Theyyam- A ritual artform in Kerala

Theyyam is a popular ritual art of Northern Kerala usually performed in temples as a part of daily rituals and festivals. The word ‘Theyyam’ is merely a corruption of Daivam. It is carried out in the districts of Kannur and Kasargod mainly during the festival season i.e. November to May.  It is one of the oldest and famous religious dance forms glorifying the God. It embraces almost all classed and castes of the Hindu religion. The performers of Theyyam are usually from low class of Hindu Community. This ritualistic art form is unique because of its participation from upper class Brahmins and lower class tribals. 

According to epics the land of Kerala was made by Lord Parasurama and he sanctioned festivals like Kaliyattom, Puravela and Theyyattom to the people of North India. He also assigned the responsibility of performing Theyyam dance to indigenous tribal communities like Malayar, Panan, Vanan and Velan. Bhagavathi, the mother Goddess and the united form of three principle forms, Brahmani (Saraswathi), Vaishnavi (Lakshmi) and Shivani (Durga), has an important place in Theyyam. The practices like spirit worship, ancestor worship, hero worship, masathi worship, serpent worship, animal worship, tree worship, worship of Goddess of disease and worship of Gramadevatha are included in the main stream of Theyyam.

The Theyyam is performed in open theatre along with drummers reciting a particular ritual song. The first part of performance is known as Vellattam or Thottam. The ritual song describes the legends and myths of the divine shrine or deity. In the second part the performer comes with proper make up and costumes. Folk music instruments such as chenda, tuti, kuzhal and veekni are used. The theyyam dance has different steps called Kalaasams. Each Kalaasam is repeated from first to eighth step of footwork.

The festival of Theyyam extends from 3-11 days during the month of November to February. Perumthita Tharavad is such a festival celebrated at Kottamkuzhy of Kasargod district. Large number of tourists and devotees gather there at this time. Grand performances of different variety of Theyyam like Chamundi theyyam, panchoorla theyyam, elayoor theyyam, Muthoor theyyam etc are performed here. Kanathoor nalvar bhoothasthanam is another extremely popular Theyyam festival in Kerala. Theyyam is performed on all days at Parassinikadavu Sree Muthapan temple, Kannur.