David Shulman attends a performance of Drama of the Ring, a work in the repertory of the ancient and endangered Kudiyattam theater of Kerala. Each performance is a giga-marathon of drumming, dance, music, and improvisation.
As in other Kudiyattam performaces, the opening moments of the Drama of the Ring are taken up by the purappadu, or “setting out,” in which the solitary actor—to the accompaniment of Sanskrit verses of benediction sung by the Nangyar—uses an abstract progression of pure, stylized movements to generate an entire world, complete in all its parts, from Brahma the Creator down to the tiniest ants and blades of grass. It can take a few hours.