Faith as Practice: Caste, Crisis and Continuity in the
Teyyam Field of BediraKottāram
Meena J Panikker and Sobin George
Abstract
Teyyam performers are often described as powerless after they come out of their vēṣa (performance attire) but not so is the case at BediraKottāram, a past kaḷari, located in the Kasaragod district of Kerala. Here, the liminality of the teyyam performer extends beyond the performance site to daily life thus destabilising marginality and catalysing social negotiation. Sketching from the in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with the stakeholders at BediraKottāram, and backed by the theoretical concepts of Turner’s Communitas, Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, and Tomkin’s Affect Theory apart from Performance Theorists such as Richard Schechener (Restoration of Behaviour)this paper examines how the different practices involved in a particular belief system is inter-linked with the lives of the people of an entire family and village, and offers subtle yet intricate complexities in the decision-making process related to the installation and consecration of a deity called Vēṭṭakorumakan at the contested BediraKottāram premises. This paper presents a unique case of teyyam where faith based on lores, and legends overhauls oppressive retaliation or caste dynamics at play and instead displays the anti- structural power of the teyyam performer even outside the scope of the liminal teyyam performance.