CHENNAI: Dr Kala Shreen released her book and documentary film titled ‘Return of the Rituals: Rites of Passage of Nagarathar Children’ at MOP Vaishnav College for Women on Saturday.
The book was published by The Chettinad House and was released byGeetha MAMR Muthiah and Richard Alford, Secretary, Charles Wallace India Trust, Uk received the first copy of the book.
The film (30 mins) was released by Dr K Nirmala Prasad, Principal, MOP Vaishnav College for Women. S Nagaraj, former Executive Director, Ashok Leyland and Chris Gibson, Director, British Council, were lso present.
During the launch, Nirmala Prasad spoke about the correlation of ritual practices and science. She requested other senior faculties to draw inspiration from Kala’s works and produce more of such research.
Releasing the book, Geetha Muthiah said that these rites of passage are a celebration of children and relationships among family members.
She said that when she wanted to celebrate pudumai for her children, she was not sure about the format of performance. So, Kala was approached given her commendable research background, to undertake research on the obsolete rituals.
Geetha decided sponsor the research and publish the book in order to preserve it for posterity.
About the film
The film has captured the ceremonies, which had become obsolete over the last century. Kala spent three days for shooting, when the ceremonies were enacted as one could not capture live performances of these obsolete rituals. People who were over 80 years of age were interviewed for the documentary. They shared their experiences of the past. Indigenous songs of the community were documented and tunes composed for them.
About the book
The book has two sections. The first section is a description of three life cycle ceremonies of Nagarathar children namely pudumai, supadi and thiruvadirai. These ceremonies have not been in practice since the early 20th century and are seeing a revival among some contemporary families in the community; hence the title, ‘Return of the Rituals’. The second section comprises of a synthesis of relevant theoretical arguments and conceptual frameworks presented by social anthropologists and sociologists, based on their studies of cultures around the world, coupled with Kala’s findings and arguments. In this part of the book, Kala has attempted to cover some of the emerging areas of research in this field, including varied aspects of material religion and associated emotions and feelings. Similar rituals and ritual elements in other countries such as Africa, China and Philippines have also been briefly identified.
Kala’s previous film
Author Kala had already developed and produced a documentary film titled ‘Little Traditions of Tamilnadu’ that was screened at Rice University and University of Houston, USA in 2005 and in Queen’s University Belfast, UK in 2006. She also curated a photo exhibition ‘Viewing Hinduism’ at Queen’s Film Theatre, UK in 2007.
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