August 5, 2013: Almost three decades after it was reintroduced in Kerala based on years of research, Ashtapadiyattam is striving to yet again return to the state’s art circuit. This time, thanks to the efforts of an organization founded by a late artiste who conceptualised the age-old form in the late 1980s but failed to popularise it.

In 1985, the dance-drama celebrating the mythological Radha-Krishna love sought to make a comeback when chenda maestro Kalamandalam Krishnankutty Poduval presented Ashtapadiyattam on a few platforms. The maverick Kathakali drummer-scholar had conceptualised the long-lost theatre tradition based on guesswork following probe into the ballet whose origins has no less than two versions.

Art historians differ over the antiquity of Ashtapadiyattam. Some believe it is hardly 130 years old, given that the only available text for Ashtapadiyattam traces to Kochiite Ramavarman Thirumulpad, who codified it before staging the debut show in 1884 under the patronage of the then Edappally Raja.

Another section traces Ashtapadiyattam to an age before the birth of Kathakali and Krishnanattam — even managing to influence the two forms. That would turn the clock to the pre-17th centuries, but after the times of poet Jayadeva who lived in the 12th century in eastern India and penned the Gita Govinda that has couplets grouped into eights, called Ashtapadis.

Poduval, who died aged 68 in 1992, trusted the second notion, according to his son. “Hence he prescribed his Ashtapadiyattam characters the rudimentary costumes of Kathakali and Krishnanattam; even what could be before that when Koodiyattam was Kerala’s only classical theatre,” says Rajan Poduval, secretary of Kalasagar arts society that is instrumental in lending Ashtapadiyattam its newest layer of looks.

Today, the reinvented art form has a mix of Kerala’s stage-art forms. The two-hour production accommodates the make-up and movements of Kathakali, Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam, besides that of the State’s 20th-century experimental ballets. What’s more, it has Jayadeva and his wife Padmavati themselves making appearances, worshipping Lord Krishna and writing the lust-filled lyrics in 12 chapters.

While Krishna (by Kalamandalam Pradeep) sports a green-paint face and headgear that look like Kathakali’s, Radha (Sadanam Sreenathan) and Sakhi (Vellinezhi Haridas) have borrowed the entire female paraphernalia of the same art. The half-a-dozen Gopis are in Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam attire, while the Jayadeva-Padmavati couple (Kottakkal Sasidharan and Kalamandalam Veena Varrier) wears dress that has streaks of Bengali and Oriya aesthetics.

“I’ve seen my father’s Ashtapadiyattam trysts, include the rehearsals. I’ve tried to retain his share of ancientness, but then you have to compromise a bit in the new age,” says Chennai-based Rajan, whose Kalasagar completes 25 years this week, functioning from Kavalappara near Shoranur where Krishnankutty Poduval spent the autumn of his life.

The 1980s version spanned three hours and had a musician narrating the story on-off and singing the verses. That time Poduval’s son Kalamandalam Mohanakrishnan sang, which another son Muralikrishnan Kavalappara donned the role of Radha.

Chenda player Kalamandalam Vijayakrishnan, another son of Poduval and is the only artiste common to both the versions, recalls that the earlier narrative featured an instrumental concert as well. “Thrithala Kunhikrishna Poduval and I played the chenda, Kalamandalam Achunni Poduval the edakka, Balaraman the timila and Nelluvaya Narayanan Nair the maddalam,” he says.

Rajan said, “This time, we have the violin, mridangam, the veena and the flute as well.” Thrissur-based Krishna Kumar and his wife Kavitha have done the orchestration and choreography respectively. Senior Kathakali musician Palanad Divakaran and his daughter Deepa Pradeep are the singers in the current team.

The troupe debuted in Kalamandalam this summer. Now as the monsoons would recede, Rajan looks forward to venues for Ashtapadiyattam.

Source: The Hindu, DT. August 5, 2013.