Presenter
Balan Binesh - Faculty of Religion, Culture, and Society, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsPanel
109 – Literary islands of Far South : pāṭṭu and other quixotic archipelagos of songsAbstract
The concept of tōṟṟam traverses multiple Indigenous communities in South India’s former Malabar and South Canara regions, where it manifests distinctly in possession ritual traditions like tiṟa, teyyāṭṭam, teyyam, and bhūta kōla. Known variously as pāṭṭu, tōṟṟam pāṭṭu, and vaḷḷāṭṭu in Malayalam, paṭhaṇa in Tulu, and tōṟṟam in Mavilavu dialect, these ritual songs serve as vehicles for knowledge transmission across communities. While scholarship has focused primarily on Malayalam-speaking groups like Malayan and Vaṇṇān, less attention has been paid to how neighboring communities such as Poleya, Mavilan, Koppalan, and Tulu Velan adapt and transform these ritual traditions. Through ethnographic fieldwork, this paper specifically examines how the Mavilan community interprets and transmits ritual knowledge through tōṟṟam songs. By analyzing Mavilan interpretations and adaptations of tōṟṟam within their linguistic and ritual context, this study illuminates the dynamic nature of knowledge transmission among the teyyam performing communities in Southern India.
