It is talking, On Wednesday about the finer aspects of the sacred ritual, A person who spent times studying the yams It's named ‘ The gods who come down from heaven — The theyyams of Malabar ’. Presented by author- photographer Pepita Seth, the 90 nanosecond session will claw into the spiritual ritual. Pepita penned down decades of her exploration on theyyam in her lately published book, ‘ In God’s Mirror Theyyams of Malabar ’. She'll talk about what got her interested in the ritual, and give a detailed explanation about its colorful aspects at the event.
It was the discovery of her great-forefather’s journal in the garret of her UK home that pushed her to explore India. She recalls, that "I wanted to retrace the route My first trip was in 1970, ” A dogface, he'd proved about his troop’s 1857 march from Calcutta to Lucknow in the journal.
It was on this route that she came across an giant. She was “ obsessed with mammoths as a child ”, and after several exchanges with people, learned about the traditions of Kerala, where mammoths are a part of religious rituals and other conditioning. “ This led to my trip there in 1972, ” she adds. It was during another trip to Kerala that she read about theyyam, for the first time, in a magazine. “ I was thwarted by how it looked and wanted to learn more. I witnessed the ritual for the first time in 1984, ” recalls the Padma Shri winner, She met several theyyam interpreters soon after. Some of them invited her to stay with them, to understand the nuances of the spiritual practice, which she did between 2006 and 2020.
They suggested she write a book on the ritual to inform the world about how it “ is not a cotillion or a performance but a sacred ritual ”. "Lakshmanan(one of the interpreters) explained to me how the costumes were made by the players themselves, and how they worked on the makeup, ”.
In the book, she discloses how theyyam interpreters “ must be suitable to sing and perform, among other effects ”. “ They bless people and indeed conduct exorcisms. They've to be masters of an extraordinary quantum of esoteric stuff, ” said by Pepita.