Pulikali

What it is

Pulikali is a folk art of Kerala, in southern India, in which people dance with their bodies painted as tigers and leopards. The dance takes tiger hunting as its subject. Between the dancing, performers act out short scenes: a tiger bringing down an animal, or a hunter stalking a tiger. The colours are yellow, red and black, laid on thickly. Drums and cymbals, the chenda and the chengila, keep the beat. Dancers bounce and shake their bellies, and the word puli means tiger in Malayalam.

Origins and history

The art is said to go back more than two hundred years. According to tradition, Sakthan Thampuran, Maharaja of Cochin, brought it in, and performers took to the streets dressed as tigers, stepping in a way that copied the animal. It was then called Pulikkettikali. A founding year of 1886 is also given for the event in Thrissur. The Thrissur Pulikali is held in memory of that early beginning. Thousands of spectators have long lined the route, and troupes compete to be the best turned out.

How the day unfolds

Groups called sangams gather from every corner of Thrissur district. They meet at Naduvilal, in the Swaraj Round, before the Vadakkunnathan Temple, and each offers a coconut at the shrine of Ganapati there. Then they walk in procession around the ground. Village floats join the line. The dancing goes on along the streets until the round, in the middle of the city, is reached. Crowds pack the edges of the route, cheering, and a few onlookers step in to dance with the troupes. Troupes compete for the finest float and the best painted tigers.

Paint and costume

Getting ready takes hours. Paint is made from tempera powder mixed with varnish or enamel. Dancers first remove their body hair, then a base coat goes on and is left for two or three hours to dry. A second coat follows, with more detail. The whole business can take five to seven hours, and many hands are needed to paint each performer. Work often begins before dawn. In the early years nobody wore a mask and faces were painted too. Today ready-made masks, false teeth, tongues, beards and moustaches are worn, and a wide belt with jingles is tied at the waist.

Today and change

Men and children usually take part. In 2016, three women joined a team of fifty-one at Thrissur, the first time women had danced there. The event now draws sponsorship and many young people from the neighbourhood. A coordinating body, the Pulikali Coordination Committee, was set up in Thrissur in 2004 by the various groups to keep the art going. The city corporation gives each troupe a grant. During the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Onam gatherings were called off, one local committee streamed a Pulikali online, with about seventeen people taking part from different places.

How Pulikali is kept

Dancers paint themselves, then take to the streets. Troupes called sangams gather from across Thrissur district and meet at Naduvilal in the Swaraj Round, in front of the Vadakkunnathan Temple. Each group offers a coconut at the Ganapati shrine, then walks in procession around the ground with village floats. The dance moves to drums and cymbals, chenda and chengila, as the line makes its way to the round at the centre of the city. Between dances, performers act out a tiger hunting an animal and a hunter tracking a tiger. Crowds line the route and cheer.

When and where

It is kept on the fourth day of Onam, the harvest festival, in the Malayalam month of Chingam. That day is called Naalaam Onam, or chathayam. Onam comes once a year. Pulikali is also put on at other festive seasons through the year.

Pulikali belongs to Kerala, in southern India, and its strongest home is Thrissur. There the troupes come from all over the district, and the dancing ends at the Swaraj Round in the heart of the city. Groups also perform it at other festive seasons.

What Pulikali means

Pulikali takes the tiger as its figure. The painted body, the crouching steps and the scenes of the hunt all point to the animal and to the old story of the Maharaja who is said to have started it. For the people of Thrissur the day is a community occasion, a chance for neighbourhood groups to show what they can do, and the offering of a coconut at the shrine before the procession gives the dancing a devotional opening.

Days Pulikali is marked

Questions people ask about Pulikali

See also

BhangraA Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwideDiwaliA five-day festival of lights celebrated across India and its diaspora to mark the victory of light over darkness.HoliA spring festival of colours and bonfires that marks the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil.Warli paintingSacred white rice paste murals made on red clay walls in western India

Good reading and sources

• Three women make roaring entry into Kerala’s male-dominated Pulikali showThe Indian Express, Article
• Pulikkali to go online this OnamThe Hindu, Article
• Three women make roaring entry into Kerala’s male-dominated Pulikali showThe Indian Express, Article
• Pulikkali to go online this OnamThe Hindu, Article

• Pulikali 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 2026-10-05.