Mohiniyattam

Mohiniyattam

Subject : Art and Culture

Section :  Art and Culture

Concept :

• Mohiniyattam exponent Kanak Rele, who played a significant role in bringing a systematic structure, academic veracity and much currency to Mohiniyattam, besides propagating female roles in Kathakali, died morning in Mumbai.
• Rele was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2013.

About Mohiniyattam

• Mohiniyattam is a classical dance style from Kerala state and one of the eight principal Indian classical dance.
• The Mohiniyattam is a popular dance form with a drama in dance, performed with subtle gestures and footwork.

A brief history of the dance form

• Some scholars trace Mohiniattam to the second or third century A.D. (to the era of the great Tamil epic, Silappadikaaram), whereas others maintain that it was created in the middle of the eighteenth century in the court of Maharaja Svati Tirunal of Travancore
• It is also believed that the dance form acquired its affinity with the Bharata Natyam technique and Karnatak Music and thereby its repertoire, in Swati Tirunal’s court.
• In the beginning of the 20th Century, like all the other traditional arts, Mohiniattam also went into oblivion due to the policies of the British.
• During colonial times the dance suppressed but it was revived during national independence movement by V.N. Menon.

Salient features associated with the dance-form

• Mohiniyattam is characterized by graceful, swaying body movements with no abrupt jerks or sudden leaps. It belongs to the Lasya style which is feminine, tender and graceful.
• The most characteristic element of the “form” component of Mohiniattam is the circular or spiral movement of all the limbs of the body. This gives it a swaying effect which resembles the movement of a pendulum and thus it is called aandolika.
• The movements are emphasized by the glides and the up and down movement on toes, like the waves of the sea and the swaying of the coconut, palm trees and the paddy fields.
• Movements have been borrowed from Nangiar Koothu and female folk dances Kaikottikali and the Tiruvatirakali.
• The footwork is not terse and is rendered softly. Importance is given to the hand gestures and Mukhabhinaya with subtle facial expressions.
• Mohiniyattam lays emphasis on acting. The dancer identifies herself with the character and sentiments existing in the compositions like the Padams and Pada Varnams which give ample opportunity for facial expressions.
• The hand gestures, 24 in number, are mainly adopted from Hastalakshana Deepika, a text followed by Kathakali. Few are also borrowed from Natya Shastra, Abhinaya Darpana and Balarambharatam.
• The gestures and facial expressions are closer to the natural(gramya) and the realistic (lokadharmi) than to the dramatic or rigidly conventional (natyadharmi).
• Vocal music of this performance art incorporates different rhythms and lyrics of many of the compositions performed in this dance form are in Manipravala that is a mix of Sanskrit and Malayalam language while the music style is Carnatic.
• Instruments played during a Mohiniattam performance usually comprises of Kuzhitalam or cymbals; Veena; Idakka, an hourglass-shaped drum; Mridangam, a barrel-shaped drum with two heads; and
• Imminent 20th-century exponents of Mohiniattam apart from Vallathol Narayana Menon were Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma, Thankamony, Krishna Panicker and Mukundraja.
• Present day exponents include Sunanda Nair; Smitha Rajan, granddaughter of Kalyanikutty Amma; Radha Dutta; Vijayalakshmi; Gopika Varma and Jayaprabha Menon among others.