1993. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for Dalit women to start performing Parai Attam, a traditional art form historically performed by Dalit men during funerals.
Sister Chandra, the woman behind this quiet cultural revolution, had been doing community service in Dindigul when she noticed how poorly paid the men performing Parai Attam were.
"I felt that people were not respecting the art or the artiste because of their social status," she recalled.
Sister Chandra also sensed the quick shift of the villagers' interest from folk arts to community TV. "Each village has different art forms which they used to perform during festivals, but when people started enjoying television, art forms started dying," she went on.
Determined to revive the art form, Sister Chandra decided to form a troupe of her own. But being a woman, she had to also fight many gendered stereotypes around the art form, which was considered exclusively the domain of Dalit men.
"I was rejected by village folk artistes as they didn’t believe a woman was strong enough to carry a parai and perform," she remembered.
At last, seeing her persistence, traditional village folk artiste Guru Ramadass taught her Parai Attam. Soon, Sister Felci and a group of village women joined, becoming the first batch of what would eventually be known as the Sakthi group.
Now, Sister Felci has taken charge of it. As public perceptions changed, Sakthi's popularity grew significantly. It began teaching more than 20 art forms including Parai Attam, Oyil Attam, and Silambam.
Along with an offline batch of 20 students, two batches of online art classes were also introduced. They perform in and around several districts of Tamil Nadu and have also made their mark on the international stage. Sakthi is now flourishing.
'Finally, you are making our girls take up Parai?'
In ancient Tamil society, parai, a hollow drum made out of a wooden frame and cow skin, was used as a percussion instrument to gather people and make announcements. Over time, it evolved into an art form predominantly performed by Dalit men.
In the beginning, the idea of women performing Parai Attam was alarming to a society fed with stereotypical narratives on the art form. Concerned about their social status and perpetuating caste stereotypes, families strongly opposed the participation of their daughters.
Parai artistes did not want their daughters to take up the art form as they believed their children would be discriminated against for their social status.
"Initially, parents resisted sending their daughters to learn Parai Attam," Sister Felci reminisced. They were met with questions filled with disbelief and anxiety such as 'How can you make our girls take up Parai?'
Yet, against all odds, the team's first performance became both a personal victory for Sister Chandra and a cultural milestone.
"After that, we were invited to several villages to perform," she said.
Sakthi went on to become one of the earliest all-women Parai Attam troupes in Tamil Nadu. Sister Chandra and Sister Felci, driven by their mission to empower Dalits and women, were posted in Dindigul by their congregation, the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, ICM.
Every year, a new batch of twenty students joined Sister Chandra's year-long residential course to learn various folk art forms such as Parai Attam, Oyil Attam, and Karagattam. The mix included young women who were school dropouts.
"We encourage school dropouts to finish their studies and enroll in college. Some of them later became folk dance teachers in nearby village schools," said Sister Chandra.
Martial arts such as silambam and taekwondo are also taught by Sakthi.
"This is a life-oriented program as women are also taught vocational skills such as tailoring, besides sex education and other lessons," she said.
Performances with social messages
Rather than performing solely for entertainment, Sakthi's programs are society-oriented. To spark a social dialogue and make society rethink its assumptions became the group's goal. Sister Chandra believes that the dialogue initiated after performances has brought changes in society.
She proudly spoke about how turning Parai Attam into an inclusive art form is part of such a change. "Now, women from non-Dalit communities also train for Parai Attam with the Sakthi group, which shows acceptance and how people are willing to challenge stereotypes," she said.
Sakthi's unique style of incorporating social messages with performances made the team stand out.
"Our performances raise awareness about social issues such as women empowerment, communal harmony, sexual harassment, caste, globalisation and unemployment," said Sister Chandra.
The importance of developing a reading habit is a recurring theme expressed by the team whenever it is invited for book launches and similar events.
To instill confidence and capability among young talents, Sister Chandra believed that the group should be involved in choreographing, decision-making and every other aspect of their performance. This let the girls feel empowered by occupying spaces which were dominated by men, she said.
'To build a better humanity, we have to break the chains of oppression' is Sakthi's motto. The group's name reflects its goal of holding on to the female 'energy' and empowering women by creating a space exclusive to them.
As recently as the early 2000s, women across different states were excluded from performing certain folk art forms. "For example, in Kerala, women were not allowed to perform chenda melam, an art form that involved drums. This trend is slowly changing nowadays," said Sister Chandra.
The logo of Sakthi depicts one foot of a performer bound by a chain, signifying the historical oppression, and the other foot adorned with an anklet, representing resilience and the struggle to break free from marginalisation.
Taking Parai attam to the world
The team of performers has kept changing over the years as many women dropped out after marriage and childbirth. However, that didn't stop Sakthi from carrying forward its mission. The group has put together more than 2,700 programmes since its inception, garnering national and international attention.
A major breakthrough came in 2012 when it performed at the World Tamil Conference in the United States, marking the art form's entry into the Western world.
Members of the Tamil diaspora were deeply impressed and began establishing schools to teach Tamil folk arts in the US. The Sakthi group played a crucial role in this effort by providing books and syllabi.
The year 2000 marked their first international performance in South Africa. A conference on the topic of racism was their stage. Later in 2005, the team was invited to South Korea for a gathering of musicians across the globe, with Sakthi representing India. Such performances boosted the popularity of parai as an art form in the international realm.
Sister Chandra received an award from the Japanese government in 2008 for using folk art to revolutionise society. At her insistence, the whole group went to receive the award. The team also stayed in Japan in 2009 to teach and perform Parai Attam to students of Japanese schools and colleges.
Sister Chandra says that the journey of Sakthi is a testimony to how society is becoming more accepting of women in folk art forms. The parai's transformation into an instrument of caste liberation has led to a growing interest in this art form, promising a future where generations will continue to move to its powerful beats and rhythms, she adds with quiet confidence.