Padakam, the poor cousin of Chakyarkoothu

Padakam, an age-old which is dying a slow death, was brought alive at the at the capital city recently, by . The temple art, unfortunately, has not been able to find fans among the current generation unlike other art forms, and the majority of the seats at the venue remained vacant.

Draped in kasav mundu with chuvanna pattu tied on top of it and a red fancy crown, the artiste began the performance with a vyshnava vandana slokam, an invocation to lord Vishnu. Sajith first delivered the peedika, an introduction about Padakam, in chaste Malayalam. The artiste then went on to narrate the story of Angaga Dooth in Sanskrit slokas with explanations in simple Malayalam.

Post the show, Sajith talks to us about the ancient oral art form, which has a lot of resemblance with Chakyarkoothu, the traditional stand-up comic act. “However, this art is steeped in bhakti, and is devoid of any sort of satire or social criticism, as in the Chakyarkoothu,” he says.

Sanskrit slokas followed by a detailed exposition and explanation forms the essence of Padakam. The themes are from the Puranas, extolling the deeds of gods and goddesses. “The authentic art form is a serious katha kathana sambradayam (story telling) which was a usual practice at temples across the state during the annual temple festivals,” says Sajith.

“Earlier Padakam was performed only by the Nambiyar community who play the Mizhavu for temple arts but now there is no community barrier. However, uplifting an art form does not happen without an appreciative audience. To widen its reach while keeping the authenticity, I have added a little satire to the performances. I ridicule members of the audience, drawing parallels between them and the vanaras from the epics.”

Meanwhile, Sajith does not deny that the future of Padakam is bleak. “The absence of patrons is leading to the extinction of the art form. We learned the art in a gurukula system. But now it is learnt only for the sake of youth festivals. The youth have no interest in practicing it as an art form. There are only very few Padakam artistes today and it is performed only in ancient temples. The Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple is one
among them.”

Among those who assembled was art aficionado, musician and poet Girish Puliyoor, who tells us that he was so enthralled by the performance that he forgot about time. “I came to know about the event through a newspaper notification and got curious on seeing the name ‘Padakam’. I had cancelled my other appointments for watching it but it was worth it.”