20/06/2016
Padayani at our temple.
Padayani is very popular in Kerala, India, as a means, used to worship goddess Kali. The story line comes as after killing Daruka, an Asura, the goddess was very angry. The bhoothagana, servants of lord Siva, danced in front of her to reduce her anger, else her anger would result in the destruction of the whole world. In memory of this incident, the participants wear masks (kolam) made of lathes of the areca tree using one to hundreds. The colours used to make the kolam are purely natural. They are made of the green of the lath itself (kamukin pacha), kari (carbon), manjalpodi, sindooram, etc.
A major attraction of padayani is the song associated with it. Traditionally only a single type of instrument is used to associate the song, thappu. The songs are in simple Malayalam and have been handed down from the ancestors over the years.
The art form starts with heating the musical instrument, thappu (Thappu Choodakkal). The instrument is faced towards the fire and the instrument tuned. After that, the art form starts. Various types of dances have different names such as madan, marutha, yakshi, pakshi, kalan kolam and bhairavi kolam.
