Kattaikkuttu

The main objectives of the Sangam – an officially registered society – were to promote Kattaikkuttu as a theatre form in its own right and to further the interests of professional performers.

Since its inception more than twenty years ago, the Sangam has developed into an umbrella organization with a number of activities including educating and training a future generation of young, talented Kattaikkuttu performers (the Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam), opening up the theatre to rural girls and women, organization of an annual theatre festival and production of new and often innovative plays.

[4] To cater to a renewed interest in the theatre from urban audiences and cultural institutions, new plays of shorter and all-night duration have also been created.

These plays have been successfully performed in Indian metros and abroad and have been assimilated into the repertory of the Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam’s Young Professionals Company.

The kattai-wearers represent superhuman – divine or demonic – warriors who are the main agents in the mythological battles around which the performances are built.

The Kattiyakkaran is central to Kattaikkuttu performances: he provides entertainment, serves as the guardian of and opposite number for the principal characters and translates events from the epic and Puranic stories into everyday life experiences of the rural audiences.

Located 8 kilometres away from Kanchipuram in a small village called Punjarasantankal, the Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam follows the guru-shishya system of transmission.

The Gurukulam's students are tutored in life and in all aspects of the Perungattur style of Kattaikkuttu apart from receiving a formal education.

It ran its own theatre company, the Kattaikkuttu Young Professionals consisting of senior students and graduates of the Gurukulam.