Twenty Kathakali Hand Gestures That Cover Most of the Story

The first time you watch Kathakali, the hands move faster than anything else on stage and you have no idea what they are saying. Learning even a small set of Kathakali mudras changes that, because the same shapes come back again and again across every play.

Kathakali uses a set of twenty four basic hand shapes. Each shape carries many meanings depending on whether one hand or both are used, where the hand is placed, and how it moves. That is why a small vocabulary goes a long way: you are learning shapes, and the actor combines them into words. Related stage traditions use their own systems, and Koodiyattam, Kathakali and Krishnanattam are not the same thing.

How the system works

Think of each shape as a letter rather than a word. A single shape held in one hand can mean one thing, and the same shape in both hands can mean something else entirely. Position matters too: a hand at the chest, at the forehead or held out at arm's length changes the sense.

You are not going to translate a performance from a list. What you can do is recognise recurring shapes, catch the ones with clear meanings like sun, moon, tree, king, forest and arrow, and use them to track where the story is.

Twenty shapes to learn first

• Pataka. Flat open palm with fingers together. One of the most used shapes, and part of very many combinations.
• Mudrakhya. Fingers folded with the thumb pressed against them, like holding a seal.
• Kataka. Fingers loosely curled with the tips meeting the thumb, as if holding a flower stem.
• Mushti. A closed fist. Firm, blunt, and used for holding and grasping ideas.
• Kartarimukha. Two fingers spread apart like a pair of scissors.
• Sukatundam. A hooked shape suggesting a parrot's beak.
• Kapittham. Thumb tucked against a curled hand, a compact and closed shape.
• Hamsapaksham. Fingers spread with the little finger apart, like a bird's wing.
• Sikharam. A fist with the thumb raised. Used often, including for weapons and for the idea of a man.
• Hamsasyam. Thumb and forefinger touching with the other fingers loose, a delicate shape.
• Anjali. Both hands cupped together, a shape of offering and reverence.
• Ardhachandram. A half moon shape, palm open with the thumb extended.
• Mukuram. A fist with the thumb resting against the side, named after a mirror.
• Bhramaram. Fingers arranged in the shape associated with a bee.
• Suchimukham. Index finger pointing, the needle shape. Used for pointing, counting and naming.
• Pallavam. A flat shape suggesting a sprout or a young leaf.
• Tripatakam. Like Pataka but with one finger bent, which changes the meanings it carries.
• Mrgasirsham. A shape named after a deer's head, fingers held with two extended.
• Sarpasirassu. The snake head shape, palm hollowed with fingers together.
• Katakamukham. A refined variant of Kataka, common in graceful passages.

The remaining four shapes in the full set follow the same logic, and you will pick them up by watching.

What to do with this before a performance

Learning names off a page is the slow route. Two faster ones:

• Go to a venue that runs a gesture demonstration before the performance. Seeing a shape made in front of you sticks far better than a description.
• Ask which play is being performed and read a summary of that episode. Knowing that a character is about to describe a forest means you catch the forest gesture when it appears.

Watch the face as much as the hands

Kathakali carries meaning in expression as much as in the hands, with the eyes, eyebrows and cheeks trained to move independently. A gesture tells you the noun. The face tells you how the character feels about it.

Colour tells you something too. Face makeup follows conventions that separate noble characters, fierce characters and forest or demonic characters, and someone at the venue will explain the scheme in a couple of minutes. If the physical training behind all of this interests you, it is worth seeing how a staged Kalaripayattu show differs from real kalari training.

A realistic first goal

Do not aim to follow every line. Aim to catch five or six gestures in a performance and understand what the character is talking about at those moments. That is enough to change the evening from watching decoration to watching a story, and it is the point where most people start wanting a second performance. The drumming has its own grammar as well, and panchavadyam and pandi melam are the two ensembles to tell apart.