Duryodana sent his spies to discover the hiding place of the Pandavas. One of the spies reported that during his wandering, he had heard that Keechaka had been killed. This aroused suspicion in Duryodana. He knew that only Bhima could kill Keechaka. Therefore Pandava must be hiding in the Matsya Kingdom he concluded. Duryodana instructed Trigarta to capture Virata’s cattle. In the battle that ensued, Virata was made the prisoner. Bhima ( as Valalan, the cook) rescued Virata while Duryodana made fresh attack on Virata’s Kingdom. Uttaran son of Virata boasted that he could recapture if some one like Arjuna would drive the Chariot. Malini(Draupadi) knew that he was a coward. She persuaded Bruhanala (Arjuna), to act as his charioteer. In the battle, Uttaran was totally demoralized, Bruhanala revealed the true identity. The secret of Pandava’s disguise was thus broken. Arjuna defeats Duryodana. Performing the role of Arjuna in Uttaraswayamvaram second day organized by Drisyavedi was Kottakkal Chandrasekharan. He was selected for the Kendra Sangeeth Nataka Academy Award. Chandrasekhara has been performing since four decades. In an interview the artiste shares experiences, new attakathas and choreography.

Chandrasekharan is a descendent of the Naranathu Brandan. His father Kumaraswami Bhattathirippad was a great connoisseur of Kathakali and wanted his son Chandrasekharan to become a Kathakali actor. He started learning Kathakali in 1957 under the tutelage of Kuttan Panicker. In 1959, he joined Kottakkal P S Natyasangham. Vaidyaratnam P S Warrier established Kottakkal Aryvaidyasala in 1902. Paramasivam dramatic troupe was the art wing of the Vaidyasala. In 1967, Chandrasekharan was appointed as the tutor here. “Karunakara Panicker, Pattikkamthodi Ravunni Menon, Guru Kunju Kurup, Vazhenkada Kunju NAIR, Manjeri Sankunni, and T P Rama Pisharody were the instructors. WE need more patronage. In those days we had Valiakottaram Kaliyogam. The rulers of Travancore were great composers and patrons of Kathakali.

“Government and other private institutions churn out a number of students annually. We are not in a position to place them” he remarked.

“New attakathas lack the solemn nature which is the salient feature of Kathakali. The more literary value it has the less impressive it will be on stage. That is why out of hundreds of attakathas only a handful became popular. Unnai warrier’s Nalacharitham faced a similar situation initially. It is one of the best literary productions” he explained.

Regarding Choreography he said, it demands wealth of imagination. Once, the institute decided to stage Ayyappa charitham. C V Warrier penned and choreographed simultaneously. On the ninth day it was staged- a sort of world record.