The rise and fall of Hindu temple dancers

by Subashini Pathmanathan

Temple dancers in Sri Lanka did not follow any Hindu traditions. However, they performed in the temple premises and outer verandahs. Women were supposed to perform in the temples. The male members of this particular traditional class are still known as Periyamelakarar because they play the large temple traditional musical instruments called Natheswaram or Nageswaram and Thavil.

Among all the traditional Tamil musical instruments, Natheswaram and Thavil are the biggest musical instruments.

A Hindu temple dancer depicted in a sculpture.

That's why those who play these instruments are often referred to as Periyamelakarar. The female members were known as Devaradiyarkal or Sinnamelakaries.

They were supposed to dance at the temple functions. With the passage of time in Tamil Nadu practising and performing dances at the temples were banned by the State Legislative Assembly.

Similarly, moderate Hindu Tamil community and several social reformers of Sri Lanka opposed the practice of dancing at the Hindu temples due to certain malpractices on many occasions dance programs ended in disturbances.

Ban

The temple dance performances were stopped at the Arali Muttu Mari Amman temple in the Jaffna district by the temple manager. It made other temple administrators in the island follow suit.

Gradually, they also banned the temple dance performances in Sri Lanka. Many big temples such as Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna and Mavidapuram Kandaswamy temple in Kankesanthurai are also gradually abandoning the tradition.

Many of the temple dancers never adhered to the basic Hindu traditional norms or moral codes.

They used to eat meat and danced at the temple. Some of them took alcobolic drinks.

Such misconduct was the main cause of abandoning the dance performances at temples.

When the big temples abandoned the dances, small village temples took some time to follow suit. They arranged dance programs mainly to attract the crowd despite the social stigma.

Nautch girls

During the British era the temple dancers were called as Nautch girls. They were not considered as a part of temple rituals in Sri Lanka.

But it was considered more or less as a social practice at the temples by the people.

At a temple dance held in Mallakam, in the Jaffna district a large number of people viewed it. The dance continued till the early hours of the following day.

The dancers were dressed in saris and work heavy makeup. However, the dances of the Nautch girls were not refined or systematically structured.

Normally the dances started with an invocation song to Lord Ganesha following the Hindu tradition. In Hinduism Lord Ganesha is supposed to be the God of success, worldly wisdom and remover of obstacles.