700 Year Old Art Form Of Kerala Is Dying

by Nikhil Sundaram    January 30, 2009

A 700 year old art form of Kerala is dying because of lack of patronage.The art form is called Thidambu Nrityam.It is practised by the Namboodiris at temples in Kannur and Kasaragod in Kerala.

The dance form is performed with an idol of the temple deity.The deity is decorated with ornaments and flowers.It is fixed to a circular or a semicircular 'chattam' which is made of bamboo or wood.

After this rutual,the decorated 'thidambu' as it is called,is placed on the dancer's head  on an 'Usnipeetham'.The dance is accompanied by 'chenda' and also other percussion instruments.It goes on for around two hours with various 'thaalams'(rhythms) such as thakilati,chempata,atantha and panchari.

The prime cause of the decline of the art form is that the youngsters from the Namboodiri community are not interested in taking it up as a profession.

This art form was also presented in 'Laavanyam 07' in which many other prominent art forms were also presented.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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