Image: Padar Kulangara Bhagavati

Description: Theyyam or Theyyattam is a popular Hindu ritual of worship in North Kerala state, India, predominant in the Kolathunadu area (consisting of present-day Kannur and Kasargod districts). As a living cult with several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs, it embraces almost all the castes and classes of the Hindu religion in this region. The performers of Theyyam belong to the indigenous tribal community, and have an important position in Theyyam. This is unique, since only in Kerala, do both the upper-caste Brahmins and lower-caste tribals share an important position in a major form of worship. The term Theyyam is a corrupt form of Devam or God. People of these districts consider Theyyam itself as a God and they seek blessings from this Theyyam.A similar custom is followed in the Tulu Nadu region of neighbouring Karnataka known as Bhuta Kola This Theyyam Performance is from Muchilott Kavu, Payyanur. The Legend of a Reincarnation of Lord Vishnu as a goddess. This goddess, "Padar Kulangara Bhagavati" is worshipped as fertility goddess.
Title: Padar Kulangara Bhagavati
Credit: originally posted to Flickr as Theyyam
Author: Ajith U
Permission: This image, which was originally posted to Flickr, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 27 February 2010, 07:10 by Uajith. On that date, it was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the license indicated. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0 CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 truetrue
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes