Mayilattam

Understand

Where Mayilattam comes from

Mayilattam (literally 'peacock dance') is an artistic and religious dance form performed in the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in reverence to Murugan, the Hindu deity whose mount is the peacock. The dance is thought to have originated in Tamil Nadu, where women would traditionally perform it to honour Lord Subrahmanya-Murugan. Today the dance is performed in all Murugan temples during festivals, and is a centrepiece of the Thaipusam festival celebrated by Tamil communities across India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The form is increasingly rare because of low pay for dancers and the difficulty of the practice, but it remains a defining image of Tamil Murugan worship.

How it's practiced

Mayilattam is performed by dancers wearing a full-body peacock-feather costume — a long iridescent feather skirt, peacock-feather headdress, and a 'wing' frame that can be opened and closed via thread. The dancer imitates the peacock's movements — preening, fanning the tail, slow strutting, sudden darting forward — and dances on tall pieces of wood attached to the feet (a precursor of the modern stilts). The dance is performed in the precincts of Murugan temples during Thaipusam and other festivals, and at cultural programmes outside the temple. Music is the cymbals, flute and nathaswaram accompanying the devotional songs.