Abstract 55
In pre-Modern Kerala, Thiruvathirakkali was conducted in the inner courtyards of the uppercaste Hindu households by women. This oral expression was predominant among the Namboodiri women. This oral expression was participatory in nature and was ‘performed’ by the women during festivals like Thiruvathira and Onam and during the occasions of marriage. Actually this oral dance was their sole artistic engagement. Through this women’s exclusive artistic expression, the upper caste women of pre- Modern Kerala created a female world as opposed to the male world and male versions of artistic expressions.
Reshma Sankar
TRADITION OF DISSENT IN THIRUVATHIRAKKALI, AN ORAL EXPRESSION IN
KERALA: REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE WORLD IN THIRUVATHIRAKKALI
Abstract
Writing is
an embodiment of power; a male prerogative. Earlier, men of lower strata and
women of all groups were cunningly denied the power of writing. The result was
oral literature. Thus the oral literature became a dissent and disapproval of
main stream written literature which constitutes the agency of power.
Thiruvathirakkali which is also known as Kaikottikali is an oral dance form of
women in Kerala. In Thiruvathirakkali
women stand in circle, slowly move with steps to the right and left, backward and
foreward and up and down accompanied by the claps of hands and the singing of
the songs. In pre-Modern Kerala, Thiruvathirakkali was conducted in the inner courtyards of the uppercaste Hindu households by women. This oral expression was predominant among the Namboodiri women. This oral expression was participatory in nature and was ‘performed’ by the women during festivals like Thiruvathira and Onam and during the occasions of marriage. Actually this oral dance was their sole artistic engagement. Through this women’s exclusive artistic expression, the upper caste women of pre- Modern Kerala created a female world as opposed to the male world and male versions of artistic expressions.
Today, the
scene has changed and it became a performing art that is done on the stage. It
cannot go without saying that the stage performance has a male spectator which
was not in the pre-Modern oral expression of Thiruvathirakkali. Still, it challenges the existing notions of
performing art through its circular shape and collective effort.
This paper
will try to look into the aspect of tradition of dissent against the mainstream
versions of performative expressions through times. In this paper I will try to
investigate the aspect of specific culture of pre-Modern Kerala in which the
art form realized and how Thiruvathirakkali
poses challenge to the then Brahmanical hegemony and its subversion of existing
mode of performance in the contemporary society.
As
an oral expression, the songs of this oral dance are of very importance. The
songs retell and redefine the mainstream versions of the mythical stories. This
paper also investigates this tradition of specific orality that dissent the
existing mainstream literature. In the songs, the focus of story, theme,
narration and the agency of power are shifted from male to female. In short the
women’s exclusive space constructs a female world as opposed to the male world
outside the circle
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