Arts of Kerala

With its beautiful lagoons and lush landscape of tall coconut and slim areca palms, and banana trees edging fields of bright green paddy, Kerala was known in distant countries in ancient times as the land of spices, cardamom, nutmeg and pepper. But the real treasure of Kerala lies in the cultural heritage of its people, in their ballads, their songs and dances, their rituals and their intellectual pursuits.

In Kerala, the performing arts have survived mainly due to its comparative isolation from the rest of the country, bounded on the east by the Western ghats stretching from north to south and to the west by the Arabian sea. Thus when north of India was torn between political upheavals, Kerala was free from the turmoil.

The Aryans who immigrated into the area in the period from AD 550 to 1200 spread their influence and introduced many new developments. Jainism and Buddhism also entered the scene and later came the Brahmins. The Brahmins took great interest in the construction of temples made of wood and also they were the pioneer behind the Koothambalam, where most of the dances were performed.

During this cultural invasion, the Brahmins brought with them the love of Sanskrit. Koodiyatttam, the sanskrit dance drama tradition in Kerala can be regarded as an offshoot of their effort. Thus in Koodiyattam, one sees the fusion of the Dravidian and Aryan culture. Its soul is Aryan as it follows the style of Aharya Abhinaya, but the make up, costumes, ornaments, music and hand gestures are influenced by the local Dravidian forms such as Mudiyettu, Teyyam and Padayani. Out of this fusion arose local forms such as Krishnan Attam, Kathakali, Thullal, Mohiniyattam and other dance forms.

The different religions which entered Kerala like Jainism, Buddhism in the early centuries and Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the later centuries, became an integral part of the culture of Kerala and naturally affected the performing arts and architecture.