India is a country with varied cultures and
festivals. All the festivals symbolizes color, vibrancy and faith. Onam is one
such important harvest festival which celebrates the beginning of first day of
Malayalam calendar (Kollavarsham). Onam is a carnival of folk dances, feasts,
games for four to ten days. Pulikali is one of the folk dances performed on
the 4th day of ONAM. Puli
Kali which is also known as Kaduvaakali is an Art form of Thrissur district of
Kerala, India.
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| Pulikali -Tiger Play |
The name Puli Kali literally means TIGER PLAY. In Malayalam
language (mother tongue of Kerala) ‘Puli’ means Tiger and ‘Kali’ means Play. Onam
is celebrated to welcome the spirit of King Mahabali who was a demon(asura) but
during his reign it is said that Kerala was a prosperous and happy state. It
could be to symbolize the mighty king in the form of mighty animal – Tiger in
the PuliKali dance form.
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| Carnival of tiger play |
In this play, the artists enact themselves
as tigers and leopards by painting their whole body with red, black and yellow
colors and wear tiger masks. This folk art’s main attraction is the fat bellied
men dancing on a particular rhythm or tune. Earlier the performers used to
paint their faces as tigers using ‘tempera’ powder which took hours to dry and
was a daunting and artistic task. Today ready made masks are worn along with a
belt made of bells around the waist. But still the artistically tiger face
painted on bellies are crowd pullers. It is a great way for artists from nearby
places to present and showcase their art through the tiger paintings made on
human body.
This dance was originated 200 years ago
under the rule of King Ramavarma, when the king wanted to celebrate Onam with a
special dance form which represented wild and macho spirit. Later this form of
tiger dance was also loved and enacted by the Muslim soldiers of British army
posted then in Thrissur to perform and celebrate Muharram festival. It was then
called as ‘Pulikkettikali’. As time passed,
the dance form got popular among the youngsters due to its aggression and
energetic actions. Based on a common theme of Tiger attacking preys and Hunting
scenario, various groups or ‘Sangams’ as they call, come from different
villages of Thrissur district on the 4th day of Onam .They all assemble at
Naduvilal in the Swaraj round of Thrissur which is the center of the city and
offer a coconut to Lord Ganesha of the Vadakkunathan temple. Then they carry
out processions on the streets and dance all day on the beats of instruments
like ‘ thakil’, ‘udukku’ , ‘ chhenda’ and many more. The energy and enthusiasm
is looked for and enjoyed by the crowd and is an attraction for the visitors
and travellers too.
For
many it is a nostalgic memory of their childhood and many come back from
different parts of the world with their children to show them this unique art –
PULI KALI on this special day of Onam.
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