Kadhaprasangam (''lyrical narrative'' or ''story telling performance'') is a performing art of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Performance

It combines speaking, acting, and singing to present a story. Costumes, make-up, or settings are not used. The main artist, the ''Kaadhikan,'' tells the story, acts and sings with two or three accompanying instrumentalists. A performance typically lasts to 3 hours.

History

It originated from an earlier art form

Harikatha ''Harikatha'' (Kannada: ಹರಿಕಥೆ : ''Harikathe''; Telugu: హరికథ : ''Harikatha;'' Marathi: हरीपाठ '': Haripatha'', ), also known as ''Harikatha Kaalakshepam'' in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam(), is a form of Hindu ...

kalakshepam which used similar techniques, but differed in theme and style. While Harikadhakalakshepam was based on themes from

puranas Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
(1995 Editio ...

and

epics Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

, Kadhaprasangam received themes largely from classical and popular literature. Kadhaprasangam's heyday was in the second half of the 20th century, attracting crowds on temple grounds in the festival season. It spread beyond temple grounds as a popular presentation viz. 'Kadhaprasangam' by Swami Sathyadevan. The Govt of India honoured Swami Sathyadevan with a pension awarded to founders of art forms while the Swami was in Banaras in 1961. Its chief and later exponents were Swami Brahmavruthan, M. P. Manmadhan, K. K. Vadhyar, P. C. Abraham, Joseph Kaimaparamban,

V. Sambasivan Velayudhan Sambasivan (4 July 1929 – 23 April 1996) was a famous " Kadhaprasangam" artist of Kerala, India. He was born on 4 July 1929 in Chavara Thekkumbhagom in Kollam district, as the eldest son of Meloottu Velayudhan and Sarada. He had sev ...

, Kedamangalam Sadanandan, Ayilam Unnikrishnan, Kadavoor Balan,Dr. Kadavoor Sivadasan, Ayisha Beevi, Kollam Babu, Mavelikara S.S.Unnithan, V. Harsha Kumar, Kallada V. V. Kutty, Paravur Sukumaran, V. D. Rajappan, Vatakara V Asokan, Dr. Vasanthakumar Sambasivan, Nadakkal Ashokkumar,V V Jose Kallada, Gopika Vazhuthacaud and others. They contributed to

's social and educational renaissance. Nadakkal Ashokkumar performed Kadhaprasangam in Temples, Cultural organisations, All India radio and Dooradarsan. He performed

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

and

Mahabharatha The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succes ...

stories.

Source material

The scripts can be original works written for the performance or adaptations of stories from epics, classical, or modern literature.

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...

Kumaran Asan Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (12 April 1871 – 16 January 1924) was a poet of Malayalam literature, Indian social reformer and a philosopher. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry during the first quarter of the 20th century, ...

's Karuna,

Vallathol Narayana Menon Vallathol Narayana Menon (16 October 1878 – 13 March 1958) was a Malayalam poet and one of the triumvirate of modern Malayalam poetry, along with Asan and Ulloor. The honorific Mahakavi was applied to him in 1913 after the publication of ...

’s Magdalana Mariyam,

Changampuzha Krishna Pillai Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (10 October 1911 – 17 June 1948) was a celebrated Malayalam poet from Kerala, India, known for his elegy '' Ramanan'' which was written in 1936 and sold over 100,000 copies. It is a long pastoral elegy, a play wri ...

's Ramanan,

Thirunalloor Karunakaran Thirunalloor Karunakaran (8 October 1924 – 5 July 2006) was a poet, scholar, teacher and leftist intellectual of Kerala, India. Biography Early life Thirunalloor (variously spelled in English as Thiru''nelloor'', Thiru''nellur'' and Thiru'' ...

Rani ''Rani'' () is a female title, equivalent to queen, for royal or princely rulers in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It translates to 'queen' in English. It is also a Sanskrit Hindu feminine given name. The term applies equally to a ...

and

Vayalar Ramavarma Vayalar Ramavarma (25 March 1928 – 27 October 1975), also known as Rama Varma Vayalar and simply Vayalar, and was an Indian poet and lyricist of Malayalam literature, Malayalam language. He was known for his poems, including ''Sargasangeetham ...

's Aaayisha were some of the literary classics thus successfully adapted for Kadhaprasangam.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Kadhaprasangam Arts of Kerala Performing arts in India