Lesser gods: Theyyam performers among ST communities face discrimination

The ritual dance form is performed in northern Kerala and parts of southern Karnataka.

Pethan Theyyam’s mukhathezhuthu. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

The transformation of a mortal human into a theyyam deity—pantheistic deities typically presiding over a sacred grove (kaavu), a village, or a people—is slow and conspicuous, involving the intricate use of face paint, crimson garments, bell-metal anklets, headgear, and sword. The Mavilan tribe is believed to be one of the first to have performed theyyam in the early days of the ritualistic trance dance native to north Kerala.

During a Mavilan Theyyam, a person belonging to same community acts as a parikarmi (priest). | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Molanthamma Theyyam at a sacred grove in Kasaragod. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Theyyam deities lend a compassionate ear to people’s woes and, in response, hold them close, console them in their own language, and propose solutions besides offering them, and everyone else, a yellow tilak. All those who seek their advice are “children” to the theyyam regardless of their caste or religion.

Kalichan Theyyam at a sacred grove in northern Kerala. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

A Nalkathaya Theyyam procession in Poyinachi near Kasaragod. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

While theyyam has been subversively empowering for backward communities, for the Mavilans and the Nalkathayas, another community that performs theyyam, the discrimination has only got worse. The theyyams they embody face the same barriers of caste that the shaman performers face in real life. If there is a god for ‘untouchability’, it is theirs.

Kundora Chamundy Theyyam’s thottam ritual. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Kadayankathi Theyyam at a sacred in Kasaragod. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Tribal heritage

Both communities speak Tulu, are classified as Scheduled Tribes, and have for generations donned the mantle of their theyyam deities in south Karnataka and in Kerala’s Kasaragod district. Their theyyam deities reside within stones and trees and draw raw energy from their tribal heritage and Dravidian essence. They have successfully fought off Hinduisation and continue to be known by their native names such as Pethalan, Kadayankathi, and Kattumodantha.

Pethalan Theyyam’s ritual dance. The theyyam deities of tribal communites reside within stones and trees and draw raw energy from their tribal heritage and Dravidian essence. They have successfully fought off Hinduisation and continue to be known by their native names such as Pethalan, Kadayankathi, and Kattumodantha. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

There is a ritual connected to the Kaliyattam (a major theyyam performance) at Kakkat Mahavishnu Temple in Kasaragod’s Madikai panchayat: the Kadayankathi theyyams walk from a nearby grove to the temple. But the temple is out of bounds for the theyyam, who stops at a spot outside the temple premises. The Kundora Chamundy theyyam of the Nalkathaya community, who sets out from a nearby sacred grove to the Alampadi Illam (a Brahmin tharavadu), also stops short of the illam.

Vishnumoorthy Theyyam of the Malayan community greets Kundora Chamundy of the Nalkathaya community outside the boundary wall at Alampadi Illam in Kasaragod. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Mavilan community members perform a ritual before the start of Kankalan Theyyam. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Among the theyyams performed by children who make household visits in Karkidakam, the last month of the Malayalam calendar, which falls at the very end of the first monsoon rain, the Vedan theyyam of the Scheduled Caste Malayar community and the Adi theyyam of the Vannan community are allowed to enter the Madiyan Kulom temple in Kanhangad, while a child performing the Galinchan theyyam must steer clear of the temple.

Kanakalan Theyyam at a sacred grove. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

A man belonging to the Mavilan community waits outside the Kakkat Mahavishnu Temple for the vilaku to start his Theyyam. | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Theyyams themselves have resisted such discrimination but with varying degrees of success. On the question of caste bias, there has been no support forthcoming from either the outside community or from fellow theyyam performers. In an intrinsically caste-ridden society, arguments to uphold such “age-old practices” continue to hold sway.

The Crux

• The transformation of a mortal human into a theyyam deity—pantheistic deities typically presiding over a sacred grove (kaavu), a village, or a people—is slow and conspicuous.
• The Mavilan tribe is believed to be one of the first to have performed theyyam in the early days of the ritualistic trance dance of northern Kerala.
• While theyyam has been subversively empowering for backward communities, for the Mavilans and the Nalkathayas, another community that performs theyyam, the discrimination has only got worse.