
The fourth scene is a conversation between Koimbida Nair and Kali. This is a section of significance as far as the literature of this Performance tradition goes. To release the intensity of the whole performance the scene that follows has the only comical character in the entire play, Kooli. This is a segment where Kooli resorts to pulling in people from the audience as part of the enactment and through her jests bring about a comical relief. Both the youth as well as the elderly erupted in to laughter repeatedly at this section, as the artist playing Kooli was quite spontaneous and involved everyone with much enthusiasm. Back to the solemn storytelling, the next scene depicts the battle between Kali and Dharikan, who are backed by Kooli and Danavendara respectively in the battle. We saw most action in this scene with all the four artists stepping synchronously to the beats and with their dance picking up tempo as the scene progressed. In the final scene Dharikan is beheaded by Kali and thus the triumph of Kali concludes the performance. Kali proceeds to bless the children among the audience and give away the flowers from her headgear, as an offering to the prayers of the devotees. The reverence to the artist who plays Kali stems from the belief that he is possessed by Goddess Kali during the entire performance. Infact towards the end of the routine after beheading Dharikan Kali spun out of control, unable to contain her fury and it took over three of the co-artists to subdue Kali. Finally the artist playing Kali collapsed after his headgear was taken off for the moment. While I believe that I possess a logical mind and tried reasoning this as theatrics, I have to admit there emerged a part within me which pondered if there was indeed a hand of an invisible divine presence in all this. I did get the blessings in person after watching the entire performance and was overjoyed that I was there to witness the whole thing. The icing on the cake was when I could go meet Mr. K L Unnikrishnan after he had changed and was chatting with his group. I had to ask him about his trance while performing as Goddess Kali, he said that he concentrated intently on the performance and after a while it just took over. No two performances can be the same and that he strived to improve and adapt to the surroundings each time he got on that arena. He added without any pretenses that he is truly grateful to have been able to do close to a thousand performances and he could not have done it without Goddess Kali’s blessings. When I pressed on and asked if he felt the presence of any supernatural powers, he humbly replied ‘Anyone who is disciplined and focusses on enacting Goddess Kali earnestly will be empowered to do justice to the performance. Who am I to call upon supernatural powers and talk about the presence of things beyond me?’
Mysteries have always appealed to me and his answer was the perfect puzzle for my mind to contemplate till the dawn. And while there is room for us to choose our own set of beliefs, the fact that Mudiyettu forages positivity among all who witnesses it is irrefutable. Even though Mudiyettu is based on a myth, it is of relevance to the community as it evolves with the social and psychological circumstances. Humans can relate to a scenario where evil forces gain power and are threatening to overthrow the peace and harmony, any day. With the victory of Goddess Kali, the belief that the benign forces will intervene and always lead the triumph of good over evil is reinforced.