Rare Ritual Performances of Keralam

Worship here begins with rice, flowers, water, and coconut. Balan Nambiar returns to BIC with a new illustrated lecture on the rare ritual performances of northern Keralam and Tulunadu. Beyond Theyyam and Bhutas, more than a hundred such performances are still practised, largely unknown outside their regions. Art, martial practice, and shared worship have long held communities together, and this talk presents a visual record of the fast-disappearing practices that shape Keralam’s cultural identity. He will present photographs of living rituals practised by communities along the western coast, traditions that grew alongside, and often apart from, Sanskritic Hinduism. He will look at Ati, a ritual of bare-handed combat at Mavilayi shaped by Kalaripayattu, and at shrines where Muslim families hold specific rights and roles. He will consider offerings of toddy, fish, and meat as expressions of local belief. He will also introduce rarer forms such as Uccerikuttu, Malayankettu, and Kalampattu, now seldom seen, and make the case that preserving them is essential to safeguarding the region’s cultural heritage. This talk is part of a series marking twenty years of BIC, in which speakers and artists from the institution’s early years return to revisit the topics they first addressed. Each session traces what has changed, what has endured, and what to make of the same topics two decades on.