sung delivery styles, but unlike the pa ̄ratiya ̄r of the Draupadı ̄ cult, whose recita-
tion is accompanied only by a harmonium player, a bow song ensemble generally
includes five members, each of whom both sings and plays an instrument which
include a drum, a clay pot, cymbals, and wooden blocks. Additionally, bow song
performances do not include dramatic enactment of its narrative repertoire in the
manner of the street drama performances associated with the Draupadı ̄ cult.
Stuart Blackburn, following local terminology, has designated the two cate-
gories that structure the repertoire of stories performed by bow song ensembles
as “birth stories” and “death stories.” “Birth stories narrate the history or gods
and goddesses grouped under the term teyva pir
̄
avi(‘divine birth’) or teyva
vamcam(‘divine descent’); death stories tell the histories ofir
̄
antuppat.t.a va ̄tai
(‘spirits who were killed’) or vet.t.uppat.t.a va ̄tai(‘spirits who were cut up’)... death
stories are local histories, stories about people who lived and died (and then
became gods); birth stories, on the other hand, are mythic histories of gods and
goddesses of divine origin who are not less real than the death story heroes, but
who are not men and women either.” In his study of the bow song tradition
Blackburn describes points of convergence and divergence in the narrative pat-
terns that inform birth stories and death stories in the bow song repertoire.
While both conclude with the establishment of a cult, this conclusion is reached
via very different paths. In the course of a birth story, a divine being is born
in heaven, “completes a series of tasks, wins boons from S ́iva, and descends to
earth; there the god uses his boons to display his power, usually to wreak havoc
among humans and win worship from them.” The protagonists of death stories
are born on earth, and the birth is a painful one. The story’s “protagonist is
caught in a conflict over land rights or sexual rights, or both, that leads to his
violent death.” Whereas the protagonists of birth stories attack people who
refuse them worship, the protagonists of death stories attack those responsible
for their death. Both types of story end with the deities’ victims building a temple
and celebrating a festival in their honor, and with this episode the narrative
mirrors the occasion for the stories’ performance (Blackburn 1988: 31–6).
The performance traditions associated with the Tamil Draupadı ̄ cult and the
bow song tradition bear comparison by virtue of their roles in village religious
life. Both are performed on the occasion of annual temple festivals celebrated to
honor deities that are understood to be intimately involved with the well-being
of the village. The ritual contexts that frame these performances are similar,
and both include incidents of spirit possession at critical moments. However,
while many elements of the Draupadı ̄ cult may be aptly described (following
Hiltebeitel) as transpositions of the epic Maha ̄bha ̄ratainto a local idiom, the
cultic context of the bow song tradition is exclusively local.
Summing Up
While the above overview of genres and texts is far from exhaustive, it should be
clear that Tamil Hindu literature is enormously diverse. One might even claim
154 norman cutler