An exciting art form associated with Onam, Pullikalli is a 200 year old folk art which is mostly found in the district of Trissur. “Pulli kalli” when translated means “tiger play” in Malayalam. One place where one could definitely find this art form is at the Swaraj round at Trissur on the fourth Day of Onam. Male Performers painted in tiger shades; dance through the streets to the beats of the drums with contrasting colors and tiger faces on the belly makes it a very fascinating event.
Different stories have been associated with this art form’s origin. One version is that The King of Kochi, “Shaktan Tamburan” introduced this colorful folk art to make Onam more colorful with a dance that reflected the wild and macho spirit of the force. There are many country side stories associated with the myths of King “Mahaballi” with tigers. The only fact with no contradiction is that the art form is associated with Onam and is from The District of Trissur.
The tiger faces are painted on the belly and strips and dots are painted all over legs and hands. A readymade tiger mask is used to cover the head. The colors include back, yellow and white. One could identify a few other flashy colored tigers too. Paint formed with a combination of color powder and varnish is used to color up the shaven body and people of all ages participate in the Event. Earlier, there were no masks and the shades were painted all over the body and face.
The performance is a procession through the streets with drum beats of “Chenda” and “Edathalam”. Human tigers wear a belt on their waist with jingles plugged on to the belt. This jingle makes up jazzy sounds to the movement of the dancers. There are tiger like dance steps, shaking their bellies to the drum beats, which are played throughout the procession. Symbolical acts like catching the prey and hunters trying to shoot the tigers are common. A few Tableaus related to Onam and Gods can also be found along the procession.
Artists from different parts of the district come over to the town for painting the tigers. It’s a time consuming process with two coats of paint. An initial base is painted and after drying it, a second coat with tiger designs are applied. It takes up to 5 hours to completely paint a human tiger. A tiger face comes on the belly and the biggest bellies would be the best human tigers. The artists would have a model picture of a tiger face and the same picture is painted on to the belly with great perfection. The paintings look so real that you can hear the wit from the crowd – “Even if a real tiger comes, it would be hard to recognize” and that is the greatest recognition for these artists.
The tiger groups from all over joins up and form a group of tigers near the “Vadkkumnathan” temple by afternoon. A coconut is thrown and crushed as an offering to lord “Ganapathi” and the procession starts off to Swaraj round, Trissur.