The video clip shows Velakali, a spectacular dance form with martial overtones, performed in a few temples of South Kerala with the performers wielding boar shaped strops and shields. Clad in traditional finery, dating back to the medieval period, they engage in vigourous movement and dexterous swordplay, to the accompaniment of an orchestra of maddalam, ilathalam, kombu and kuzhal. The art form is believed to have originated in Ambalappuzha where Mathoor Panikker, a chief of the Chempakassery army promoted it to pep the morale of his warriors.