Kunchan Nambiar (1705 – 1770) hailed from Killikurissi Mangalam in Palakkad district and brought up in the erstwhile Travancore State was the most popular poet of Malayalam literature. Poetic genius, scholarship and artistic brilliance blended in the creative personality of Nambiar. Kunchan founded the semi-classical dance form Thullal in the mid-eighteenth centuary.

There is a popular legend that Kunchan formulated this dance form to make a vengeance against Chakyar who ridiculed Kunchan for playing Mizhav in the Koothu performance in a wrong way. The incident was at Ambalappuzha when Chempakasseri Devanarayana Raja ruled and patronised poets and artists to a large extent. Kunchan left the stage of Koothu and in the same night he composed a poem and performed it in the Thullal Dance form the very next day in the temple premises. It attracted the audience and the Chakyar lost his regular audience. The Chakyar complained the misdoing of Kunchan and the King ordered not to perform Thullal in the temples thereafter. This story is only a legend and belief. But if Kunchan Nambiar composed Kalyana Saugandhika by one night it is a Sitankan Thullal and not Ottan Thullal.

Without any clean evidence it cannot be said whether he framed Thullal poetry and dance within a short period or not and if at all it is correct which Thullal he composed first. Kunchan composed more than 45 Thullal poems and more than ten non-Thullal works of great importance in the history of Malayalam poetic literature.

There are Ottan, Sithankan and Parayan thullal forms framed by Kunchan Nambiar. The Dravidian word ‘thullal’ means up and down movements. There were other thullal forms like Padayani Thullal, Bharatam Thullal, Komaram Thullal etc. Kunchan used the technique of Chakyarkoothu and certain folk performances existed in the Middle Travancore area. Out of the three thullal forms, Ottan is the most sophisticated and refined one compared to Paraya and Sitankan. ‘Krishnarjuna Yudham’ Pampan Thullal is supposed to be a Thullal work of pre-Kunchan Nambiar period. But there is no evidence for its performance.

Angika, Vachika, Aharya and Sathvika Abhinayas are beautifully combined in Thullal dance. Except the Vachika, all the other three aspects are minimised very much so that the ordinary people can enjoy the performance well. More importance is given to Vachika abhinaya. It is based on some puranic story taken from Ramayana, Bharata, Bhagavata etc. and it is rendered in thullal metres like Tarangini, Vaktran, Mallika etc. and sung with different ragas or tunes.

The dancer has to sing, remembering the whole story poem in definite tunes and rhythms. The orchestra men, the Maddala (Mridanga) player and the person who plays cymbals have to repeat and continue every couplet of the poem. The performance usually prolong for one to two hours.

All the story poems used for Thullal dance whether it is of Ottan, Sithankan or Parayan are full of humour, satire and sarcasm. The poet does not leave anybody from his humorous criticism – Gods, brahmins, kings – all are victims of the artist. Sense of humour also is necessary for the artist.

Reginald Massery and Rina Singha remarked, “This dance lies somewhere between a folkdance and a classical dance. Its roots are certainly the same as those of Kathakali and broadly speaking, it follows the same principles. At the same time it is very closely connected with the people. It has played a large part in those relations and entertainments, for it directly sets out to be non-academic.”

All dance forms have Angika, Aharya, Vachika and Sathvika Abhinayas. In Thullal all these aspects are very simple and inexpensive. The talent and sense of humour of the artist are the major aspects, which make thullal closest to the public. In Kerala, Hastalakshana Deepika is the basis of the hastabhinaya and in thullal where minimum mudras are employed also is based on Hastalakshana Deepika. The Rasabhinaya is according to the canons of the Natyasastra.
Thullal demands musical ability, literary competence and artistic merit. Ganapathy, Patvattan, Munnarangu, Kalasam etc. are the formalities performed by the artist before entering the play of the story. Gods are invoked at the beginning and at the closure:

“Narayanaya Jaya; Narayanaya Jaya;
Narayanaya Jaya; Narayanaya Jaya;”

Among the thullal songs, Ottan – Ghoshayatra, Kiratham, Nalacharitham, Santhanagopalam, Syamanthakam etc, Sitankan – Kalyana Saugandhikam, Sundopa Sundopakhyanam, Ganapathi Prathal, Poundraka Vadham etc., Parayan – Pulinthudi Moksham, Thripura Dahanam, Sabha Pravesam etc. are very popular on the stage.

Out of the 45 and odd Thullal poems of Kunchan, more than 20 are regularly performed and the Kalyana
Saugandhikam Sithankan Thullal is very popular on the youth festival stages also. In the post Kunchan period, more than 100 Thullal poems have been composed by various poets but none of these has gained popularity that of Kunchan’s poetry. A few academic studies on Thullal have been made by scholars and among them that of Sahithya Panchananan P.K. Narayana Pillai is worth mentioned here.

The present writer’s two research treatises and references made in history of Malayalam literature also deserve particular attention. In Germany, by the Harianu Harshita studied Thullal. In recent years there are many Thullal artists have taken interest in performance and institutions like Kerala Kala Mandalam and Kunchan memorials provide coaching in Thullal dance. A German, Harianu Harshita, studied Thullal, translated Kalyana Saugandhikam Sithankan Thullal into German language and performed in Germany.

Thullal is the most popular semi-classical art form of Kerala and the artist who performs Thullal has to gain very disciplined training in the art and he or she must be proficient to sing the poem, make ethereal moments on the stage and present the story in a humorous style as the great poet designed and performed it. Kunchan was a unique personality in Malayalam poetry as well as in the art history of Kerala.

Prof V.S. Sharma
The writer is former Head, Dept of Malayalam and Dean, University of Kerala.

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