- Kunissery
Kunissery is a small village in the
Palakkad district ofKerala state,southern India . It is 7 km fromAlathur town. Kunissery's famous festival is "Kummatti" which is celebrated on the birthday of the goddess "Pookulathi" on the Punartham Star ofMeenam .Kummati festival
The Kummati festival is held at the "Pookulangara Bhagavathy Temple", 7 km from
Alathur which is 22 km fromPalakkad town.One of the attractions is "Kanyar", a folk art practised by the
Nair community of Kunissery.On the day of the "Kummatti festival" ten caparisoned elephants participate in a procession. On the day before the "Kummatti," the traditional folk art "Kanyar" is performed. "Kanyarkali" owes its origin to the practicing of martial arts in the region which was under the constant threat of attack from neighbouring
Konganadu . At one point during the performance of this celebration the villagers who have assembled near the temple are asked if they will defend the village. Only upon getting a positive answer can the celebrations proceed. If any one of the representatives are absent, then it denotes some disagreement and the celebrations are held up.Dance and comedy were pitched in to add vigor and colour to these training practices. It combines the agile movements of martial arts (
Kalaripayattu ) with the rhythmic grace of folk dance. "Kanyarkali " is usually performed during March-April in temples as well as in places called "Thara" (ground), a venue for informal gatherings. The dance is accompanied by folk songs and percussion instruments.Another performance is of an art form called "Ponnani Kali". Here, after many days of training under an "Aasan" (ആശാന്) meaning teacher, the villagers don the dress of such common folk as 'Panan' the pot maker, 'Chakiliyan' the leather worker, 'Vannan' the washer man, 'Cheruman' the farm-hand. They are mostly the representatives of various castes. The origin of this is unknown and the reference to this as Ponnani Kali is curious. It might not have anything to do with Ponnani which is a town in the Calicut district. Apart from the famous "Kummaatti", the annual 'Aarat' coinciding with Dasara and the 12 yearly celebration of 'Valia Aarat' meaning "Big Festival" is noteworthy. Once every 32, years there is a joint festival called "Thalapoli" in which the people of Kunisseri whose worshipping deity "Pookulangara Bhagavathy" goes to meet her father "Pallavoorappan", that is Shiva, in the nearby village of Pallavoor.
Getting there
*Nearest railway station: Palakkad, about 22 km away.
*Nearest airport : Coimbatore in Tamilnadu, about 55 kmExternal links
* [http://www.koduvayur.com Koduvayur Community Website]
* [http://kanniyaarkali.blogspot.com/ Kanniyaar Kali-A Blog]
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