For a small state as Kerala, the number and variety of dances, folk dramas, musical instruments and genre are numerous. It is impossible to deal with them exhaustively here. What follows is a treatment of some of the very popular ones.
Chenda Melam
This is an orchestra consisting of local drums. These are upright barrel drums. The performers support them on their shoulders. The performance is often very loud and accompanied by bronze cymbals, and wind instruments such as the kuzhal and the kombu- the impressive C-shaped brass trumpets. The performers of chenda melam need great stamina and their technical skill is of a high degree. In the beginning of the programme there is a powerful performance, when an elephant, the musicians and the devotees go round the temple precinct. After about two hours the excited and the tired crowd follows the elephant and the deity into the temple.
The Tayambaka, Keli, Kuzhal Pattu and Kombu Pattu are smaller rituals dedicated to the main deity and often precede the Chenda Melam. These are played usually in the evening. The same artists who play chenda melam can also play Tayambaka. Tayambaka is an improvised chenda melam accompanied by treble and bass chenda and cymbals. This is a notably attractive performance lasting 60m to 90 minutes and is, like the Panchavadyam, performed outside the temple.
Wood carvings
Wood carvings and other wooden art work form an important part of local temple art of Kerala. These exist side by side with Dravidian stone temple designs that are found in Tamil Nadu. Unlike in Tamil Nadu, the temple design in Kerala is circular, the walls and mandapas decorated with wooden pillars, incorporating murals. The core structure, the Garba Griha has a conical structure looking like a Pagoda. The earliest murals (of 16th century) can be found at the Ettumanoor temple in Kottayam district. Later murals 
are found in Padmanabhapuram (Tamil Nadu) palace and in Mattancherry palace in Kochi.
Continuing with temple traditions, in temple functions the festivities are often marked by specific style of instrumental music.-Panchavadyam and Chenda Melam. The panchavadyam is a large ensemble of five different instruments-maddalam (barrel drums), timila (hour glass drums) komba (large curved trumpets), itaykka (tension drums) and cymbals.
