The audience is barely catching its breath after dancing to the frenzied beats of percussion instruments on a sultry night at the Kalarigram near Auroville, where the annual ‘Tantrotsav’ festival is heading for a climax.
In an atmosphere already surcharged with excitement, the enthusiasts, including a bunch of foreigners, eagerly await the next performance with its promise of a spectacular experience — an exposition of Theyyam, the ritual art form of north Kerala.
Shortly, the artist in predominantly red costume, face painted with an array of natural dyes and brightly coloured headdress enters the enclosure. What follows is the theyyam blend of dance, mime, walking through embers flying off flaming palm-fronds and the occasional charges into the crowd.
Aneesh Peruvannan and team are enacting the Kathivannoor Veeran Vellattam theyyam, a mythical warrior-hero, since deified in the Theyyam pantheon of gods and goddesses. The enactment was in two parts — the Vellattam (also known as the thottam) part and the theyyam proper.
Theyyam is both for the gods and of the gods and towards the end of the performance, it is customary for believers to seek blessings of the ‘divine incarnate’.
The Kathivannoor Veeran legend would feature once again that night in the form of a Kalaripayattu-Chhau dance-drama, a Kalarigram production. The Theyyam theme was presented in a back-and-forth colloquy format between Kalaripayattu and Mayurbhanj Chhau.
Tantrotsav, an annual festival of arts, philosophy and spirituality, by Yogishananda Peetham, at Kalarigram, was into its seventh edition.
According to the organising team, Tantrotsav is a self-funded festival organised by artists and art lovers, wholeheartedly putting their efforts and gathering support from wherever possible.
Each year, the nine-day festival of music, classical and ritual art — staged in an open space at the Kalarigram — has been attracting regulars and several newcomers, including a number of foreigners from across the world who are either performers themselves or share a fascination for Indian arts.
