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{{Short description|Kathakali dancer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
[[File:Kottakkal Sivaraman.jpg|thumb|right|Kottakkal Sivaraman]]
'''Kottakkal Sivaraman''' (9 Jan 1936 – 19 July 2010)<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article523933.ece?homepage=true Obituary]</ref> was a performing artiste who revolutionised the portrayal of female roles in [[Kathakali]], the classical dance-drama from [[Kerala]] in southern [[India]].

==Career==
Kathakali, being a largely masculine dance form with an all-male presence (at least till the end of the first half of the 20th century), tended to give female roles a secondary status.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}} This is despite some of its classical stories having dense and slow-paced songs (padams) set for female characters like [[Tripura Sundari|Lalitha]] (in Kirmeeravadham, Bakavadham) or [[Urvashi]] (in Kalakeyavadham) besides characters like [[Damayanti]] ([[Nalacharitam]]) or [[Mohini]] (Rugmangadacharitam) or [[Draupadi|Sairandhri]] (or Malini in Keechakavadham) which demanded fertile imagination and an insight about their profile for brighter enactment.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

The 1936-born Sivaraman, a disciple of his uncle-guru [[Padma Shri]] [[Vazhenkada Kunchu Nair]] at the [[PSV Natyasangham]] in [[Kottakkal]] in north-central Kerala's [[Malappuram]] district, decided to change all this subordination.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}} By the 1960s, he had experimented those ideas on stage with success, much to the appreciation of aesthetes not only in his native [[Valluvanad (southern Malabar)|Valluvanad]], an erstwhile central-Kerala fiefdom which has been the homestead for the refined [[Kalluvazhi]] style of Kathakali, but across Kerala and subsequently the rest of the world. His [[Karalmanna]] village, north of [[Cherpulassery]], in [[Palakkad]] district thus further affixed its name on the Kathakali map.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

Over the years, Sivaraman has acted with actors of several generations across north and south Kerala, but it was with [[Kalamandalam Gopi]] that he teamed up well to gain repute as a phenomenal pair on the Kathakali stage. Together they acted, with Sivaraman as [[Damayanti]] and Gopi as [[Nala]]n, as [[Kunti]]-[[Karna]]n, as Mohini-[[Rukmangada]]n. Sivaraman's portrayal of Sairandhri ([[Draupadi]] in disguise as a maid) in Keechakavadham opposite [[Padma Bhushan]] [[Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair]] (as Keechaka) also earned him many stages and fame. Sivaraman was one among the rare leading Kathakali artistes of modern times to have not taught in any leading performing-art institutions.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

In the evening of his life, Sivaraman also carved a cast in male roles, where the magic of make-up would help him hide his advancing age. He continued to do female roles, but was also seen performing as [[Krishna]] (Kuchelavrittam) or [[Pushkara]] ([[Nalacharitam]]). He had choreographed a new storyplay (aattakkatha), Pingala, which is based on the 11th canto of the epic Bhagavatham. In its inaugural show, he enacted the lead role of the protagonist.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

==Other activities and personal life==
An artiste with keen interest in reading books, ranging from the [[Puranas]] to the latest works in his native [[Malayalam]] literature, Sivaraman was known as a garrulous talker even while being a deep-sighted thinker of his art form. Filmmaker [[M.R. Rajan]] has made a [[Documentary film|documentary]] on the master. The work, [[Minukku]], went on to bag a national award in 2007.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

Sivaraman received the [[Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award]] in 1996 and the [[Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keralaculture.org/kathakali-a-ksna/468|title=Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award: Kathakali|publisher=Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala|access-date=26 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keralaculture.org/kathakali-ksna/460|title=Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship: Kathakali|publisher=Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala |access-date=25 February 2023}}</ref> Sivaraman won the [[Central Sangeet Natak Akademi]] award. He was married and lived in Karalmanna.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2005/07/01/stories/2005070102250200.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131135533/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2005/07/01/stories/2005070102250200.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=31 January 2010 | title=Consummate performer of female roles | date=1 July 2005 | first= K. K. | last=Gopalakrishnan | newspaper=[[The Hindu]] | accessdate=21 October 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.india9.com/i9show/61639.htm
|title=Kottakkal Sivaraman
|accessdate=2006-10-27}}
</ref>

==Death==
He died at his home at 10:30 PM on 19 July 2010, aged 74.{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070313095523/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/11/11/stories/2005111101390300.htm Redefining the nayika]

{{Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Winners of Kerala}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivaraman, Kottakkal}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Dancers from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian male dancers]]
[[Category:Kathakali dancers]]
[[Category:Malayali people]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:People from Malappuram district]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award]]

Kottakkal Sivaraman - Revision history

Vishal5555 at 04:25, 12 January 2026