Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces

The words Poikaal Kudirai translated to English stands for “fake leg horse.” During this performance the dancers wear a shell that resembles the body of a horse, and stand on wooden stilts.  In this post, I want to present Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces from my Marabu collection inspired by this colourful and joyous dance form.

Poikaal Kudirai dance history

The technical name of the dance is Puravai attam (Horse dance). Popular legends suggest that it originated in Maharashtra in India and brought by the Marathas rulers – the Sarabojis to South India around mid 17th century AD. Newer colours, rhythms and ornamentation work was added to the dance form in Thanjavur, the then Saraboji capital. Even today Pachier machie horse dancer dolls are made in Thanjavur as an ode to this practice. There is also a counter arguement that this dance form is actually much older (maybe 2nd-5th Century AD). It could have been a communication tool and could have been used for dissent or protest apart from being a form of entertainment. (Reference)

However, according to Prof. Dr. Murugesan Folklore Department, Tamil University, Thanjavur the dance form is recent. the Professor calls it a brainchild of a wooden jewellery maker, Mr. Ramakrishna Naidu from Thiruvaiyaar, Thanjavur. The artisan, he says made a decorated wooden horse, fastened stilts on his legs and danced around the Thanjuvur temple to the accompanying beat of Kondalam, played by Maratha musicians. The kondalam players adopted the dance as their own and practice it till date occasionally teaching members of other community as well.
Here is a video that shows the process of the dancers getting dressed and how they perform the dance. The star performers are Kalaimamani T.A.R. Nadi Rao and wife Kamachi who are exponents of this dance form. Those who understand the language, may get the angst in the words of the dancers over its diminishing patronage.

Poikaal Kudirai

At the present, the horse shell is made of cardboard, paper machie and sometimes wooden anchors.  It is highly decorated with mirror work, tassels and reflective papers of different colours. The horse’s body is a frilled skirt patterned with ribbons. The performer wears stilts and then fixes the horse at his/her hip. Furthermore, Bells are worn around the ankles to make it sound like a prancing, galloping horse. The performers wear colourful, reflective clothing, loud make-up and bold jewellery.

When the performance occurs as a duet, the horses interact with each other. They may neigh, screech to express their valour or anger. They may gallop and prance joyfully. At times the performance romance each other playfully. Using exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures, the performers communicate the story. They may dance to folk music or naiyandi melam, English band beats, or popular movie songs.

Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces

I made three pieces inspired by this dance form. I created one illustration based on the sketch of the artist Dhanraju Swaminathan. However, I used it on bezels of different shapes and sizes and put them together with colourful beads to create three different necklaces. The first piece on this page had foiled and crackled pink glass beads with a 35mm pendant. The second is a looped glass bead necklace in orange and green with a square 45mm pendant. The third is my favourite of the three with ruffled glass beads resembling the ribbons on the horse skirts. All three Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces are available for sale.

In other times, such folk performances  would be a part of festivals and even craft exhibitions. However, post pandemic Social distancing may have stopped such folk gatherings from happening in the city but it has no hold over our reminiscing about them. These Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces and in extension the entire Marabu collection is an attempt to bring to the forefront, a discussion about languishing folk, art, and craft forms. Please do tell me what you think of them. I recently wore the last necklace at the Harvest festival celebration at my college which was telecasted live to students who are at home. You can find pictures on the JOS Instagram handle. I swapped the cord with beads in the sale piece for hygiene reasons.

I hope you found it interesting
Cheers