തെയ്യം · The living gods of North Malabar
What is Theyyam?
Theyyam (from daivam, god) is the ritual dance-worship of North Malabar, more than a thousand years old, in which a performer from a hereditary community becomes, for a few hours, the deity itself. After the invocation songs (thottam), the elaborate face-painting and the placing of the great headgear (mudi), the performer dances, speaks as the god, and blesses each devotee individually. Over four hundred Theyyams are recorded; Kannur district is their heartland, with a Kaliyattam somewhere almost every night from October to May.
Forms
The Theyyams
Filter by the nature of the deity.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Muchilottu Bhagavathi
മുച്ചിലോട്ട് ഭഗവതി
The graceful mother goddess of the Vaniya community, with over a hundred Muchilottu kavus across North Malabar and the grandest Perumkaliya…
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Raktha Chamundi
രക്തചാമുണ്ഡി
The blood-red Chamundi who drank the blood of the demon Raktabija — fierce, brilliant and breathtaking in costume.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess) · Fire
Theechamundi
തീച്ചാമുണ്ഡി
The fire Chamundi: the performer leaps dozens of times into a blazing pyre of wood, a sight that leaves every visitor speechless.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess) · Fire
Puthiya Bhagavathi
പുതിയ ഭഗവതി
A form of Bhadrakali born from Shiva's third eye who dances on a bed of fire; one of the most common Bhagavathi Theyyams of Kannur.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Karimchamundi
കരിഞ്ചാമുണ്ഡി
The black Chamundi with a fearsome wooden mask, worshipped at the Payyanur Karim Chamundi temple.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Kalarivathukkal Bhagavathi
കളരിവാതുക്കൽ ഭഗവതി
Bhadrakali of the Chirakkal royal house, whose Theyyam in Edavam closes the season along with Madayi Kavu.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Thiruvarkkadu Bhagavathi
തിരുവർക്കാട്ട് ഭഗവതി
The Bhadrakali of Madayi Kavu, the ancient royal shrine of the Kolathiris on Madayipara.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Neeliyar Bhagavathi
നീലിയാർ ഭഗവതി
The goddess of Neeliyar Kottam, a shrine without walls — a sacred grove near Mayyil where nature itself is the temple.
Bhagavathi (Mother Goddess)
Bhagavathi (Kurumba / Chamundi forms)
ഭഗവതി
The many mother-goddess Theyyams — Sree Kurumba, Chamundi, Bhadrakali, Paradevatha — presiding over most kavus of Kannur.