Kalakat Illam - The Practice of Theyyam at Kalakat Illam

The Practice of Theyyam At Kalakat Illam

Kaliyattam is a three day long festival, where each day different theyyams perform a rare combination of dance and music. The start of any particular Theyyam is known as its "Purapaadu"(English-to start). Before the purapaadu of the theyyam, there will be "Thottam" and "Vellattam". The Thottam is a song which is sung accompanied by a "Chenda" and an "Elathaalam" (both are percussion instruments) by any of the members who takes the role of a Theyyam. The language is not purely Malayalam, Tamil is also mixed up here and there. A Thottam will have the evolution story of the particular deity or a hero as mentioned earlier as, which "Daivika Amsham" it is from, its birth, its legends and fame. The song will have verses boasting a supreme hero, who showed supernatural deeds and was a kind of god to the people. If we carefully study the lines of the 'thottam paattu (Paattu-Malayalam word for song)', we can know from which "Devatha roopam" it is. There had been detailed research that had been done on this, but the details are not very easily accessible. Also, it is important that the members of the family are supposed to understand and know the details of the theyyam. The major theyyams in Kalakat Illam are Ucha-kutti shaasthan (1st day daytime), bhairavan, karivaal, kakra-bhagavathy, raktha chaamundi (throughout 1st day night), uchitta (manthra moorthi), karin-kuttishaasthan, bhootham, (2nd day), pottan, gulikan, oorpazhasshi, vettakorumakan (also known as vettekkaran in some parts of kerala), prardhna kuttishaasthan, kurathi, vishnu moorthi, valiya mudi (bhagavathi incarnation - The most important theyyam in the neighbouring villages except in Kalakat Illam, where kuttishaasthan is the most important and sacred). There are certain weapons seen at the sanctum sanctorum of the Illam, which are used by the theyyam during their part of kaliyattam. Rest of the time it is kept along with the main deity, bhagavathy in the sanctum sanctorum and its powers are increased.

The Kodava or Kudakar (people from the "Coorg" (Kodagu) dist of Karnataka) play an important role during the Kaliyattam at Kalakat Illam. They have a practice of worshiping the Manthramoorthi of Illam for numerous years, as old as the illam. They worship weapons like swords, dagger at their temples which are believed to be the weapons used by the goddess Bhadra-kaali. If they have a temple at their place and the root of that temple is in this Illam, they come here during kaliyattam every year and do komara darshanam of the manthramoorthi, perform pooja, increase the power of their weapons that they bring along, seek blessings from the thanthris at Kalakat Illam, and go back satisfied at the last day of the kaliyattam. The komara darshanam of the kodakar is done during the purapaadu of kuttishaasthan, and other powerful manthramoorthi theyyams.