Originally it was a dance drama consisting of many characters and was performed by men. Now it is mainly dominated by women. The performance begins with some stage rites. After which, each of the character comes on to the stage and introduces him/herself with a daru. Daru is a small composition of both song and dance to introduce the identity, set the mood, of the character in the drama. The drama then begins. The dance is accompanied by song which is typically carnatic music. The singer is accompanied by mridangam (a classical south indian percussion instrument), violin, flute and the tampura (a drone instrument with strings which are plucked).