NEWS

All-woman team performs Tholpavakkoothu, a first in history, breaking age-old conventions. Rajitha Ramachandra Pulavar, who led the performance at the District Panchayat Hall in Kerala’s Palakkad on Christmas, aptly titled the show Penpavakkoothu, meaning women’s Tholpavakkoothu.

ABOUT THOLPAVAKKOOTHU

• Form of shadow puppetry
• Temple art form
• Prevalent in the Bhagavathy temples (mother Goddess) in Palakkad district and nearby regions in Kerala.
• Thol means leather, Pava means puppet
• Moved with the help of strings, and their shadows are depicted on a screen with the help of a row of oil lamps in the background.
• The story of performance is from the Indian epic, Ramayana.
• In the olden days, it was performed elaborately over a period of forty-one days.
• The narrative used for the performance is a mixture of prose and poetry called Adalpattu.