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

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a 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 regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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 and Tamil (), is a form of Hindu tradition ...

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

puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

and

epics The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a set of software tools and applications used to develop and implement distributed control systems to operate devices such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large sci ...

, Kadhaprasangam received themes largely from classical and popular literature. Kadhaprasangam's heyday was in the second half of 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, Kedamangalam Sadanandan, Kollam Babu, Mavelikara S.S.Unnithan, V. Harsha Kumar, Kallada V. V. Kutty, Paravur Sukumaran,

V. D. Rajappan Velikuzhiyil Devadasan Rajappan (വി. ഡി. രാജപ്പൻ) was an Indian actor in Malayalam movies . He was a popular Kadhaprasangam artist in Kerala. He was born in Kottayam, Kerala. He was known for his inventive style in stand-up ...

, 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 ( 26 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 ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

and

Mahabharatha The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruks ...

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 ( 26 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 ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

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. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writte ...

Kumaran Asan Mahakavi Kumaran Asan (Malayalam: എൻ. കുമാരൻ ആശാൻ) (12 April 1873 – 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 ...

Karuna Karuna may refer to: *Karuṇā, part of the spiritual path in Buddhism and Jainism. *Karuna Kodithuwakku (born 1961), Sri Lankan politician *Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (born 1966), also known as Colonel Karuna *Karuna, Finland, former municipal ...

Vallathol Narayana Menon Vallathol Narayana Menon (Malayalam: വള്ളത്തോൾ നാരായണ മേനോൻ) (16 October 1878 – 13 March 1958) was a Malayalam poet and one of the triumvirate of modern Malayalam poetry, along with Asan and Ulloor ...

’s Magdalana Mariyam,

Changampuzha Krishna Pillai Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (Malayalam: ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ കൃഷ്ണപിള്ള; 10 October 1911 – 17 June 1948) was a celebrated Malayalam poet from Kerala, India, known for his elegy ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന ...

Ramanan ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന്‍) is the most celebrated work of Malayalam poet Changampuzha Krishna Pillai. It is a play written in the form of verse. It is a pastoral elegy written after the death of his friend, Edappally Raghava ...

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''n ...

Rani ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...

and

Vayalar Ramavarma Vayalar Ramavarma (March 25, 1928 – October 27, 1975), also known as Vayalar, was an Indian poet and lyricist of Malayalam language. He was known for his poems which include ''Sargasangeetham'', ''Mulankaadu'', ''Padamudrakal'', ''Aayisha'' a ...

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

References

{{reflist Arts of Kerala Performing arts in India