KARAGATTAM: ROMANTICS‘ BALANCING ACT

Sze Chun Chan (JC) New York City
For the Madurai Messenger, April 2010

Fine dining, wine, flowers. Charming, sophisticated gentleman with a woman in high heels. As long as movies and television have been around, producers and writers have spun countless tales of romance. These objects have long been the cliché classic hallmarks of dating in the Western world.

For a tribe in the mountainous Western Ghats in South India, a statement of romance is one of graceful movements, a symphony of perfectly coordinated steps, a white outfit adorned with a rainbow assortment of flowers, and an ironclad neck capable of balancing a 10 kg clay pot. For them, the dating game is stealing glances and looking for that special somebody amongst a cheering village crowd at the annual Mariamman festival to honour the Hindu goddess of fertility, Mariamman.

A Balancing Act

One of the most important folk dances in Tamil Nadu is Karagattam.It is a Tamil dance performed either solo or as a team with a heavy pot decorated with flowers balanced on their heads. A lifetime of backbreaking dedication is not just the prerequisite to becoming one of the most skilled Karagattam dancers in India, but also in their tradition that the best dancers are the most worthy husbands. P. Sekar, 25, shields himself away from the midday sun. He is a handsome man dressed in a crisp, patterned shirt and khakis. Modest compared to the garish multicolored outfit of flowers and feathers he adorned in yesterday’s Sandana Koodu festival. It is a quiet day for the ninth generation dancer in a family tradition that stretches back more than 400 years. His family relative and dance team leader, A. Kannan, 36, is a source of inspiration for him because he had wooed his wife by impressing her parents with his dancing skills. P. Sekar too, wishes to woo a bride worthy of a Tamil movie romance.

Passing a Legacy

Together, the two dancers live and breathe dance and hope to pass on a Tamil tradition that dates back three thousand years. In ancient times, Karagattam (pot dance) began as a means to relax from hunting and gathering. It was also meant as an honour to the gods, specifically as an act preparing to cleanse and cool the Hindu goddess Amman so that her entrance will improve fertility across the land.

The dance involves balancing an intricately detailed pot filled with sand and water as the dancers perform a synchronised movement of turns and acrobatics. Drums prelude the cleansing, a cacophony of noise to get the attention of the gods. When the ritual was first formed, it was just first the drums but no dancing was involved.

Eventually, the ritual evolved as people started to feel and move to the rhythm. The dance became an art form that today defines the two dancer’s tradition and makes up their livelihood. To them as artistes, dance is ultimately a human art form that anybody can enjoy.




Bridging Barriers

“Our main purpose is to entertain,” A. Kannan said. “We perform for anybody regardless of caste or religion, so we have no problem performing for Muslims.”

P. Sekar and A. Kannan like to see people of all castes gather during festival time and they are sad to still see India plagued by the caste system. The caste system in India is a bigger social barrier than religion. It is not as visible as friction between different religions like the Muslim-Hindu riots that simmered in India ever since it’s independence. Many parts of rural India are still plagued by the belief that Indians are born into a caste forever and should accept his or her place in life. For the young P. Sekar, dance and art transcend any petty conflict that people have over religion or caste. They perform to unite people, even if only for the little time they get together to watch their performance.

Art for Art’s Sake

“At the festival, all will be celebrating, eating, and enjoying together,” P. Sekar said. Regarding the status of the caste system in India, A. Kannan brought up Darwin’s evolutionary theory and asks, “The caste system is human made and it is not a good thing. What about the caste system before people were here?” When asked about the friction between Pakistan and India, the two dancers point to the fact that the two communities are living together peacefully here, but for some people that don’t, they would have to change their mindsets.

“We are artistes at heart,” said A. Kannan. “And an artiste’s purpose is to perform and entertain people, regardless of who they are or where they’re from.”

The Mariamman festival is in April. P. Sekar smiles and vouches to practice hard. Perhaps he may find that special someone this time around.