If a survey is taken on the most popular deity in the Malabar region, Muthappan will be the clear winner. He is a folk god with designated abodes at Parassini and Kunnathur Padi, both in Kannur District, Kerala. Muthappan is considered part of the many manifestations of Siva and Vishnu. The temple dedicated to Muthappan, Madappura at Parassini, in an idyllic location on the Valapattanam river, is a temple dedicated to him that attracts millions. The worshipping system at Parassini is quite different from other Hindu shrines as there is no icon to be worshipped. An impersonation of a deity called Vellattam and the manifestation of the god Thiruvappan are the forms available for people to worship. The Vellattam is performed daily to address the devotees’ prayers. The Vellattam may give the name to a child, sometimes settle disputes between the families or even bless a pet animal. The performer who enacts the Vellattam becomes the medium between the deity and devotee.
Kunnathur Padi, in the hilly terrain of Kannur District, is considered a more sacred site of Muthappan worship and is also known as his original abode. Legend says that Muthappan wandered in the hilly region of Malabar and, mesmerised by the natural beauty of Kunnathur Padi, decided to stay there for some time. Kunnathur Padi was also where Muthappan found his first devotees, Chandan and his wife. After a while, Muthappan decided to return to civilisation. He shot an arrow which fell at Parassini, where the main Madappura of Muthappan is situated now. Besides Parassini and Kunnathur Padi, there must be more than a thousand small madappuras in the Malabar region. Regions neighbouring Kerala, like Dakshina Canara and Coorg in Karnataka, also have shrines dedicated to him. Though belonging to Hindus, Muthappan shrines have open access disregarding caste or religion.
Along with the theyyams performed at Madappuras, devotees also organise Muthappan Vellattam at their homes to appease the god on occasions such as housewarming, marriage or childbirth. The Vannan community of the area performs the Vellattam at the homes of the devotees. The host welcomes visitors to these performances with a feast per the tradition attached to Muthappan worship. Parassini and Kunnathur Padi devotees are welcomed with tea, boiled green grams and coconut, and free meals. The worshippers consume them as prasadam ---boiled green gram and roasted dry fish are the traditional offerings to the god. The offering of intoxicating coconut toddy points to the non-Brahmanic origin of the deity.
The myth about Muthappan describes Padikutty Amma, a Brahmin woman who prays to Siva for a child and finds the baby Muthappan floating in the river in a flower basket. Childless Padikutty Amma and her husband adopt the child and raise him as an able youth educated in various sastras and Vedas. In his adolescence, Muthappan started showing his divine powers. He also demonstrated his closeness to his lower-caste companions. He started defying the social structure of his adopted caste, hunting in the forest, and consuming meat. That made his parents banish him from their house. Before leaving, Muthappan revealed his divine nature to them and began his journey as a protector of the oppressed.
The website of the Parassini temple, [parassinimadappurasreemuthappan.com], reads thus, “Muthappan continued his triumphant journey organising the poor and downtrodden against the hegemony of the Brahmins. He pillaged several barn houses and distributed the grains to the poor. Revolting against untouchability and isolationism, he not only organised the Harijans, Vannans and Thiyyas but made them perform many ritualistic duties as well. He summoned the high caste Brahmins to witness the event and sought their blessings to sow the seeds of a spiritual revolution.”
The popularity of the Muthappan worship among the communities mentioned above definitely points to the historical process in the distant past. These kinds of social turbulences and challenges for altering social structures are often encapsulated as ballads. Protagonists of these ballads then get deified, and myths and rituals are woven around these characters. This process is visible in many of the Theyyam legends in north Kerala, like Karimkutti Chattan or Muchilott Bhagavati. One of the key factors in this subsuming process is that the protagonists of the ballads are usually appropriated by the system against which they have revolted. Affiliations like the Brahmin foster fathers and the Saivite undertones are part of this subsuming process. However, in many instances, the historical nucleus of the myth would remain perceivable even after these appropriations.
Muthappan’s chief abode at Kunnathur Padi has no permanent structures but merely a forest clearing that gets decked up for the annual festival in December. The abode hosts a forest god worshipped by the tribals and merchants as their protector. Kunnathur Padi, near the source of the Valapattanam river and Parassini, is close to Valapattanam city, a major port on the western sea in ancient times. Thus, the Valapattanam river acted as a link between the hill country and the sea. It is natural to have a great hunter god accompanied by his hunting dogs becoming the protector of the devotees, in fact whoever travels on the narrow lanes of trade links between the hill country and the sea.
The prodigal son of Padikutty Amma gets deified thus.
DR JAYARAM PODUVAL
Department of Art History & Aesthetics
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
(jpoduval@gmail.com)