This volume focuses on Mantrankam and Anguliyankam that are the two great masterpieces of Kutiyattam, one of India's oldest living theatrical traditions. It provides some fundamental general remarks on the performance of Kutiyattam, relates it to the pan-Indian reflection on aesthetics, and gives an account of its development up to the present time. The chapters in the volume are authored by both scholars versed in this tradition as well as active Kutiyattam performers in Kerala, which is where it is practised. This is the first attempt to bring together a set of focused studies of this masterpiece-in-performance.   

Contents: Foreword. Introduction. I. Opening up: 1. Ascaragulynkam and Mantrnkam: Two Wondrous Crest Jewels of Ktiyttam (Sudha Gopalakrishnan). 2. Some Remarks on the caryacdmani: Reflections, Refl exivity and Wonder (Lyne Bansat-Boudon). II. Mantrnkam: 3. Mantrnkam, an Ancient Integration Project? Its Structure and Composition (Heike Oberlin). 4. What is Mantrnkam? (David Shulman). 5. Pracchana Brhaspatyam: Irony and Illusion, Reality, Reflection, and Play in Mantrnkam (Orly Hadani Nave). 6. Reflection and Arul: Creating iva on the Ktiyttam Stage (Hemdat Salay). 7. Vasantaka: Personal Considerations from Within the Practice (Indu G.). 8. Mantrnkam: An Arena for Experimentation (Elena Mucciarelli). 9. The Mantrnkam Paribhsa from a Historical Linguistics Perspective (Ophira Gamliel). 10. Tying the Universe: The Interplay of Veda and Ktiyttam with special reference to Mantrnkam (Elena Mucciarelli and Heike Oberlin). III. Anguliyankam: 11. Anguliyankam, Rmyana-Vda of the Ckyrs (Virginie Johan). 12. Anguliyankam: The Ntyaveda of Ktiyttam (Bhadra P.K.M. and Rajneesh B.). 13. The World of Hanumn: Creating a Fluid Cosmos on a Kerala Ktiyttam Stage (Einat Bar-On Cohen). 14. Distinct Conventions in the Staging of Anguliyankam Kttu (Ammannur Kuttan Chakyar and Aparna Nangiar). IV. Tying up: 15. My Experience of Performing Anguliyankam and Mantrnkam (Madhu Margi Chakyar). 16. Knowing and Being: Ktiyttam and its Semantic Universe (Manu V. Devadevan). 17. An Actor in Red and White: The Ckyr Community and the Early Maniprvalam Corpus (Sivan Goren Arzony). Index.