Veteran villupaattu exponent dead

Poongani died in penury

Poongani.

Veteran villupaattu exponent, Poongani, 86, the country’s oldest ‘villupaattu’ performer, died at Kottaaram near here on Friday night.

Poongani, a recipient of the Om Muthumari Award, instituted by the Department of Journalism, University of Madras, was said to have performed at over a thousand events. She started practising at the age of 10 after getting inspired by ‘ villupaattu twin sisters’ Lakshmi and Dhanalakshmi.

Besides taking stories from

Ramayana and

Mahabharata , Poongani spread the devotion of

Amman through her performances.

The style of swinging the

veesukol around her head and striking the bow with bells to the rhythm of the song gave her a unique identity. However, she never got an award from the State government.

Though she received 100% more than the male artistes in her troupe as salary, Poongani lived in a shack in abject poverty, subsisting on the government’s monthly old age pension of ₹1,000.