Margamkali Dance Poem by Varghese Kuncheria

Margamkali Dance
By Joji Varghese Kuncheria is from 'A Note, a Word, a Brush - Ode to the Arts' published at Amazon.


Margamkali Dance

Far from the Middle East,
No one knows precisely when,
Came this art form to India,
Either the traders of Judea,
Or the Jewish exiles in 68 AD,
Brought this art form to Cochin.

Through the silk route it came,
Since then it remained with,
The people of the New Way,
In the southern tip of India,
So integral to their culture,
Did this art form has become.

A dozen dancers sing and dance,
Around a lighted wick lamp,
An allegorical enactment is this,
With the lamp representing Christ,
And the performers his disciples,
'Margam Kali' is this unique art.

"Margam" means path or way,
Traced back from the diaspora,
And derived from the Brahmins,
So synonymously is it linked,
With the people who are called,
St. Thomas Nasranis of Kerala.
 
                  *******