Ramanattam

Origin

After the staging and creation of Krishnattam by the then Zamorin Raja of Calicut in 1657 AD, its fame spread all over Kerala. Its success induced the neighbouring chief of the Raja of Kottarakkara (Kottarakkara Thampuran) to request the Zamorin for the loan of a troupe of performers on the eve of a wedding taking place in the Kottarakkara palace. King Manavedan, then Zamorin of Kozhikode has a troupe that performs Krishnanattam. The king of Kottarakkara sent a messenger to Kozhikode with a letter requesting him to send artists. It is said that due to internal feuds and political rivalry between the chieftains of the neighbouring States, the Zamorin, besides refusing to send the performers, insulted and humiliated the Raja of Kottarakkara with the remark,

" It is useless to depute the troupe, because your (Raja of Kottarakkara's) court would be neither able to appreciate nor understand anything of the highly artistic Krishnattam and the high standard of the performance "

Here the political rivalry between the two chieftains turned into art rivalry and lead to the Kottarakkara Thampuran, initiating a parallel mode of entertainment, based on Ramayana, and named it as Ramanattam (literally meaning life of Rama in dance form). While the Manaveda's Krishnattam was written in Sanskrit, the "language of the gods"; he composed the entire Ramayanam in eight volumes in Manipravalam style.