Poothan Thira at the Velas
INTANGIBLE REPRESENTATIONS IN VALUVANAD
Folk groups whose survival is dependent on expressive traditions are sometimes forced to remain ‘traditional’ in order to safeguard their own identity. However, the very nature of folk art is variation and evolution and some communities have created new ways to find meaning, recognition and sanction for their rituals.
This project critically examines the Poothan Thira, one of the kshetra kalas, or temple arts, of the Valuvanad region in Kerala. Framing the ritual within the contact zone of the vela, or village festival, the research uses an autoethnographic, object-driven approach. Biographies of 10 objects and 10 people have been collated that link the material and intangible culture of the ritual form to its practice.
Poothan, is said to be the lieutenant of Shiva sent by him to assist Bhagwadi to fight Darika, and Thira, is the Goddess Kali (Bhagwadi) herself. They are said to cleanse the village of evil spirits during the festival season.
Poothan, is said to be the lieutenant of Shiva sent by him to assist Bhagwadi to fight Darika, and Thira, is the Goddess Kali (Bhagwadi) herself. They are said to cleanse the village of evil spirits during the festival season.
In its methodology and outcome this project, funded by India Foundation for the Arts, exists in the borderland of ‘research into the arts’ and an ‘arts based research’. The research hopes to initiate a dialogue to critically understand the nature of intangible heritage, specifically folk performance art in India, and looks at its ability to be resilient in a cultural landscape that favours the classical over the folk, the object-thing over the non-object, the traditional over the popular.
The research looks at the changing relationships of the community within these cultural landscapes, examining how these relationships have changed from ones of subordination to those of assertion; as anushtanam, or tradition, evolves into a kala, or art, the sustainability of the practice is ensured.
