The wait of a year ends on Monday (September 8, 2025). As the afternoon sun dips, the rustic beats will shake the streets of Thrissur, ushering in one of Onam celebration’s most flamboyant and unmissable spectacles — Pulikkali.
From nine corners of the city, more than 400 ‘tigers’ — their bodies painted in vivid stripes of yellow, black and orange — will march and dance their way into the Swaraj Round, unleashing a frenzy of colour, rhythm and raw energy.
Pulikkali, a street pageant unique to Thrissur, is the climactic moment of the Onam season here. Even though Onam festivities are over elsewhere in Kerala, for the people of Thrissur, the festival concludes only with Pulikkali on the fourth Onam day.
And it’s not just the performers. Alongside the tiger troupes, tens of thousands of spectators, including women and children, throng the city’s arteries — cheering, clapping, and swaying to the pounding drumbeats. Once the pulikkottu (the signature tiger rhythm) begins, few can resist raising their arms and stepping in sync. That is the magic of Pulikkali.
Preparations have been on for days, and in the nine tiger dens where the troupes get ready, sleep was impossible last night. At dawn, bodies were shaved, and artists began painting elaborate stripes with mixtures of tempera powder and varnish. Slowly, men transformed into beasts — leopards, panthers, and tigers — each brushstroke bringing the illusion alive.
The nine Pulikkali troupes stepping out this year are Yuvajana Sangham Viyyur; Viyyur Desam Pulikkali Sangham; Chakkamukku Desam; Sakthan Pulikkali Sangham; Shankaramkulangara Desam; Kanattukara Desam ; Seetharam Mill Desam; Patturaykkal Desam Kala Kayika Samskarika Samithi; and Ayyanthole Desam. Each of the nine teams will field 51 tigers, creating a grand carnival of sound and colour in the heart of the city.
Like the caparisoned elephants that dominate Thrissur Pooram, Pulikkali tigers painted in dazzling hues define the splendour of Onam’s finale. Streets leading to Thrissur are already teeming with people eager to glimpse the transformation. Residents line the roadsides, applauding their local troupe as they depart for the city, shouting and clapping in pride. By afternoon, Thrissur will turn into a roaring jungle of stripes, drums, and ecstatic crowds—an Onam climax like no other.
Published – September 07, 2025 05:56 pm IST
