handily triumphed. His final trial was to single-handedly perform the teyya ̄t.t.ams
of 39 different gods in the span of a single night. He not only succeeded in this,
but the king was so impressed that he commanded these teyyams to be estab-
lished throughout his territories. These 39 comprise some of the most promi-
nentteyyams connected with notable lineages and their territorial centers,
including that of the king’s family, though they also include more rustic and,
from a Brahmanical perspective, even quasi-demonic beings. Given the social
affinities, depth, and spread ofteyya ̄t.t.am, there is little likelihood that this legend
relates to its actual origins; rather, it seems clear that this represents a move-
ment of consolidation, in which a core of the teyyamtutelaries of prominent
lineages (many of which were upwardly mobile from humbler origins) were
organized into the ritual network of this king’s polity, with the royal cult at the
center.
The caste tensions inherent in such incorporations, however, are evident in
the conclusion to the legend. Having shamed the king and his nobles through
the course of his meteoric rise, Man.akka ̄t.an determined to pre-empt the
ignominy of their almost certain attempts at vengeance. Like the Can.kam heroes
of old, he therefore sat facing the north, in a rite of deliberately relinquishing
his mortal life (cf. Hart 1975). Though Man.akka ̄t.an Gurukkal.is not himself
celebrated as a teyyam(his empowering family goddess, however, is), his final
resting place is surmounted by a monument of laterite stone, dedicated by the
king, in which his living presence still resides. There he is regularly worshipped
through vows and periodically offered liquor and massive blood sacrifices in
collective calendrical rites. While the formal aspects ofteyyamworship are dif-
ferent, we can see in the social dynamics of Man.akka ̄t.an’s life-story, demise, and
subsequent worship a theme of subaltern defiance and elevation common to
many teyyamliturgies.
The Social Organization of Worship
Teyya ̄t.t.amfestivals are commonly celebrated on a yearly basis in the grounds of
shrines and temples where a particular group of one or more deities are housed.
Festivals may be held less often at some shrines, though as with the annual
celebrations, the dates are astrologically fixed by tradition. Shrines were, and
usually still are, owned or managed along specific family, lineage or clan, and
therefore caste lines, though generally during the festivals, all who wish may
come to worship in a regulated fashion, according to traditional precedence. The
castes sponsoring such shrines run all the way from the highest Brahmans, to
the lowest of the traditional avarn.acastes, though not surprisingly, there are
differences in means, structural and ritual elaboration, and behavioral norms
associated with these levels of worship.
A specific cluster of named and individuated teyyamdeities are hereditarily
installed in any given shrine, and designated lineages within specific castes of
the teyyam tradition of kerala 311