Kathakali - Great Stories with Fascinating Costumes

I met one of the symbols of Kathakali for the first time in India in 2022, right after my arrival in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. I was almost desperate. No one was waiting for me at the airport, I couldn’t connect to the Internet, and they refused to exchange my old paper pounds at the exchange office. So I went straight to the airport manager. A guy was sitting behind a window in a small corridor. I asked him to call the driver who was supposed to come and pick me up. The man was a little reluctant at first, but then he called and said the driver would be there in ten minutes. I sat down on a chair in the small corridor. A huge red Kathakali mask was glaring at me from behind because it knew full well that ten minutes in India means almost an hour of waiting. From this encounter with the Kathakali mask, I too understood that time flows differently in India…

A few days later, the organizers from Kerala Travel Mart prepared an amazing show for us – bursting with all colors – in which some Kathakali characters also appeared. These dancers fascinated me with their appearance.

I told myself that if I ever return to Kerala, I will definitely go to see a Kathakali performance. I managed to do that this year. On the very first evening after my arrival in the city of Kochi, I bought a ticket (600 rupees – less than €7) for the performance of Dussasana Vadham (The Killing of Dussasana) at the Kerala Kathakali Center in Fort Kochi – the very heart of the city.

What is Kathakali?

Kathakali is a combination of two Malayalam words: katha meaning story and kali – performance or dramatic play. So it is actually a retelling of great stories from the past, most of them from Indian epics, but without words! It is an expressive form of Indian dance, where every single movement, lip quivering, eye movement and finger twisting has a specific meaning. This art originated in the South Indian state of Kerala more than 300 years ago.

Make-up

When I entered the smaller theater hall at 5:00 p.m. only a few seats were occupied. Four men sat on woven mats on a wooden stage and very precisely applied make-up to their faces.

Make-up is very important in Kathakali. Individual characters are distinguished by the color of their faces.

Only natural materials are used for the preparation of pigments and brushes. Deep colors are obtained from special minerals ground in coconut oil and mixed in the right proportion to achieve the desired shade. Some faces also have a special white make-up (chutti). In the past, a mixture of rice paste and lime was applied layer by layer, which took up to three hours. Today, paste is used as a base, and then the desired paper shape is glued to it.

There were four characters in the play about Dussasana.

Lord Krishna – God of the Hindu Trinity – green face Pacha: green make-up is worn by noble, honest heroes. The character does not open his mouth or make any sounds.

Draupadi – wife of the five Pandava princes – Minukku yellow make-up. According to tradition, female characters in Kathakali are also played by men.

Dussasana – the man painted his face red. Later, he lay on the ground and another man applied white make-up and a white paper mustache to his face. This character is evil, so he will have a red Thadi beard. These negative malevolent heroes can make noises at certain moments.

Bhima (man in the middle) – Kathi make-up – green make-up like Pacha but this character represents restlessness that can easily turn to evil.

So he has both good and bad tendencies, but mostly virtue wins over his bad sides. The character is also allowed to make sounds.

The make-up is so strong that someone might think it’s a mask. So much so, that in the following photo, you can’t see much of a difference between the statue and the real dancer.

Also notice his red eyes. It is said that with pale eyes, the face would look dead, so the actors put seeds of the Solanum indicum plant in their lower eyelids to make their eyes red.

Costumes

The headgear, which also characterizes the individual characters, is also noteworthy. They are carved from wood, hollow from the inside and open at the back. On the back side, they are supported by a circular disk that creates a sort of halo.

The headgear is decorated with several rows of ornaments made of beads, mirrors, glass and aluminium foil. This oversized headgear is not only an aid in distinguishing the characters, but also to enhance the theatrical effect.

The dancers are dressed in sheer white skirts and the extravagant costumes are decorated with fringed scarves, bracelets, necklaces, ankle bells and other ornaments.

Performance

More than 500 plays have been written, but currently around 50 are performed. Originally, performances lasted several hours, played through the night, from dusk to dawn.

As the make-up on the faces of the actors increased, so did the spectators in the audience. Make-up lasted an hour. Then the auditorium was filled to capacity.

During a Kathakali performance, the actors do not speak or sing. The main means of expression are the fingers. Actors use 24 special finger positions. One gesture or position is called a mudra. Different thoughts can be expressed by twisting, stretching, connecting, spreading or crossing the fingers. Emotions are expressed with 9 different facial expressions: serenity, surprise, kindness, love, courage, fear, contempt, loathing and anger. All this was first explained to us before the start of the show. It was almost surreal to watch the man in the female figure, how he could use facial expressions, but especially how he could wink and roll his eyes. We also received a text in English with a brief content of the play.

Then a man with a bare chest and lower body wrapped in a sheet lit an oil lamp on the stage and arranged several orange flowers around it. The show could begin.

First a musician coaxed strange notes from a large conch shell and then began to sing the story. Two musicians joined with drums.

Then two men spread a colorful curtain and the evil Dussasana character appeared from behind it. Only then could we see him with the finished make-up and costume. It was really impressive.

Further communication took place through exaggerated hand gestures combined with facial expression and body movement. When Bhima fought Dussasana, they occasionally let out a battle cry.

In this story, Dussasana seized Draupadi and tried to disgrace her by trying to tear off her sari. However, Lord Krishna transformed the sari into an endless piece of cloth, which exhausted Dussasana so much that he fell unconscious. Finally, Bhima came to save Draupadi.

Bhima killed Dussasana and tore out his heart from his chest, which the actor showed the audience with his red (bloody) hands.

After the performance, the actor who played Lord Krishna appeared on the stage again and the audience could take pictures with him. This family also took advantage of this, although the little boy did not look very happy.

If you also want to watch a Kathakali performance, you don’t have to sit in the auditorium from 5 p.m. like me. It is enough if you come around 5:30 p.m., when you will still see the most interesting phases of the make-up process. The performance does not start until 6:00 p.m. If you also want to take pictures at the end, you can only enter the stage barefoot. There are air conditioners attached to all three walls of the auditorium, don’t forget to take a scarf or something to protect yourself from the strong cold draft from these air conditioners. In addition to the entrance fee, the actors also asked us for a contribution to support this cultural center. I recommend booking tickets in advance, it was really sold out.

Address and details: Kerala Kathakali Center

In 2022, I also visited a small museum in Fort Kochi, where all the main characters of Kathakali were exhibited, photos of faces in individual stages of make-up, musical instruments used during the performance and also pictures with all the mudras. Unfortunately, when I came here two years later, the museum no longer existed, the building was empty. What a pity. Now – after watching the show – I would understand it all better.