In modern times, Malayans are found only in far northern Kerala, where both
copies of the Tirunil
̄
alma ̄lawere discovered. Malayans, however, intergrade with
a caste to their south known as Pa ̄n.ar, (from pan., “melody”), which was the same
designation used of bards in the Can.kam Tamil tradition. Both castes today
specialize in sorcery (mantrava ̄dam) and exorcism rites, for which they perform
poetic musical liturgies, and Malayans are perhaps the most accomplished and
prominent performers ofteyya ̄t.t.am(see the accompanying article). Since, as a
polluting caste (avarn.n.ar), Malayans were banned from Brahmanical temples in
later medieval Kerala, it is surprising to find their important role in the great
temple center of A ̄r
̄
an.mul.a, and to find them in this role so far south. This sug-
gests that Malayans were once more prominent and widespread, and that the
bhakti Vais.n.avism of early Kerala temples was more socially inclusive than later,
more Brahmanically A ̄gamic temple culture.
While most of the deities and some of the vocabulary of the Tirunil
̄
alma ̄laare
Sanskrit-derived, the phonological form, patterns of alliteration and metrical
structure of the poem are all modeled after classical Tamil. Despite being cen-
tered on Vis.n.u, however, a large variety of gods are invoked and worshipped,
showing that the sectarianism so characteristic of Tamil bhakti,particularly
rivalry between Vais.n.avas and S ́aivas, was already being deliberately elided in
Kerala at this early date. In fact a Malayan performer gives a lengthy recital of
the sacred deeds of S ́iva (as known to the Tamil tradition) to Vis.n.u before the
latter’s own shrine, saying, “since there is no difference between the two of you,
we have made here an offering (pali) to S ́iva” (Ln. 302). Later there is a special
dance to Kur
̄
atti, a goddess especially associated with the tribals and mountain
ranges of Kerala who survives today in the teyyamworship of northern Kerala
and other folk festivals.
Though the introduction to the work gives a good idea of the socio-political
situation of the temple and its authorities, the bulk of the Tirunil
̄
alma ̄la
describes the various rites, offerings, and dances of the Malayans. What is quite
interesting in this is how the religious function of this worship is perceived, for
it is quite clear that the sequence of rituals and offerings over a number of days
are essentially a giant exorcism in which the performers remove any noxious
spiritual effects that may have accrued to their deity through faulty rituals,
enmity, or pollution in worship. Some of these rites must have been quite
spectacular, and the following example should give a clear idea that we are not
in a normatively “Hindu” ritual milieu here, but one heavily inflected by its
Dravidian cultural legacy.
Among the bali-rites to deities over successive days and oriented in different
directions, that done to the north, the traditional direction for blood sacrifices
in battle, is reserved for Ks.e ̄trapa ̄lan. For this the Malayans planted a series of
gibbets (kal
̄
uku) around the offering ground (pali-kal.am) such as malefactors
were traditionally impaled alive on in medieval Kerala. The performers then
mounted these contraptions, splayed themselves out, and writhing, had artifi-
cial blood (kuruti) poured over their chests, and mock entrails pulled from their
bodies and draped over the cross-pieces as would be done in disembowelments.
164 rich freeman