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K.M. Sherrif 179hardly come to the notice of Translation Studies scholars. Theaesthetic and socio-political distance that separates the rewriting ofRamayana by poets like Ezhuthachan or Tulsidas who can bepositioned within the Bhakti movement and the rewriting of thesame text, or portions of it, in performing arts like Kathakali orYakshagana is worthy of intensive study. The stark contrast betweenthe devotional fervour of Ezhuthachan’s verses and the stylizedmudras of Kathakali with their alienating effect, stares one in theface. The topical allusions the Chakyar performing a Koothu (aperforming art form in Kerala which is desperately struggling forsurvival) insinuates into his mixed verse-prose rendering of contextsfrom Ramayana and Mahabharata and his frequent implication of theaudience in the narrative deserves attention from scholars. Thestrains of Chinese music woven into a Manipuri dance performance,many of whose themes are derived from the great Indian epics, alsoought to interest the Translation Studies scholar.There have been more fascinating instances of rewriting inIndia in recent times. One of them is Kathaprasangam, a secularform of Harikatha, whose popularity once rivaled that of cinema inKerala. Kathaprasangam evolved in the state in the early decades ofthe twentieth century and Joseph Kaimapparamban is generallyregarded as having pioneered the form. Perhaps the greatestexponent of the form was Kedamangalam Sadanandan, a cardholdingcommunist, whose performances, along with the playsstaged by the KPAC, served as the cultural bulwark for thecommunist movement in the state. Sadanandan chose most of histhemes from contemporary Malayalam literary texts, especiallythose which reflected the turbulent transformation Kerala societywas undergoing in the mid-twentiety century. Sadanandan had aremarkable successor in Sambasivan, who apart from usingMalayalam literary texts, adapted texts which are still regarded asthe classics of the `world literature’. Sambasivan’s Othello and AnnaKarenina became quite popular. There is, of course, a school ofopinion which accuses Sambasivan of trivializing classics, of