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The art of Ramanattam with rich folk
ingredients became Kathakali (story-play) when Kottayath
Thampuran (1645-1716) further improved it and wrote four
plays in the same style with stories adapted from the
Mahabharata, as performances of episodes from the
Mahabharata could not be described as Ramanattam, the
play of Rama. Vellatt Chathunni Panicker (17-18 C), who
was the Kathakali trainer associated with Kottayath
Thampuran, returned to Kallatikkotu village in Palakkad
district and started Kathakali training and gradually
this style came to be known as the Kallatikkotan,
considered as the root of the form. The Kaplingatan,
developed later as the southern style of the art, is a
reformed offshoot of the Kallatikkotan school.
(‘Chemmencheri Asan: the torchbearer of Kallatikkotan
legacy’ by K.K. Gopalakrishnan, The Hindu Friday Review,
April 26, 2018)
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