Meena J. Panikker
Associate Professor in English, P. A. First Grade College, Affiliated to Mangalore University, Karnataka. Email: dr.meena@pace.edu.in
Volume 12, Number 4, July-September, 2020 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n4.04
Abstract
This paper attempts a study of: i) how the hunter myth is used in the temple ritual of katala vesa at Vairamkode vela; ii) focuses on how the indigeneity of the ritual is affected by modernization. As the study is related to chronological primitivism, qualitative research methods such as direct observation, unstructured interviews, and personal experiences, common in ethnographic researches, are used. Taking the aid of the myths related to the hunter, this paper proves that the vitality and the validity of the katala vesa ritual though untarnished, its indigeneity is stained by modernization where the initial goal of such a ritual is no more realized. The ‘hunter’ is largely underrated in the many (eco-prefixed) theoretical discourses related to indigeneity on Indian agricultural architecture, and hence, this study makes a genuine attempt to repair this deficiency.
Keywords: hunter, katala vesa, myth, indigeneity, ritual.
