Tullal is a dance form of enacting a story through dance and music. This originated in the early eighteenth century at Ambalapuzha. This was a small principality on the coast of the erstwhile Travancore area in south Kerala. It was invented by the trendsetting Malayalam poet Kunchan Nambiyar, who rendered his poetry based on epic themes in this newly formulated visual style. He belonged to the Nambiyar community, percussionists by profession, accompanying on the instrument called mizhavu. This is the traditional presentation of Sanskrit plays known as Kuttu and Kutiyattam.

There is an interesting story. During a performance the proficient Kunchan Nambiyar dozed off for a while and did not provide percussive support to the Chakkiyar actor. The Chakkiyar made fun of his behaviour with some whimsical remark. Nambiyar took offence and walked off. In protest against the Chakkiyar`s comments, he dissociated from Kutiyattam and started contemplating a different art form. Thus the concept of Tullal comes. Leaving aside the question of credibility, the fact remains that Nambiyar made his art more meaningful and appealing to the common people. This has been done by introducing a new technique of storytelling. Nambiyar was an active participant in the elitist Sanskrit theatre. Apart from his own experience in Kuttu in which social criticism and satire are of prime importance, he delved deep into the popular form of Patayani. He combined this with indigenous narration, rhythms, dance, and costumes in the total art of Tullal.

While retelling stories from the epics, Nambiyar dealt with events and experiences in his contemporary context and made the epic characters live among the people. Social commentary, humour, satire, colloquial expressions, proverbs, gave his texts immediate appreciation from the common man. Tullal has three variations namely Ottan, Sitangan, and Parayan. These are adopted by Nambiyar from Patayani characters and assigned specific costumes. There are differences in metrical structure and tempo in each style. He composed many stories in each of the above denominations, for a total of forty-one. Later authors also composed Tullal poems, but only a few made lasting impacts. All the poems came down as oral literature, finally printed only in the early twentieth century.

The solo Tullal performer sings the entire passage. It is repeated by a musician from behind to the accompaniment of cymbals and toppi maddalam. This is basically a cylindrical drum with both sides covered with pelt and played with the palms. He also translates the meaning of the sung text into action through dance, gestures, and facial expressions. The footwork is extensively patterned to blend with the rhythms and the gestures are simple and communicative. This follows the ancient Sanskrit text Hastalakshana dipika i.e. `Light on Hand Gestures`. This is a treatise on gestural language popular in Kerala. Malabar Raman Nair of Kerala Kalamandalam was the best-known exponent in the mid-twentieth century, followed by Vechoor Thankamani Pillai in recent times.