Therukoothu literally means 'street theatre/ dance' and is performed in northern Tamil Nadu during the post harvest season. The artists perform stories from the Mahabharata. This is part of the month long Mahabharata festival that takes place as an all encompassing event in different parts of northern TN. For about fifteen days there are recitals from the epic during the afternoons and after that there are night long performances. These performances are not restricted to the stage, sometimes they are on stage, sometimes across streets, sometimes through the entire village. Different rituals have evolved over the years and somewhere the lines between ritual, performance and reality merge. There is a particular episode where the artist enacts 'Arjuna's penance' and while doing that he throws out rice and grains to the audience. It is believed that if married women catch these rice grains they will be blessed with a child the next year. The actors are sometimes worshipped. The performances are sometimes seen as rituals. The entire village takes part with such fervour in this month long festival that one really cannot decide which is the performance and which is reality or rituals.
We watched one such Mahabharata therukoothu off its context, on a stage in Kalakshetra. Of course we missed out on all the mad following and beliefs, still we did see one such performance.
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