My Experience of Performing Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam

Abstract

This chapter gives an important testimony of an experienced actor’s viewpoint and his issues with regard to the performance of Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam. In this way, he outlines some peculiarities of this performance such as the unique relation with prabandham that can be seen only in Mantrāṅkam or some techniques of todays Kūṭiyāṭṭam that were not evolved yet (nirvahaṇam, kramadīpika). The special feature of these two acts is the enormous demand they make on the actor to perform both in depth and through a vast range at the same time. Here the aesthetic totality is more important when compared to the newer form of other acts, in which the details of enactment are more clearly visible.