Margamkali

The Margamkali is an ancient Indian round dance of the Saint Thomas Christian community based in the state of Kerala. The dance is mainly practiced and propagated by the endogamous sub-ethnic group known as the Knanaya or Southist Christians. The Margam Kali retells the life and missionary work of Thomas the Apostle, based on the 3rd-century apocryphal Acts of Thomas.

Historically different forms of the Margam Kali existed in practice among the Kerala Syrian Christians, a Saint Thomas Christian or Northist version and a Knanaya or Southist version. Historian Dr. Istvan Perczel notes that only the Knanaya version is in existence today, with its 14 stanza form written by the Knanaya priest Anjilimootil Itti Thomman in the 17th century. The prototype of Margamkali is composed of 14 stanzas (padas) which are derived from Syrian and Tamil words, and they got to be included in its composition. Until the ninth century AD., Keralam was a part of Tamilakam and the language of the Kerala region was Tamil or Middle Tamil. Gradually Malayalam came under the influence of Sanskrit and Prakrit with the spread of Aryan influence.But some scholars states that those songs are written in a language which is neither pure Malayalam of today nor the spoken Tamil of today ,and this language is absolutely free of any Sanskrit terms,it might be Middle Tamil spoken in Chera Kingdom or Chentamil. . There was a time when Syriac language was used as a trade language (Lingua Franca) in Kodungallur and its surroundings. At least from the fourth century, the Knanites as well as the rest of the Syrian Christians in Malabar used the Syriac language in their liturgical celebrations. They firmly believed that the Syriac language was sacred since Jesus Christ, his mother, and the Apostles used it, and the holy mass was instituted by Christ in that language. These were the reasons for the Syrian Christians of Kerala to maintain and use the Syriac language even in their cultural performances. The present day Margamkali songs have many Syriac liturgical words like maran (our Lord), alaha (God), mar thomma (St Thomas), malaka (angel), kandessa (Saint), ruha (spirit), nivyalanmar (prophets), Iso (Jesus), Mishiha (Christ) are seen in the lyrics. The Tamil words like meyu (body), peeli (dress). All these lead us back to an early period of the history of Malayalam literature, which had Tamil words aplenty. However, Persian and Portuguese words are not seen in the text. Those words might possibly have been borrowed from karintamil or Middle Tamil because Margamkali has close affinity with the Cindu kind of song composition, which was popular in Tamil language during the period (Karimbumkalayil).

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