Sheethankan Thullal is a dance and poetic performance form in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. This one of the three major ''thullal'' forms prevailing in Kerala. Others are

Ottan Thullal Ottan Thullal (or ''Ottamthullal'') is a recite-and-dance art-form of Kerala, India. It was introduced in the eighteenth century by Kunchan Nambiar, one of the Malayalam triumvirate poets, Prachina Kavithrayam (three famous Malayalam-language poe ...

and

Parayan Thullal Parayan Thullal is a dance and poetic performance form prevailed in the state of Kerala, India. This one of the three major thullal forms prevailing in Kerala. Others are Ottan Thullal and Sheethankan Thullal. Usually, it is conducted in the ...

. This dance is performed in a very slow tempo. It gives importance to gestures than vocal actions.

Performance

Usually Sheethankan Thullal is performed in midnight. But it can also performed in day time without using any lamps on stage. Minimum three persons should be needed for the performance. One for staging the performance and others for playing musical instruments.

Costume

The performer will be dressed with special costume for thullal. They use yellow coloured powder in face and use dress made up of

Coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

leaves. Usually ''Kakali'' is the

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

used in this dance form.

Origin

Sheethankan thullal was discovered by famous

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

poet

Kunchan Nambiar Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the dance art form of Thullall, most of his works were written for use in Thullal per ...

Ambalappuzha Ambalappuzha is a small town in the Alappuzha district of Kerala state, India. It is located south of Alappuzha which is the district headquarters. Ambalappuzha is divided into the two panchayats of Ambalapuzha North and Ambalapuzha South. ...

References

{{reflist Dances of Kerala

Performance

Costume

Origin

See also

References