Call Number : RR-207

Mārggam Kaḷi

മാർഗ്ഗം കളി

(Excerpts from Ongoing research)
Copyright © 2020 Joseph J. Palackal

(Mārggam Kaḷi - Perfomance at Chavara Cultural Center, Kochi on 17 July 2019)
(Video Ref. Code : CMSI-237)

Mārggam Kaḷi (Malayalam, “Dance of the Way”), is a non-liturgical performing art of the St. Thomas Christians in Kerala, India. The song text celebrates the life, mission, and martyrdom of St. Thomas the Apostle in India. The proto-Dravidian-speaking converts to Christianity in Kerala chose a Pali/Sanskrit term, “Mārggam” (the way), to refer to the new religion that came to its shore from West Asia. There are two reasons for this linguistic connection. First, Kerala was a Buddhist country in the early Christian era. The region was replete with Buddhist Vihāra-s. The generic term that the Buddha used for his teaching was Mārg, meaning “way.” Therefore, the term was all too familiar to Keralites in the early Christian era. Conversion to any religion was referred to as māṛggam kūṭal (“joining the way”).