Creating Pantheon -Nature, Colours and Beliefs: A Visual Narrative of Kaliyattam in Kerala | Gopi | Visual Ethnography
Cover Image

Creating Pantheon -Nature, Colours and Beliefs: A Visual Narrative of Kaliyattam in Kerala

Anil Gopi

Abstract


The core idea of this essay is to elucidate the process through which people create and worship local gods and goddesses in Kerala, India. By using a series of photographs, this essay portrays the life of the
performers and the process of becoming gods in the traditional shrines of a vernacular religious system in Hinduism. The practitioners make use of the nature they live in creating the highly decorated deities. The materials in the costume reflects the natural sources in their own surroundings and intricate face drawings which symbolizes their world view. Most significantly, the beliefs system in the deities reflects the society itself.

Keywords


South India; Hinduism; rituals; performance; sacred grove; theyyam; kaliyattam; caste system

Full Text:

PDF

References


ASHLEY, Wayne - HOLLOMAN, Regina.

From Ritual to Theatre in Kerala. The Drama Review: TDR, 26 (2): 59-72.

ASHLEY, Wayne.

The Teyyam Kettu of Northern Kerala. The Drama Review: TDR, 23 (2): 99-112.

BLACKBURN, Stuart H.

Death and Deification: Folk Cults in Hinduism. History of Religions, 24 (3): 255-74.

CHANDRAN, T V.

Ritual as ideology: text and context in teyyam. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi: D.K. Print

world.

DAMODARAN, M P.

Teyyam is the best tool for reconstructing the history of North Malabar. Anthropologist. 10 (4): 283-87.

FREEMAN, John Richardson

Gods, Groves and the Culture of Nature in Kerala. Modern Asian Studies, 33 (2): 257-302.

FREEMAN, John Richardson

Purity and violence: sacred power in the teyyam worship of Malabar. University of Pennsylvania. Dissertations

available from ProQuest. AAI9125644. https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI9125644.

GADGIL, Madhav – CHANDRAN,M. D. Subash

Sacred Groves. India International Centre Quarterly, 19 (1/2): 183-187.

GADGIL, Madhav – VARTAK,V. D.

The Sacred Groves of Western Ghats in India. Economic Botany, 30 (2): 152-160.

GOUGH, E. Kathleen

Cults of the Dead among the Nāyars. The Journal of American Folklore, 71 (281): 446-78.

GROESBECK, Rolf

"Classical Music," "Folk Music," and the Brahmanical Temple in Kerala, India. Asian Music, 30 (2): 87-112.

GROESBECK, Rolf

Dhim, Kam, Cappu, Pottu: Timbral Discourses and Performances among Temple Drummers in Kerala, India. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 35: 39-68.

GOUGH, Kathleen

Peasant Resistance and Revolt in South India. Pacific Affairs, 41 (4): 526-44.

KOGA, Mayuri

The politics of ritual and art in Kerala: controversies concerning the staging of teyyam. Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies. 15. 54-79.

KURUP, K. K. N.

Teyyam. Trivandrum: Government of Kerala, Department of Public Relations.

KURUP, K. K. N.

Peasantry and the Anti-Imperialist Struggles in Kerala. Social Scientist, 16 (9): 35-45.

KURUP, K.K.N.

The Socio-Economic Transformation of a Traditional Village in Kerala. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 64: 850-859.

MENON, Dilip M.

Peasants and Politics in Malabar. Economic and Political Weekly, 32 (41): 2618-2620.

MILLER, Eric J.

Caste and Territory in Malabar. American Anthropologist, New Series,56 (3): 410- 420.

NAMBIAR, Balan

Teyyam. India International Centre Quarterly, 22 (2/3): 135-142.

RADHAKRISHNAN, P.

Land Reforms and Social Change: Study of a Kerala Village. Economic and Political Weekly, 18 (52/53): A143-150.

TARABOUT, Gilles

Malabar Gods, Nation-Building and World Culture: On Perceptions of the Local and the Global. In Globalizing India: Perspectives from Below. Jackie Assayag & Christopher John Fuller (eds). London: Anthem

Press. Pp. 186-209.

TARABOUT, Gilles

"Passions" in the Discourses on Witchcraft in Kerala. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 28 (5/6): 651-664.

VADAKKINIYIL, Dinesan

Images of Transgression: Teyyam in Malabar. Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice, 54 (2): 130-150.

ZARRILLI, Phillip B.

Kalarippayatt, Martial Art of Kerala. The Drama Review: TDR, 23 (2): 113-24.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12835/ve2019.1-0141

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


ISSN Print 2499-9288
ISSN Online 2281-1605
Publisher Edizioni Museo Pasqualino
Patronage University of Basilicata, Italy
Web Salvo Leo



Periodico registrato presso il Tribunale di Palermo con numero di registrazione 1/2023