The Killing of Baka

Deep into the dark forest, the Pandava prince Bhima, has journeyed to find the demon Baka. He seeks out the demon at the request of the Brahmin living in a village terrorized by Baka. Approaching the beast's lair the wind carries with it the stench of corpses. Bhima provokes the the red-faced demon into battle.

Bhima: Don't imagine I'm one of the gentle folk you have plundered and killed in the past. I am Bhima, the invincible hero. I will kill you with one blow, as I killed the powerful Hidimba.

Baka: Ha! Yes, and you dishonoured his sister Hidimbi, plunging the demon race into eternal shame. I am so glad you have come here. Today I'm going to take my revenge. But enough of this talk. Let's get on with the fight. I'm starving. Death to the loser and glory to the conqueror.

Bhima: As the royal eagle destroys a snake, so I'll rip out your heart! My fury is growing. Inhuman wretch! Demon! Now you'll breathe your last.

September 22, 2010

One evening while in Fort Cochin, Kerala Jean and I took in a Kathakali performance. In Malayalam “Katha” means story while “Kali” mean play. The show was to begin at 6:30 but Jean and I got to the little theater just after five to watch the actors prepare.

Makeup is a huge part of Kathakali. When we arrived the heroine Bhima and the Brahmin were sitting cross-legged on the stage putting there faces on. Bhima was played by a skinny, middle-aged man. His transformation over the next hour and half into the green-faced commanding Pandava prince was amazing.

A round faced, jovial looking man joined the other two on stage. Applying red and black makeup he   quickly became the forest dwelling demon Baka. An assistant came out and put beards on both Bhima and Baka. The beard consists of several carefully, trimmed layers of paper attached to the actor's face by rice paste. The makeup is all natural as well using coconut oil as a base.

With makeup and beards completed the actors left the stage to get into costume. The Singer (narrator) took the stage and gave us a brief history of Kathakali. In the days of antiquity Kathakali was only performed for royalty. As royal society declined the classical art form died with it. However, it was reborn during the 1930's through the efforts of the poet Mahakavi Vallathol Narayana Menon who established a school for Kathakali. Students study for 8-10 years before achieve the mental and physical prowess to be a Kathakali artist.

There are no spoken words in Kathakali. All speech, actions and emotions are conveyed through body language. The actor playing the Brahmin came on stage to give us a demonstration. The eyes are particularly important to the performance. First, the Brahmin demonstrated his ocular prowess by sitting perfectly still and moving his eyes with beat of the drum. As the beat changed the oscillations of actor's fell into unison.

Next, he demonstrated how the different emotions via facial expressions. Sad, angry, confused, disgusted the singer took him through a whole host of states. Then came the speech demonstration. It's usually through gestures. Depending on how a gesture is executed it can pleading , polite or commanding. The Brahmin demonstrated with a few surprised people on the front row.

Downcast eyes toward audience member. Wrings hands and gestures weakly to the stage [I beg you to come on stage]

Smiling at audience member. Gestures to the stage [Please come up to stage]

Angry expression. Points at audience member and then points at stage [Get up here now]

The Brahmin ran through twenty or so words common in Kathakali. Jean and I tried to absorb as much as we could. Fortunately, with our programs they supplied us with a script of tonight's performance. A typical Kathakali play lasts 8 -12 hours. Tonight we just be seeing an hour and a half portion of The Mahabharata.

The lights dimmed and the show began. In the first scene, the Brahmin, now bearded, is preparing food  and placing it in a cart. The forest demon, Baka, has been terrorizing the village and demanding food from the villagers.

Bhima enters the village. The Prince has several motivations to destroy the demon. First, his mother is insistent that he kill the monster. He's also looking forward to eating some of the food the Brahmin has been forced to prepare for the demon. Finally, Bhima has a little blood lust in him.

That's what the script said at least. Watching the actors dance and interact on the stage it was a little difficult to follow. Sometimes, I couldn't tell whether the actors to talking to each other or having internal monologues. The flexibility reminded me of opera. The actors were accompanied by a pair of drummers and a singer, their tempo and rhythm flowing with actors. The performance was compelling. The beat of the drum and the singers haunting voice lulled me into the scene.

Bhima finally talks the Brahmin into letting him take the cart with the food into the forest. The Brahmin blesses him and sends the prince on his way.

Baka is stewing in his forest lair. The red-faced demon in full regalia is markedly different then that jovial man I saw few hours ago. He comes across Bhima on the cart eating HIS food. Baka gives him his best evil look.

Unconcerned, the prince smacks his lips and goes on eating. Eventually, he provokes Baka into battle.

The two actors fell into a dancing, whirling combat scene. Sometimes the beast appeared to have the prince on the ropes but Bhima won out striking the foul beast down and taking his head.

As the royal eagle destroys a snake, so I'll rip out your heart! My fury is growing. Inhuman wretch! Demon! Now you'll breathe your last.