“Kuttu paathi, kottu paathi,” says Perungattur Po Rajagopal, a professional Kattaikkuttu theatre artist, playwright, and the founder of Kataikkuttu Sangam in Punjarasantankal Village near Kanchipuram. It translates to “Kuttu is half singing and half music.” As a mukavinai player in the Kattaikkuttu orchestra, I couldn’t agree more. 

The word kuttu is also spelt as koothu. However, the Kattaikkuttu Sangam uses Kattaikkuttu as its standard spelling. This article follows the same convention. Further, the Tamil Lexicon online dictionary uses diacritical markings to transliterate கூத்து to kūttu. 

What is Kattaikkuttu? 

Kattaikkuttu is a traditional Tamil language-based musical ensemble theatre form popular in the north and central districts of Tamil Nadu. It combines iyal (words) and isai (music) into visual performance (naadakam or kuttu). All-night performances take place during village festivals and as part of death rituals.

Plays are based on the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas. Kattaikkuttu is also known as Therukoothu (or Terukkuttu), even though historically the latter term referred to a mobile performance that is often a part of a temple procession. Nowadays both terms are used interchangeably to denote all-night narrative performances. 

The term Kattaikkuttu comes from kattai (wood) and kuttu, referring to the use of wooden ornaments worn by heroic male characters to symbolise their royalty and valour. Today there are different stylistic lineages within kuttu. I am trained in Po Rajagopal’s style, which is sometimes referred to as the Perungattur bani. 

In this style, performances are accompanied by three musical instruments: a pedal harmonium to provide pitch and melody, a mridangam and dholak providing rhythm and the mukavinai — a small double-reed wind instrument. 

The sound of the mukavinai is high-pitched and loud, reaching out to audience members seated far away.........

© The News Minute