Indian Classical Dance

Mohiniyattam
Mohiniyattam, literally Dance of the Enchanttress, has its seeds in the deep past of Kerala. Its present form, designed exclusively for the female dancer, is however, a recent creation inspired by the living matrix of Kerala’s social ensemble dances performed on festive occa sions like Kaikottikali and Thiruvathirakali, and Nangyar Kootu, The female component of the highly stylized Kudiyattam, a souviour of Sanskrit theatre. The word, Mohini, occurs in an eighteenth-century Malayalam commentary of the Vyavah¯aram¯ala composed two hundred years earlier by Mazhamangalam Narayanan Nambudiri. Much later, the creator of Ottam Thullal, Kunjan Nambiar in his Goshayatra mentions Mohiniyattam. Reformer Vallathol traced the dance right down to the days of the Silappadikaram because of the definite reference to Ker ala’s Chakyars while scholars like Pisharoti believed the dance had a six hundred-year-old history. Kalyanikuttyamma, Kunjukuttyamma, Kanak Rele are some of the great dancers of Mohiniyattam.