It is the combination of colours and the intricacy of design that strike the viewer. On Wednesday, the fifth day of the Vadakkupurathupattu festival, which is held once in 12 years at Vaikom Mahadeva temple, the artistes of the ritual drawing called kalamezhuthu had portrayed Goddess Bhadrakali with 16 hands.
The ritual invokes the presence of the goddess of Kodungallur temple just after Meena Bharani there. During the first four days of the festival, the goddess is depicted with eight hands in the specially created 2,000-sqft area on the northern side on the temple premises, giving it the name Vadakkupurathu. The goddess is depicted with 16 hands for the next four days. The number of hands is increased progressively, 32 more hands being added on the last day, making the total number of hands 64.
The artistes remain busy all night drawing the intricate designs of the goddess’ crown, the artistic jewellery, and each hand holding a weapon, in the traditional method of kalamezhuthu . The main artistes belong to a sect called ‘Kurup’ that goes by the family name of Puthussery in Vaikom. P.N. Sankara Kurup, the senior-most in the family, and Therozhi Rama Kurup, are supervising the rituals.
Handed down through generations, the art is taught at the Kshetrakalapeetom that is supported by the Travancore Devaswom Board. One of the junior artistes in the family, Puthussery Rajesh, says that the art is taught in the family as tradition.
“We draw the kalam of the gods and goddesses at other festivals too, but the size and format of drawing the goddess with 32 and further 64 hands is a ritual found only at Vaikom”, he said.
Drawn with colours obtained from nature, the artistes blend the available elemental colours to make the desired shades. The green from the leaves of the Mayflower tree, turmeric for yellow, saffron for orange, carbon powder obtained by burning paddy husk for black, rice powder for white and lime are used to create different colours.
Each day, the kalam is wiped away using flowers and hands after the ritual singing of hymns and songs.
The rituals start by 11 p.m. and get over by midnight when the artistes start all over again to draw the kalam for the next day.
It takes about five hours even with 10 people drawing the figure. As the intricacy of the art increases so do the hours, with 12 hours required to draw the last kalam with 64 hands. A month-long cultural fete is part of the festival that began on March 28, with top artistes in vocal and instrumental music performing here.
Details on the ritual are available at www.vadakkupurathupattu.com
