Kathakali, born in the Indian state of Kerala in the seventeenth century, is a very stylized dance form. The dancer wears a sort of temple on his head; something that looks like a satellite dish juts out from his chin. The face may be painted red, green, or another color, depending on the character’s social and moral status. The stories are often derived from the ancient Sanskrit epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. On Aug. 15, as part of the Downtown Dance Festival, Guru Radha Mohanan & Troupe will perform an excerpt from a dance in which the warrior Bheema, changed into a spirit of violence, kills a man who insulted his wife. (He dragged her into court by her hair.) Bheema then eats the man’s entrails—a justly famous scene. On Aug. 17, the great archer Arjuna is menaced by a wild boar. He shoots the beast, but a hunter appears, claiming that the fatal arrow was his. Arjuna disputes this, until it turns out that the hunter is actually the god Shiva. Arjuna then becomes sufficiently humble so that Shiva gives him a divine arrow. ?

ILLUSTRATION: JOSHUA RAY STEPHENS