[INDOLOGY] Question on kūṭiyāṭṭaṃ hastamudrās

[DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE]

  Dear all,

  Thanks to all those among you who kindly replied to my query, on- and
off-list. Now I have much more to tell my students about *kūṭiyāṭṭaṃ*! (and
am once again reminded of what a wonderful and supportive resource INDOLOGY
is: as usual, thanks to Dominik for having created and maintaining it!)

  *namaskaromi*,

  Diego

  Diego Loukota
     Assistant Professor
     Department of Asian Languages and Cultures - UCLA







On Fri, Apr 1, 2022 at 9:29 PM Nagaraj Paturi via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> The content and structure of not just the hastamudras, but the entire
> abhinaya  in the dance sections between lines of dialogue is part of the
> interpretative or commentatorial nature of  *kūṭiyāṭṭaṃ* performance
> technique.
>
> The actor plays the role of an aesthetic commentator or elaborator of the
> text throughout a *kūṭiyāṭṭaṃ* performance.
>
> Panikker K Ayyappa's small  5 page article  at
> https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.14939,
>
> particularly, the section Theatre of the Imagination
>
> may help in understanding this key aspect of *kūṭiyāṭṭaṃ* performance
> technique.
>
> The content of the gestures in the dance sections between lines of
> dialogue too is part of this aesthetic interpretation
> /elaboration/commentary by the actor.
>
> On Sat, Apr 2, 2022 at 2:03 AM DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE <
> diegoloukota at ucla.edu> wrote:
>
>>
>>   Dear all,
>>
>>   I am looking for guidance regarding the conventions of the Sanskrit
>> theater traditions of Kerala. The question is: What is the content and
>> structure of the semantic gestures in the dance sections between lines of
>> dialogue?
>>   In one of my courses we will be reading the *Little Clay Cart* (
>> *Mṛcchakaṭika*) this academic quarter, and I wanted to show the students
>> a glimpse of the living tradition of performance in Kerala. I luckily found
>> excellent Youtube footage of a *kūṭiyāṭṭaṃ* performance of a portion of
>> Bhāsa's Abhiṣekanāṭaka at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2008 (
>> link <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKE7QdLvKnM>).
>>   The segment I have examined is the very beginning of Act III, in which
>> the *rākṣasa* Śaṅkukarṇa arrives to Rāvaṇa's castle to inform him that
>> Hanumat has destroyed the Aśoka garden and has to talk to the doorwoman
>> Vijayā  (text
>> <https://ia801600.us.archive.org/21/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.312866/2015.312866.Abhisekanatakam.pdf>
>> (p. 63); translation
>> <https://archive.org/details/ThirteenPlays2VolBoundInOne/page/n373/mode/2up?view=theater>
>> )
>>   The snippet starts with the recited line of Śañkukarṇa, in which every
>> word is signed/gestured with its appropriate semantic *hastamudrā*:
>>
>> 18'54" <https://youtu.be/TKE7QdLvKnM?t=1134>: *Ka iha bhoḥ
>> Kāñcanatoraṇadvāram aśūnyaṃ kurute?* (Hello! Who here keeps the gate of
>> the Golden Gatehouse unexposed?)
>> <https://youtu.be/TKE7QdLvKnM?t=1134>
>>
>>   Then follows a section of dance and gesture:
>>
>> 19'28" <https://youtu.be/TKE7QdLvKnM?t=1134>
>>
>>   And after two minutes finally comes the answer of Vijayā, also gestured:
>>
>> 21'27" <https://youtu.be/TKE7QdLvKnM?t=1287>: *Ayya, ahaṃ Vijaā. Kiṃ
>> karīadu?* (Sir, it is I, Vijayā. What is there to be done?)
>>
>>   My question is, again: What is the content of the gestures in the dance
>> sections between lines of dialogue? Are they somehow drawn from the script
>> or from elsewhere?  Would anyone be able to gloss some or all of the
>> gestures in the section between 19'28"
>> <https://youtu.be/TKE7QdLvKnM?t=1168> and 21'27"?
>>   I have been trying to use the repertoire of *hastamudrā*s in G. Venu's *The
>> Language of Kathakali*, but have not been very successful so far. Any
>> guidance would be sincerely appreciated.
>>
>>   *namaskaromi*,
>>
>>   Diego
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Nagaraj Paturi
>
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>
>
> Senior Director, IndicA
> BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra
> BoS Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra
> BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.
> Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru
> BoS Rashtram School of Public Leadership
> Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Studies in Public Leadership
> Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies,
> FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,
> Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
>
>
>
>
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>
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