God’s own dance and feast make for a vibrant celebration of culture and spirit worship in Kerala. The ritual theatre of Theyyam (morphed from the word “deivam” or god) and Sadhya, during the festival of Onam, illustrate how ancient rituals and culinary traditions unite to honour the divine and the community in the state.
Kerala’s two emblematic traditions-Theyyam, the ritual folk dance, and Sadhya, the grand Onam festival feast-are living embodiments of this cultural continuity. Two recent works, Theyyam: Indian Folk Ritual Theatre-An Insider’s Vision by K.K. Gopalakrishnan (Niyogi Books) and Feast on a Leaf: The Onam Sadhya Cookbook by Chef Arun Kumar TR (Bloomsbury), explore the personal and cultural significance of these traditions.
Spirit of Theyyam
Theyyam, an ancient ritualistic performance art, is unique to north Kerala. A dramatic and intense visual spectacle, it fuses dance, theatre, and worship into a mesmerising display. Blazing colours of reds, oranges and black fuse on the elaborately drawn mask of the Theyyam performer, whom the faithful pay obeisance to as a manifestation of ancestral force that is infused with spirit and power. K.K Gopalakrishnan, art historian and photographer, has captured the essence of Theyyam in this lavishly produced, gorgeous book. As he says, “Both ritual and entertainment are equally crucial in Theyyam, a folk-ritual theatre. An element of strong belief and parapsychology, along with shamanism, works out.” The book details the various kinds of Theyyam concepts like Spirit worship (aatmavu aradhana) or mythological worship (ithihasa kadhapathra aradhana) and introduces us to some of the prominent performers like Murali Pannikar, and Kunharan Peruvannan, the latter left with a knee amputated due to an accident while performing.
Gopalakrishnan describes how Theyyam allows performers from lower castes to embody deities. He traces the origins of Pottan Theyyam, a deity who challenges caste-based discrimination, to his own family estate. He points out the irony that, “It was in the strongholds of Theyyam that the communist movement flourished.”
The author belongs to the Kamballoore Kottayil family, a matrilineal tharavadu (ancestral household) that has patronised Theyyam for over 300 years. Despite rooted in Hindu animist and ritual beliefs, the version of Mapilla Theyyam by the Muslim community in Kerala spotlights its syncretic nature of the tradition ready to adapt and coexist.
Sadhya’s culinary legacy
While Theyyam speaks to Kerala’s ritualistic and performative traditions, the Sadhya reflects the region’s culinary and communal heritage. Chef Arun Kumar
TR’s Feast on a Leaf offers readers an evocative journey through the history and evolution of the Sadhya. Like Gopalakrishnan, Kumar is deeply connected to his family’s traditions. He describes how the feasts were “meticulously planned” in the matrilineal tharavadus, with the matriarchs overseeing every detail, from the preparation of the ingredients to the placement of dishes on the banana leaf. Kumar’s book provides detailed descriptions of these dishes and recipes to try out in the modern kitchen. He is from a Nair tharavadu, where the matriarchs once presided over elaborate Onam feasts, serving as custodians of recipes passed down through generations.
Sadhya, which means a banquet in Malayalam, is not just a meal but a ritualistic celebration of Kerala’s agrarian roots. Kumar’s book offers an engaging narrative of how Onam, originally a harvest festival, evolved into a Hindu folklore, centred on the myth of King Mahabali, a benevolent demon king defeated by Vishnu and is welcomed back to his kingdom during Onam with a feast fit for a king. This symbolic return reflects the spirit of generosity and gratitude that is marked by a lavish spread.
Although the grand feasts of the past have given way to more commercialised celebrations in modern times, Kumar’s book emphasises how the essence of the Sadhya remains intact. He acknowledges that while many families now opt to have their Sadhya catered or enjoy it in restaurants, the memories of family gatherings, the smells of home-cooked food, and the sight of steaming rice on banana leaves keeps the spirit of the feast alive. According to Kumar, “You don’t have to wait for Onam. Any celebration is cause enough to serve a Sadhya.”