Spectacular would best describe the scene of an assembly of men wearing the traditional warrior’s head gear in fiery red, brandishing swords and shields and advancing with stylised movements to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals. The music and the moves point to a battle scenario. However, this is no battlefield, but the temple courtyard, and the men are no warriors, but artistes trained in Velakali, a martial dance of Kerala.
Velakali was performed recently at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, in connection with the annual Painkuni festival that falls in March-April. For most residents of Thiruvananthapuram, childhood memories would be vivid with colours of this festival; particularly that of the huge effigies of the five Pandavas that are put up before the eastern gate of the temple and of the beats of Velakali. And war is what it represents – between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, characterised by the troupe of 101 Velakali artistes. Symbolically, it glorifies the victory of righteousness over wrong, when the Kauravas run away, beating a retreat with the ‘ vela ottam’ .
Tracing the origins
The origin of Velakali can be traced to the Ambalappuzha Chempakasseri kingdom, the Mathoor Panickers and Velloor Kurups, hereditary commanders-in-chief. Both the families of the chieftains had kalaris that trained warriors for the army.
Almost all art forms of India trace their beginnings to the divine and with legends woven around it. Perhaps this is because the Indian cultural ethos sees art as a dedication and as a means to an end, which is the divine.
The legend associated with Velakali is endearing – once Sage Narada witnessed the boy Sri Krishna playing a mock battle with his cowherd friends, using stalks and leaves of the water lily as daggers and shields. Narada was so impressed with the charming display that he requested Sage Villvamangalam to adapt it into a martial art form. The request was passed down to the Chempakasseri Raja and it was thus that the Mathoor kalari became the grooming ground for this spectacular and refined art form. Ambalappuzha Velakali, as it came to be known, was thus, first and foremost, an offering presented before Lord Krishna, the presiding deity of Ambalappuzha.
“There is nothing much recorded about the origin or the etymology of Velakali, as is the case with most ancient, evolved art forms,” says Rajiv Panicker, the present torchbearer of the Mathoor Kalari. “It is a fact that the Chempakasseri Kings and the Mathoor Panickers were genuine patrons of art and literature. It was their fine sensibilities that made artistes out of warriors,” he adds.
Royal patronage
With the annexation of Ambalappuzha by Marthanda Varma of Travancore, the maintenance of a separate army was no more relevant. However, the kalari continued to flourish and nourish art.
Says Gouri Parvathy Bayi of the royal house of erstwhile Travancore, “Under a unified kingdom, there was free movement of art and culture and Velakali, too, migrated to other parts to be staged at various temples. Local flavour got added to it and presentations were suitably modified to accommodate legends and myths of the respective temples. However, it is at the Padmanabha Swamy temple and at Ambalappuzha that Velakali is performed in its original style.”
The typical red head gear with the konda, shara mundu tied at the waist, golden, beaded neck piece, the mock churika and paricha (dagger and shield) held in the right hand and left hand respectively, mark the typical attire of performers of Velakali.
With the accent on rhythm, the accompaniments include vela thakil (a smaller version of the perumbara), maddalam, kombu, kurumkuzhal and elathaalam.
Thiruvananthapuram is reputed to have had kalaris for training, as well. Aswathi Thirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi’s authoritative book on Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple mentions Velakali as one of the 99 arangams (art forms) that used to be patronised by the temple. After a gap of over four decades, Velakali at the Padmanabha Swamy temple was recently revived, following the initiative of Sri Chithira Thirunal Memorial, an association of merchants in the vicinity.
The number of students seeking to learn Velakali too seems to have increased over the years. Today, the Mathoor kalari has invitations to perform at temples all over India, where the Malayali presence is strong and recognition is given to the dignity of this art.
“This is largely due to the efforts of my father, the late Mohanankunju Panicker, who encouraged boys from all communities to enroll, in place of what was once a prerogative of Nair warriors. His open mind and far-sighted vision saw this as a necessary move for the revitalisation and survival of this invaluable tradition,” says Rajiv.
Twenty students are taken in every year and the training is given for three years, by which time they would have covered the repertoire. In the first year, they learn koodi thullal in a group, followed by chirayil vela, padakali (single) and pidichukali (single and double) in the second year. The final year sees them learning the fast-paced Kulathil vela and the slow, penultimate Thirumumbil vela , which as the name suggests, is performed before Lord Krishna at the Ambalappuzha temple.
The movement and stances, the chuvadus and kalashams , have shades of Kalaripayattu and Kathakali. Apparently, and not surprisingly, the relationship is symbiotic.
Kampadavu kali and Parichamuttu kali too are old art forms of Kerala that are martial in nature. Thang Ta of Manipur, the Pari-Khanda, Chhau and so on are examples of similar vibrant dance forms seen in other parts of India. To seek to be creative and artistic is an inner call that is embedded in the human psyche.
The response to this call reveals itself in new and varied art forms. It could even be martial dances that evolve in the midst of war cries and drum beats.
