by Aswati |Tirunal Tampuran [1756 – 1794]
THE KATHAKALI STORY TO BE PERFORMED (Kalachethena)
This story was written especially for Kathakali over 300 years ago and has been performed in the village temples of Kerala for centuries.
The demoness Poothana disguised as a beautiful lady has been ordered by the evil King Kamsan to find and kill the baby Lord Krishna. The performance begins as Poothana reaches the village of Ambadi where the divine child is living with his foster parents.
Scene 1:
The beauty of the village astounds her and she comments that even a special snake God with thousands of heads could not speak of it`s beauty enough!
NOTE: Poothan tells us about the beauty of the village using her eyes and face illustrating the remarkable training and control a Kathakali actor needs to express such detail through his eyes and face alone.
She describes a group of ladies dancing in the village and asks if she can dance with them, they say no so she goes to another groups and asks them, they also say no, so she decides to dance on her own.
NOTE: This shows her innocence as she tries to join in and be accepted.
She tells us that if sad people saw this beautiful village they would become more sad.
She sees beautiful swans in the village and describes them cleaning their wings and flying.
NOTE: This shows the incredible descriptive movements and mudras used in Kathakali and how an actor takes on the visual representation of an animal.
Scene 2:
Finally she remembers the reason she came to the village, to find and kill the baby Lord Krishna, so she asks, “Where is the child”? Eventually she arrives unknowingly at the home of the baby, opens the door and sees the most beautiful baby boy.
She tells him, if you are hungry or thirsty drink my milk.
The baby starts to cry so she feeds and comforts him.
She lies the baby down and tells us that he is asleep.
While he is asleep she tells us he has a beautiful face, beautiful eyes and the most gorgeous thick, black, curly hair.
By now she doesn`t want to kill the baby and tells him “Don`t cry, your mother will come soon.
NOTE: This shows how Poothana is captivated by the baby and her character softens in the presence of Lord Krishna.
She realises that the evil King will take his sword and chop off her head if she fails to kill the baby.
Poothana does not want to kill him so she curses the king for making her do this terrible thing.
NOTE: This shows how she is brought back to the reality of what she has been sent to do. She struggles as her heart and head fight between compassion and evil.
Scene 3:
Poothan tries to leave but the evil in her returns, she is angry and says I have killed lots of children and drank their blood, why can I not kill this one last child.
NOTE: Now she is totally possessed by evil and any compassion has gone. She is angry, cunning and cruel.
She tries to kill the baby with her bare hands but fails so she has an idea to poison her milk then feed the poisoned milk to the baby.
Totally insane with evil she locks all the windows and doors, smears her breasts with poison and starts to feed the baby thinking he will die.
NOTE At this point her actions show how in a small dark room she has no thought for the baby, only the evil intent to kill him.
Because the baby is a god the opposite happens, he sucks all the life, milk and poison from her body until she is screaming in agony trying to push the baby off.
Before her death she sees an image of Lord Vishnu in the sky showing that she has finally found Moksham [salvation] through the divine Lord Krishna.
NOTE: The evil of Poothana is overcome by the divinity of Lord Krishna indicating that the power of love will always prevail over evil.
Poothan`s pain was a reflection of her sad life and how evil manipulated and eventually destroyed her. Because her death was through Lord Krishna she gained Moksham. This sacred story illustrates the importance of the courage we need to reject outside pressure to harm others.
(This article is made available by Kalachethena Kathakali Company in connection with Kathakali workshop and performance 2019)
