Dushshasana Vadham

The present Kathakali performance is going to be presented by a twenty-two strong Kathakali troupe led by the greatest living legend of Kathakali, Padmashree Kalamandalam Gopi Asan, consisting of highly experienced as well as upcoming artistes of international repute chosen from not only Kerala Kalamandalam, the cradle of Kathakali art form, but also from other Kathakali schools of the country.

True to tradition, the performance will begin with ‘Klelikottu’. Kelikottu is a brief passage of drumming involving Chenda, Maddalam, Chengila and Elathalam performed just before sunset to herald the commencement of the show. This is followed by Arangukeli, which is a brief percussion item, more like an auspicious ritual. Only Maddalam, along with gong and the cymbals, is played as it represents the auspicious “Dundubhi”. As the Arangukeli comes to an end, the singers invoke the blessings of Lord Almighty with a “Vandanalaslokam”.

Here comes Purappadu or the debut signifying the first appearance of a character on the stage. It is a piece of preliminary ritualistic dance undertaken to announce the virtuous qualities of the hero. The Purappadu of today’s Kathakali performance will present junior artistes in the roles of Krishna and Rukmini orienting the audience towards the main plot.

After Purappadu the audience will be led to “Thiranokku”, which literally means ‘looking over the curtain’. Duryodana and Dussasana will be seen here entering the stage pulling apart the curtain that hides them.

Scene 1
The story begins with the game of dice played between Duryodhana and Dharmaputra under the supervision of crafty Shakuni. The more Dharmaputra loses, the more he stakes. He loses his treasury, army, his kingdom and he stakes his brothers one by one. Finally he stakes himself and his wife. All of them become slaves to the Kauravas. As directed by Duryodhana, Dussasana drags Droupadi to the court by her hair and tries to disrobe her. Droupadi is saved by the divine help of Lord Krishna. A humiliated Droupadi curses Shakuni and the Kauravas, and swears an oath that she would tie up her untied hair only with Dussasana’s blood.

Scene 2
Learning that Krishna is being sent to the Kauravas by her husband, Dharmaputra,to broker peace, Droupadi approaches Lord Krishna and begs him to see her untied hair and reminds him of her curse against Dussasana. He assures her that her wishes will be fulfilled. Lord Krishna departs for the mission.

Scene 3
Krishna begins his mission. He advises the Kaurava to give back half the kingdom to which the Pandavas are entitled. Duryodhana refuses. He then asks for five villages; that too is refused. He pleads for five houses for them to live in; but in vain. Duryodhana says he is not prepared to spare even a pin- point of space to the Pandavas, not to speak of a house. He questions their parentage; and Krishna retorts that Duryodhana’s origins are dubious. Unable to stand this insult, Duryodhana orders Dussasana to tie up Krishna in ropes. Krishna shows his viswaroopa (the cosmic form of Vishnu) and dazzles them to fall in a faint. Mumukshu, the pious Brahmin appears, praises Krishna and mocks Duryodhana for not being able to watch the divine viswaroopa.

Scene 4
Bhima appears in a terrifying form called Roudrabhima blazing with anger as he searches for his number one enemy, Dussasana. He finds him and a fierce battle ensues. Bhima assumes his most furious form and kills Dussasana. He drinks his blood, pulls out his entrails and roars. Bhima summons Droupadi and ties up her hair with his hands, dripping with the enemy’s blood. The vengeance is done. Krishna appears. Bhima seeks forgiveness for the horrid crime that he has just committed. The Lord consoles the grieving Bhima describing what has been done as Rajadharma. Upon this, Bhima’s face sports an inscrutable smile throwing abundant light on the role played by Krishna in the entire episode. The Kathkali ends with Dhanasi or Mangalam.

(Source: Dr. T.K Ravindran)

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Dushshasana Vadhe, Kathakkali Performance Documentation Project 2015 by Sanchi Foundation, Bengaluru is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Dushshasana Vadhm (Kathakkali) Crew

12 December 2015 MGC Ground, Bondel, Mangalore

Program organised by

Yakshagana Kalaranga (R), Udupi, Yakshadhwani Trust (R), Mangaluru,Vibhinna Mangaluru

Kathakkali Team

Roudra Bheema – Kalamandalam Gopi | Duryodhana – Kalamandalam Krishnakumar | Dushyasana – Kalamandalam Hari R. Nair
Dharmaputra – Kalamandalam Vipin | Shakuni – Kalamandalam Chinosh | Bheema – Kalamandalam Vishnumon | Panchali – Kottakkal Unnikrishnan | Krishna – Kalamandalam Hari Narayanan | Mumukshu – Kalamandalam Praveen | Krishna – Kalamandalam Vishnumon
Rukmini – Kalamandalam Praveen | Vocals – Pattiyoor Shankaran Kutti, Kalamandalam Rajeev | Chande – Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan, Kalamandalam Venu Mohan | Madhala – Kottackal ravi, Kalamandalam Prasanth | Chutti – Satheeshan & Sudheesh |
Madhusoodana Panikkar, Manesh, Ramesh, Vishak

Organising Committee

Dr. P. Manohara Upadhya|  Dr. Mahalinga Bhat K, Abhaya Simha, Aravinda Kudla, Ashokavardhana, Dr. J.N.Bhat, Dr. Muralidhara Shetty, Dr. Sathyanarayana Nooji, Dr. T.K Raveendran, Dr. Vidya, Ganaraja Bhat, Ganesh Rao, Keshava Nandodi, Maxim Rodrigues, Murali Kadekar, Narayana Balila, Prithviraj Kavathar, Rajeshwara Bhat, Sathya Ganapathi, Trilochana Shastry, Vishwanatha Panjimogaru

Special Thanks

Arun Electricals | Bhargava | Bottikere Purushottama Poonja | Chris Electronics | District Administration, D.K | Gasco, Bendorewell | Haridasa Lakshminarnappayya -Kala Poshaka Vedike, Pavanje | Home Guard Department, Mangalore | Kuppangana Gopalakrishna Bhat, Thrissur | M G C Educational institutions, Bondel | Mangalore City Corporation | Pavan Kervashe | Police Department| Press/ Media Team | Sanjeeva Suvarna, Bannanje | Shanti Kirana, Bajjodi | Srinivasa Deshpande | Theater Yaksha, Udupi | Tourism Department | VenkataKrishna M | Venu Mitra, Kasaragod | Vijayalaxmi T.V | Volunteers, Yakshagana Kalaranga

Sanchi Foundation Team

Core Team- NAM Ismail, Omshivaprakash, Abhaya Simha | Camera – Vishnuprasad, Lakshman Nayak, Somanatha, Madhusudhan | Assistance – Manjunatha | Lights – Kiran | Sound Recording – Jamie DSilva | LED Wall – Ramachandra & team | Subtitles – Avinash | Documentation Editing & director – Abhaya Simha

Donors

A.Krishnamoorthy | Abharana Jewellers, Udupi | Abhiman Constructions, Mangalore | Aisiri | Anantha Krishna Hebbar | Anil U.K | Ashokavardhana G.N | Ashwin Upadhya | B.A.S.F, Mangalore | B.N.Shridhar, Mangalore | B.R. Shenoy | Bailore Shri Mahishamardhini | Bharath Shetty | Bhaskara Upadhyaya | Bhuvanendra Kidiyoor, Udupi | C.V.GopalaKrishna | Campco Ltd, Mangalore | Chandrahas | Chandrashekara Shetty T | Chikkappa Shetty | Deepak | Deputy Director, Tourism Dept, Mangalore | Devendra Kankanady | Devu Hanehalli | Dhanyalakshmi Rice Mill, Nittoor | Divana Govinda Bhat | Dr. Lakshminarayana Bhat A | Dr. A.M.Narahari | Dr. Angri S.S.Bhat, Mangalore | Dr. Aravind, Mangalore | Dr. Arunkumar Rai, Indous Lab Dr. B. Ramachandra Bhat | Dr. B.Radheshyam Dr. Bharatraj | Dr. Chakrapani Dr. Dineshchandra Hande | Dr. Donald Lobo | Dr. Ganesh H.K | Dr. Girisha Bhat Ajakkala | Dr. Harishchandra B | Dr. Ishawara Keerty | Dr. J N Bhat | Dr. K.H.Poojary | Dr. K.Mahabala Bhat | Dr. Krishna Bhat | Dr. Krishna Kumar G | Dr. Krishna Sharma | Dr. Mahalinga Bhat K | Dr. Maheshwari U | Dr. Manohara Serrao | Dr. Meera, Mangalore | Dr. Muralidhara Shetty | Dr. N.K.Udayashankar | Dr. Nagaveni Manchi | Dr. Narayana Bhat M | Dr. Padmanabha Kamath | Dr. Padmanabha S | Dr. Prakashchandra Shishila | Dr. Ram Mohan Rao, Mangalore | Dr. Ramachandra, Kavoor | Dr. Ramadeva Karanth | Dr. Ramaraj P.N | Dr. Ranjith Rao | Dr. Rathnakar, Mantapa Clinic, Shivamogga | Dr. Rose Veera D’Souza | Dr. Santhosh Kamath | Dr. Sathish Kallimar, Bondel | Dr. Sathya Narayana Mallipattana | Dr. Sathya Narayana Nooji | Dr. Shailaja Bhat Shenoy | Dr. Shashikanth Koudur | Dr. Shivarama Shetty B | Dr. Shreekrishna U | Dr. Shripathi K. P | Dr. Srinivasa Kakkillaya | Dr. T.K.Ravindran | Dr. Tukarama Poojary, SVS College, Bantwal | Dr. Vasanth Shetty | Dr. Vasudeva Acharya | Dr. Vishnu Sharma | Dr. Yashodha K.G. ,Shivamogga | Dr. Yogisha, MCF, Mangalore | Durga Bhat | Ganapathi Bhat B | Ganaraja Bhat | Ganesh Somayaji | Giridhar kamath | Girish Karanth | Gokulnath Prabhu | Gopal Bhat T, Kettikal | Gopalakrishna Pai B | Gopalakrishna Shastry Kuriya | Guruprasad | Gururaj Hegde | Hariappa Kotian, Malpe | Hotel Shantisagar | James Cunnigham | Jayaram | Jeevan Shetty | Jerry Vincent Dias, Udupi | Jyoti Mahadeva, Manipal | K.Lakshminarayana Reddy, Mangalore | K.N.Nagaraj Rao, Kasaravalli | K.Ramdas Rao | K.S.Shastri | K.Sadashiva, Sankolige | K.Shama Bhat | K.V.Jagadish Rao, Hosanagara | Kaje Keshava Bhat | Karla David & Coses Pinto | Memorial Charitable Trust | Karnataka Bank, Head Office, Mangalore | Kaushik, Konchady | Keshava Kumar B, Mangalore | Keshava Nandody | Kiran Kumar, Sarvodaya Agencies, Udupi | Kiran Shetty, Hebri | Kishore Krishna | Kodange Parameshwara Bhat | Krishna Bhat A | Krishna kishor Enankudlu | Krishna Mukdapu | Krishnaraj N | Kumara Subramanya | Lal Mohan | Laxmanraya Prabhu, Santhekatte | M.K.Prasad | M.L.Samaga | M.Ramadas Pai, Apoorva Jewellers, Moodbidri | M.Vinaya Bhat | Madhukara Bhagavatha | Mahabaleshwara | Mahalingeshwara Seva Samithi, Mysore | Mahesh Murthy, Surathkal | Mamatha A | Mangala Prabhakara Mantapa | Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited | Manippady Ramachandra Bhat | Manjunath | Manjunath Pattabhi | Manjunatha Udupa | Manohar S M | Manohara Karanth | Manohara Prasad, Udayavani | Mantapa Gopala Upadhya | Memorial Charitable Trust | Mudraje Parvathi | N. Shankaranarayana Bhat, Hosangadi | N.G.Mohan, Beta Agencies, Mangalore | N.R.Rakshith | Nagaraj Rao, Pangala | Nagaraja Upadhya, Manipal | Narasimha Bhat | Narayana Bhat, Mankanamoole | Nataraja Upadhya, Bangalore | Naveen | Nilesh, Mangalore | P. Janardhana Hande | P. S Aithal Panamboor | P. Soorya Narayana Rao, Pattumudi | P. Vasudeva Karanth | Padmanabha Anchan | Panduranga Nayak | Panja Bhaskara Bhat | Poornesh P.R | Poornima | Prabhakara Joshi | PradeepKumar Kalkura | Prafulla chandra Rao, Udupi | Prakash Karanth | Prashanth Upadhyaya | Prathibha Kudthadka | Prof Anantha Padmanabha Rao | Raghu, Muliya | Rajagopala | Rajashekar | Rajeshwara Bhat | Rakesh | Ramachandra Bhat, Kaje | Ramakrishna Shastry , Padaru | Ravishankar | RK Friends, LIC, Mangalore | S.Giridhara rao, Chokkabettu | S.Rama Bhat | Saanidhya school, Mangalore | Santhosh Alankaragudde | Santhosh C.T | Satheesh Manjeshwara | Sathyashankara M.V, Bejai, Mangalore | Shamprasad | Sharabhendra B.M | Shashidhar Bejai | Shashidhara Marla, Suresh Electricals | Shobhana M | Shri Durga Constructions, Dandeli | Shridhar |Siraj Pati, Image Builders & Developers | Sri Raksha | SriKrishna N | Srinivas Kuppila | State Bank of Mysore, Mangalore | Subhash Rao | Sudhir S Shetty, Udupi | Sumangala Rathnakar | Sundar Acharya | Suresh R. Shetty, Ayodhya, Kapu | T. R Bhat | Tekkunja Kumaraswamy | The Managing Director, D.K Milk Union | Thirumala Raja | Trilochana Shastri | U.Madhava Shenoy & Co, Udyavara | U.Shreedhar, Manipal | Ullas | Ullas Bhat | Upendra Nayak | V.G.Shetty, Ideal Medical suppliers, Udupi | V.K.Sharma, Muliya | Vasanth Kaje | Vasanth Rao, Malleshwaram, Bangalore | Venkappa Nayak M | Vijayananda | Vinay Kumar | Vishnu Murthy | Yakshadhwani Trust, Mangaluru | Yakshagana mandali | Yashaswi Fish meal & Oil co.

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