Pulikali- A Tiger Dance of Kerela
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
History & Culture
- Published
18th Dec, 2020
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What is Pulikali?
- Pulikali is one of the folk dances performed on the 4th day of ONAM.
- Puli Kali is also known as Kaduvaakali.
- It is an Art form of Thrissur district of Kerala, India.
- The name Puli Kali literally means TIGER PLAY. In Malayalam language (mother tongue of Kerala) ‘Puli’ means Tiger and ‘Kali’ means Play.
- It could be to symbolize the mighty kingMahabali in the form of mighty animal – Tiger in the PuliKali dance form.
Onam
- 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.
- 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.
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How it is celebrated?
- 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.
- This dance was originated 200 years ago under the rule of King Ramavarma.
- 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.
