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Hour has come for the divine appointment. A group of cousins goes to the local temple to usher in the oracle. Not very sure of the way and way of rural life, they follow Thejus, who is to join 4th class after the summer vacation. The local boy leads the party, arrived for the occasion, through areca plantations in Bavuparamba on the banks of the Valapattanam River.

Men who would be gods

Don Sebastian
2007-03-08 19:29:16

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Hour has come for the divine appointment. A group of cousins goes to the local temple to usher in the oracle. Not very sure of the way and way of rural life, they follow Thejus, who is to join 4th class after the summer vacation. The local boy leads the party, arrived for the occasion, through areca plantations in Bavuparamba on the banks of the Valapattanam River.

At the red temple looked after by the family of the priest, a group of men starts the ritual as we arrive. Two boys buck up their chendas (drums). A man is suddenly transformed into an oracle while his aide gathers articles of worship in a basket. The priest's mother looks at the overcast sky and hopes it may not rain today. We follow the oracle back home.

Pattathil House is readying for the annual reunion. Padmanabha Venugopal catches up with his uncles and cousins. His mother Gouri is the youngest of the seven siblings. On our way from Kannur, she has been telling us about her land and its faith. For the extended family, connected by a lineage beyond memory, the annual Theyyam is a tryst with the family goddess as well as a get-together of the diaspora.

With the drum in earshot, neighbours rush to the house. Emerging from the shadows of areca trees, the oracle runs through the paddy field to the house. In olden days, when paddy was a profitable crop and the family held acres of land, the run started from the border of the field, which extended till the river, Venu's uncle Kunhikrishnan Nambiar tells us.

The 72-year-old retired lieutenant colonel also tells us that his ancestral house was thrice its present size when he was a boy. No one lives here now, but a lamp is lit every evening for the goddess who would incarnate tonight in the Theyyam. Respecting an age-old ritual, scattered descendents join their relatives living in the neighbourhood once a year.

The oracle bows before the lighted lamp and clanks his sabre and shield. He blesses the onlookers ...