Visits since 1 Apr 2023 12,047,041
Visits since 1 Jan 2007 53,908,630
Heli Tourism

Kathakali Showpiece - a Kerala Souvenir

Base material: Wood

Category: Decorative items

The Kathakali masks today available as little souvenirs and showpieces are an icon of Kerala's vibrant culture. Complete with the elaborate headgear, painted face and long black hair of the Kathakali costume, these curios are made in Plaster of Paris, clay or papier-mâché.

Based on the colour of the face, the shape of the headgear and beard, there are five distinctive types of characters in Kathakali. The pacha or 'green' costume represents the virtuous and noble; the kathi or 'knife' the proud, aggressive, and unrighteous; the red thadi or 'red beard' is the aggressive and demonic, the white thadi or 'white beard', the mythical and fantastic beings like the monkey Gods and the black thadi or 'black beard'- the tribesmen, foresters and cave dwellers. The minukku or 'polished' characters represent women, sages, Brahmins etc. Keralites usually prefer the pacha or the good characters for displaying in their homes.

Do you wish to add content or help us find mistakes in this web page? 

NB: You should not submit anything else other than addition / correction of page content.

For travel related requirements like accommodation, tour packages, transportation etc please click here.

District Tourism Promotion Councils KTDC KTIL Thenmala Ecotourism Promotion Society BRDC Sargaalaya SIHMK Responsible Tourism Mission KITTS Adventure Tourism Muziris Heritage saathi nidhi Sahapedia
Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, Park View, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India - 695 033
Phone: +91 471 2321132, Fax: +91 471 2322279, E-mail: info@keralatourism.org.
All rights reserved © Kerala Tourism 2024. Copyright | Terms of Use | Cookie Policy | Contact Us.
Developed & Maintained by Invis.
x
We use cookies to improve user experience, and analyze website traffic. For these reasons, we may share your site usage data with our analytics partners. More info. CLOSE