Padayani - Ritual festival dedicated to Goddess Kali
- 2 years ago
Padayani, also called Padeni, (from the word for military formations) is a traditional folk dance and a ritual art from the central portion of the Indian state of Kerala. A ceremonial dance involving masks, it is an ancient ritual performed in Bhagavati temples. The dance is performed in honor of Bhadrakaali. Meaning, a 'row of warriors', Padayani is an art form that blends music, dance, theatre, satire, facial masks, and paintings. It is part of worship of Bhadrakali and is staged in temples dedicated to the goddess from mid-December to mid-May. Padayani is unique to central Travancore, comprising the Pathanamthitta-Alappuzha-Kottayam belt of Kerala. Padayani is regarded as a remnant of the Dravidian forms of worship that existed before the advent of Brahmanism. Padayani is like Theyyam in north kerala. The percussion instruments used in Patayani are patayani thappu, chenda, para and kumbham.
Padyani is a modern form of a ritual dance( Kolam thullal) performed by the magico-medicine men of kerala (particularly Tinta sect of Ganaka community ) . Earlier this elaborate and expensive event was carried out to heal the illnesses not amenable to medical modalities of intervention. In the form of psychic or spiritual healing, it was solely designed, controlled and performed by Tinta endogenous section of Ganaka, as a method of exorcism. This folk art has become a divine ritual tradition in association with festival occasions of Bhagavathy (Bhadrakaali) temples of Kerala. Since the origin of term padayani relates with military parade or rows of army, it is generally believed that it is evolved from a symbolic past reminiscent of fencing march of martial art (Kalari) by the Nair fighters and their Preceptors - Kalari Asans (Kaniyar Panicker) to frighten the enemy troop and to show their might. Eventually in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts of Kerala, the Nair folk became the performers of the modern form of Padayani art, but the design and making of costumes vested with Kaniyar people.
Source: Wikipedia
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com
Padyani is a modern form of a ritual dance( Kolam thullal) performed by the magico-medicine men of kerala (particularly Tinta sect of Ganaka community ) . Earlier this elaborate and expensive event was carried out to heal the illnesses not amenable to medical modalities of intervention. In the form of psychic or spiritual healing, it was solely designed, controlled and performed by Tinta endogenous section of Ganaka, as a method of exorcism. This folk art has become a divine ritual tradition in association with festival occasions of Bhagavathy (Bhadrakaali) temples of Kerala. Since the origin of term padayani relates with military parade or rows of army, it is generally believed that it is evolved from a symbolic past reminiscent of fencing march of martial art (Kalari) by the Nair fighters and their Preceptors - Kalari Asans (Kaniyar Panicker) to frighten the enemy troop and to show their might. Eventually in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts of Kerala, the Nair folk became the performers of the modern form of Padayani art, but the design and making of costumes vested with Kaniyar people.
Source: Wikipedia
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com