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Kapila Venu - Devi Mahatmyam Nangiar Koothu

by Kottichetham Kutiyattam Ensemble

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1 06:52
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2 08:42
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Forplay Society & Fire Museum presents
Kapila Venu – Devi Mahatmyam Nangiar Koothu

Episode – Mahishasurajanananam – The birth story of Mahishasura

Accompanying Artistes - Kottichetham Kutiyattam Ensemble

Mizhavu – Kalamandalam Rajeev, Kalamandalam Hariharan
Edakka – Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan
Thalam – Saritha Krishnakumar

Kapila Venu - Devimahatmyam — Nangiar Koothu

Nangiar Koothu is the solo story telling tradition of the female performers of Koodiyattam. The actress tells stories through gesture and abhinaya. She uses the technique of ‘Pakarnnattam’ to impersonate the various characters that appear in the story. She is accompanied two percussion drums called the Mizhavu, a melodic drum - Idakka and symbols.

Today’s performance is an episode from a series of performances based on the Devi Mahatmyam and Devi Bhagavatham that extol the glory of the Goddess.

Devimahatmyam Day Two – Mahishasurajananam – The birth story of Mahishasura

Synopsis

After the customary obeisance to the gods, gurus and ancestors, the story teller begins her story.

Long ago, as the sons of Danu were born two asura-s Rambha and Karambha. They both set out to do penace in order to acquire sons. Karambha immersed himself in water and started his penance and Rambha did his penance under a banyan tree amidst five fires. After several centuries, Indra started to get insecure on seeing the rigour of the asuras’ penance. He took the form of a crocodile and killed Karambha. On hearing about the death of his brother, Rambha decides to take his own life by cutting off his head.

Agni, the fire god appears before Rambha and stops him from killing himself. He offers Rambha a boon. Rambha asks for a valorous son. Agni grants him the boon and disappears. Rambha then travels across many lands and reaches the land of the Yaksha-s where he sees Mahishi (buffalo woman / woman of a specific tribe) and falls in love with her. He marries her and she gets pregnant. Rambha protects his wife and takes care of her. One day however a lustful Mahisha (buffalo man) tries to force himself on Mahishi. Rambha gets into a fight with Mahisha and dies after being pierced in his chest by the Mahisha’s horn. Mahisha continues to chase Mahishi and she cries out for help. A group of Yaksha-s kill Mahisha and rescue Mahishi. They then bring Rambha’s corpse and cremate him. Unable to bear the sadness of the death of her husband, Mahishi jumps into the burning pyre and embraces her husband. She suddenly goes into labor and gives birth to a son on the pyre following which she dies. In this way Mahishasura was born. Because of his intense love for his son, Rambha then comes back to life as a ferocious asura called Raktabija.

Choreography and Performance - Kapila Venu

@ The Forplay Society, Mattancherry, Kerala. 14th January 2023

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released September 13, 2023

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Forplay Society Kochi, India

Forplay is an autonomous artist run performance and art space founded by Seljuk Rustum in 2016 in Kochi, Kerala. Since its inception it has funded, produced, curated and promoted Theatre Productions, Performance Art Actions, Free Improv & Experimental music gatherings, Creative Workshops and Independent music from India and around the world.

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