Kalampattu

What it is

Kalampattu belongs to Kerala, in southern India, and is performed as a vazhipad, an offering promised to a deity. A pattu kurup, a singer from a hereditary community, is in charge of it. The kurup sings and paints an image of the god on the ground. Blessings are asked from Bhadrakali, Ayyappan and Vettakkorumakan, and in some temples from the serpent god too. A second figure, the velichappad or komaram, who in most cases comes from the Nambudiri community, takes over the dancing and the closing acts. Families arrange a pattu to give thanks or ask for help, and they meet the cost of what is staged.

Stages of the rite

The night follows a set order. It opens with pattu kurayidal, when the kurup and the offerer agree to begin and the stage, called the mandapam or pattupura, is decorated. A puja comes next, and from that moment the deity is believed to be present. The decoration is left standing if several pattu are held in the same place, as at Nilampur, where a series runs for 41 days. Later, after deeparadhana, comes sandya vela, when keli, thayampaka and kushalpattu may be added according to what the offerer can pay. Then the kalam is drawn and welcomed in procession, and the night ends with the dance, the coconuts and the erasing.

Music and dance

Kalapradakshinam is the komaram's own part. He walks around the finished picture in steps and rhythms he chooses, while drums, cymbals, a horn and a trumpet play: edam thala, elathaalam, kombu and kuzhal. The marar, who drums, must follow the dancer's feet, and once a rhythm called chembadavatta thaalam is reached he plays to match whatever the komaram does. Skill and personal taste show most here. In the Kalamezhuthupattu form kept at Mulluthara Devi Temple the dance is known as eedum koorum chavittu, and afterwards a Brahmin priest is given the kalam puja before the rite continues.

Meaning and the name

The picture at the centre is the kalam, and it is made from five colours: white, yellow, black, green and red. The same word names the nursery bed where paddy seedlings are raised, and the folklorist Sasidharan Klari has taken this link as a sign that Kalampattu has to do with fertility. That is his suggestion, offered as an idea rather than a settled account. What the sources describe plainly is an offering, a vow kept towards a god, with the drawing treated as the god's place for the night and wiped out when the rite closes.

Today and change

Coconut breaking, nalikerameru, belongs to every Kalampattu except those for goddesses, and the count can run from three to 12,008. The largest number is used in the Vettakkorumakan pattu. Knowledge of the art is held in families. At Mulluthara Devi Temple there are 29 kinds of nagakalam, pictures of serpents, in the Kallat style, and in the present generation only one member of that kurup family knew all of them, having learned the work from his teacher. A widely known artist in the field comes from Chelakkara.

How Kalampattu is kept

The offerer and the kurup settle the date and the scale. The stage is decorated and named, a puja begins, and the singer takes up the customary songs of each stage. Drums and other items are added if the family can pay. The kalam is painted on the floor in five colours. When it is finished the deity and the komaram are led to it in procession, with mullakka pattu sung. The komaram circles the picture in dance while the marar drums, then breaks the promised number of coconuts as he wipes the image away. Koora valikkal, taking down the decoration, comes last.

When and where

Kalampattu is not tied to one date. It happens when a family or a temple promises the offering, usually over a night, and the length depends on what they can spend: a single pattu, or a series of them. At Arakkulangara Bhagavathy temple the annual Kalam Ezhuthum Paattum has begun on the first day of Makaram, the sixth Malayalam month, for centuries.

The rite belongs to Kerala, in southern India, and it is strongest in the temple villages of the region. The sources name traditional temples at Adoor, Malamekkara, in Pathanamthitta, and the Mulluthara Devi Temple at Malamekkara, where the Kalamezhuthupattu form is kept. The Kallat kurup family and its styles of drawing are tied to that temple.

What Kalampattu means

Those who ask for a Kalampattu are giving something back. The pattu is a vow paid to a deity, and the blessing asked for comes from named gods, so the night is an act of thanks as much as a request. The drawing is treated as the place where the god is present, which is why the puja is left open until the picture is wiped out. Erasing is part of the rite, not an ending. The coconuts are broken as an offering while the image goes.

Questions people ask about Kalampattu

See also

Chota Char DhamFour Himalayan shrines in Uttarakhand, visited in one season each yearKailash Mansarovar YatraA high-altitude pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in TibetSatsangSitting in the company of truth, to hear, sing and meditate in northern IndiaTheyyamA sacred ritual dance and divine invocation from North Malabar in India

Good reading and sources

• More colour to the ancient art of KalampattuThe Hindu, Article
• More colour to the ancient art of KalampattuThe Hindu, Article

• Kalampattu on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-11.