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8 COVER STORY DELHI THE HINDU Magazine THE HINDU Magazine DELHI 9
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Sunday, March 3, 2019

SYNERGIES
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‘Where

have my

Being god
■ Traditionally,
clans set up
groves kaavu on their
shrines in a
land, where the
Theyyam deity
would appear
once a year or
even once in
gone?’ ■ The practice
12 years

goes back to the
agrarian society
of a time when
clan heads held
The unique pantheistic art form of much of the land
around
the Theyyam faces increasing
■ The performers
threats of gentrification and belong to
subaltern
Brahminisation, thus paving the way communities like
Vannan, Velan,
for the destruction of the sacred Malayan, etc.
groves where it was born ■ The rituals are
different from
Brahminical
ones, often
involving blood
THULASI KAKKAT
#70929 sacrifices or
walking on
here’s a lake underneath the embers
forest where a crocodile runs
riot. Thus goes a myth about ■ It’s an open-air
Tone of Kerala’s sacred groves, performance in
front of the
and it’s a myth that is firmly believed forest shrine
by the people who inhabit the area that can go on
around the grove. And aspects of the for hours
myth colour the local Theyyam ■ The costumes
performed there. and face-
There has always been an painting are
unmistakable umbilical link between extraordinarily
the dance form of Kerala called folk religion for millions. The number and traditional practice is carefully manifested as theyyams during the elaborate, and
Theyyam and nature. A Theyyam is a of major deities surviving now is about protected, fostered and handed over. days of the ritual. art forms in
ritualistic performance where 100, while the number of Theyyams is At a recent performance, for instance, themselves. The
pantheistic deities are summoned to more than 400. of the Karimchamundi Theyyam at the Missing the woods extravagant
headgear called
the body of the performing man, one The ritualistic art form is ancient, Tharanthatta Karimchamundi shrine in On a recent trip to the kaavu to pay mudi can even
who is almost always from a subaltern predating organised Hinduism and north Malabar, Naranthan, a veteran respects to the theyyam during their be 50-60 ft high
community. Each of these instances of harking back to a time of tribal annual visit, I was dismayed to find that
“possession” is rooted in a unique local animism. Over the years, Hindu A the surrounding forest had all but ■ Musical
myth, which in turn is rooted in the elements have been slowly taken in and disappeared. When I commented on instruments
include chenda,
ancient sacred groves of Kerala called adapted to the ritual. This might well Theyyam is ancient, predating this, a neighbour remarked, tudi, kuzhal,
kaavu. Each kaavu is a small have enriched it but might also spell organised Hinduism and harking completely missing the irony, that the ilathalam and
rainforest, and these were in the death knell for a certain vital back to a time of tribal animism. theyyam would have more room to veekni
abundance in the State until some attribute of the Theyyam. Over time, Hindu elements have perform if the forest was cleared
years ago. been slowly adapted to the ritual further. ■ As the dancers
Green room In an extraordinary play between Complete faith When the Theyyam was a sacred spin and twirl to
Decorations always culture and nature, the grove nurtured It was always a symbiotic ritual, its performance was in the the frantic
drums, they
come from nature the dance form and the dance form relationship. The deities — performer, spoke appreciatively of how nature of an offering to the deity. And enter a state of
— flowers, leaves was instrumental in arresting the goddesses in most part and the younger generations after him even the forest, the deity’s domain, was the trance before
and fruits. Worship destruction of the groves even when hereditarily embodied by today reverently observe every custom performance space. Slowly, over the collapsing. It
of ancestors, trees, development and modernity came designated men from before transforming into the theyyam. years, as the Theyyam has increasingly takes a while for
animals, serpents, knocking. Theyyam’s accoutrements specific communities — My village in north Malabar has a been marketed as a tourist attraction, it them to revive,
are all part of the have always been drawn from nature — towered over a feudal kaavu. The presiding theyyams — has become less ritual and more after which
devotees seek
cult. The photos such as garlands and decorations of society with its undivided Kadayankathi and Pethalan — inhabit entertainment. This has meant that the their blessings
show various ripe areca nuts, flowers, leaves and landholdings. The land and the dance the perennial darkness of the dense dance aspect of it has taken
kinds of Theyyams fruits — just as the biodiversity­rich and the myths nurtured each other. woods, entertaining a particular precedence over the space and indeed
in flow. wilderness of the groves has been the The people of the region had fondness for the mysterious hours of over the sacred itself. And the
Cover photo: home of the pantheistic deities that complete and sanguine faith in dusk or high noon. None dared disturb recognition of Theyyam’s deeply
Kadayankathi thrived in the Malabar region. the god or goddess who presided the sacred groves at these times, unless symbolic character has begun to give
Theyyam at Spirit­worship, ancestor­worship, over the region, and the sacredness it was to request an exorcism. way to an understanding of it merely as
Kakkat Sree tree­worship, animal worship, serpent­ attached to the deity was extended to The aloof magnificence of an art form. This, in turn, has impacted
Vishnumoorthy worship, the worship of the goddesses the grove, thereby giving it a protective Kadayankathi and Pethalan obscured the sanctity of the forests or kaavu,
Kshethram in of disease and the worship of the cover. their myths and origin stories, but the and they are cut down carelessly.
Kasaragod. Graamadevata or village god, all are The hereditary nature of the devout knew they had unmediated
THULASI KAKKAT part of the Theyyam cult, which is a Theyyam has meant that each custom access to these deities when they A CONTINUED ON PAGE 11