three therapies of south india 77
and I would visit Beemapalli, we would meet at Trivandrum’s bustling East
Fort bus stand to begin the half-hour ride out to this coastal neighborhood.
Our bus would make its way through the eastern section of the city’s old town,
which is centered around the grand Padmanabhaswamy Temple, and head out
toward the airport. Skirting the edge of the airport, we would occasionally see
a plane on the runway, usually a fl ight heading to or returning from Mumbai
or the Persian Gulf, hints of a world of much greater material wealth than
the one we were traveling through. We were heading toward the Muslim and
Christian neighborhoods that line the coast near Trivdandrum. Th ese neigh-
borhoods are poorer than much of the rest of Trivandrum, yet class diff erences
are not as radical in Kerala as they are in the rest of India. Th e bus soon came
in sight of the Arabian Sea and headed south down the coastal road through
the neighborhood of Beemapalli. Th e trip would come to an end as the bus
veered through the entrance of Beemapalli mosque from the coastal road and
came to a stop in the large, open sandy grounds of the mosque.
Th e mosque is an impressive sight after the drive through the modest neigh-
borhood of Beemapalli with its small concrete homes and thatched huts. Th e
building is close to 300 feet in length with 60-foot minarets, surrounded by
acres of open, sand-covered grounds where devotees, merchants and numerous
stray goats mill about. (Figure 2 shows Beemapalli mosque viewed from the
mosque grounds.)
After leaving the bus, Kavitha or Biju, whoever was accompanying me,
would head to the mosque’s offi ce with me to greet the general secretary, or
we would walk through the grounds looking for patient-devotees we had met
before or new visitors we could speak to. Along the perimeter of the grounds
are lodgings for people who are visiting Beemapalli to fi nd relief from illness,
and set off a short distance from the lodgings lies a building with six cells in
which violent or agitated possessed or mentally ill people are incarcerated and
attended by a close relative. Th e six cells face an open sandy area at the back
of the mosque where, in the shade of a large tree, agitated or violent people
are allowed to spend time outdoors under restraint. One person at a time is
attached by an ankle chain to a metal post with enough slack in the chain to
allow them to walk around in the area under the tree. People with less serious
problems—those felt not to be a threat to other ill people or worshippers—
wander freely on the mosque grounds. Th e mosque contains a prayer room
for male worshippers most of whom come from the local community to do
namaz, the Muslim daily prayer cycle. Women and people of other faiths,
including some mentally affl icted Hindu supplicants, visit the separate, larger
prayer hall, which is oriented around two sarcophagi located behind a glass
wall with retractable curtains.