🌟⚔️ Velakali ⚔️🌟

💛As part of art education, we had to prepare a brief note about any performing arts. I collected information and photos about the performing art ⚔️"velakali".⚔️ It provided us an opportunity to understand the roots, legends and culture of our society through performing arts.🤩

✨️Velakali✨️is a traditional martial ⚔️🛡️dance of the Nair community of Kerala, India that is performed during temple festivals. 🌟Brightly dressed dancers wielding swords and shields depict a fight sequence between the Pandavas and Kauravas during the course of the dance.⚔️🛡️

There are several legends associated with the origin and history of Velakali. 🗡️One such legend talks of the sage Narada witnessing Lord Krishna and his friends staging a mock battle on the banks of the Kalindi 🏞️using the stalks and leaves of the water lily as swords and shields.⚔️ Narada then requested the sage Villu Mangalam to capture the martial vigour of the mock fight in a ritualistic performance for Krishna.🛕 🏹Villu Mangalam in turn requested the ruler of Ambalapuzha to teach young men to perform the dance💃🏼 and so the ruler asked his army chieftains Mathoor Panicker and Velloor Kurup to ready a troupe of Velakali performers. ⭐️Since the dancers were originally warriors, the dance bore a close resemblance to the martial art form of Kalaripayattu. 🌟🏹Velakali thus originated in the princely state of Chempakassery (modern Ambalappuzha).🛕 To this day it is a regular feature of the pooram at the Ambalapuzha Sree Krishnaswamy temple. 🏹Since the annexation of Ambalappuzha into Travancore, Velakali has marked the commencement of the annual Painkuni festival at Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Trivandrum.🛡️⚔️