This tragic incident occurred two or three centuries back at Perinchalloore village (present-day Taliparambu, Kannur district) of north Kerala. Perinchalloore is one of sixty-four Brahmin (Nampūtiri) settlements in the state. One of Kerala’s 108 Śiva temples, dating back some centuries, Raja Rajeswaran, is here. Perinchalloore was also known for the dominance of its Brahmins over the ruling royals.

The Nampūtiri men of Perinchalloore were acclaimed for their scholastic eminence. Their intellectual engagements included debates and discourses, especially on the Vedas, literature and grammar. Scholars from far-off places came to partake of them, gauge their own erudition and earn fame and recognition if they triumphed in debate.

At some point, the spectre of barrenness came to loom over a reputed Nampūtiri family in Perinchalloore. To avoid the family line ending thereupon, the elders sought to offer special prayers to propitiate their deity, Rayaramangalathu Bhagavati, in the hope of being blessed with a baby boy. But a baby girl was born instead. The parents and even other family members accepted her as the family goddess’s gift. Thus, she was named Daivakanya, meaning both god’s own girl and a young and virgin goddess.

Devi was exceptionally bright. She was given the best possible education in those times. As per the custom, her family members counted on her to preserve the family’s legacy, even though she would become a member of her husband’s family upon wedlock. She utilised the rich library of her family and forebears to enhance her scholarship and was soon considered a child prodigy. Her fame spread like fragrance in the breeze, sweet and swift.

Nonetheless, the other scholars of Perinchalloore refrained from recognising her scholarship because of her gender. Many of them tried to shut her down in public debates. But all of them routinely failed, resulting in their ego and reputation being bruised. Devi’s renown for her scholarship and beauty spread far and wide.

As a practice among the then Nampūtiri clans, she was to be married off when she turned twelve. Devi’s stipulation that she would marry the one who defeats her in a debate was accepted by her father. The wedding was scheduled. Aspirants from around prepared to compete, starting to reach the venue a couple of days before the scheduled date. But none could defeat her in the first two days.

Realising that it was nearly impossible to win over Devi in debates and that she would be a significant threat to them in the future, some of the influential Nampūtiri scholars conspired to disparage her. As planned, the next day, they steered the debate to the nine basic rasas (feelings), asking her about the most significant among those. Shringara (that exudes the kama rasa or eroticism), she replied promptly. Their following query was on the most intense suffering. The pangs of childbirth, she responded. She had won, but all those astute men assembled sniggered, ‘How can a virgin answer these questions so accurately?’

There were many takers for this line of slander and character assassination. The ‘wise’ men unanimously decreed that she wasn’t a virgin. She was insulted publicly. She had experienced the elation of sex and undergone the throes of labour in secret, was their ruling. Her father’s pleas fell on deaf ears since nobody wished to displease the hardliners in the community, whose decisions were interpreted as ‘God’s dictum’. Loose talk about her self-esteem spread quickly, amounting to her being ostracised and the wedding cancelled.

Profoundly distressed and determined that she would establish the truth, Devi walked away. She politely declined to accept the landed properties¹ that her father wanted to assign her to take care of future expenses. Nonetheless, he arranged for a kāryasthan² to provide her with essential facilities such as food and clothing.

Devi moved forward, undeterred. On the way to the Eachikkulangara Srinarayana temple, she prayed as if she were doing penance. On the fortieth day, Devi was driven by the desire to leave her body. She wanted to jump into the fire to prove her innocence. The next day, Devi woke up at the Brahma muhurta,³ walked away after praying at the temple, and shortly reached Karivellur. She thought it was the ideal place to end her life on earth.

She made a pyre, lit it and, praying all the while, leapt into it. She kept aside one of her anklets before leaping in. To achieve her goal, she needed a much bigger fire. A Thiyyan⁴ was passing by carrying bundles of dried coconut. She pleaded with him to empty it into the flames, as Agni (fire) was scared to touch her. The man, realising the enigma, fled. (It is believed that Thiyyan is later deified as Kaikkōlan Theyyam.)

A stoic Devi continued waiting. After a while, she saw a Muchilōṭan⁵ coming with coconut oil needed at the Rayaramangalam (also known as Dayaramangalam) temple at Pilicode. This time Devi’s entreaties for help worked. Sensing her divinity and praying, ‘let the fire be put out,’ he poured the oil onto the pyre. Blessing the Muchilōṭan, Devi disappeared, engulfed by flames. Shocked and terrified, the Muchilōṭan searched the pyre in vain and returned home instead of continuing his journey. He saw his empty thuththika (pot for carrying oil) moving fast and the fuel flowing out of it after a while.⁶ He realised that Devi was Goddess Bhagavati herself, incarnated. (This Muchilōṭan was later deified as Thalachchiravan Daivaṃ, worshipped by the Vāṇiya as the foremost Muchilōṭan.)

One morning, the kāryasthan deputed to follow the ostracised Daivakanya got worried upon not seeing her at the Eachikkulangara temple. In search of her, he reached Kottaparambu in Karivellur, owned by Panikkassery Nambi. There he saw an extinguished pyre and one of her anklets nearby.

The mystified kāryasthan returned, reported the matter to her parents, and handed over the anklet. They prayed for her salvation. Soon, the Brahmin scholars instrumental in ruining her reputation, and their kin, faced many tragedies and succumbed to illnesses such as smallpox, leprosy and insanity. Nobody knew what happened to that anklet; most likely, it was passed on and destroyed in the annals of time. During the Theyyam festivals nearby, rituals are conducted adjacent to the spot where the incident was believed to have occurred, subsequently known as Theekkuzhichchāl. During the night of the pooram day, the Kōmaraṃs of Muchilōṭṭu Bhagavati and Rayaramangalathu Bhagavati meet at this spot as a part of the ritual. This original site is now taken over by the newly constructed national highway.

Subsequently, Muchilōṭan’s wife, while drawing water, happened to have an apparition of Muchilōṭṭu Bhagavati in full attire inside the well.⁷ Astrological deliberations that followed pointed towards the deceased Devi’s divinity and suggested that Daivakanya be deified as Bhagavati Theyyam at the places of worship in their Muchilōṭṭu community. Muchilōṭṭu Bhagavati thus became the consecrated deity at all the entailing annual festivals of Muchilōṭṭs, beginning with Karivellur, the foremost one.

It is one of the positively gorgeous Theyyams that attracts a vast throng, irrespective of caste or religious differences.

[Niyogi Books has given Fair Observer permission to publish this excerpt from Theyyam: Indian Folk Ritual Theatre—an Insider’s Vision, K. K. Gopalakrishnan, Niyogi Books, 2024.]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.