Kadhaprasangam: How Modernity Birthed a ‘Cultural’ Artform

Introduction

Kerala has a long-standing history of cultural art forms rooted in sarcastic elements that are used as dynamic tools to present socio-political commentaries to its contemporary milieu. This includes the famous dance performances like Ottan Thullal and monologues like Chakyarkoothu. Most of these attempts are built upon a standardized set of proto-classical systems that are transformed into possible avenues of criticism. However, there is one art form that materialized out of the specific and impending need to push against the social injustices prevalent in 20th-century Kerala.

Kadha-prasangam.

A ‘story’ for the masses, and a ‘speech’ for the change-makers.

Background

As mentioned, Kadhaprasangam’s origins do not lie centuries back in history. Although one can draw similarities with the South Indian lyrical arts like Harikatha and Villupattu, Kadhaprasangam is distinct in both its intent, formation, presentation, and temporal relevance.

To be precise, it is widely accepted that the first Kadhaprasangam (like) performance came to be, thanks to the efforts of the leading poets in Kerala, like Mahakavi Kumaranasan. It was Asan, a great poet of modern Kerala, who weaponized his words to explicitly call out social injustices in his society without the façade of artistic jargon. This feature of the poets and activists from this particular period in Kerala is what would later separate Kadhaprasangam from its ‘masked’ satirical peers like Ottan Thullal, as mentioned above. Regardless, in the 1920s, Asan apparently suggested the creation of a stage performance of his poem ‘Chandala Bhikshuki’ along the lines of Harikatha to the artist C.A Sathyadevan. He would later perform an earlier rendition of Kadhaprasangam in a school ground for the common people, directly challenging the social norms of art performances in the ‘Pre-Temple Entry Proclamation’ Keralite society. Later, various poems by the revolutionary Malayali poets at the time would similarly be turned into Kadhaprasangam performances, like Vallathol Narayana Menon’s ‘Magdalana Mariyam (Mary Magdalene),’ for example. However, all these renditions in the early 20^th century pale in comparison with what artists like Sambasivan would later bring to the stage. We will discuss that in another section below, but let’s first try to understand what a Kadhaprasangam performance nowadays looks like.

 

Motifs and Presentation

The Themes

A primary motif in Kathaprasangam is the critique of social hierarchies and the promotion of progressive ideologies. The art form served as a vehicle for social and political propaganda, particularly during the rise of the Communist movement in Kerala. Narratives frequently challenge the feudal order and caste discrimination.  For example, stories depict the cruelties of landlords against lower-caste women, such as the tale from K.V. Mohankumar’s Ushnarashi, where a Pulaya woman resists the predation of a landlord. Early practitioners used the form to spread messages of social upliftment for lower castes.

 

 

Kathaprasangam is also renowned for adapting Western literary classics such as the works of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Sophocles, often  ‘indigenizing’ them to suit the Malayali cultural context. Complex multi-act plays like V. Sambasivan’s Othello are condensed into hour-long narratives, aiming to converse with the local milieu. Speaking in Malayalam, however, demands the use of specific Malayalam colloquialisms. Othello addresses Desdemona as “edi” (a casual address to a wife/females), while others refer to him as “yajamanan” (lord/master). The narration, therefore, regardless of the original adaptation being used, can encapsulate themes ranging from racial and cast discrimination to contemporary feminism and fascism. This obvious socialist nature of Kadhaprasangam would later be extensively utilized by the leftist activists, artists, poets, and politicians in Kerala.

 

 

The Performance

The orator of a Kadha (story) often self-identifies as a Kadhikan (storyteller). One of the most interesting aspects of this is that there is no ‘initiation’ of the role, as one might see in other performances. Most of the time, just like how a speech would transpire, the Kadhikan would be interacting with the audience as just another member of the audience, as he explains his background, the story behind the creation of that particular performance, or even his life experiences. But when the narration actually begins, it is accompanied by certain modern traditions that are common in the public theatre performances in Kerala.

A bell, a high musical crescendo, a small description of the story, and the title announcement.

All enhancing the bravado of the Kadhikan’s singing, which ebbs and flows according to the emotions he is trying to convey.

This usage of music is a narrative motif in Kadhaprasangam, as it grounds the story in local culture. The instruments range from the classical Tablas, Harmoniums, and Keyboards, and they sometimes even mimic the tunes of popular Malayalam film songs, allowing the audience to instantly connect with the emotional tone of the scene through familiar melodies. This flexibility and casualness in narration also allow the Kadhikan to freely stop the Kadha midway and explain the metaphors and parallels to the audience. For example, Sambasivan is known for his interpolative references to local poetry to explain foreign concepts. Bianca in Othello is compared to Vasavadutta, a character from a famous poem by Kumaran Asan, and to effectively bridge this gap between Venetian and Keralite literary sensibilities, intermissions and contextualizations are often necessary.

 

V. Sambasivan: The Messiah of Modern Kadhaprasangam

It is impossible to discuss the evolution and importance of Kadhaprasangam without mentioning the contributions of V. Sambasivan. With his phenomenal talent and progressive vision, Sambasivan seized this indigenous art form and reshaped it into a secular medium for modern political discourse and mass cultural education. His popularity attracted audiences in the thousands to hear his masterful renditions of Malayalam literature and revolutionary western adaptations.

 

 

Interestingly, V. Sambasivan’s meteoric rise was not an accident of talent alone. It was intrinsically linked to the extraordinary political and cultural landscape that defined post-independence Kerala. This era was dominated by the ascendancy of the Left. In 1957, Kerala made history by ‘democratically’ electing the first Communist government in India (and by extension, Asia). The Communist movement’s influence, in general, was essential in shaping the state’s cultural and educational spheres in the decades that followed. Multiple initiatives promoted by the Leftists (not only Communists), including the Literacy Movement, Library Movement, etc., not only trained the public conscience to think broadly, they also allowed them to critically engage with their social reality through various public performances, creating a uniquely fertile ground for Sambasivan’s brand of intellectual entertainment. School competitions and political party rallies thus became vital platforms where Sambasivan found a ready audience, perfectly aligning his art with the political currents of the time. This supportive and highly charged socio-political context was the stage upon which he would emerge as the undisputed master of a new tradition.

 

 

But why was Sambasivan important to the art form itself?

His most important innovation was to modernize Kadhaprasangam by moving its archives decisively beyond the confines of mythology. Driven by a desire to enrich and expand the Malayalam literary and cultural sphere, he introduced a vast array of new narratives drawn from both local and global sources. This included the adaptations of the literary works from writers, novelists, and poets alike. In Malayalam, particularly, the social narratives of writers like Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and Kesava Dev captured Sambasivan’s imagination. What more, the Malayalam literary spheres even started producing stories and books specifically in the ‘Kadhaprasangam format.’

In other words, what Sambasivan essentially did was democratize High Culture. His performances asserted that the canonical world literature belonged as much to the ‘illiterate natives’ in a village as it did to university scholars. And the effectiveness of this ideological assertion speaks for itself. In his career spanning over nearly five decades, Sambasivan developed fifty-five distinct stories and performed them at over 15,000 different locations, attracting audiences that numbered in the thousands. He became a pop-star who single-handedly embedded world classics into the collective memory of an entire generation, and that too while utilizing the versatility of an art form that would later thrive on the very principles he held on to his whole life.

 

Kadhaprasangam in Modern Kerala

Since Sambasivan’s era, Kadhaprasangam has turned into a ‘cultural’ art form in Kerala. From temple festivals and musical shows, to academic competitions and even dedicated stages that still attract hundreds, there is practically no domain that Kadhaprasangam performances haven’t touched. The lyrical style and narrative hues of the Kadhikan have even shaped certain aspects of colloquial Malayalam, as people use the intonations and invocations satirically to demand the attention of their peers. Kadhaprasangam is also an extremely competitive art form in the Kerala State School Kalolsavam, where the performances are as wide and varied as one can possibly imagine. Each year, the audience eagerly waits to hear new stories, and the judges analyse them for their social relevance and narrative impact. In other public spheres, Kadhaprasangams are as popular and common as Stage Plays/Skits (Natakam), mostly because of how Natakams themselves are primarily used for social commentaries.

 

 

Conclusion

Kadhaprasangam, although one can argue otherwise, is not a one-man show. Practically, maybe yes, but in its core, neither the Kadha nor the Kadhikan is a conduit of an unrevealed truth. They are a part of us, the society, and the whole performance becomes nothing but an elevated conversation about our social landscape. There are no classes or castes in Kadhaprasangam. There are no privileged or underprivileged either. But the performances encapsulate and dissect all these unfortunate realities and present a proposition to the listener.

“Now that you have been reminded of the world you live in, are you willing to act?”

And act one must, as it is the change-makers who hold the torch for a society half-blind to the injustices.

 

References

1. Article from the Deccan Chronicle: Diversity is the theme in higher secondary Kathaprasangam
2. Thomas, Sanju. (2016). The Moor for the Malayali Masses: A Study of Othello in Kathaprasangam. Multicultural Shakespeare. 13. 10.1515/mstap-2016-0008.
3. Kadhaprasangam: Kalayum samoohavum; Book by Dr. Soumya K.C
4. Section by Ameet Parameswaran on Kathaprasangam, BOOK OF ABSTRACTS, International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR) Conference, July 24-28, 2023.
5. Trivedi, Poonam. (2015). Rhapsodic Shakespeare: V Sambasivan’s kathaprasangam / story-singing. Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare. 10.4000/shakespeare.3590.
6. Johny, Blais. ‘Kathaprasangam: History, Narrative and Popularity’. Sahapedia
7. V. Sambasivan’s performance of ‘Irupathaam Nottandu (The 20th Century).’