While we were staying in Thrissur we were informed that there was going to be a festival the next day in a nearby town. We were told that the festival was going to involve the sacrificing of chickens. The next day we loaded onto an extremely crowded bus and headed for Payanoor, to see the festival.

When we arrived at our stop, the streets were filled with the usual vendors selling puffed rice, small toys, jewelry, and foods of various types. We entered the temple grounds, and passed a huge tree on our left that was surrounded by a small iron fence.

Click here to watch the musicians performance

As we continued through the walled courtyard, decorated with tender coconut leaves, we approached the temple and the bathing tank. Chickens could be seen pecking their heads at small bugs on the ground, and there were many chickens sitting calmly in the trees. A chicken in a tree no longer looks like a chicken, its vibrant colors and the way it sits perched on a branch make it look more like a rare jungle bird. The temple, which was located at the far end of the courtyard, was fenced off and chickens, of all colors, slowly bobbed around within its confines.

After exploring the temple grounds for a short period, we noticed that elephants were being brought in. Five elephants were brought in and lined up next to each other with their backs to the temple. Each of the elephants were mounted by one man who sat on the elephant's neck with his feet tucked behind the huge rope or chain collar worn by each elephant. Once all of the elephants were manned large gold colored headpieces were passed up to each of the riders, who placed them appropriately over the head of the elephant. These mask like decorations we were told are known as neti pattam. Once in place a cloth that was used to cover the headpiece was removed, allowing the shining headpice to be seen. This was done for each of the elephants, until each of their heads shone brightly in the sun.

After each of the elephants was majestically dressed, a large goddess idol was passed up to the rider of the middle elephant. The rider stood the idol up on the back of the elephants head and held it there by a handle on the back. Once this idol was in place, two smaller idols were passed up the men on the two surrounding elephants. Then, two more men are added to the back of each of the elephants. These men stand on the elephant, one behind the holder of the idol, and one on the hindquarter of the elephant.

The middleman holds two large white fans, known as ven chamaram, which are made out of deer skin. The man on the back holds two other fans, known as allavattam, made from peacock feathers, also held on the ends of sticks.

Small oil lamps are then placed in front of the elephants. Behind them a large group of musicians began to converge to form two lines with their backs to the elephants, and two lines directly facing them, opposite the first lines. This group of musicians is called a panchavadyum, because there are five different instruments present. Basically, panch means five so this means orchestra of five instruments. Then two men get into place between the two lines on either end and face each other. These men hold drums that are played with sticks. The men on the two middle lines also hold drums that are played by hand. The fingers of these drummers are covered with white plaster and taped in order to allow the drummers to play loud sharp beats and to keep their hands from being hurt. One line has seven drummers with small drums, while the other has five larger drums. The line behind the drummers with the small drums is a line of nine curved horn players. The line behind the larger drums consists of nine cymbal players.

Once they are all in full formation The conch shell is blown three times, on the third blow the four lines of musicians begin to play, the horns first followed by the drums and the cymbals. Once the band has started playing, the front men on the elephants are given large colorful parasols with hanging metal and chains on them. At certain prescribed times the two men standing on the backs of the elephants raise both type of fans.

After the musicians have played for a while they begin to walk away from the temple toward the tree. After walking a few feet they stop regain formation and begin to play again. After a short time, the musicians stop playing, and the two end drummers begin to play a duet. The rest of the orchestra joins in again, walking every few minutes toward the tree, without ever stopping the music.

Once they had walked across the whole courtyard toward the tree, they turn around while still playing, and began the same procession but in reverse. The whole time they are followed by the elephants and the large crowd that gathered. Throughout the procession the musicians play different tallams according to ritual procedure.

When the music was completed, some of the crowd went into the temple to pray. In the past chickens were usually sacrificed during the festival , but they no longer do this, instead setting the chickens free to roam the temple grounds. This is a new practise that has come from an evolotion of the sacrifice, from goats, which were sacrificed more before they began to sacrifice chickens, to the present day where they release the chickens and become the property of the temple.