Caste, performance and subversive women: What makes Kali iconography distinctive in South India

Kali’s primary character is that she is ungovernable and exists outside accepted modes of behaviour. This lends her an extreme nature but also a certain malleability in contemporary times for manifold appropriations by fringe groups that challenge the dominant order. It also allows for the accommodation of her extreme nature, between the bloodthirsty and the violent, and the protective and the maternal. It has been argued that goddesses appear auspicious, gentle and welcoming when they submit to the will of their husbands, within the bounds of accepted tradition and order, but fierce and dangerous when they do not. Kali ‘is at home outside the moral order and thus seems unbound by that order.’

The interchangeability of the devi’s names and, occasionally, attributes is seen in different parts of the country. Making the distinction between Bhagavati and Bhadrakali, both as forms of Kali, Sarah Caldwell writes: ‘Bhagavati, the predominant deity of Kerala, is a form of the pan-Indian goddess Kali. As Bhagavati, she is a benevolent protectress, but in her more common angry and violent form, she is referred to as Bhadrakali.’ According to Devdutt Pattanaik, a Kali without the outstretched tongue is Chandi, Chamunda, Bhairavi or Bhadrakali (literally, the auspicious Kali).

Kali iconography across geographies in the subcontinent is variable. From the maternal and fiery Kali of Bengal to the auspicious Bhadrakali of Kerala or the awe-inspiring Chamunda instated in temples across North India, Kali has extraordinary command over the devotional imagination of her followers. ‘Rites according to the Atharva Veda, cannot be performed without Kali or Tara. She is called Kalika in Kerala (Malabar), Tripura in Kashmir, and Tara in Gauda (Bengal).’

If the image of Kali in hill paintings can be traced to the description in the Devi Mahatmyam, and Kali in Bengal to the emotionally charged poetry of Ramprasad and Ramakrishna, where do we find the source for the imagery of Bhadrakali popular in Kerala, parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka?

It is a sign of Kali’s immanence that her iconography changes with her geographic representation. While the principal seats of the goddess are in Purnagiri, Uddiyan, Jalandhar and Kamrup, Kali also has a powerful political instrumentality. In South India, where she is represented predominantly in performance rather than in popular art or classical painting, Kali has a distinct caste bias and belongs to the world of the disadvantaged classes. This is abundantly witnessed in performative forms such as Mudiyettu, Theyyam, Padayani, Kathakali, etc.

Worship of the goddess in Kerala is oriented towards her protection of women (irrespective of their caste) and the restoration of justice. ‘Every Malayali knows that when the goddess Bhadrakali, commonly known as Bhagavati, had killed the demon Darikan, Shiva requested that she go down to earth to protect her devotees. She chose Kerala as her domain.’ This legend of the slaying of Daruka is narrated in the Markandeya Purana and is believed to have taken place at Madayi near Kannur. The Attukal Temple in Thiruvanathapuram is another important site of Devi worship. Each year, during the months of February and March, it attracts thousands of female devotees, who throng the streets around the temple to cook Pongal. This is the biggest human congregation of women in devotion in the world.

One may argue that as the cult of Bhakti grew across Central and North India, and Vedic and Tantric practices became more identifiable, the worship of Kali was pushed to the geographic margins. The oldest Bhagavati temple in Kerala is believed to be in Thrissur, built during the Sangam era, when Kodungallur or Mahodayapuram was the capital of the ruling Chera dynasty. At Kodungallur, the goddess is worshipped alongside Mahadev (Shiva) and the Saptamatrikas. Caldwell highlights that Kali embodies the story of appropriation of indigenous divinities (related to fierce goddesses, serpent deities, blood sacrifices and spirit possessions) within the Brahmanical religion with the eventual coming of Brahmin settlers to this region. Brahmanical religion in the region was, thus, heavily influenced by indigenous cults. According to legend and popular belief in Kerala, the killing of Darika asura as described in the Markandeya Purana took place in Madayi near Kannur. Bhadrakali’s distinctive feature is that she protects women, and those in need, irrespective of caste. In many parts of the South, Kali is also worshipped as Ujjaini Mahakali, after Vikramaditya – a legendary king of Ujjain who features in the Vetala Panchavimshati fables – is believed to have introduced this narrative to the South.

Kali also affords a release of emotions that is normally not accepted or considered appropriate in everyday life, as evidenced in the performances of Mudiyettu and its related art forms. Enacted only by men who recreate the violent encounter between Kali and Daruka, the performances allow for a destabilisation of the status quo. In Theyyam, low-caste performers, who often hail from communities once considered untouchable, perform in the homes or temples of the high-caste Namboodiris and Nairs. For the course of the performance, they are believed to be divine and exalted beings, with oracular powers, from whom the devotee may seek blessings. Several of the Theyyams concern women’s rights and speak of feudal oppression. For instance, the Thottinkara Bhagavati Theyyam of Kannur is about a low-caste woman’s aspiration to read the Ramayana, and the fact that she was punished for it by Chirakkal Thamburan, the ruler of the state. The feudal king tried to take advantage of her, and in her resistance, she was punished with burning coal on her head. Due to the disrespect he meted out to her, the ruler was suddenly subject to several afflictions, while beneficence was offered to those who had rescued and protected the woman. The narrative eventually marks the woman’s transformation into a divine being who can execute revenge as well as grant boons and munificence.

Caldwell mentions that within traditional worship in Kerala, the goddess represents political, economic and spiritual power; whoever controls her controls important resources and prestige. The Theyyam artists of northern Kerala, who largely come from the lowest strata of society, have strong relations with the Communist Party of India (CPI), which has championed their causes and elevated the status of ‘untouchable’ art forms by including them in state parades and other important functions.

In Kerala temple myths, caste association and narratives are also at the heart of modes of worship. Competing caste and familial association of authorities and ancient disputes over the occupation and use of land are associated with the sites under Devi worship. Unlike Shiva temples, frequently believed to be swayambhu (self-manifested), Devi may ‘appear’ in deceptive forms, and in an unfolding narrative with her devotees, come to be worshipped at a chosen spot. In the myth surrounding the ninth-century Chettikulangara Temple, Devi appears in the form of an old woman, who partakes of a meal and then overnight disappears in a blaze of light. As the story suggests, the community are convinced that the goddess has ‘arrived’ and starts to build the temple. The Devi at Chettikulangara is believed to be the daughter of the goddess at the Kodungallur temple.

In the Puthiya Bhagavati Theyyam at the Sree Kuttiyattu Puliyoor Kali Temple, flames emanate from the costumes and elaborate headgear of the artists. These are visible attempts to invest the image with spectacle; even the making up of the goddess is done in full view of the public. The male actor playing the goddess may arrive with headgear and make-up, then be dressed further. He is rendered a ritual object, who, as he dances, can bless and sanctify, even as the performance becomes more and more frenzied. Bhadrakali’s visage is fearsome, as testified to by the spectacular mask-like make-up, elaborate headdress, wild hair and long nails, all used to dramatic effect in performance.

Communities in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and southern Karnataka, such as Nadars, Ezhavas, Nairs and Namboodiris worship Bhadrakali as paradevata (family deity). She is also the patron goddess of martial arts like Kalaripayattu, and of other ritual performances organised in kavus (sacred groves), small temples and in the homes and shrines of upper-caste patrons across Kerala. Much like in Theyyam, the roles in these other dances are performed by men, who wear metal breastplates, elaborate make-up, long hair and long nails to simulate Kali. Notably, while the patron is upper caste, the performer typically belongs to marginal communities such as the Vannan, Velan, Mavilan and Malayan communities. And as in Theyyam, here too the art form can posit a certain kind of resistance. The durability of these practices has as much to do with their inherently spectacular nature as with Kali’s highly charged, cathartic effect.

Kali also served a particular role as an intermediary deity, one who was accessible to low-caste devotees in Kerala, who in the early decades of the twentieth century were denied entry into upper-class temples. M. Kabir writes that the shrines and temples controlled by high-caste Hindus strictly denied access to certain lower castes: ‘however they (Pulayas) were permitted to go the premises of the Kali temples on the annual festival days, but were not allowed direct worship there, and had to remain within the polluting limits.’ Devotion to the goddess would, thus, oscillate between caste hierarchies, even as her temples and shrines occupied a sacred geography of an indeterminate notion of purity.

This is an excerpt from an essay by curator Gayatri Sinha from the book accompanying the eponymous DAG exhibition, Kali: Reverence & Rebellion, that is on view until October 19 at DAG, Mumbai.