Garudan Thookkam

Garudan Thookkam is a ritual art form performed in certain Kali temples in Southern and Central parts of Kerala ( former Travancore kingdom) in south India. The people who dress up as Garuda perform the dance. After the dance performance, the hang-designate dangle from a shaft hooking the skin on his back. In some places, the ritual is performed colorfully with Garudas taken in a procession on bullock carts or boats or hand pulled carts. It will be available in Devi temple during the festival of Meena bharani and Pathamudayam in Thiruvanchoor in Kottayam district. Legend has it that even after slaying Darika, Kali remained insatiable and thirsty. At this time Vishnu sent Garuda to Kali to quench the thirst. A dancing and bleeding Garuda was taken to Kali and only after getting some drops of blood from Garuda, Kali was pacified. The ritual is performed based on this belief. Garudan Thookam is submitted as a reward for the problems solved in the abode of Goddess Kali. There is a famous Garudan Thookam at the Elamkavu Devi temple at Vadayar in Vaikkom taluk of Kottayam district. During the Aswathi, Bharani days of Meenam Month (Malayalam), more than 40 to 50 Garudan in the Thooka chadus, decorated and floated in thoni vallams (big country-boats), travel behind the Attuvela - a wooden structure constructed in the form of a three storied building which is considered as the floating temple of the Goddess Kali in the Moovattupuzha river.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Garudan Thookkam”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

Garudan Thookkam is type of dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶