Mahishasuramardinistotra, cilappatikAram, and Tamil dance tradition

[Palaniappa]

While I was searching for something else in the Indology archive, I came
across Madhav Deshpande's translation of Mahishasuramardinistotra in May 1994.
As I read it, I noticed the following interesting passage.

#9
jaya jaya japyajaye jayashabda parastutitatatpara vishvanute ||
jhaNa jhaNa jhinjhimijhinkritanoopura sinjitamohita bhootapate ||
natita nataardhanatiinatanaayaka naatitanaatyasugaanarate ||
jaya jaya he ... || ||

be victorious! be victorious! whose victory should be sung, praised by
the whole universe ready to sing the praise extolling her victory ||
who attracted the attention of shiva by twinkling of bells making
various sounds of dancing ||
who delights in beautiful singing and in dance-drama presented by a
leading dancer acting out the role of an actress with half of his body ||

The dance mentioned here is called "koTukoTTi" in Tamil. It was supposed to
have been performed by ziva as ardhanArIzvara at the time he destroyed the
three forts. It is mentioned in the late CT work kalittokai and the epic
cilappatikAram. It is one of the famous 11 dances mentioned in cilappatikAram.
In fact, in cilappatikAram 28.67-77, the performance of such a dance in the
presence of the cEra king by a dancer by name 'kUttaccAkkaiyan" is described.
Apparently, the dancer was trained to move only one part of the body and the
associated ornaments.

Considering the almost jati-like flow of the text, I wonder if it was really
created for a dance performance. Do we have any certainty about the
authorship? Could it have been an somebody other than zankara?


Regards

S. Palaniappan