Mohiniyattam

Mohiniyattam, also spelled Mohiniattam, is a classical dance of Kerala, south-western India, in the graceful, gentle lasya style. Its name joins Mohini, the enchantress form of Vishnu, with aattam, a Malayalam word for dance. Traditionally a women's solo, it now has male dancers too.

Its signature is chuzhippu: the upper body sways in continuous circles over aramandalam, a half-seated stance, knees bent outwards. Hand gestures follow the Hastalakshana Deepika, a Kerala text shared with Kathakali, though Mohiniyattam keeps them subtler. Facial expression carries sringara (love), bhakti (devotion) and karuna (pathos).

The music draws on Carnatic (South Indian classical) music and on sopanam, Kerala's temple singing style. Most lyrics use Manipravalam, a Malayalam and Sanskrit blend. A singer leads, backed by cymbals, the mridangam or maddalam drum, the edakka drum, and a violin, veena or flute. The standard recital opens with cholkettu, built on rhythmic syllables, and closes with tillana, a pure-dance item, though the order varies by school.

The word's earliest known mention is in the Vyavaharamala, a legal text usually dated to the 16th century. Swati Tirunal, Maharaja of Travancore (1829 to 1846), patronised the dance, and Kerala Tourism and Kerala Kalamandalam credit his court and its Tamil nattuvanars (dance masters) with codifying it. Kerala Kalamandalam, which Vallathol Narayana Menon opened in 1930, began teaching it in the early 1930s. Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma later turned its movement units into a syllabus.