Koodiyattam in Transition: Women at the Forefront of Kerala’s Ancient Sanskrit Theatre

KOCHI: The male domination in koodiyattam, one of India’s oldest living theatre traditions that reflects Kerala’s rich cultural heritage, is slowly fading.

Reflecting the decline in enthusiasm among males to learn koodiyattam, only four boys have joined the course at Kalamandalam cultural varsity this year. At the same time, around 40 girl students are pursuing the course at Kalamandalam.

Koodiyattam artists cite lack of patronage and limited opportunities as reasons for the male candidates’ poor response to the courses. There is a popular belief that the Sanskrit theatre is indigestible to the common man. “It is a reflection of the changing taste of society,” says Jishnu Pratap, assistant professor in koodiyattam, Kalamandalam.

“Parents want their wards to pursue a course that can help them get a job with lucrative salary. They realise that there is lack of patronage for traditional art forms and this profession cannot provide a steady income,” he says. “It is disappointing to note that there are hardly any one below the age of 50 in the audience at koodiyattam performances. Also, a majority of the audience is koodiyattam artists and their relatives,” says Jishnu Pratap.

Though women used to play female characters in koodiyattam traditionally, the roles were limited to complementing the male characters. However, drawing inspiration from Kalamandalam Girija, Usha Nangiar and Margi Sathi — who reflect the changing face of koodiyattam — the new generation of women has started portraying male characters.

While Usha Nangiar redefined the role of women in koodiyattam through the Panchakanya Mahotsav organised in Thrissur in 2024, Aparna Nangiar reintroduced ‘Dasamam Koothu’, a ritualistic art form that was never performed in the past 150 years. Kapila Venu brought the stories of Madurai Veeran and Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Chitra’ to the stage.

The trio, who arrived in Tripunithura to participate in the 80th birthday celebration of K G Poulose and T K Sarala, the patrons of Sanskrit theatre, shared with TNIE their views on redefining the intangible heritage of koodiyattam. “It is true that the patronage for koodiyattam among male students has been declining for the past three decades, says Usha Nangiar.

We need to preserve this tradition for future generations: says Aparna

“It may be because of the difficulty to pursue the art course along with academic classes. A majority of the girls arrive at Kalamandalam to learn Bharatanatyam and other classical dance forms.

As there are only limited seats for these courses, they join koodiyattam and Kathakali courses. The increasing popularity of Nangiar Koothu is also attracting girl students. But considering the poor patronage, I am concerned how many of them will be able to continue as professional artists,” says Usha Nangiar.

Aparna Nangiar said unlike Kathakali, women have been performing the role of female characters traditionally. “The girl students at Ammannur Gurukulam in Irinjalakuda and Kalamandalam have the opportunity to get trained in performing male characters. The biggest concern is the lack of patronage for the art in Kerala’s cultural sphere. We need to preserve this tradition for future generations,” she says.

Observing that Sanskrit plays, from which koodiyattam derives its tradition, were written by male authors for male connoisseurs, artist Kapila Venu highlight the need for interventions to redefine the art in the perspective of women.

“Like all traditional arts, koodiyattam is also passing through an age of reformation. We have brought Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ and Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Chitra’ to the koodiyatam stage, which have received much patronage. In my opinion, female artists in koodiyatam have the responsibility of complementing the women audience as we are reflecting their expectations,” says Kapila Venu.