Puli
Vesham OR Tiger Dance
This is a popular one-man dance performed during Dussehra and Muharram
festivals. An able bodied man with a narrow strip of cloth around the
waist, and the whole body painted with stripes like a tiger and elaborate
make-up, sporting a long tail, dances vigorously in tiger like strides
and wild jumps. A Dappu or Mridangam provides the rhythm. In some parts
of Andhra a second man behind the dancer carries the artificial but heavy
tail tied to the back of the dancer. The dancer lifts a brass pot
full of water with his teeth depicting an unruly tiger's devouring nature
and strength.
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