These two very young participants in pariyakali followed all the rules required of participants in this mock-combat. Formally dressed, they charmed the crowd with their determination...
Mentorship used to play an essential role in Kodava society when it came to young men being introduced or initiated into various social roles. Even...
A stylized mock-combat between two opponents armed with toorae kol, long, flexible canes and woven rattan shields, pariyakali is part of the dances conducted in the...
As the okka (patrilineal descent group) prepares to bring in the harvest, a newly woven palm leaf mat is spread on the floor, the puthari basket placed...
On puthari (rice harvest festival) night, before the harvest, decorating various implements and sacred spaces with wet rice paste to welcome the new crop is an...
Led by a young woman bearing the taliyatakkibolcha (bell metal platter heaped with rice on which a lit lamp is placed) the dudipatkaras, once again, sing...
During puthari (rice harvest festival), celebrations are spread over several days, with dances and songs for different occasions. This is when many symbolic stories are revived...
One of the taliyatakkibolchas from the kitchen is carried by a young woman of the okka, who leads the way to the rice fields, followed...
Puthari, Kodagu’s annual harvest festival, the most important celebration across Kodagu, takes place at the end of the year on a full moon night in...
At Kenjerene Ur mand (Urë mandë), Kunjila Village, the day after the ritual harvesting of the newly ripened rice crop, clans gather to dance puthari...
The river Kaveri, ancient and beautiful, wells up from a source high in the western hills of Kodagu, its presence is woven into the lives...
In 1885, the Swiss-German missionary, the Rev. Hermann F. Moegling described the landscape of Kodagu as follows: “The aspect of Coorg presents an entire forest....