Arousing nostalgia in the older generation, Utchal, a major festival among the Mulla Kuruma tribesmen in Wayanad district concluded on Thursday.
They celebrated the harvest festival in front of the Daivappura (a common place of worship), which was constructed by the district administration at an estimate of ₹5.5 lakh.
The Kuruma tribal community is spread over Sulthan Bathery and Kalpetta taluks in Wayanad district. The Utchal festival starts on the first day of the Malayalam month Kumbham.
Though the festival is celebrated by all members of different colonies under the jurisdiction of the ‘Kunnu Moopans’, chief of each region, it is celebrated royally at Thirumughom, a tribal settlement near Pulpally, where the ‘Porunna Mooppan’ or the king of the tribesmen resides.
“We believe that the status of the tribal king was given to us by Pazhassi Raja,” M.T. Karunakaran, former president of the Pulpally grama Panchayat and a member of the settlement said.
The festival rituals, lasting three days, start with an offering of ‘Kallupputtu’, an ethnic food item, to the ancestors after pujas to their deities.
The Kuruma tribe is considered upper caste among the tribespeople in Wayanad and untouchability once prevailed among them. But they celebrate the festival with the Paniya and Uralee tribesmen while performing ‘thappakkali’, a primitive dance form.
“We celebrate Utchal by performing tribal dance forms, including ‘kolkaly’, ‘thappakkaly’, and ‘vattakkaly’. According to our belief, dust on the Utchal ground of the settlement should not settle for three days and we should give equal importance to those who attend the festival at our palace,” T. Kenjan, chieftain of the settlement, said.
After the dance, the chieftain gave a sumptuous feat and “Vally” (a limited quantity of paddy) to the participants as usual.
Wayanad Collector S. Suhas, who initiated reconstruction of the Daivapura , was the chief guest of the programme.
Mr. Suhas told The Hindu after the visit that the simple folk had set a model in communal harmony. “Such rituals and festivals should be documented for the coming generations as such good models were vanishing from society,” he added.
