PATAKOM

This is another dance from similar to the Koothu in its technical content. But here the dance element is almost given up and the narration is done through an alternating prose and song sequences, the gestures being retained. A new literary from called Champu, which accommodated more and more of Malayalam idiom and vocabulary was used as text for Patakom. Literally means dissertation, Patakom is performed by Nambiyars even outside temple precincts.
The dancer has a red head-dress and on the wrist a red silk. There are garlands around the neck and sandal paste lines across the forehead.

KOODIYATTOM

Instead of single Chakiyar a number of performers get together and stage dance-drama. That is why it is called Koodiyattom, literally "dancing together" (The beginnings of Kerala dramaturgy can be traced to this dance). Both men and women partake in this performance. Abhinaya is the most important element in Koodiyattom. The texts are always in Sanskrit and the performance is a prolonged affair. It may take anything from a few days to a number of weeks.

All the four types of abhinaya, viz. Angikam, Vachikam, Sathvikam and Aharyam are fully utilized in Koodiyattom.

The plays are performed only in temple precincts as votive offerings. Abhinaya or acting is a three -fold or even four-fold process. Appropriate hand gestures are symbols are first shown when the words of the verse are spoken in a typically modulated tone. As the music is begun, the meaning of the words are translated into a language of bodily postures, attitudes and facial expressions. The third is a repetition of the first.

Koodiyattom is staged on the specially built temple theatre called Koothambalam. The stage is decorated with fruit-bearing plantains and bunches of tender coconuts and festooned with fronds of the coconut palm. A vessel overflowing with paddy is placed on the stage. Lighting is done with a tall oil lamp made of brass. Within a railed enclosure on the stage is a large copper drum called mizhavu with a high seat for the Nambiyar drummer. A Nangiyar women plays cymbal and occasionally recites the verses. The musical element is very much suppressed in Koodiyattom. At times special orchestral effects are introduced. The orchestra consists of an edakka, maddalam, a conch, pipe and horn.

There is facial make-up using colour schemes and pattern having symbolic value, though strict standardization of types is absent. The make-up patterns as seen in the better-known Kathakali are borrowed from Koodiyattom. ( Contd...)