Dance Panel on Silappathikaram

Dance Panel on Silappathikaram

➧A rare dance panel of Nayak period and an inscribed pillar of Chola period have been found on an abandoned brick mound at Pathalapettai near Kiliyur in Tiruchi. Silappathikaram has references to such ritualistic performances by rural folks.

Silappathikaram:

• It is one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature according to later Tamil literary tradition. A poet-prince from Kodungallur near Kochi, referred to by the pseudonym Ilango Adigal, is credited with this work.
• The epic revolves around Kannagi, who having lost her husband to a miscarriage of justice at the court of the Pandyan Dynasty, wreaks her revenge on his kingdom.

The Dance Panel:

• The dance panel is depicted on a stone slab that measures 1.21 meters in length and 33 centimeters in height.
• Four pairs of well dressed male and female dancers, holding some object in one of their hands, are seen engaged in a ritualistic dance in the panel. Three pairs are shown hugging each other while the last pair is dancing keeping distance between.
• All of them are decked with ornaments and different head gears. The female deity with a flower in the right hand seen between the first two pairs and the pot depicted between the last two pairs denote the ritualistic nature of the dance.

About the pillar:

• The pillar found has the spot has an inscribed base. The base has a Tamil inscription of Chola paleography with a few Grantha letters used in between. Though seven lines are visible, the last two are not readable.