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Chavittu nadakam is a Christian-origin dance form from Kerala, India. It's quite similar to the European opera, though chavittu nadakam involves a lot of dancing. The dance is accompanied by archaic Malayalam/Tamil songs, called nadakams, written down in poem form.

One such nadakam is the Brijeena Charitham, literally The Legend of Brijeena. According to the Wikipedia page on chavittu nadakam, the title is translated to Life of Queen Brijeena. This is apparently the costume used by the character of Queen Brijeena. Queen Brijeena

By PrinceMathewVillarvattam [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

Which queen is this? I cannot find any reference to a "Queen Brijeena" online.

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  • Could it be a corruption of Virginia (a name connected to Queen Elizabeth)?
    – b a
    Oct 2, 2018 at 18:17
  • @ba Quite possibly. A search for "Queen Brijeena" on Google does show one result featuring Queen Elizabeth II. I dismissed it since this nadakam was written over two centuries ago.
    – Aravind Suresh Thakidayil
    Oct 3, 2018 at 8:33
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    I was actually thinking of Elizabeth I. It seems that Virginia isn't an actual epithet of hers, though. I wonder if the content of the nadakam matches some story about her, but I can't find any details online to compare
    – b a
    Oct 3, 2018 at 8:42

1 Answer 1

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It could be St. Brigit who was revered in a Jesuit church in Lisbon around 1587. Dr. Christophe Vielle mentions this in a KCHR lecture.

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    Welcome to the site! Can you provide more context on how your answers might be correct? Relevant quotes from the lecture you mention might be a good start. Also take some time to have a look at our tour and help center to get better understanding of the community.
    – Skooba
    Jun 22 at 13:24
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    Five years late as it is, I am now convinced that this is indeed the correct answer.
    – Aravind Suresh Thakidayil
    Jun 22 at 17:32

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