Index

A

accommodation 45 -54, 92 -3, 224 ;

in the "Song of the Drama-House" 40 -5

Achuyta Menon, C. 193

Agni (god) 218 , 228

Anasuya 198 -9

Andhra Pradesh, puppet plays of 2 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 71 , 235

Angada (character) 87 , 91 , 99 , 115 , 116 , 208 , 229 , 231

Annamalai Pulavar 195 -6

Annaturai, C. N. 29

anti-Brahmin dramas 23

Arjuna 125

Arunachalam, M. 93

Atikayan (character) 132

Atri (sage) 198 , 199

audience, absent 9 -15, 191 -2, 224

Auvaiyar 113 , 129

avatar 54

Ayodhya Book 23 -4, 96 , 130 , 136

B

Bakhtin, M. M. 178 , 180 , 181

balance, in folk Ramayanas 78 , 224

Balinese shadow puppetry 10

Beautiful Book 25

"benefit of the text" (nu-l payan ) 51 -2

Bhagavati (goddess) 1 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 134 ;

blessings from 1516 ;

and Cinna Tampi 50 ;

oracle-priest of 234 ;

as ritual audience 12 ;

temple 4 , 5 -6

bhakti and folk religion 39 , 51 -4, 78 , 94 , 224 ;

and Rama's killing of Vali 89 , 91 , 92 , 94 ;

Saiva poems 29

Bharata (character) 218 , 219 , 221 -3, 226

Bhumi Devi 119

Birth Book 23 , 73 , 96 , 106 , 129 , 136

Brahma (god) 116 , 120 , 123 , 125 , 126 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 173 -4

Brahmin puppets (patta pava ) 5 , 7 , 46 -7, 196 -7, 213

Brahmins: and Cinna Tampi 46 , 49 ;

and Kamparamayanam49

C

Cakkyar Kuthu 6

Cataiyappan 35 , 103 -4, 106

Chidambaram Mudaliar, T. K. 93

Chola empire 1 , 27 -8, 103 ;

and the Rama cult 40

Cinna Tampi 45 -6, 49 -51, 97

comedy, in the Kerala puppet play 235 , 236

commentaries: oral 119 , 21 , 95 , 127 -33, 180 , 185 -6, 223 , 224 ;

printed 52

conversations, created by puppeteers 134 , 178 -93

Cosmic Elephants 116 , 130 , 131

Cousins, J. H. 193

cultural meaning, and performance 11

D

Daksa 124 , 200

Dasagriva (character) 130

Dasaratha (character) 108 , 218 -19, 226

dialogue, puppeteers' use of 134 , 179 -82, 186 -90

Doniger, Wendy 53

drama-house. See kuttu matam

Dravidian movement 28 -9;

anti-Rama campaign 90

F

family sponsorship 10 , 15 -16, 17

Flueckiger, Joyce 11

Foley, John Miles 14 -15, 128 , 153

folk Ramayanas 14 , 78 , 135 , 181

folk religion, and bhakti 39 , 51 -4, 78 , 94 , 224

Forest Book 24 , 73 , 79

G

Ganesa puppet 5 , 7 , 23 , 47

Godavari River 59 , 60 -1, 182

GoldbergBelle, Jonathan 36 , 235

Goldman, Bob 78

grief, in the Kerala puppet play 235 -6

H

Handelman, D. 12 , 235

Hanuman (character) 82 , 87 , 131 , 187 -8, 207 ;

and Bharata 221 , 222 ;

and the death of Indrajit 155 -6, 162 -3, 167 ;

and the defeat of Ravana 114 -15, 116 , 122 , 126 , 131 ;

finding of Sita 98 , 99 , 101 ;

journey to the Medicine Mountain 171 -5, 202 , 233 -4;

and Sita's return to Ayodhya 213 -14, 220 -1;

and Sita's trial by fire 227 ;

Hart, George 54

Hinduism, Four Goals of 52

Hyder Ali 32

Hymes, Dell 10

I

Indra (god) 103 , 116 -20, 126 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 156 -7, 169 -70, 197 -201, 207 ;

as narrator 179

Indrajit (character) 4 , 25 , 187 -8, 233 ;

death of 134 -5, 149 -78, 196 -7, 202 -5, 234 , 236

J

Jain texts, and Rama's killing of Vali 89

Jakobson, R 9

Jambuvan (character) 158 -9, 185 , 208 -9, 226 , 228 -9, 236 ;

and Hanuman's journey to the Medicine Mountain 170 -5, 233 -4;

and Rama's return to Ayodhya 219 -20

Javanese shadow puppetry 10 , 11 , 12

K

Kalaikottu Muni 108

kama (love), and Rama's meeting with Surpanakha 67 -8, 77 -8

Kampan 1 , 2 , 23 ;

and the death of Sambukumaran 72 ;

dialogue verses 181 -2;

and the killing of Vali 89 , 91 , 93 ;

legends about 47 -51, 104 -9;

and the puppeteers' oral commentary 132 -3;

and Rama's meeting with Surpanakha 71 , 73 , 75 , 76 , 77 ;

Ramayana 26 -30, 106 -9;

Kamparamayanam1 , 27 -30;

and the Chola period 40 ;

and Cinna Tampi 46 ;

in Kerala 30 -1, 34 -5;

and the Kerala puppet play 223 -34, 238 -9;

and the killing of Vali 93 ;

and the puppeteers 37 -8, 132 ;

and the Kanda 130

Kapur, Anuradha 15

Karnataka, puppet plays of 2 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 71 , 235

katha 13

Kathakali plays 6 , 96

Keeler, Ward, Javanese Shadow Plays, Javanese Selves11 , 12

Kerala 3 ;

and the Kamparamayanam30 -1, 34 -5, 54 , 71 ;

Palghat 1 , 30 -7, 46 ;

puppets 36 -7;

shadow puppetry 1 , 2 , 10 -12, 14 , 192 .

Kiskindha Book 25 , 79

Krishnan Kutty, K. L. 2 -3, 4 -5, 6 , 7 , 23 , 37 , 135 -7

Kubera 116 , 131

Kumbhakarna (character) 132 , 137 -45, 148 -9, 182 , 185 , 229

kuttu matam (drama house) 3 -5, 37 ;

at Elakatu 137 ;

at Kerala 11 ;

at Mannur 80 -2;

at Palghat 97 ;

at Suhavaram 3 -9

L

Laksmana (character) 5 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 87 ;

and the coronation of Vibhisana 213 ;

and the death of Indrajit 135 , 150 -7, 159 , 165 -6, 167 , 168 -9, 177 , 201 -2;

and the defeat of Ravana 110 , 113 , 115 , 118 , 123 -4, 125 ;

and Indrajit's snake-weapon 230 -1;

and

the killing of Vali 86 , 89 ;

killing of Sambukumaran 61 -2, 71 -3, 74 , 88 ;

mutilation of Surpanakha 70 -1, 73 , 88

Laksmana Pulavar 136

Laksmi (goddess) 198 , 199

Lanka, defeat of 4 , 99 , 100 , 131

legends: of Kampan 47 -51;

of Madhu and Kaitabha 132 ;

of Markandeya 145 -8, 185 ;

of the moon 124 , 198 -201

Lord, Albert 182

M

Mahabali, King 102 , 140 , 141 -3

Mahabharata 89 , 93

Maharashtra 2

Mahodara (character) 205 -6

Mair, Victor 35 -6

Malayalam language 3 , 33 -4, 128 , 129

Malayali puppeteers 80

Maliyavan (character) 99 , 110 , 120 -7, 131

Mandodari (character) 134 , 152 , 213 , 236

Mannur, drama-house at 80 -2

Marathas 35 -6

Marica (character) 126

Markandeya, legend of 145 -8, 185

Menon, Achyuta 90

Mills, Margaret 17

"mirror events" 12

Mutaliyars 35 , 195

N

Naicker, E. V. Ramaswami 29 , 90

Nambiyar, Kuncan 35 , 37

Nandi 116 -17, 131

Narada (sage) 14 , 118 , 198 , 199

Narayan, Kirin 17

Narayan, R. K. 23

Narayana (god) 124 , 140 , 141

narrators, gods as 179

natakam (dance) 15 , 223

Nayar, Narayana 3 , 5

Nayar, Sankara 3

O

oral commentary 1 , 19 , 21 , 95 , 127 -33, 180 , 185 -6, 223 , 224

oral literary formalism 9

oral performance, and audience 9 , 10 , 12 -15

Orissa 2

Ottakkuttan 28 , 35 , 49 , 72 , 104 , 105 , 106 ;

and the Uttara Kanda 130

Ottan Tullal 3 , 4 , 6

P

Palappuram 16 , 194 -6

Palghat 1 , 30 -7, 46 , 54 , 80

Parvati (goddess) 14 , 141 , 152 , 198 , 199

patronage 10 , 12 , 15 -18, 136 , 137 , 191 , 237 , 238 ;

and payment of performers 17 -18

patta pava (Brahmin puppets) 5 , 7 , 46 -7, 196 -7

performance studies 10

Pillai, Natesan 18 , 98 , 132 , 186 , 236

piramanam (explanation or role) 129 , 133 , 184

pulavars (poet-scholars) 45

puppeteers 1 -2;

and "benefit of the text" (nu-l payan ) 51 -2;

creating conversations 134 , 178 -93;

dialogue 179 -82, 186 -90, 314;

earnings 15 ;

foreign tours 136 ;

and the Kampan text 37 -8;

lack of new 237 -8;

legendary first puppeteer (Cinna Tampi) 45 -6, 49 -51;

Malayalis 80 ;

Marathi-speaking 36 , 37 ;

memorizing verses 37 -8, 80 ;

oral commentary 21 , 127 -33, 223 , 224 ;

of Palappuram 195 -6;

publication of texts 136 ;

sung verses 38 ;

Tamil-speaking 1 , 34 , 37

puppets: Kerala 36 -7;

making 237

Purnalingam Pillai, M. S. 29

R

Rama 1 , 2 , 5 ;

anti-Rama campaign 90 ;

and bhakti 53 ;

confession 88 -94;

coronation of 16 , 24 , 26 , 194 , 196 -223, 224 , 225 -9;

and the death of Indrajit 135 , 168 -70;

killing of Ravana 22 , 26 , 27 , 53 , 73 , 210 -13;

killing of Vali 59 , 82 -94;

marriage to Sita 23 , 225 ;

meeting with Surpanakha 38 , 59 , 60 , 64 -71, 73 -8, 183 -4;

and Ravana's first defeat 99 -127;

rejection of Sita 59 , 88 , 227 -8;

return to Ayodhya 194 , 213 -23;

stories 3 , 22 -6;

and the Uttara Kanda 130 ;

war 229 -32

Rama-Visnu (god) 78 , 132

Ramayana ; Kampan's 26 -30, 106 -9

Ramayanas, folk 14 , 78 , 135 , 181

Ramcaritmanas12 -13

Ram Lila drama 13

Rao, V. Narayana 14

Ravana (character) 22 , 24 -5, 87 ;

abduction of Sita 24 -5, 73 , 83 , 85 , 114 , 169 -70;

death 134 , 194 , 225 ;

and the death of Indrajit 135 , 138 -49, 163 , 196 , 201 -5, 236 ;

first defeat 99 -127;

and the puppeteers' commentary 131 ;

Rama's killing of 22 , 26 , 27 , 53 , 73 , 210 -13;

and the Uttara Kanda 130 ;

War Council 95

referentiality, traditional 14 , 128 , 133

S

Sambukumaran (character), death of 59 , 60 -75, 88

Sangam poems 28 , 29

Sarasvati (goddess) 198 , 199

Seltmann, F. 2

shadow puppeteers. See puppeteers

Shulman, David 226

Singer, Milton 10

Sita (character) 5 , 14 , 22 , 98 ;

and the death of Indrajit 205 -6;

and the defeat of Ravana 122 , 123 , 126 -7, 135 ;

and the fall of Lanka 100 , 101 , 131 ;

Hanuman's finding of 98 , 99 ;

killing of fake 175 -6;

marriage of Rama and 23 , 225 ;

Rama's rejection of 59 , 88 , 213 -18;

Ravana's abduction of 24 -5, 73 , 74 , 83 , 85 , 114 , 118 , 169 -70;

return to Ayodhya 219 , 220 -1;

trial by fire 218 , 225 , 226 -8

Siva (god) 14 , 110 , 111 -12, 124 , 130 , 131 , 197 -8;

and the defeat of Ravana 117 , 118 , 125 , 126 ;

and Kampan 50 ;

and Kumbhakarna 144 -5;

legend of "Poison Throat" 141

"Song of the Drama-House" 7 , 40 -5, 46 , 47 , 51 , 82 , 178 , 223 , 233

Sri Vaisnavism 53 -4

Sugriva (character) 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 -7, 88 , 89 , 91 , 92 , 99 ;

and the death of Indrajit 167 , 168 ;

and the defeat of Ravana 114 -15

Suhavaram village, Kerala 2 -9

Sukra 141 -2, 143

Surpanakha (character) 5 , 23 , 24 , 92 , 224 , 236 ;

Laksmana's mutilation of 70 -1, 73 , 88 , 94 ;

Rama's meeting with 38 , 59 , 60 , 64 -71, 73 -8, 183 -4

Svaha (goddess) 199 -200

Swami, Ramalinga 29

Sweeney, Amin 236

T

Tamil 3

Tamil Brahmins (Pattars) 33 , 34 ;

and Cinna Tampi 46 , 47

Tamil folklore, balance in 78

Tamil language 18 , 33 -4;

and oral commentary 128 ;

and the puppeteers 1 , 34 , 37 ;

Tamil-Malayalam patois 34 , 128 , 223

Tamil movement, and the Kamparamayanam28 -9

Tamil Nadu 2 , 3 , 35 , 36 , 37

Tamil Uttara Kanda 72

Tara (character) 82

temple patronage 16 -17

Tirunakari Alvar 30

tol pava kuttu ("leather puppet play") 2 , 12 , 35

"traditional referentiality" 14 , 128 , 133

Tulsidas 12 -13, 14 , 92

U

umbrella holder (character) 157 -9, 163 -4, 188 , 209 -10, 232 -3, 234 , 235

Uttara Kanda 129 -30, 131 , 225 , 226 , 235

V

Vacantan (character) 220 , 228 -9, 236

Vali (character), Rama's killing of 59 , 82 -94, 99

Valmiki 22 , 2729 , 27 , 35 , 60 , 104 , 235 ;

and Rama's coronation 226 ;

and Rama's killing of Vali 89 ;

Ramayana 46 ;

Uttara Kanda 72

Vamana (character) 142 -3

Vanni (character) 207

Varuna (character) 101 -3, 105 , 116

Vedavati 100 , 101 , 130 , 131

veliccappatu (oracle-priest) 234

Velli Tampiran 30

Vibhisana (character) 98 -9, 100 , 101 , 111 -13, 114 , 131 , 132 , 226 ;

and the death of Indrajit 137 -8, 150 -5;

and Rama's return to Ayodhya 217 , 219 ;

and Ravana's death 211 , 212 -13;

and Sita's trial by fire 227

village committees 12

village sponsorship 16 , 17

Visnu (god) 78 , 85 , 87 , 102 , 110 , 117 , 120 , 125 , 132 , 173 , 234

W

War Book 25 -6, 38 , 95 -7, 130 , 131 , 193 , 235 ;

death of Indrajit 134 , 138 -78;

Ravana's first defeat 99 -127

women's singing groups 11 -12

Y

Yama (king of the dead) 78 , 148

1. The title of Kampan's poem is Iramavataram , "The Descent [avatar] of Rama," but it is commonly known as Kamparamayanam , the "Ramayana of Kampan."

2. On this debate, see Stache-Rosen 1984.; Mair 1988, chapter 1.

3. See chapter 7.

4. These invocations on behalf of the one-rupee patrons are sung during a natakam , or "dance" of celestial women who are summoned to entertain Ravana (infrequently Rama) at various points during the puppet play. With the dancer puppets pinned on the screen, the puppeteers sing songs in praise of Bhagavati, Rama, Murukan, and other deities. See, for example, chapter 6.

5. A vesti (vetti ) is a sarong-like garment worn by men in south India.

6. Despite his ritual office and spirit possession, the oracle is not highly respected; to the puppeteers, he is a temple servant and an easy target for caricature (see chapter 6).

7. The details and scope of this opening puja varied greatly from troupe to troupe; some worship only the Rama puppet, while others worshiped all the major puppets together.

8. These puppets are perforated and opaque, nor translucent. For details on the manufacture and iconography of puppets in Kerala, see Seltmann 1986; UCLA Museum of Cultural History 1976.

9. One drum, para , is a double-headed barrel drum played with one or two sticks; the other, mattalam , is also double-headed but oblong in shape and played with the hands. They are often accompanied by a pair of heavy brass cymbals (ilattalm ), and occasionally by an oboe-like curved horn (kulal ). All these instruments are played by the puppeteers themselves or by their associates, who receive a fraction of the puppeteers' pay and form part of the overnight, catnapping audience inside the drama-house.

10. Cash is usually distributed to the puppeteers only on the final day.

11. Kabadi is a popular game played by young men, in which players cross a line and attempt to tag members of the opposing team without being tagged themselves, all the time repeating "kabadi, kabadi." If they are tagged or tackled or fail to repeat the word, they are out.

12. The text versus context dichotomy has been questioned on many fronts; see Ben-Amos 1993.

13. Jakobson 1960.

14. A good example of these early studies is Abrahams 1976. For India, see Lutgendorf 1991; Kapur 1990; Qureshi 1983; Hess 1983; Flueckiger 1988. For an analysis of audience-performer relations in New Mexico, see Briggs 1988. Finnegan (1977:214-35) discusses types of audience, while Bauman and Briggs (1990) provide an overview of research on audience.

15. Hymes 1975:18-19.

16. Hobart (1987:30) explains that this Balinese performance is "given primarily to an invisible audience, i.e., the gods, the human spectators being essentially irrelevant"; although performances adhere closely to texts, the story presented has "little or no conflict" and is "hardly audible" (pp. 162-63, 178).

17. Keeler 1987:15.

18. Zurbuchen (1987:138), for example, describes the active "evaluation" and "feedback" by audiences for ordinary night performances in Bali.

19. Proschan's claim that "[e]very traditional puppetry performance is a collaboration between puppeteer and audience" requires qualification (Proschan 1987:30). See also Proschan 1983:18-19.

20. Keeler 1987:17.

21. Keeler 1987:219.

22. Handelman 1990:41-48.

23. See Lutgendorf 1991:115-19.

24. Flueckiger 1991.

25. Narayana Rao 1991.

26. Foley 1991.

27. Kapur 1990:23.

28. Some temples divide the rupee donations between the puppeteers (60 percent), musicians (20 percent) and temple (20 percent). Inflation had raised file standard donation to 1.25 rupees at a few sites by 1989.

29. Family-sponsored performances are known as nerccai kuttu (drama [as offering in fulfillment] of a vow); village-sponsored performances are desamkuttu (village-[sponsored] drama).

30. Narayan 1989.

31. Mills 1991.

1. The proverb in Telugu (courtesy of V. Narayana Rao) is "katte, kotte, tecche ."

2. This Campu Ramyana might also be the twelfth-century Sanskrit text attributed to Bhoja, which is based on the southern recension of the Valmiki and

includes several incidents found in the puppet play. On the debate over the Mahanataka see S. K. De 1931.

3. Ravana's death is one example; see chapter 8, note 18.

4. For this conversation, see chapter 6.

5. Jesudasan and Jesudasan 1961:183. Perhaps the best known adaptation of Kampan is the Rama Natakam , an early eighteenth-century composition in a popular song genre (kirttana ) by Arunacalakkavirayar.

6. For Kampan's influence in Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, see Singaravelu 1968.

7. See Sanford 1974:12-18, passim; Champakalaksmi 1981; Ceturaman 1985; Pollock 1993:271.

8. Sanford 1974:17-18; Champakalakshmi 1981:118-23. Two eighth-century Pallava Rajas were also compared to Rama, but the evidence is not quite as impressive as one might think: in one case the king is compared to everyone from Arjuna to Manu, while in another the Rama comparison is merely an inference (South Indian Inscriptions , vol. 1, no. 25; vol. 3, no. 206).

9. See Shulman 1985:25-26.

10. For the publication history of the Kamparamayanam , see Civakami 1978.

11. On the politics of Tamil nationalism, see Irschick 1969 and Arooran 1980; on the various ideological strands of the Dravidian movement, see the 1992 dissertation by Sumathi Ramaswamy.

12. Cuppiramaniya Parati (1882-1921), for example, celebrated Kampan as a symbol of pure Tamil in his poem "Cen Tamil Natu" ("Pure Tamil Land").

13. In 1924 Sir John Marshall regarded the Dravidian hypothesis as the most valid, and further evidence has confirmed his opinion (Parpola 1994:59, passim).

14. For another interpretation of the construction of this Dravidian identity, see Washbrook 1989.

15. Periyar 1972a:15.

16. Purnalingam Pillai 1985:223-24.

17. See, for example, Ponnambalam Pillai 1910:60.

18. Vedachalam Pillai (Maraimalai Atikal) 1939:66.

19. Annaturai 1961.

20. Tecikavinayakam Pillai 1953. On E. V. R.'s revision of the Ramayana, see Richman 1991. For others in defense of Kampan, see Collamutam 1966; Naccumuri 1952.

21. For the Chola inscriptions, see Nilakantha Sastri 1975:468 and Ceturaman 1985:52; for the Pandiya inscription, see Banerjee 1986, 1:216. The Kannada inscription, from Hassan District, is given in Rice 1902, no. 77, p. 53, verse 25), but Emeneau (1985) doubts that the Kannada kamba is the Tamil poet.

22. Nadar 1957:33.

23. In 1926 scholars at Alvar Tirunakari obtained a manuscript of the Kamparamayanam containing the information that it was "completed in M.E. 970 [A.D. 1792] by Tiruvenkatam Tacar," who is said to have consulted forty-nine manuscripts and labored for thirty-five years before issuing his definitive manu-

script (Kampan 1942, 1:3). See also Vaiyapuri Pillai 1962:69; Srinivasan 1984, 1:172; Hikosaka and Samuel 1990:238.

24. The debate on authentic and spurious verses during the first decades of the twentieth century was carried on primarily in the scholarly journal Cen Tamil .

25. These four are: (a) An edition by Vai Mu. Kopalakirusnamacariyar, a learned, Vaisnava scholar. (b) A critical edition with full apparatus compiled at Annamalai University. (c) The Kampan Kalakam edition, which includes mikai patal (extra verses) but no variant readings. (d) The Alvar Tirunakari edition, compiled at this Sri Vaisnava temple center in southern Tamil Nadu.

Hereafter, in notes, Kampan verses are identified by their number in the Kopalakirusnamacariyar edition.

26. Buchanan 1807, 2:347.

27. This historical sketch is drawn from Logan 1887 and Krishna Iyer 1973.

28. The southern portion was called naladesam or "four-villages," namely Chittur, Tattamangalam, Nallepilly, and Pattancheri, where Tamil influence remains strong.

29. Fullarton 1787:167.

30. In the early nineteenth century, a British official noted that the Palghat Rajas were poverty-stricken from the ravages of half a century of war (Buchanan 1807, 2:347).

31. Krishna Iyer 1973:44-46.

32. Interview with V. S. Mani Iyer, Palghat, February. 1989.

33. Mahalingam 1972:312-13.

34. Govindakutty 1981. The Ascaryacudamani a play text, begins with Rama's and Surpanakha's meeting, as does the puppet play (Jones 1984).

35. I have extrapolated this figure from census records for the several parts of the Palghat region ( Census of India , 1901:120; Census of India 1941:89; Census of India , 1951:23-25).

36. Until recently, it appears that the puppet play comprised a Tamil and a Malayalam branch; see chapter 5, note 3.

37. On the importance of the trade route through the Palghat Gap, see Subrahmanyam 1989:78-79. On Tamil weavers and merchants in premodern Kerala, see Nayar and Mahalingam 1952:7, 21; Duarte Barbosa 1866:144-45; Vijaya Ramaswamy 1985:28, 150, 169.

38. The Kalpathy temple was built in 1425, bringing a sizable contingent of Tamil Brahmins and probably artisans and weavers, too, since temples are commercial as well as religious centers (Innis 1951:473; Logan 1887:cxxx).

39. Oral tradition among local Tamil Brahmins is that ancestors established eighteen (or ninety-six) Brahmin villages (agraharams ) where the Vedas were taught. Today this Tamil Vedic culture is undergoing a minor revival; see The Hindu , 24 June 1988; The Indian Express , 20 June 1988.

40. At Kuttala, near Kunicheri, and at Punkunam, near Trichur, and at Tekkegramam, near Chittur. The last site also contains a memorial to Eluttaccan, author of a celebrated Ramayana in Malayalam. At two large Rama temples in the puppet play area (Tiruvilyamala and Triprayar), episodes from the Rama story are presented in Kathakali and Cakkyar Kuttu, but not in shadow puppetry.

41. "Chettiyar" and "Mutaliyar" are labels often used by upwardly mobile groups; the Kerala puppeteers who use these terms appear to be Sengunthars (Kaikolars).

42. In the Vinotaracamancari (Viracami Cettiyar 1891). On Kampan's patron as a Mutaliyar, see Kampan 1926-71, 1:5.

43. Even allowing for the fact that "Mutaliyar" is commonly added to names, the continuity between scholars and puppeteers is clear.

44. Kurup 1984:52, 116; Kurup 1988:49-50.

45. The reference appears in Nambiyar's "Gosha Yatra" (Sivasankara Pillai 1970:81); I am indebted to Rich Freeman for his translation of the relevant lines.

46. The Telugu and Kannada data are given in Krishnaiah 1988; Goldberg-Belle 1984; and M. N. Sarma 1985; a Ceylonese tradition is noted in Coomaraswamy 1930. The Tamil literary evidence is summarized in M. Ramacuvami 1978:21-24.

47. Mair 1988, chapter 4. To this list of visual storytelling props used in the northern Deccan, we may add painted figurines and painted tents (Thangavelu 1992).

48. For the Maratha influence on south Indian shadow puppetry, see Gold-bergBelle 1984; Raventiran 1982.

49. On these Maratha picturemen, see Stache-Rosen 1984; Ray 1978. Morab (1977:42-43) found that itinerant families of leather puppeteers in northern Karnataka wandered hundreds of miles every year before returning to their home village.

50. GoldbergBelle 1984:183-90; Krishnaiah 1988:21.

51. A permanent building (kuttu matam ) constructed solely for shadow puppet performance appears to be unique to Kerala, although a photograph of "an old performance" in China shows what looks like a permanent stage (Jilin 1986:92).

52. On this verse, see chapter 6, note 20.

53. Although I was unable to compare handwritten texts used by different troupes, I discovered a close correspondence between a 1916 printed pamphlet of the verses and two recent books (Krishnan Kutty 1983 and 1987). The pamphlet contained many more verses than did the books, but verses common to them all rarely differed by more than a few words.

54. These "extra verses" (mikai patal ) the editors consider to be unauthentic, later additions to the text.

55. Three folk verses sung by the puppeteers are found in a Tamil folk Ramayana manuscript (published as Nataracan 1989) and a fourth in a Kuyil Ramayana (Venugopal 1993 :105). For a curious parallel with an Oriya and a Hindi text, see chapter 6, note 31.

1. On the development of Rama bhakti and devotional Rama texts, see Brockington 1985; Whaling 1980.

2. Durga puja precedes Dasara in north India, but the celebration of Dasara as Rama's victory is not at all common in the deep south, especially in local temple festivals. See Fuller 1992:108-19.

3. Goldman 1984:47.

4. See Balasubrahmanyam 1971:xx-xxxii; Sanford 1974:9-13; Champakalakshmi 1981:42-44, 120-25. Relief panels of the Rama story appear in north India (at Deogarh) and the Deccan (Chalukyan sites) several centuries before the Chola period, however. Pollock (1993) remarks on the "scanty" evidence for a Rama cult anywhere in India, except the Tamil country, before the twelfth century A.D .

5. Sanford 1974, especially 263-66. Historians studying Chola inscriptions have also found evidence of a royal Siva cult (Stein 1994:323-38).

6. On these inscriptions, see chapter 2, note 21. A temple inscription at Ettamannur in central Kerala is also said to record endowments for the study of the Kamparamayanam , but I have found no further details (Nayar and Mahalingam 1952:x); see also V. Raghavan (1956).

7. Champakalakshmi 1981:116-24.

8. Catacivan 1969; "hero" (virar ) occurs nearly two hundred times, followed by "generous one" (vallal ) approximately one hundred times.

9. On Cinna Tampi, legendary founder of the tol pava kuttu , see the discussion following this translation.

10. Appar and Cuntarar are major poets of early Saiva bhakti in Tamil.

11. "Fifty-one letters" is reckoned (somewhat arbitrarily) as thirty-six in Tamil plus fifteen in Malayalam, which are used for sounds borrowed from Sanskrit.

12. Laksmana (Chettiyar) Pulavar is the late father of Krishnan Kutty Pulavar.

13. The unusually large number of Nayars (Malayalis) in this list of past puppeteers is accounted for by the fact that the performer is himself a Nayar.

14. This reference to the Raja of Guruvayur, a small but important Krsna temple center on the western boundry of the tradition, is a rare mention of royal patronage in the puppet play; puppeteers in the Ponani area told me that they also include a mention of a Calicut king ("Camudira Raja") in their "Song of the Drama-House."

15. Here, and throughout this book, songs (kavi , or pattu ) are indented.

16. The four poetic gifts (nal kavi celvam ) are: maturam (sweetness), cittiram (singing in accordance with metric conditions), acu (ability to extemporize a composition), and vittara (ability to compose a long poem on a single theme).

17. A comparison of this paragraph with its literal translation (Appendix A, sample 1) will indicate some of the condensation I have used in editing performances for this book.

18. A Tamil proverb: Pattiram araintu piccai itu; puttakam araintu pennai kotu .

19. Katal iruvar karuttottu ataravu pattatu inpam .

20. The verse to Kampan (campa , invocation, 7), considered to be an interpolation in modern editions, is this:

We place on our head the feet of Kampan,
Who composed a story that spread and pleased all,

The story of the husband of flower-like Sita,
The story of Rama, whose name Siva proclaimed to Parvati long ago.

21. A possible exception is a procession from a Bhagavati temple to a Visnu temple in a nearby Brahmin settlement, although Brahmins do not participate in the festival, procession, or puppet play. Harding (1935:234) mentions that Brahmins were part of a procession from the Bhagavati temple to the drama-house on the final night of performance, but I suspect that his "Brahmins" are the non-Brahmin oracle and priests who lead the procession.

22. Most of these stories are recounted in Viracami Cettiyar 1891 ( Vinotaracamancari ); Turaicamipillai 1949 (Tamil Navalar Caritai ); Carma 1922 (Kampar Carittiram ); Purnalingam Pillai 1985:215 ff. See also Zvelebil 1973: 207-8.

23. See chapter 6.

24. Nilakanta Sastri 1975:2, pt. 2:524-28; Purnalingam Pillai 1985: 218.

25. Brahmin origins are often claimed for folk heroes in Tamil folklore, for example, the stories of Anantaci and Muttuppattan (Blackburn 1988).

26. This last service is performed by Kannaki, the goddess of Madurai, who comes to Tanjore to aid the poet in the Tiruvorriyur Stalapuranam (David Shulman, 1993, personal communication).

27.Bhagavatikku natakam . In several Bengali texts, too, the goddess assists Rama's victory; see W. L. Smith 1988:133.

28. On Siva's prominence in Kampan, see Maturai Palkalai Kalakam 1969.

29. As told to me by a puppeteer in 1989. Siva's birth as Kampan is sometimes left out of tellings. A shorter version explains that Bhagavati missed the original killing of Ravana by Rama because she was herself involved in killing the demon Daruka; when she complained, the puppet play began so that she could witness this spectacle every year. Valmiki's story that Brahma's door guardians, Jaya and Vijaya, were reborn as Ravana and Kumbhakarna is also told, with some variation, by the Kerala puppeteers.

30. Kopalakirusnamacariyar (Kampan 1926-71, 1:26) accepts this verse as "composed by Kampan," but other editions indicate that it is missing from several manuscripts and hence consider it a mikai patal , or added verse.

31. Thus "desired things" = artha and kama ; "wisdom and fame" = dharma; "liberation" = moksa (Kampan 1926-71, 1:27).

32. As Ramanujan has observed, karma is a minor key in the explanation of events in Indian folktales (Ramanujan 1991b).

33. On the paradox of "giving" in Tamil culture, see Hart 1979. A similar lesson about the dharma of donations is taught by Rama to Vibhisana in the War Book.

34. For more discussion of dharma, and in particular the proper exercise of generosity, see the performance in chapter 7.

35. On the varieties of Krsna bhakti, for example, see Hardy 1983.

36. O'Flaherty (Doniger) 1976:93.

37. On Rama's ambiguity in Kampan, see Shulman 1987; for the same in Valmiki, see Pollock 1991:15-21.

38. See Hart and Heifetz 1988:26-30.

39. Hart and Heifetz 1988:29.

40. For Sri Vaisnava use of the Rama story, see Carman and Narayanan 1989; Mumme 1991.

41. C. J. Fuller (1992:253) argues that one of the "fundamental objectives" of popular Hinduism is "to achieve identity, between worshipper and deity." I agree that narrowing the distance between humans and gods is central to folk/popular religion, but only because the objective is access to power not identity with it.

42. An example of the Sri Vaisnava influence on the puppeteers' commentary is seen on pp. 139-40; for a sample of Saiva Siddhanta discourse, see pp. 101-2.

1. Ramanujan has pointed out that opening scenes in Rama stories often allude to their underlying themes (Ramanujan 1991a).

2. This verse, the first "narrative" verse in Rama story told by the puppeteers, is well known because it has a double meaning (ciletai ): all the qualifies attributed to the river are equally attributable to poetry.

3. From this point forward, the performance continues as a conversation between epic characters. See chapter 7 for a description of conversations in the puppet play.

4. Here the puppeteers borrow a concept from classical Tamil poetry, aintinai (five-landscapes), to explain the place name, panca-vati (five-lands).

5. Scrambling to find the tree puppet, which was not at hand, a puppeteer eventually settled on the tower puppet as a substitute and earned grimaces of disapproval from the others in the drama-house.

6. This verse (mayam ninki , 2.8.51) and the next (mevu kanam , 2.8.52) are borrowed from Kampan's description of building another hut, at Chitrakuta.

7. Vin-kanten (heaven-I saw) is a folk etymology for vaikuntam .

8. Another Kampan verse: see note 6 above.

9. The god of love, and of mischief, is Kama, from kama (sexual desire).

10. Other versions of Hindu cosmology. are given by other puppeteers (for example, Mt. Chakravala is in the east, Mt. Astamana in the west).

11. The folk etymology, here is that Pulastiyan (the wise one) was born from Brahma's pulam (wisdom).

12. This name for Surpanakha is a combination of kama (sexual desire) and valli (creeper), a common epithet for women.

13. Kubera's mother was Tevavanni, Vicaravasu's first wife; Ravana and Surpanakha were born from another wife, Kekaci.

14. "Savapavam" replaces the usual "Carvapaumam"; the puppeteer forgot the eighth elephant's name.

15. Muti vanankata mannan .

16. "Disposition" translates guna .

17. Here the, performer uses a piramanam from the twelfth section of the Cutamani Nikantu , a medieval Tamil grammar.

18. Surpanakha cleverly substitutes the word kama (with its intimations of passion and lust) for the usual katal (romantic love) in this widely used proverb.

19. In Tamil: mukattil manacu teriyum .

20. Rama's sarcasm in recommending Laksmana as a possible spouse follows Valmiki, not Kampan.

21. Here Sita speaks what Rama thinks in Kampan; in this scene in Kampan, Sita is voiceless and runs away when confronted by Surpanakha. See discussion of vocalization in chapter 7.

22. At this point, a long piramanam (omitted here) from a Saiva Siddhanta text signals a shift from epic character to narrator, who delivers the discourse on the healing powers of the southern breeze (tenral ).

23. See Erndl 1991.

24. Malay manuscripts of the Rama story (Hikayat Seri Rama ) include the Sambukumaran story, but only one of the many Malay shadow play performances recorded by Sweeney included it (Zieseniss 1963:40; Sweeney 1972: 229). At least three Jain texts include the episode, but another thirty do not (Kulkarni 1990:31n. 43, passim). References to other Ramayana texts are from Gopalakrishna Rao 1984, passim; Brockington 1985:187; W. L. Smith 1988: 56-57. The episode in the chitrakathi tradition was confirmed by S. A. Krishnaiah (personal communication, 1988).

25. A frieze panel (in a series of Ramayana panels) on the Hazara Rama temple at Hampi (c. 1500 A.D. ) in north Karnataka depicts another unusual variant in which Laksmana appears to behead two ascetics. (Information and photograph of the frieze courtesy of Dr. Anna L. Dallapiccola).

26. From "The Ayotti Katai," a manuscript collected from Kanya Kumari District, Tamil Nadu (author's collection); see its recent publication as Nataracan 1987.

27. _Ramacuvami Pulavar 1956, 2:419-30. As commented upon later, the Uttara Kanda is often not included in editions of the Tamil Ramayana; see Ce. Venkatarama Cettiyar, 1986.

28. See Bulcke's analysis of versions of the Sambuka story in north Indian literature (Bulcke 1961:616-20). I am indebted to John D. Smith for his patience in translating these passages for me.

29. Laksmana kills Sambuka in the Jain Paumacariya (Bulcke 1962:619); the text in which Sambuka is cursed to be a tree is identified as "A. S. I." with no further explanation (p. 617). In many folk texts, Laksmana does Rama's work for him by killing Ravana as well.

30. A brief summary of this story is found in Father Bouchet's letter from the Coromandel, written in the seventeenth century (Lettres Edifiantes et Curicuses , 1718:172-73). Bulcke (1962:616-20) suggests that the Sambuka and Sambukumaran stories are related, whereas Brockington (1985:267n. 19) appears to conflate or confuse Sambuka with Sambukumaran.

31. Although Pollock (1991:3) notes the dramatic shift from the Ayodhya Book to the Forest Book, he debunks the two-separate-stories-theory on the basis of "what generations of performers and audiences have felt" (p. 5 ). One

wonders what evidence of those feelings is available to us; in Kerala, at least, the split between the two halves of the story is so apparent that the puppeteers begin their story at Pancavati.

32. Kampan verse, nilama (3.5.8).

33. Padre Fenicio, a Portuguese missionary who lived on the Malabar coast from the late sixteenth to the early seventeenth century, summarizes this story, in his journal, as edited by Jarl Charpentier (Fenicio 1933:80-83). I am indebted to Naomi Katz for translating this passage for me.

34. Narayana Rao (1991) summarizes a representative version of Surpanakha's revenge as well as other women-centered tellings of the Rama story. The revenge is more explicit in shadow puppet plays in northern Karnataka. In one version, Surpanakha goes to heaven, gets ambrosia, revives her dead son's body, replaces his limbs, and asks him who killed him; he replies, "A man with an axe and Vaisnava marks. You must get revenge, otherwise I'll become a preta ['hungry ghost']" (S. A. Krishnaiah 1988, personal communication). In some Tamil folk texts, Laksmana, not Surpanakha is supplied with a motive for revenge: his mutilation of her is a response to her accusation that he slept with Visvamitra's mother (Parijatam 1987:140); and in E. V. Ramasami Naicker's retelling of the Rama story, both Rama and Laksmana fall in love with Surpanakha, who jilts them and is thus mutilated (Parijatam 1987:287).

35. On this Kampan verse, see above, note 6.

36. Hart and Heifetz 1988:86.

37. On the pious demon, see O'Flaherty (Doniger) 1976:63-138; Shulman 1980;317-34.

38. Kampan verse, titil (3.5.38); Kampan 1926-71, 3:179.

39. In Kampan, Rama remarks (to himself) on the "limitless beauty" of Surpanakha/Mohini, but his desire, fully revealed in the puppet play, is intimated in the southern recension of Valmiki when he says, "For with your charming body, you do not look like a raksasa woman to me." Note that this line is excised from the critical edition of Valmiki (Pollock 1991:274n. 16).

40. I am not suggesting that this alteration was deliberate, although that seems no more implausible than the alternative—that the change was inadvertent.

41. Kampan verse, aruttiyal (3.5.51).

42. Kampan verse, tam uru (3.5-45).

43. See Pollock"s useful commentary on this topic (1991:68 ff).

44. Surpanakha marries Laksmana, in their next births, in the Pabuji epic (Smith 1991:93). In other folk texts, Sita is teased about her relations with Ravana and asked to draw her captor's picture on her toe, or on a palm leaf, which then comes to life in her bedroom.

45. Goldman 1984:52-59.

46. The Adhyatma Ramayana is one notable example.

1. The only major difference between the puppet play and Kampan's treatment of the missing episodes is a string of five folk verses in which Laksmana cries out his anxiety while searching for Rama in the forest.

2. Expenses for the Vali episode are nearly twice that for ordinary nights; on this occasion, a family paid 2,001 rupees. The death of Indrajit and Garuda's rescue of Rama also receive special ritual elaboration.

3. Some puppeteers in Palghat are Malayalis (principally Nayar, Nedungadi, and Panicker), who have learned the art from the Tamils and alongside whom they often perform, but the backbone of the tradition are Tamils. A Malayali performer told me that he sings the following verse in their "Song of the Drama-House" (although I did not record it): "We salute Kannappan Nayar and Ponnaccan Nayar, who belonged to the old and best Velur tradition and long ago established this Kampan-drama."

4. On this special night, the sponsoring family hired a special musical group (pancavadhyam ) to lead the procession.

5. Kampan verse, manamum (4.7.113).

6. Compare the folk verse with its Kampan (aiya nunkal 4.7.104) equivalent below:

The feelings of love with which Brahma endowed
The faultless, faithful women of your noble clan,
Oh Rama, he did not give to us;
We enjoy what we can—that's how he made us.

7. Rama's narration of the Gajendra story is omitted.

8. "Life-force" translates uyir .

9. This exchange between Jatayu and Ravana, revealing the location of the life-index, is not found in Kampan.

10. Ravana later mocks Hanuman as the servant of a "coward" (Angada) who worships his father's killer (Rama). See chapter 6.

11. Later, when Rama sees Angada bloody on the field, he recalls with pain this scene (see chapter 7).

12. This folk verse, in which Rama admits his error, has no equivalent in Kampan.

13. I truncate the translation at this point, after which Rama instructs Sugriva in statesmanship, Rama pines for Sita in the rainy season, and Laksmana arrives in Kiskindha to summon the monkey army.

14. See W. L. Smith 1988:80-81.

15. Kulkarni 1990:33, 124-125; Brockington 1985:267-68, 273.

16. Vali's boon is a gift from Siva; see Kampan verse, kittuvar (4.3.40).

17. Racamanikkam 1965:6.

18. David Shulman (1979) provides a close reading of the theological issues in Kampan's telling of the Vali episode.

19. From the interpolated Valmiki (W. L. Smith 1988:80).

20. A good example is the Bengali Ramayana, Meghanadavadha Kavya , by Michael Madhusudan Dutt; see Seely 1991.

21. See Richman 1991:184.

22. Achyuta Menon 1940:97-101.

23. See note 5, this chapter.

24. However contrived Laksmana's explanation appears, it convinced one scholar, who wrote an exhaustive textual study of the Vali episode in Kampan (Srinivasan 1984, 1:217).

25. In a Malay text (Hikayat Seri Rama ), Vali catches Rama's arrow before it reaches its mark and then convinces Rama that he has done wrong; Rama offers to grant Vali his life, but his arrow must find its mark, and Vali dies (Zieseniss 1963:56). Rama also makes the offer in an Oriya text attributed to Bikrama Narendra (W. L. Smith 1988:83).

26. As Shulman (1987) points out, Kampan's Rama also is subject to the old Tamil code of shame and honor; cf. Hart and Heifetz (1988:28-30).

27. Although not included in the performance translated here, this prediction is often part of the puppeteers' commentary. It occurs in a Malayalam prose narrative of the puppet play (Karumangurukkal 1937) and in the Sanskrit Mahanataka , in which Rama instructs Vali to kill him in his (Rama's) sleep. In other texts (e.g., the Eastern recension of Valmiki), Tara curses Rama to be killed by Vali in a later birth (W. L. Smith 1988:94-95). On the pattern of violation-death-revenge in folk Hinduism, see Blackburn 1988.

28. Arunachalam 1981:112. Note also that in the reconstructed text, Rama's admission comes before Vali entrusts Angada to him.

29. Even the puppet play is not immune from such pressures. In manuscripts and performances, Rama's admission is made in the initial line of the folk verse: "Oh, listen, Vali, I have done a great wrong (pilai ceyten )!" However, in a puppeteer's handwritten manuscript one letter is changed and the verse reads: "Oh, listen, Vali, who have done a great wrong (pilai ceyta )!" Blame is thus shifted from Rama back to Vali.

30. The eighteenth-century Bengali text is Bisnupuri Ramayana ; the two Tamil folk texts are "Vali Motca Natakam" (Periya Eluttu [chapbook] edition) and "Ramayana Katai," a palm-leaf manuscript from Kanya Kumari (author's collection). In Krttibasa's Ramayana, Rama confesses to Laksmana that he is "filled with shame" for his killing of Vali (W. L. Smith 1988:83).

31. Viracami Cettiyar 1891:190-91.

1. See, for example, the folk texts in Kannada and Telugu described by Gopalakrishna Rao (1984:88, passim).

2. See Hatch 1934. The War Book is popular also in the shadow puppet play in Andhra Pradesh (C. R. Sarma 1973:44) and in the Chengam mural paintings in Tamil Nadu (Nagaswamy 1980:421).

3. Kampan 1926-71, 6, pt. 1:iv. He also comments on the extraordinary number and variety of interpolations in Kampan's War Book.

4. See Kampan 1926-71, 6, pt. 2:ix. These episodes are accepted by some editors as part of Kampan's original text.

5. The temple here is dedicated to Kannaki (not Bhagavati), the deified heroine of the Cilappatikaram , an epic composed by the brother of a Kerala king several centuries before Kampan; as in Kannaki temples in Tamil Nadu, the goddess here is imaged by a mirror and patronized by Chettiyars.

6. This privilege is called mata pulavar atimai , or "right of the [drama]-house puppeteer."

7. The Kanta Puranam is often thought to be a Tamil translation of the Sanskrit Skanda Purana , but is, in fact, a very different text (Shulman 1980:30-31). The influence of this Tamil text on Kampan's poem, which is acknowledged by the puppeteers, led the Dravidian movement leader E. V. Ramaswami Naicker to call the Rama story a "stolen story" (Periyar 1972b: 59-64).

8. Kampan verse, konakar (6.2.75).

9. Tay konralum tutan konrate

10. The puppeteers use curuti (Skt. sruti ) as a synonym for the "Veda," including the Upanishads; murtti they explicate as "meaning" (porul ).

11. Tirtta or "holy bathing place," "ford."

12. Omitted here is a description of the monkey army at work, including a conversation between Jambuvan and Hanuman.

13. Kampan verse, kumutan (6.7.42). Notice that this important verse is the only one in the translations not converted to dialogue by the puppeteers; also see note 15 below.

14. The Kiskindha Kanda has been omitted in this list.

15. In its second recitation, the verse, although unaltered, becomes dialogue because it is spoken by Kampan himself.

16. Kampan's text is seldom printed with the Uttara Kanda, however; see the discussion in chapter 8.

17. In the Naka pacam episode (see chapter 7), Garuda rescues Rama and his army from Indrajit's snake(naka )-weapon.

18. The singer either forgot or simply omitted the third and fourth miracles.

19. Kampan verse, enniya (invocation, 12). I follow Kopalakirusnamacariyar's reading of this verse, which includes the fatuously disputed date of Kampan's composition. See note 20 below.

20. Saka Era, after the Shaka kings in northern India, began in 78 A.D. ; Saka 807 is thus 885 A.D. Most scholars consider this ninth-century date too early for the Kamparamayanam and, on largely literary. evidence, date the poem from the late twelfth century. See Kampan 1926-71, 1:xii-xiii; Zvelebil 1973b: 208.

21. Omitted here is a description of building the causeway, a long conversation between Rama and Vibhisana about Lanka, and a humorous scene in which Ravana's spies are caught by the monkeys and released by Rama.

22. I have been unable to trace the source of this quotation.

23. Here I have truncated the puppeteer's commentary, which runs on at length and without eloquence, concerning the nature of Siva.

24. This iconoclasm is not uncommon in south Indian Saivism.

25. Compare this explanation with Rama's terse answer in Kampan: ayarttilen; mutivu ate ("I have not forgotten: the result will be that [Ravana's death]").

26. I have omitted an argument between Angada and Ravana about the power of Rama.

27. This is one of numerous points where the lead puppeteer (speaking for Angada) was cut short by another puppeteer in order to keep the narrative on track.

28. Kampan verse, varanam (6.15.1).

29. Another version of this story is told in the Tiruvarancuram Talapuranam , a Tamil temple myth, in which the Brahmin form is assumed by Ganesa, who tricks Ravana out of his boon from Siva (in this case, a powerful lingam). The inverted bush also appears later in the same myth when Visnu deceives Ravana and wins back Parvati (Shulman 1980:323-26).

30. At this point, Natesan Pillai jumped up from his catnap and entered the conversation. His explication of this verse has no parallel in the printed commentaries.

31. A folk verse. The same dialogue between Rama's hands is recorded (with a minor difference—the right asks Rama if it's proper to kill Ravana, a Brahmin ) in an Oriya folk text (Misra 1983:75 ) and in Tulsidas (Philip Lutgendorf 1991, personal communication).

32. Twenty-four minutes (nalikai ), one-sixtieth of a day, is a traditional unit of time in Tamil.

33. Here the puppeteer draws on his knowledge of Tamil Siddha medicine; see Zvelebil 1973b:224.

34. The Kampan verse, vanaku mannu (6. 15.11) compares Sita's eyes to a spear (vel).

35. Kampan verse, mulaiyamai (6.15.16). The puppeteers regularly gloss puvana munrum as "gods of the Three Worlds," whereas other commentators read it as "He [Siva] of the Three Worlds."

36. Foley 1991:6-7.

37. From the Sanskrit pramana (citation).

38. On the independent status of the Tamil Uttara Kanda, see Venkatarama Cettiyar 1986, 2:iii-v.

39. The story of Vedavati is found in the Sanskrit and Tamil Uttara Kanda, to which the puppeteers add Sita's birth from Vedavati's ashes in a vina played by Ravana; their version thus belongs to a cycle of folk stories that hint at a sexual relation between Sita and Ravana.

40. This is an example of what I have termed the "backward-building" tendency in traditional Indian literature (Blackburn 1989),

41. On Valmiki's curse of the bird hunter, which motivates his composition, see Shulman 1991b.

42. A more elaborate version of this story occurs in the Vinotaracamancari , Although that version follows the puppet play in nearly every detail, two major differences illustrate the theological shift from Vaisnava bhakti to folk religion, discussed in chapter 3. First, in the printed account Kampan is aided by Visnu, whereas the Goddess plays that role in the puppet play. Second, in the printed account it is again Visnu (carved on a stone pillar in the Srirangam temple) who confirms the authenticity. of Kampan's composition, whereas in the puppet play his poem is validated by a common woman's words.

1. In Valmiki's War Book, too, Indrajit's death is more important than Ravana's; see W. L. Smith 1988:123.

2. This scene has been considerably abbreviated in the translation.

3. The belief that only someone who has fasted in the forest for fourteen years (that is, only Laksmana) is able to kill Indrajit is found in many folk texts.

4. On the truncated lives of Tamil folk heroes, see Blackburn 1988:34, 217-19.

5. On the pairing of king and renouncer, see Heesterman 1985. Notice, too, that Dasaratha, Rama, and, to a lesser extent, Ravana exemplify the south Indian motif of an impotent monarch (Dirks 1987; Shulman 1985).

6. Krishnan Kutty Pulavar 1983, 1987. These books consist of the verses sung in performance and their formal exegesis.

7. Here ends the akaval , or prose summary that introduces each performance; this akaval is unusual in that it is spoken by Indra to the gods.

8. Kampan verse, tolotu tol (6. 15.111).

9. On this subtle equivalence of pujyam (cipher) and pujyan (noble one), the Tamil Lexicon offers both meanings for pucciyam .

10. The three bodies are sthula, sukkum , and karana .

11. This is a Tamil version of the story of Siva as Nilakantan, Dark-Throat, which appears also in Valmiki's Ramayana. The ascetic in this story is Cuntarar, an early Saiva bhakti poet.

12. The Pankuni new moon is amavaci ; the three mantras are: pancatsaram, maya-mantra, sat-mantra .

13. Thus concludes a skillful commentary: the puppeteer has digressed into several stories and yet, at the end, covers all the details in the verse under discussion.

14. Kampan verse, culamuntatu (6.15.122).

15. "Demonic disposition" translates raksasa guna .

16. Kampan verse, kalanar uyir .(6.15.117). Except for the initial words in their version (kalanukku kalan instead of kalanar uyir ), the puppeteers sing this verse verbatim with the Kampan text. Their exegesis, however, takes the first two lines to refer to Siva and not to Kumbhakarna as printed commentaries do.

17. From the Malayalam kocca ; the Tamil word is kokku .

18. He requests, in other words, a girl who cannot possibly exist.

19. Recalling the discussion in chapter 4 on the concept of balance, note here the metaphorical "balance of this earth."

20. Kumbhakarna's victory over Visnu (the puppeteers' reading of this verse) may refer to the former's earlier birth as Madhu, who battled Visnu to a draw. The puppeteers' telling of this version of the story is omitted from the translation.

21. Vibhisana's long speech is omitted.

22. A folk verse, antaratti .

23.Kappukku mun etukkum katavul tan mal akum

24. I have omitted a prosaic folk verse here because the commentary repeats its sense in more interesting language.

25. The feet of gods hover slightly above the ground.

26. See note 3, this chapter.

27. Omitted here is Vibhisana's description of the "lotus formation" used by Indrajit in battle and the "swan formation" that Rama's army must utilize to defeat it.

28. "Battle house" translates por vitu .

29. "Eat grass" is metaphorically what a defeated enemy must do.

30. A humorous interlude with the celestial dancers (stri ), not found in Kampan, is omitted in the translation.

31. Kampan mentions that Indrajit visited women of pleasure after leaving the battlefield and before entering the palace.

32. This scene is abbreviated.

33. In Kampan, too, Indra and the gods appear at this point.

34. Omitted here is a recapitulation of the entire Rama story to this point, which the lead puppeteer spun out for half an hour.

35. In Kampan, Garuda takes it upon himself to help Rama.

36. According to popular legend (see chapter 6), Kampan sang these songs in order to revive a dead boy in Chidambaram.

37. A description of Garuda's destruction of the snake-weapon is omitted.

38. Omitted here is a scene in which the two generals, Dhumraksa and Mahaparsha, are ordered to be mutilated and exiled after they are caught stealing home to sleep with their wives. Maliyavan intervenes and convinces Ravana that, given mounting losses, he cannot afford to kill any of his troops.

39. Omitted here is a scene is which Maharakkan, Kara's son, confronts Rama and is dispatched by him.

40. Several battle scenes have been omitted.

41. I have omitted part of the dialogue in this scene, which is a formulaic repetition of the earlier scene when the umbrella holder and Indrajit surveyed the field after the snake-weapon had been released.

42. Here begins a string of three folk verses.

43. Kampan verse, tayo (6.21.207).

44. Folk verse, oru manaivi .

45. Kampan verse, tankuvar (6.21.201).

46. Kampan verse, arakkar kulattai (6.21.224).

47. Kampan verse, antam (6.21.226).

48. In Kampan, Vibhisana wakes Hanuman and together they find Jambuvan, whereas the performance focuses on Jambuvan, in accordance with his enlarged role in the puppet play.

49. Folk verse arpa.

50. Hanuman's three fathers are Siva, Kesari, and Vayu; his mothers are Sambavi, Sadanjani and Anjani His Saivite parentage is common in Rama texts; one story, alluded to in the puppet play and told elsewhere, is that Siva spilled his seed and Vayu transferred it to an ape woman Anjani, the wife of Kesari (see W. L. Smith 1988:130).

51. I have abbreviated this account.

52. This version of the Madhu and Kaitabha story is foreshortened and highlights Jambuvan's birth.

53. A folk verse, cantana .

54. These herbs are described in Kampan, but the puppeteers give them specific names: cantana karani; calliya karani; vacalliya karani; amuta karani .

55. Kampan verse, petaimai (6.27.9).

56. The omens are a single Brahmin, a widow, and a firewood seller (evidence of cremation?).

57. This verse is also sung both after Ravana's death and in the "Song of the Drama-House."

58. Bakhtin 1978; Volosinov 1978. See Trawick 1988 for an application of Bakhtin's ideas to Tamil folk songs.

59. Bakhtin 1978

60. Coincidentally, recitation of the Hindi Ramcaritmanas is also organized by four conversations, but they are more distant frames surrounding the text, whereas in the puppet play they vocalize action within the text. See Lutgendorf 1991:22-26.

61. The only exception to this rule (that I found) is the gods' rebuke of Rama when he reluctantly accepts Sita after the trial by fire.

62. The two segments of performance not in dialogue are ( 1 ) songs sung in the "Song of the Drama-House" and in the natakam ; and (2) the avatarikai prose transitions between scenes.

63. Bakhtin 1978:280.

64. Bakhtin 1978:181.

65. Virar yar enrar becomes Virar yar .

66. For a critique of "direct" and "indirect" speech, see Coulmas 1986.

67. Lord 1991:16.

68. The translation is by Hart and Heifetz 1988:100.

69. The translation is by Hart and Heifetz 1988:86.

70. Harding 1935:234.

71. This verse is not adapted to dialogue because it is quoted like a piramanam rather than spoken by a character.

72. The puppets are seen by the public only once—after the final performance when Rama is pinned up on the outside of the cloth screen. See chapter 8.

73. See Bogatyrev 1983:60.

74. Iyer 1943:4; Harding 1935.

75. One explanation for the term used here (ola-pava-kuthu ) is that puppets were once made from ola (palm leaf) not leather; another is that deer skin is as fine as a palm leaf (M.D. Raghavan 1947:39).

76. A senior puppeteer once explained to me that when his troupe went to Moscow, they adapted their performance to fit their new audience: "Those people [Russians] didn't know the language, so we did a lot of right scenes and played the drums louder."

77. The majority of Kerala puppets have "one movable arm and hand, some have even two movable arms and hands, and very few have other movable parts" (Seltmann 1986:88).

1. As mentioned in chapter 2, note 41, these Mutaliyars are also known as Sengunthars or Kaikolars.

2. The only exception, to my knowledge, is that a group of Tamils in Chittur (near Palghat) did sponsor puppet plays until in-fighting split the community and prevented further sponsorship.

3. Kampan verse, ellivan (6.27.61).

4. This section of the commentary has been abbreviated.

5. "Million" translates koti ("crore," ten million).

6. A pappadam is a thin, crispy snack fried in oil.

7. Compare the earlier version of this story in chapter 6.

8. Thus ends Annamalai Pulavar's energetic eighty-minute commentary on a single verse. Several sections, which restate philosophical points already repetitiously explained, have been omitted.

9. The dim-witted messengers also appear in Kampan, but their conversation here is an innovation of the puppet play.

10. A slapstick conversation between the messengers is omitted.

11. A pottu is a dab of vermillion or ash (or both) in the middle of the forehead, often placed there after worship.

12. This summary in the brackets is itself highly condensed; these events consumed most of an hour.

13. Minor scenes of battle and tactical planning are omitted.

14. Here I have summarized a quick flurry of events (nearly the whole of the Velerru patalam that require complicated movements of puppets on the screen.

15. Here the puppeteers show again that they know well Kampan's verses, each of which they have reduced to a single line: "Indra-weapon, wham!" "X-weapon, wham!" etc.

16. Here follows a series of four folk verses: manita kel, cavari, patalattil, ata .

17. The destruction of Ravana's sacrifice duplicates the earlier destruction of Indrajit's sacrifice; many of these events, including dragging Mandodari by the hair, are common in folk Ramayanas. as (W. L. Smith 1988:74-75) and are depicted in sixteenth-century temple paintings at Chengam, Tamil Nadu (Nagaswamy 1980:421-22).

18. The puppeteers' treatment of Ravana's death differs significantly from Kampan's, in which Rama himself realizes that he must shoot the Brahma-weapon to kill Ravana. The puppet-play motif of disclosing Ravana's life-index in a pot of ambrosia is found in the Ramcaritmanas , the Adhyatma Ramayana , and several folk Ramayanas in south India (Gopalakrishna Rao 1984:103). However, whereas in all those texts Vibhisana reveals the secret, in Kerala Agastya advises Rama to call on Surya, who reveals the secret. Agastya appears in Valmiki, too, but only to advise Rama to meditate on Surya Deva, who confers his blessings on him without divulging the pot of ambrosia hidden in Ravana's chest.

19. That is, as Krsna, who slays Kamsa.

20. Kampan verse, unnate (6.36.220).

21. Kampan verse, vellerukka (6.36.239).

22. This point, not obvious in the verse, is also made by Kopalakirusnamacariyar (Kampan, 6, pt. 2:171), who adds parallels from the Tirukkural and Antal's poetry.

23. This folk verse is very close in meaning to the equivalent verse in Kampan enra potin (6.37.37).

24. Kampan verse, unnai mitpan (6.37.63).

25. The nelli fruit, with its nearly translucent skin, is a folk metaphor for clarity; see also chapter 6.

26. Kampan verse, parkkelam (6.37.75).

27. This folk verse (tampiyum ) borrows two lines from a Kampan verse, ayinum (6.37. 129), and renders a similar meaning.

28. Dasaratha here tells the story of his promise to Kaikeyi's father that her son, not Kausalya's, would inherit the throne.

29. Here the folk performance presents a condensed version of the "Revival of Vacantan" episode (Vacantan uyir varu patalam ), sometimes called "Yama Episode" (Iyama Patalam ); see chapter 8.

30. This hybrid verse illustrates well the puppeteers' use of Kampan. The first two lines are a formula used both by Kampan (maliyai kanten , 6.30. 52) and the puppeteers (chapter 8). The final two lines, not in Kampan, make Jambuvan's point: that Rama, having crowned Vibhisana king of Lanka, has taken Ravana's chariot for his own use. In other Tamil folk Ramayanas, Jambuvan speaks a variant of this hybrid verse to chide Sita when she desires to remove a beautiful grinding stone from Lanka (C. R. Sarma 1973:66-67; Venugopal 1993:105-6).

31. The return journey to Ayodhya in Kampan differs from that in the puppet play in the following details of the Kiskindha visit: (1) Sita does not take the initiative to ask Rama to visit Kiskindha; (2) Tara first gives Sita a garland; and (3) Sita offers condolences for Vali's death.

32. Here the puppeteers tell a truncated version of the story of Siva's lingam at Ramesvaram, considered an interpolated episode ("The Puja," pucai patalam ). The Kerala version follows closely accounts in other folk texts and Tamil myths (Kanta Puranam and Cetu Puranam ).

33. "Sins" translates pavankal .

34. "Two hours" translates aintu nalikai .

35. Folk verse, punnai nokki .

36. For this conclusion to Indian oval epics (especially Pabuji, Alha, Lorik and Canda Guga, Muttuppattan), see Blackburn et al. 1989. Gopi Chand is yet another example (Gold 1992).

37. The Hindi Ramayana by Tulsidas extends into the Uttara Kanda, but holds out "the promise of a new kind of transcendent, personal Ramraj " (Lutgendorf 1991:373).

38. Shulman 1991a:95. See Shulman on these themes of restoration in Kampan's episode of Sita's test by fire, although he finds more ferocity in Kampan's Sita than I do.

39. In Kampan and the puppet play, Sita does speak sharply to Rama in an earlier scene when he proposes that she should not accompany him into exile; in Valmiki, she insults him (Sutherland 1989:74).

40. A medieval Sri Vaisnava commentator on Valmiki justified Rama's anger when Sita carried out his command by explaining that both she and Vibhisana should have divined his true intention (Mumme 1991:209). In a Kutiyattam

drama from Kerala, Sita's appearance in fine clothes is explained away as a consequence of a boon from Anasuya (Jones 1984:18).

41. Kampan verse, yan ivani , (6.37.40).

42. On this verse, see note 30, chapter 8.

43. In a south Indian Sanskrit text, the Tattvasamgraharamayana , Jambuvan challenges Rama to a duel, but it is deferred until the Krsna avatar (V. Raghavan 1952/53 ).

44. In Kampan, Rama threatens suicide when he grieves over Jatayu's body.

45. Kampan verse, villinai (6.18.224), followed by tamarai (6.18.223).

46. Kampan verse, vitaikkulanka (6.21.197).

47. The puppeteers' telling is similar to one version in the Pancatantra ("Hundred Wit, Thousand Wit, and Single Wit"; Ryder 1972:444-46). Both versions, for example, include the motif of the fish overhearing the fishermen the day before, which updates W. N. Brown's claim (1919:34) that this motif is found in literary but not popular versions. Another oral variant, in which a mongoose, cobra, and tortoise prevaricate about a fire in their haystack home, while a jackal flees and lives, is recorded in Beck and Claus 1987:235-36. See also tales 497 and 498 in Bødker 1957.

48. GoldbergBelle 1989. Handelman later refined his analysis of oscillating clowns (Handelman 1990:240-45).

49. Personal communication, 1992.

50. This information was gathered in 1990 from written records and interviews at the All-India Handicrafts Centre, Trichur, Kerala.

51. The 1982 figure is from Seltmann (1986:16-17); the 1989 figure is from my fieldwork.

52. Harding 1935:234.

53. My list of drama-houses, compiled from interviews with puppeteers, contains seventy-nine sites, to which I have added others from a list compiled by Venu (1990:65). Seltmann (1986), who completed his fieldwork in 1982, lists thirty-five sites.

54. I refer to Cousins (1970) and Harding (1935), as quoted above, chapters 7 and 8.