The Gods Who Come Down from Heaven, an illustrated lecture by award-winning photographer and writer, Pepita Seth, will be held at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) on Wednesday, April 17. At the talk, Seth, who has spent decades exploring and documenting the closed worlds of the Guruvayur Temple and the Theyyam rituals in Kerala, will talk about her latest book, In God’s Mirror: The Theyyams of Malabar.
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An Indian artist dressed as the Hindu deity Agni Kandakarnan performs during the traditional dance festival ‘Theyyam’ also known as ‘Kaliyattam’, at Muthappa Swami temple in Somwarpet. | Photo Credit: IDREES MOHAMMED
As the BIC website states, the word ‘Theyyam’ is a corruption of ‘the word daiva’, meaning, quite simply, God. “Theyyam is an act of worship that brings the deities down from heaven to be among their devotees.” According to the website, the practitioners of Theyyam perform specific rituals and dance to express their joy at seeing their devotees, while the last stages of their manifestation involve them in blessing, healing, exorcising, answering questions and maintaining the link between humanity and the divine. “While the process is an internal one that obliterates the practitioner’s human persona, on an external level his face is transformed by intricate make-up and his body fantastically costumed,” elaborates the website. “A Theyyakkaran must be able to sing, dance, play the chenda, bless, exorcise and be proficient in kalaripayattu, Kerala’s martial art form since it is used in the rituals of the warrior heroes. “
The book is the outcome of Seth’s long association with the Theyyakkarans, who suggested that she do a book about them. “This was to dispense with the outside world always referring to Theyyam as a dance or a performance when in fact it is a sacred ritual in which men belonging to certain families have the ‘right’ to ‘carry’ a deity,” writes the U.K.-born Seth, adding that she lived with these to practitioners to know and understand their lives, respect their multiple skills and realise what was important to them.
The Gods Who Come Down from Heaven will be held at the Bangalore International Centre on Wednesday, April 17 between 6.30 and 8 p.m. Entry is free. To register, log into https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.org/event/ the-gods-who-come-down-from-heaven/