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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Travancore and Tinnevelly, which form the southernmost end of India, have been very little affected by Islam, and hence have preserved traits of Hindu culture and civilization which are not found anywhere else. The dramatic representations can be divided into three classes :— (1) Indigenous, as the kūttu, āṭṭam, etc., including (a) those acted in temples, and (b) those acted in public places other than temples ; (2) Imported, yātrās ; and (3) Devil-dances and propitiatory dances, such as the Fire-dance, Bhadrakálí-dance, etc.
page 231 note 1 In South India the paraphernalia are the same for gods or for kings, and the word kōvil, lit. “house of king”, may denote either a temple or a palace.
page 232 note 1 The hair is generally divided into three parts, the sīmanta, or front part (sometimes decorated with ornaments like the sūrya-prabhā or chandra-prabhā), the chūḍā, or middle part, filled with flowers and surmounted by the chūḍā-maṇi, or hair-jewel, with peacock-feathers around the latter, and the jaṭā or sikhā, the lower part of which was gathered into a knot or plaited into various patterns and left hanging down or filled up with flowers like an elongated basket, or with the plait tied up in the shape of an X or W or S. When the plait was left hanging it was sometimes decorated with the jatā-śringāra, a plate of gold and precious stones, especially rubies, with a tassel of pearls and silk at the end. In South India the art of decoration of the hair and the interweaving of it into beautiful patterns by means of flowers was raised to a fine art.