Theyyam or Theyyattam is a popular ritual dance of North Kerala state, India, predominant in the Kolathunadu area (consisting of present-day Kannur and Kasargod districts). As a living cult with several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs, it embraces almost all the castes and classes of the Hindu religion in this region. The term Theyyam is a corrupt form of Daivam or God. People of these districts consider Theyyam itself as a God and they seek blessings from this Theyyam.Theyyam is performed by people of the lower castes such as Shudras, Vaishyas etc. This led to the lower castes creating their own temples in afforested areas that were known as Kavus
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It can be said that all the prominent characteristics of primitive, tribal, religious worship had widened the stream of Theyyam cult and made it a deep-rooted folk religion of millions. For instance, the cult of the Mother Goddesses had and still has an important place in Theyyam. Besides this, the practices like spirit-worship, ancestor-worship, hero-worship, masathi-worship, tree-worship, animal worship, serpent-worship, the worship of the Goddesses of disease and the worship of Graamadevataa (Village-Deity) etc are included in the main stream of the Theyyam cult. Along with these Gods and Goddesses there exist innumerable folk Gods and Goddesses. Most of these Goddesses are known as Bhagavathy (the Mother-Goddess that is the Divine and united form of the three principal Goddesses namely, Brahmani
(Saraswati), Vaishnavi (Lakshmi), and Shivani (Durga)). |
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