Outside The Fold Conversion Modernity And Belief. Outside The Fold Conversion Modern: Fill & Download for Free

Explores the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe.In Aryans, Brahmins, Jews, Dorothy M. Figueira provides a fascinating account of the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe from the Enlightenment to the twentieth century. The myth concerns a race that inhabits a utopian past and gives rise first to Brahmin Indian culture and then to European culture. In India, notions of the Aryan were used to develop a national identity under colonialism, one that allowed Indian elites to identify with their British rulers. It also allowed non-elites to set up a counter identity critical of their position in the caste system. In Europe, the Aryan myth provided certain thinkers with an origin story that could compete with the Biblical one and could be used to diminish the importance of the West’s Jewish heritage. European racial hygienists made much of the myth of a pure Aryan race, and the Nazis later looked at India as a cautionary tale of what could happen if a nation did not remain “pure.”As Figueira demonstrates, the history of the Aryan myth is also a history of reading, interpretation, and imaginative construction. Initially, the ideology of the Aryan was imposed upon absent or false texts. Over time, it involved strategies of constructing, evoking, or distorting the canon. Each construction of racial identity was concerned with key issues of reading: canonicity, textual accessibility, interpretive strategies of reading, and ideal readers. The book’s cross-cultural investigation demonstrates how identities can be and are created from texts and illuminates an engrossing, often disturbing history that arose from these creations.“This is a marvelously learned and engaging book. It asks serious questions about the relations between language and race, and locates compelling answers in the texts that Indians and Europeans were reading simultaneously, often reinventing them for their respective purposes. The quality of the research and the vigor of the interpretations make this a valuable resource for cultural and intellectual historians, as well as for literary critics interested in emerging ideologies of ‘right reading.’” — Gauri Viswanathan, author of Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and BeliefDorothy M. Figueira is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. She is the author of The Exotic: A Decadent Quest and Translating the Orient: The Reception of Sakuntala in Nineteenth-Century Europe, both published by SUNY Press.

The traditional beliefs of the cattle-herding Maasai people, living in Kenya and Tanzania, are unusual in having no belief in an afterlife or ancestor worship as is common among most in the region. They are monotheistic, but the gender neutral God (Ngai) is solely associated with blessings in this world, not the next. The highest continuity a Maa man may aspire to is to pass his cattle on to his agnates (sons), a custom guaranteed by the provision of a larger share of cattle to the firstborn (the ‘Father’s Chest’). The worst fate after death for a Maasai patriarch is a break in this continuity of cattle.I think this is well illustrated in a comparison of myths with a closely related people, also cattle-raising, who live farther down the Nile (and shared by others in versions): that in the original paradaisal state of the world, men were immortal and the earth tied to heaven by a rope of tree-bark. The ‘Fall’ happened when a jealous enemy cut this rope, giving death power over men. The Maasai version of this myth speaks of the time when Ngai lived on the earth, owning all cattle, until he decided to take his home and herds up to heaven. But seeing that heaven had no grass, he sent the animals back through a rope of tree-bark, and so the Maasai would now graze his herds: the cutting of the rope signified the end of the continuous descent of life-giving cattle. Other forms of the myth have the cattle slid down the branches of a certain kind of tree, or channeled down the roots of a wild fig tree, making both sacred. Though Maasai also have more conventional forms of this myth, positing an initial immortality which was lost - though in their case, without prospect of restoration.For the Maasai, their herds were quite literally their lives; immortality - in the primordial Eden or after death - was not a personal existence, but the continuance of the herd as greater than the person. While not universal, knowing the customs of pre-modern European nomadic cattle-herders, I think echoes of this are present in all pastoral peoples.Without an afterlife, there is no ancestor worship (or perhaps the reverse is a more accurate description), which in some African societies reaches extreme levels. The dead were traditionally exposed, that is, left for predators to pick clean outside the settlement: the retention of a corpse, even for a little while, was very bad luck. The sole exception to this otherwise universal custom were chieftains, who might on their request be given ceremonial burial - unique to their station - anointed with oil and “folded up” in a cairn. The cairns of some ancient chieftains form geographical reference points, and the integration of their names in reverential speech are the closest the Maasai have ever come to ancestor worship. Although today forms of very modest burial have become common due to Christian influence, this form of ‘elaborate’ internment - which still did not “break the earth”, a taboo in Maasai culture - is no longer practiced. There are many stone cairns in Maasailand, though only some of them seem to have been built as tombs.The Maasai have, since the late 20th century, been converting to Christianity in increasing numbers. Before that, they were like many East African peoples along the Swahili coast and Madagascar in occasional contact with the Perso-Arabic trading entrepots of the Indian Ocean. An interesting aspect of the coexisting of Islam with African paganism was the integration of the former into the social fabric of the latter. So pagan tribes and kingdoms would be serviced by Moorish and Swahili scholars, diviners and doctors, with no prospect of conversion - it was simply the ‘role’ the literate and more urban Moslems had accepted to play for their neighbours over the centuries (see What is the most interesting religion? - for Madagascar). So it is not altogether surprising that the records of the wide spread of bouts of what modern medicine calls sleep paralysis - more commonly called “hag riding” or vampiric attacks by traditional cultures - among Massai women in the modern period have them adopting the paradigm of victimization by evil spirits of the departed that was current in their neighbouring Moslem communities. Despite the Maasai having no belief in evil spirits, affected women accepted the Islamicate model and spiritualist cure, which swept into and out of their native culture, despite leaving no firm memory or belief after the abating of each mass crisis of attacks.In the 20th century and the period of conversion, it was again women who first and en masse turned to Christianity. While their husbands were away grazing the family’s herds, the women had time to go to church; their own bonds with the customary religion centered on the male occupation of herding was already incomparably thinner to that of men (a woman can’t pass herds to her agnates, hence has no share in the linkage-continuity of Maa life). In the larger social picture, conversion to Christianity gives women a moral authority in the home to contest their husband’s which the traditional way of life lacked (or at least the modern traditionalist lifestyle, which - after the introduction by the British of patriarchal assumptions and property rights in their interaction with the herd-masters - was typically exploited by Maasai men to reduce the rights of oversight their wives had even in pre-modern times). Looking at this together with the above mentioned night terrors - which naturally afflicted women the most - it seems obvious that the inroads of foreign religions, formally or informally, into the Maasai way of life always was tied to the comparative stratification of the old ways and their close bond with an agnatic society of cattle-herders, for whom living with and from their animals became the cycle of life itself, but also left women comparatively alienated from this close relationship.

Thanks Nagarajan Srinivas (நாகராஜன் ஸ்ரீனிவாஸ்) sir,I have already replied partially or given hints in two of my recent answers associated with this topic.Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Tamilians worship Narayan/Vishnu a lot in the name of Perumal, Venkateswara but hostile towards Lord Ram. Did Ram really invade South India in the name of Vishnu avatar?Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What is the difference between a Kavu and Ambalam in Kerala?I suggest reading the below two answers before to have better clarity on this oneWell, specific to Kerala, we don’t have extensive separation of Dravidian or Aryan deities. I explained that in both answers above.In TN, the Brahmin community was too endogamous. They never married anyone outside their community in general nor accepted much of other existing traditions into theirs. Due to their strong influence in the Chola Empire, they could successfully pushed Vedic concepts of deities as the mainstream deities, leaving other pre-Vedic era or Dravidian deities intact outside the regular temple worship system. Some degree of assimilation happened, but still, due to the strong hegemony of Tamil brahmins into the social system that they never felt any need to assimilate much.On the contrary, in Kerala, Nampoothiris never remained as an exclusive community. Right from the beginning, they were required to assimilate with the local culture, accept the concepts of existing society and adopt it. Due to many reasons, Nampoothiris never could remain endogamous in nature. They had to enter into relationships with every community (though later it was restricted to few communities which they deemed as upper caste). Due to this sort of inter-minglation with Dravidian societies from 5th century onwards, Kerala’s Brahminical culture has fully absorbed almost everything that existed in Dravidian culture and converted it or reinterpreted it as their own legends or myths or deities which means they get social acceptance of existing Dravidians as well as their own Aryan community.One best example is the myth of the formation of Kerala.Across India, the most celebrated myth is that Parasurama created Kerala by throwing Axe into the sea from Gokarna (which was the tip of the country) and the axe fell into the sea (where Kanyakumari stands today) and a new land arose from the water. This myth was propagated by Nampoothiris primarily to justify that the entire land belonged to them. The story says, Parasurama had to create this land to distribute to Brahmins to redeem from his sins he accrued due to killings of 21 Kshyatriya races. So according to Brahmins, the land belonged to Brahmins as it was given by Parasurama himself which reinforces their Supreme and absolute authority over the land.But if you look Dravidian myths, there was another myth similar to this.It says Seyyon, the son of Kottravai the supreme Mother Goddess had a fight with her over the space for him to rest. In his anger, he raised his Vel (Spear) and dug the sea to push a new land from waters, so as the land of his mother (Kumari Kandam) gots collapsed into the seas due to imbalance (as a way to punish his mother). In this process, Seyyon got his new nickname Vetrivelan (the victorious spearer) and he sat on the tallest peak on his new land (assumed to be today’s Palani) to have an aerial view at his new land. When Seyyon became Muruga/Subramaniyan/Karthikeyan, this legend of forming a new land using his spear got completely forgotten, but the name Vetrivelan remained (now as the great Deva-senapati, the commander of Gods' Army who used his spear to kill Tarakasura).This legend is clearly mentioned in form a mythological story in the ancient Tamil epic- Silappatikaram and as Silappatikaram was written by Chera Prince- Elagovan Adikkal in Kerala at his capital city of Murichipattanam (Muziris/Kodungallor as of today). According to Silapprathikkaram, a Pandyan King called Kadal Vadimpalampa Nindra Pandyan who got possed with Seyyon’s spirit threw a spear into the sea and created a new land and in that process lost much of his own land which led to submergence of Puhar and Kaveripattanam on the east coast.HINDUISM AND ANCIENT INDIARemember, many multiple interpretations of ancient myth do exist similarly. Silappatikaram is one such.That myth got appropriated into as Parasurama’s story later and today no one in Kerala and most parts of India knows this ancient Dravidian myth on the formation of Kerala coast. As long as the basic Dravidian story of the creation of new land still exists in a new form, it doesn’t offend anyone. So the Nampoothiris never invented a new story to justify their rights, rather twisted a popular myth in their favour, by just replacing the Seyyon or similar popular characters of old beliefs into as Parasurama.Essentially everything in modern Kerala’s Hindu belief systems has imprints of that Dravidian era as Nampoothiris or Brahmins never demolished any of existing beliefs completely, rather used it as a foundation for their growth.This inclusive model of growth of Brahminical Hinduism in Kerala means, hardly you find exclusive remanents of Dravidian deities or beliefs intact unlike in TN. In TN you can still see Dravidian deities worshiped outside Brahminical system as Village/folk deities as like belowThis kind of village deities or folk deities doesn’t exist much in Kerala as whatever does exist got converted into Mainstream Hindu deities.One best example conversion of a Dravidin deity into Aryan deity is that of CATTANI have mentioned in another post, how Cattan, the Dravidian deity got converted into modern-day Shasta/Dharmashastha or Ayyappa worship system.Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What is the difference between Swami Ayyappan of Sabarimala and Sree Dharma Sastha? If Dharma Sastha and Swami Ayyappan are not the same but different deities, why is the Sabarimala Swami Ayyappan Temple called as the Sastha Temple?But even after so, there were many who kept worshipping Cattan in its old form even after the rise of Brahminical power and its conversion into the mainstream deity. By this time this Dravidian deity started more known as CHATTAN (cha-than).Chattan was a village folklore deity in Kerala, who is more like a Genie kind of character. He has typical devilish looks but fulfils every wish for his master.A recovered 10th-century statue of what archaeologists believe as a Dravidian deity- Chattan on his ride- a BuffaloBut by 15th century and later, slowly even Chattan got absorbed into Brahminical Hinduism and officially renamed as VishnumayaIf we look, both Vishnumaya of today and Chattan as worshipped in 10th century AD were almost similar. Both sit on a buffalo and has an artificial alms-seeking hand etc. But the concept completely changed. Vishnumaya has a full-fledged Puranic story connecting to Vedic deities and its worship is done in typical Brahminical Tantric style.Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What is 'Chathan Seva' in Kerala?Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What is the Vishnumaya worship, primarily in Thrissur, Kerala, all about?As Vishnumaya was an absorbed local deity which has no equivalence among usual Hindu deities across India, the backstory specifically makes look like a local god. Secondly, he is worshipped as God of Occult and hence several black magic based rites are held on his behalf due to inability to absorb him usual Tantric order of worship.It would be interesting to note, all these erstwhile Dravidian styled worship methods of Chattan got absorbed into Brahminical style even at risk of contradictions.For example in Dravidian concept, Chattan was a forest monster who got tamed and became a saintly character. So his worship was done in natural settings like Kavus. Nampoothiris absorbed that myth just as so and kept all those settings intact, while converting that god into VishnumayaThe moolasthanam/origin point of Chattan worship in the Avanamkodu Kalari, one of the famous temple for Vishumaya. This natural Mandap was part of the Dravidian heritage, not much sync with Nampoothiri tradition, but they absorbed that while constructing normal temple next to it for their style of worship. And they would even do Tantric rites in front of such non-Aryan deities tooTantric way of worshipping Vishnumaya in Brahminical style.This is a classic example of Aryan-Dravidian synthesis that happened in Kerala, not much in TN.So essentially independent remanents of many Dravidian deities are too rare in Kerala. But Dravidian traditions could be clearly identified within Nampoothiri/Brahminical traditions.2. Ayyappan-AiyarWell, the tradition of Ayyappa worship is one of the best remnants of ancient Dravidian deities. As I mentioned, Ayyappa is nothing but the Brahminical Hindu version of Dravidian Cattan. It also inculcated lot of traits of Dravidian deities of Ayyinnar. This part I have explained very detailed in another post of mine.Appropriation of Ayyappa Cult: The History and Hinduisation of Sabarimala TempleArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What is the difference between Swami Ayyappan of Sabarimala and Sree Dharma Sastha? If Dharma Sastha and Swami Ayyappan are not the same but different deities, why is the Sabarimala Swami Ayyappan Temple called as the Sastha Temple?3. Kodungallor-Attukkal templesMajority of Devi temples in Kerala were originally temples for a Dravidian goddess- Kotravai which got metamorphosed into Kali/Bhagavati due to Brahminical influence.However, there is an interesting case of the two most celebrated temples in Kerala- The temple of Kodungalloor (near Kochi) and the temple of Attukkal (Trivandrum). These temples were too temples for Kotravai, but even after its Brahminical conversion, the Nampoothiris pushed the identity of these goddesses as Kannagi, the celebrated heroine of Tamil Epic- Sillapratikkaram.Kodungalloor Amma, often seen by Malayalees as divine form of Kannagi and heavily reveredAttukkal Devi, whose temple in Trivandrum is often called Sabarimala for Women.Kannagi in Tamil Nadu is more of a Dravidian Political symbolism, a symbol of its Nationalistic pride rather than a goddess concept (yeah many folk traditions and few Brahminical temples do worship, but more or less in newer divine identities of Mariamman or similar). Kannagi in TN is more found in public streets and in Dravidian parties' literary meets etc.TN politicians paying respects to Kannagi Statue at Marina Beach in ChennaiWhereas in Kerala, Kannagi character is more of a Goddess image. We adhere to Kannagi as Goddess and worship her. When Kotravai got converted into Kali, many natives initially couldn’t simply accept the new change, especially in major shrines like Kodungalloor or Attukkal. Why so? Kodungalloor was the capital of the Chera Kingdom and the Kotravai shrine was one of the biggest in the empire. It's so hard to see Kotravai as Kali overnight.Same way Attukkal temple had huge traditions associated with Kotravai. Much of the temple worshippers were common folk, not Brahmins or so-called Upper-class communities initially. So it was hard to make legends and myths associated with normal Hindu pantheon gods like Parvathy or Saraswati or Lakshmi etc. Instead, Nampoothiris adopted and pushed the myths of Kannagi in many of these shrines which got more acceptance among then-the folks. This is not just the case of these two shrines. So many ancient Goddess shrines across Kerala are associated with Kannagi as part of giving legitimacy to the Brahminical worship, despite of the fact, Kannagi was more of a Dravidian characterArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s the answer to Why is Silappatikaram more famous in Kerala than in Tamil Nadu?Another classical example for Aryan-Dravidian synthesis.4. MuthappanIn Northern Kerala, one of the most celebrated deities is Muthappan, particularly the Muttappan of Parassinikadavu temple in Kannur. Muthappan worship is one of the most prominent non-Sativc/Aryan forms of worship. Its indeed a rare cult as almost 90% of Kerala’s temple traditions are today fully in Nampoothiri style. So Muthappan essentially is one of the last remanents of the ancient Dravidian form of worship in non-Aryan worship system.The twin form of Mutappan as worshiped in Kerala which is represented by a ritualistic dance form, not as idolsMuthappan concept was traditionally associated with the Dravidian deity of Civa, which later absorbed into Hindu Pantheon as Shiva. In other parts of Kerala, the Dravidian form of worship was absorbed by Nampoothiris, but in Muthappan’s case, it was absorbed by the Thiyya community which remained outside the Brahminical order. So essentially they accept Muthappan as a concept of Shiva but don’t accept any form of Brahminical worship system.Dogs who are generally seen primitive in other temples, do have an extraordinary reverence in Muthappan temples and they freely enter and sit/pray before the deity along with their mastersSo as elements of ancient Dravidian concepts could be found here. In classical Dravidian order, Civa’s companion was a dog, which when absorbed into Aryan traditions became a Bull (Nandi) as dogs were seen as inferior animals by farming community like Aryans (Dravidians in these regions where more of forest associated community, so dogs were key animals).So due to this reason, Muthappan still has Dog as his vehicle and its the only temple in Kerala were Dogs are allowed inside and worshipped with huge reverence much like how Bulls are revered in Shiva temples.Being Non-Brahminical, the deity also retains its Non-brahminical traits by drinking toddy, eating fish and other meats etc. The main prasadam (offerings) is roasted fish and liquor water apart from usual prasadam like Kadala (chickpeas) etc.Lord Muthappan Loves Fish and Toddy!5. Oachira ParabrahmamThis small temple in Oachira town near Kayamkulam in Southern Kerala is very famous for its ancient form of worship. Essentially today its a semi-Brahminical temple, but the concept is very much Dravidian.There is no proper temple as such, rather the entire worship is done around a large banyan tree with no proper sanctum sanatorium (Sreekovil) or regular Tantric rites etcAbstract deities worshipped under Banyan trees defines the tradition hereThere were many idols around the tree, hardly distinguishable what kind of god/deity it was as its all abstract figures which most of the historians agree that they were ancient worship-stones erected to mark the divinity of protecting spirits under the Dravidian cultDue to this reason, when the temple was absorbed into Brahminical cult, they decided to just call it as Parabrahma temple, ie ULTIMATE BRAHMAM (the universal final consciousness), which many identify as Shiva in godly form. So due to this concept, there are no regular tantric rites as seen in other temples. Nampoothiris don’t do poojas as such in the temple, but many other castes do the poojas more or less in Nampoothiri fashion with abstract deity concepts.The key element here is the worship of trees and bulls (that represent the presence of Shiva). Further, its one of the few places, where beggers/destitute are regarded as the human representation of the lord, hence they are encouraged and allowed to reside inside the premisesHuge effigies of decorated bulls form the key celebrations in the temple festival here with no regular concept of festivals with elephants etc.6. Kaliyankattu NeeliNeeli is a traditional Dravidian Goddess as worshipped in Kerala. She is also known as Isakkiamman in TN, which is actually a Dravidian concept of Jain Goddess- Ambika. She is still worshiped in many parts of Tamil Nadu as a Folk deity.The same concept back in Kerala got converted into Brahminical character of Kaliyankattu Neeli, a fierce Ghost- Yakshi who got tamed by a Christian Priest- Kadamattathu Kathanar thro’ a tantric exorcism and consecrated as a Hindu Protecting GoddessKadamattathu Kathanar taming the Ghost and converted her into a GoddessThough Kaliyankattu Neeli is not worshipped as a Main goddess anywhere, still she is seen as a sub-deity and has smaller shrines in many temples across Central and South Kerala like the below;Remanents of Dravidian ritualistic traditions and customsNanthunni PattuThis is a typical Dravidian tradition to invoke the spirits of Kotravai- the Supreme Mother Goddess. Dravidian rites used to invoke the spirit of Goddess thro’ reciting hymns. For this, they used to have a unique musical instrument called Yazhu (Harp) which was used to create a unique music beats to praise Goddess Kotravai. Yazhu was once popularly used in Dravidian courts of Chera-Chola-Pandya-Pallavas etc, but completely got extinct in TN, but preserved in Kerala traditions in form of Nanthunni Pattu using the same instrument, but now praising Bhadrakali, as Kotravai got metamorphosed into Kali.That same music when sung without the instrument becomes Thottam Pattu, another ritualistic tradition to appease Goddess.Both are done within the temple by Non-Brahmins communities as part of praising Goddess in temples which is an example of infusion of Dravidian traditions into Aryan Nampoothiri settings.2. Kalamezhuthu PattuNanthunni traditions also include another tradition- Kalamezhuthu Pattu which is a synthesized traditions mixing of Aryan concepts (Indo-Bactrian tribes which include Nair ancestry) and local Dravidian traditions. The tradition is all about drawing large designs on the ground, mostly related to Goddess and young girls/oracles getting tranced slowly erases the paintings thro’ their hair or ritualistic steps.The best example of its Dravidian past is Vettaokku Oru Makkan Pattu which has the image of ancient Dravidian deity- Vettakaran (Hunter), which now effectively converted into Shiva as Hunter role (as in the Mahabharatha story when Arjuna gets Pashupatha Arrow). In the Dravidian era, this tradition was done to appease Vettakaran, who was the Supreme Hunter deity to protect hunting activities.3. OnavilluThis instrument was used to celebrate the greatness of Dravidian deity Mayyon. The belief was that Mayyon visits earth on specific days and he was welcomed using this instrument.When this belief got converted into the story of Mahabali’s return to Kerala as part of Onam celebrations, the instrument and its music traditions remained, where instead of welcoming Mayyon, it was used to welcome Mahabali. Onavillu was once indigenous to Kerala’s Onam celebrations and so popular across Kerala. Now its declined as people lost interest in the instrument, though it's still learnt by few as part of preserving the ancient traditionsBut as part of the conversion of this tradition into Aryan concept, it became a famous tradition to surrender Onavillu to Sree Padmanabha of Trivandrum on the Thiruonam Day. Even today, its one of the biggest ceremonies in Trivandrum, rigorously observed.https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/meet-kerala-family-has-been-creating-onavillu-onam-centuries-674124. VellichapaduVellichapadu/Kommarams or Oracles are very much indigenous to Dravidian traditions and rituals. As I explained in the below post, Dravidians used to believe in spirits and gods that speak to them directly. So these kinds of Oracles used to be the priests in their temples originally, who get tranced and speaks to the devotees as Gods/goddess.This is very much against the Brahminical traditions who don’t believe in such traditions. But as part of synthesis, even Nampoothiri temples, Vellichapadus/Kommarams continued to serve as Bhagavati/Devas personified. They get tranced and speak as Gods to the devotees even in Brahminical temples as it used to be Dravidian days. In many places of Kerala, Vellichapadu goes to houses as Goddess coming and people receive them in great honour and seek solutions for their problems.5. Kavu TheendalKavu Theendal is another Dravidian customs well preserved in many temples of today, mostly in Devi templesIn original custom, Kavu Theendal was the ceremony of human sacrifices in front of the Goddess and shedding of blood to quench the thirst of Goddess Kotravai. This custom of shedding the blood is against Tantric ethos and hence when temples came under Nampoothiri control, they stopped the custom of sacrifices inside the temple but limited to certain days which they call as THEENDAL (meaning touching/hitting etc) where they leave the space to erstwhile Dravidian customs.So on such days, the oracles/Kommarams would come in and hit their heads with their swords to shed their blood (reminiscent of ancient traditions) and symbolically believe the Goddess quench their thirst. The blood would be smashed on the temple ground, hence officially under Tantric law, it got polluted. So when the Nampoothiris take the space back, they do purification ceremonies and clean up the temple.However many temples slowly stopping this tradition of shedding blood in their shrines on Theendal days as many feel these traditions are uncivilized. So instead of blood, lime-turmeric liquid (Guruthi) is splashed on the ground as a ceremony and many temples converted theendal to Guruthi poojas. However, Kodungalloor temple is one of the major temples that still preserve the olden traditions as it used to be due to its unique history.In Dravidian traditions, the goddess needed to be sexually excited before turning ferocious to drink the blood of humans (this concept was adopted in certain black magic tantric rites, often called Surapanam). For making the goddess sexually active, Oracles often recite lewd songs to arouse the emotions of the goddess. This tradition is also well preserved in Kodungalloor and became famous as Kodungalloor Bharani Pattukkal which is too vulgar in modern concepts but still well accepted as a matter of rituals.DISCLAIMER: The language used in the above video is too vulgar for anyone who knows Malayalam/Tamil. But this is a ritual famous in Kodungalloor temple and well accepted by the public. DISCRETION ADVISED.6. TheyyamOne of the oldest remanents of Dravidian traditions, this ritualistic art-form essentially preserves many elements of pre-Aryan tradition.Theyyam is a basically a ritualistic dance performance where the dancer becomes the deity/god after getting tranced with divinity. The act of getting tranced with divinity and speaking to humans as god were essentially key ritualistic act in Dravidian traditions.Just like how many Dravidian traditions got absorbed into Brahminical tradition, Theeyam tradition actually got absorbed into Thiyya tradition, thus remained as a non-Brahmanic worship option in Malabar where Thiyyas were in majority.Over a period, many ancient deities of Theyyam effectively got replaced with mainstream Hindu deities due to the royal patronage that these art-forms received. So today, the majority of the deities in Theeyam are essentially in sync with regular deities like Vishnu, Shiva, Bhagavati etc. But there are so many deities like Padamadakki, Padikutti Amma, Muthala, Pulichon, Vannathan, Munnayareeshwaran, Manjalamma, Urpazhassi etc. These deities are essentially Dravidian deities, many in local names.Infact it's bit interesting, there are even Muslim deities in Theyyam like Ali Thevar, Pokkan (its a character in sync with Prophet Mohammed), Kallanda Mokri, Bappuran etc which are widely revered and worshipped (even though Muslims are monotheists) both by Hindus and Muslims.The inclusion of Muslim theyyams happened because this space wasn’t related to Brahminical worship, so it could include anyone living around society.Saying so, Theyyams aren’t fully indigenous to Dravidian traditions. Only the base concept is from Dravidian tradition, much of the Theyyam traditions came from Thiyyas who are believed to be immigrants from Northern Hindu-Kush regions and thus they carried a lot of Tibetian/Western Chinese/Central Asian concepts. These traditions when mixed with Dravidian traditions formed Theyyam concept as what we see today.If Theyyam is for North Kerala, its equivalent in South Kerala is Padayani. Padayani is essentially a pure Dravidian Ritualistic dance form fully absorbed into Brahminical realms by now and regularly performed in Brahminical templesVarious kinds of Padayani KolamsPadayani was primarily performed to celebrate the victory of Kottravai goddess, now converted into Kali’s victory over Daruka demon. But many traces of old Dravidian characters like Maruthan, Kalaan etc exists apart from Aryan deities like Ganapaty, Garudan, Bhairavan etc.Since originally it was performed by Dravidians before being absorbed into Brahminical fold, it do have human characters who became semi-divine due to their association with these gods. And this includes even Muslim, Jew and Christian characters too. One such human character is Paradesi Kolam (representing Jews) who became the friend of the Goddess and her constant companion. So as there is Thangal (Muslim) and Anothichan (Christian) as well as Kurathi (tribal woman)Had it been pure Brahminical art-form, such diverse characters won’t appear in the first place, much like other classical art-forms of Kerala.There are many like these to highlight.But the fact is that none of these remains exclusive remnants of the ancient system. Rather they effectively mixed with much of Kerala’s temple culture (the majority being Brahminical in nature) and so hard to distinguish out of it.The Dravidian synthesis with Aryan culture in Kerala is so remarkable, its too hard to distinguish the origins of various elements. It's much like how Sugar gets added to the Milk, which enhances the taste of the final product.These kinds of synthesis helped Kerala culture to transform and have an independent cultural identity outside the greater Tamil culture. And it's one key reason why Dravidian nationalism didn’t make any impact in Kerala, primarily because the people could never distinguish between Aryan-Dravidian cultural differences.Thanks.