he thesis studies Manalmagudi (translated as the rhythm of the land), an experimental theatre group based in Kovilpatti, Tamilnadu. A rural theatre group, drawing its aesthetics from folk rituals and genres from the Kaṟisial Kadu (the socially and culturally marginalized dry zone around Tuticorin district in southern Tamil Nadu), it becomes an archive of the local folklore. Despite being an important voice in Tamil and Indian theatre, the group hasn’t received the attention it deserves. In studying this important, yet largely ignored, theatre group, the thesis draws attention to a significant aesthetic development that is happening in rural Tamilnadu.


The study documents, Poolipavai, one of the plays of the group as a performance text. A descriptive and interpretative framework, performance text is a more efficient method to document performances that do not lend themselves to the traditional play script (Bharucha 1992). This is the first attempt in documentation and translation of the plays of the group. The study then explores the plays as tragedy from the Kaṟisial Kadu, drawing from Ramanujan’s proposition of an indigenous Indian tragedy in folk poetics (1986). Although tragedy is said to be absent in Indian arts and aesthetics, scholars have argued for the presence of tragedy in Indian traditions. Ramanujan says tragedy is part of folk poetics and sees the argument for the absence of tragedy in Indian tradition to apply to the Sanskritic and kavya traditions. An indigenous tragedy evolves in the plays of Manalmagudi that take shape from folk poetics differentiating it from classical arts. Incommensurable with the Naṭyasastra and Aristotelian framework of tragedy, the genre is explored through Nietzsche’s and Soyinka’s conceptions of tragedy. The study also explores the way the genre addresses the pain of the marginalized differently from modern genres such as testimonio, memoir, and autobiography.