Neelamperoor Padayani is a ritual festival held at Neelamperoor, Kuttanadu taluk, Alappuzha district, Kerala. It is a day-long festival which involves the making of various effigies of human and non-human figures, which are also an integral part of the performance of rituals. There are different kinds of performances in Kerala and Neelamperoor Padayani is the only kind of padayani which makes effigies instead of performing dances using masks and headgear. Neelamperoor Padayani is performed in Neelamperoor Palli Bhagavathy Temple, outside the inner wall of the main shrine. This image gallery showcases the rituals of Padayani, the making of the props and the sights of celebration.
M.R. Vishnuprasad
M.R. Vishnuprasad is a young poet and performance art researcher currently based in New Delhi. He received a fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in the field of Folk/Traditional and Indigenous Arts in 2017. For the past twenty years he has been writing poetry in Malayalam and is credited with two anthologies. With a postgraduate in environmental sciences, Vishnu is currently pursuing his PhD in theatre and performance studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Vishnuprasad’s intervention in art is a tripartite synthesis of poetry, ecology and performance art.