Kāṟaḷmān (Charlemagne) Performances as Sites of Cultural Memory in the Caviṭṭunāṭakam Musical Theater of Kerala, India

Abstract

A powerful Kāṟaḷmān—Charlemagne, wielding the Chandrahāsa-the sword of Rāvaṇa, along with the turantāl—Durandal, wielding Rōḷdōn—Roland and other paladins, fighting to bring back the holy relics from the Turks, is one amongst the most performed story in the Caviṭṭunāṭakam-The Stamping Drama, Musical Theater of Kerala, India. Arguably attributed to the Portuguese Padroado missionaries of the 16^th century, stories of Charlemagne were performed in its entirety spanning fifteen nights in the converted Latin Catholic coastal communities of central and southern Kerala. The Charlemagne stories performed through the eponymous heavy, and rhythmic stamps—caviṭṭu, songs, minimal dialogues, oral rhythm mnemonics, music and steps are the founding “text” of this genre. This paper uses Paul Connerton’s ideas of collective memory and tries to record Charlemagne as recounted through the “inscribed memory”—via cuvaṭi-—the unpublished Caviṭṭunāṭakam manuscripts which are the “private properties” of the masters of Caviṭṭunāṭakam, and “incorporated memory”— performer’s bodies, from seven coastal islands of Ernakulam and Alappuzha in Kerala. I will look at the physicality, conceptuality and content of the Kāṟaḷmān cuvaṭi collected from these islands and juxtapose with them the corporeality of the theater form from rehearsal, green room (costume and make-up) and performing spaces. The paper also analyses the colonial anxieties of the Portuguese and their encounters with Mouros Malavares (Malabar Moors) through the creation of “Turkish Moors,” and “Bulgarian Moors” as the “Other” in these Kāṟaḷmān performances.