Search the Internet          Tips

Despite ban, tribal women dance in the nude

N Sathiya Moorthy in Chennai

Reviving a tradition that was banned by the local police last year, tribal women in Vellakadai village near the hill station of Yercaud in Tamil Nadu's Salem district danced in the nude, to propitiate and invoke their deities.

At least 17 women are believed to have participated in the nocturnal ritual three days after the Tamil harvest festival of Pongal in mid-January, reports said.

Males above the age of three are asked to leave the village for the day, and they return only after the ritual is finished.

The 'nude dance' to invoke the blessings of Mariamman, the local deity, was suspended last year, after the district police intervened, and women cops were posted in numbers to keep a check.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report