Terukkuttu

The Silappatikaram story is still performed by the terukkuttu actors, the terukkuttu drama commences and ends in a manner similar to the commencement and end of each canto in the epic, and the actors sing and converse in verse interspersed with prose, the prose coming after the verse as its explanation.

[2] The researcher Richard A. Frasca wrote that certain of his performer-informants believed that the terukkuttu originally emanated from the Gingee area.

[8] Many scholars note the similarity between terukkuttu and other neighbouring regional drama forms, such as Yakshagana and Kathakali.

[9] The terukkuttu plays form part of ritual celebrations including the twenty-one day temple festival starting in Chittirai, the first month of the Tamil calendar.

[2] The terukkuttu performances begin in the middle of the festival, and continue till the morning of the penultimate day.

Two persons holding a curtain enter the arena, with an actor in the guise of Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god.

The actor playing Ganesha now moves out of the arena, and Kattiyakkaran (jester and sutradhara i.e. the narrator) appears on the stage.

The French theater group, Théâtre du Soleil, used elements of Terukuttu, including the two stories The Vow of Draupadi, and The defeat of Karna in their play, A Room in India.