Book is a Relationship
Homage to the Departed
The Hindu
Kozhikode, May 12, 2012
When death visits Malabar tribes
Many things about life are intriguing and so are a lot of things about death. It becomes all the more interesting when one gets to know how ancient man came to terms with the enigma of death and went about the rites related to it.
The book, Homage to the Departed, by Manjula Poyil, a history teacher and researcher, is an interesting anthropological attempt to look into the funeral customs and rites of the tribes of the Malabar region as well as into how they kept a distinctive relationship with their long-gone ancestors in ways shrouded in mystery.
Interactions
The author, who has extensively travelled into the tribal areas of the North Kerala and interacted with elders of the prominent tribal communities there, looks into how death has been perceived by these people and how they go about their funeral rites with all its cultural and animistic implications.
Ms. Manjula has focused her study mainly on eight selected tribes including Kurichiyar , Mullukurumar , Kalanadi , Wayanadan Pathiyar , Irular and Muthuvar (who falls into her specific definition of tribes) in the Malabar region.
Rare photos
The book along with a variety of rare photographs, featuring their culture, also provides many interesting insights into the unique styles of burial, intriguing ways of ancestral worship and fascinating belief patterns of the tribes.
Slow death
Mr. Manjula observes that constant contact of these tribes with mainstream communities was causing a slow death of their unique belief patterns and rituals.
Deliberate efforts are needed to preserve them, “because the rituals and beliefs comprised a whole lot of rare knowledge about their culture, connection with the nature, and knowledge about a variety of rare herbs,” says Ms. Manjula.
According to renowned archaeologist Shereen Ratnagar, who wrote a foreward for the book, Ms. Manjula's work makes an original foray into the thinking of some tribal groups in northern Kerala about death.
Rich descriptions
“There is a rich description of practices to do with death—common practices as well as treatment specific to age, gender and status of one who has died. Ghosts, omens, ritual dance at funerals, the appropriate musical instruments, and memorials are some of the aspects of funerary practices described in this study,” says Mr. Ratnagar in the foreward of the book, brought out by the ‘Other Books,' based in Kozhikode.
The book looks at how death has been perceived by tribal people and how they go about their funeral rites.
