Festival Arts
Kerala’s colourful Onam mask-dance — grass-clad figures in carved wooden masks going house to house.
About
Kummattikali, or Kummatti Kali, is the famous colourful mask-dance of Kerala, prevalent in Thrissur district, Palakkad district, and parts of South Malabar. During the festival of Onam, Kummattikali performers move from house to house collecting small gifts and entertaining people, and the dances are especially widespread in Thrissur district through the Onam season. The pristine or original form of Kummattikali can be seen at the Bhadrakali temple in Palakkad district.
Kummattikali is the colourful mask-dance of Onam, long established in Thrissur and Palakkad districts and parts of South Malabar. Its dance is related to Shaiva myth, and the pristine or original form is preserved at the Bhadrakali temple in Palakkad district. Troupes move from house to house through the Onam season, entertaining families and collecting small gifts in return.
Thrissur district and Palakkad district, extending into parts of South Malabar.
Neighbourhood and village troupes who assemble for Onam, with mask carvers and local families supporting the annual rounds.
Heavily painted wooden masks worn with skirts woven out of plaited grass; some performers cover the whole body in bunches of grass for a bushier appearance.
Mask-based rather than painted — the carved and painted wooden mask supplies the whole face, aided by the ‘talla’ fitted outside it.
The Onavillu, a bow-like instrument whose string is vibrated to set the rhythm; the bow is made of areca nut wood and the strings are struck with a narrow bamboo stick.
Onam, when troupes tour homes and neighbourhoods; Kummatti dances are especially widespread in Thrissur district during the festival.
Sustained by local troupe leaders, mask makers, and community performers rather than by individual star artists.
Dancers hold and manipulate long sticks of residuary agricultural produce called ‘Kummattikali’, and it is from these that the dance takes its name.
The dancers don a heavily painted colourful wooden mask depicting the faces of Krishna, Narada, Kiratha, Darika, or hunters. The masks are usually carved from saprophyte, jack fruit tree, Alstonia scholaris, Hog Plum tree, or the Coral tree. A ‘talla’ attached externally to the mask gives the appearance of a toothless open mouth, making the figure more joyful.
Skirts are woven from plaited grass, and some performers bundle grass over the entire body for a bushier silhouette. ‘Thamma’, an old woman, walks in front with the help of a stick; she is symbolic of the mother of every being and everything.
Kummatti dancers are a sight to watch as they move from house to house collecting jaggery, rice, or small amounts of cash. Onlookers, and especially children, take great delight in their performance.
The themes are mostly drawn from the stories of the Ramayana, Darika Vadham, the story of Shiva, and folk tales such as Manjan Nayare Pattu.
Kerala’s folk arts divide into ritualistic and non-ritualistic categories, and the ritualistic further into devotional forms performed to please a particular god or goddess and magical art forms. Kummattikali counts among the devotional forms alongside Theyyam, Thirra, Poothamthira, and Kannyar Kali.
In the 2020 Malayalam action film Ayyappanum Koshiyum, the character Ayyappan’s past as a vigilante assassin disguised as a Kummatti performer is a central plot point: his mastery of Kalari martial arts let him kill 13 assassins while in Kummatti disguise, sent by landlords to eliminate workers’ union members.
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Costume, mask, and performance detail — open any image for a larger view.
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