NEELAMPEROOR PADAYANI - Threats, Responsibilities and Hopes

 Article: ANIL UNNI, Poonthottam, Neelamperoor

It is serene silence well surrounded by thick darkness in our village at about 10pm on the very next day of  Thiruvonam in the festive month of chingam (August- September as per English calendar)  , A gathering of the village people , coinciding with the rising of a lighted choottu (a handful dry coconut leafs) rhythmically and joyously unites their voice to mark the beginning of padayani-  

H –U- Y- Y- O- O- OH!!

Once this joyous outbreak marking the win of light over darkness is immersed in silence, there comes again the most meaningful prayer without uttering a word. One amongst the gathering first calls KOOO- KOOO and is followed by the rest. It is the prayer to the Goddess to protect and bless the society.

This is the drama of the first day of Padayani in Neelamperoor, Hectic activities follow the next 15 days in this Padayani gramam (Village).

The Padayani which comes in every year immediately following the onam, the national festival of God’s own country, is divided in to four stages. The first stage which is the repetition of what is described above is continued in four days. In the next four days there comes Kudakal     (A form made in the structure of cone. The outer portion of the middle stem of coconut leaf is circularly bent and the beautiful red chethi flower hanged on it) when this stage comes to an end there is a padayani with function  such as Kudambooja  (An ancient form of dancing round campfire in the midst of signing of Purana tales) Thothakali ( An aerobolic dance in the form of moving and with the towels by the participants according to the thalam created by percussionists) All the kudas will be brought in front of the Goddess with the support of folk songs.

In the third stage effigies made out of Jack fruit leafs are the centre of attractions.Also this is the first stage in the padayani where human forms visits padayani ground. This stage stretches in to four days and ends with padayani called Plavila Nirthu.

The fourth and final stage is the high end drama where attractive forms are made using items available in the ecological system of the village. The skeleton is made up of normal softwoods, the inner portion of the form  made  of dry plantain leafs on the penultimate day which is known as Makom Padayani two little swans are brought in procession in the night.

Makom Padayani is famous for the Velakali, a function in which the traditional agricultural folk songs are blended with highest principles of life. It is very important to note here that the Makom nakshathra is a very holy occasion as far as the punja cultivation in the area is considered.

The Grand finale of the padayani is an occaccion for joining together of the entire Village.It is a joining place for people of different age , caste and culture . Padayani contain all these with in depth meaning. The entire village put in its effort from morning till night to complete the colouring art work of the swans and other forms. The outer skin is made using leaf of  lotus and the glittering feathers are made using combination of inner soft layers of the plantain  stem and  chethi flowers. The plantain used for padayani are to be cut only after removing fruits from  it, speaks volumes for the eco-friendliness of padayani.

Historians find it difficult to trace out the beginning of this great event. Some connection to the  chera rulers with the temple is evident. It is true that before beginning the Padayani the temple administrators take the permission of both the Goddess as well as before the memorial of pallibana perumal- a chera ruler who spent his last days in the village .But arguments are here that Padayani existed even before chera days. The supporting points for the arguments are its similarly with other forms of Padayani in kerala.

Padayani is the festival which is to be identified with Mother Nature the ultimate form of our Goddess. Padayani is not having an existence separated from its Mother. Through this drama called padayani a message is conveyed to the society to shoulder the responsibility of protecting the Mother Nature, which if done will revert back to the humanity through blessings.

Neelamperoor is a village surrounded by punja paddy lands. The life styles prevalent here was conducive in conducting the festival that all the raw materials required were in abundant supply in the past. But as things turned around during last 3 decades or so Padayani is facing its threats form nature itself.

Increase in land value and urbanization is limiting supply of soft timber and other natural essentials. The temple administrators a firm steps to revive a punja land to plant lotus to ensure the availability of lotus leaf recently.

One advantage of the padayani is the strong bond of belief that the villages keep on Her Holiness Palli Bhagavathy even in the changed scenario. Surely it is to be used as means to revive the nature of the village so that the message of padayani is conveyed through generations to come. Yes the onus is on us to handover the torch (chootu) to the next generation safety which only will ensure the bliss of mother nature to its creatures including the human being..