Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

in the growth of communitarianism among the entire Muslim population of the area. The
factionalism has resulted in the intensive campaigning among the ordinary people,
through speeches at the Mosques on every Friday, and public speeches and religious
discourses, religious debates and so on, which have helped the growth of a religious
space. Old people testified that there has been a major resurgence of old ceremonies such
as nerchas at Mamburam and Kundoor, and the institution of new ceremonies, such as the
Jilani nercha at Cherumukku. The Makham at Mamburam attracts a very large number of
visitors every day. And so is the mosque at Kodinji where the oath taking ceremony
(satyam chollal) has considerable popular appeal. A similar process is visible among the
Hindus also. Most of the temples and kavus are being renovated, and even private shrines
are attempted to be rebuilt. All the temples conduct their festivals with a lot of fanfare,
for which large donations are collected from the people. A typical temple for the revival
of operations is the Kattuvachira temple at Velimukku, under the urayma of Thottassiiri
Panikkar once. With the decline of Thottassiri family the temple also declined, but it is
now being renovated under a popular committee. Parambath kavu, the tutelary temple of
Ayyayira prabhu kartav, similarly declined, but had a revival recently. Individual oracles
have attracted a lot of popular attention, an example being Kelukutty komaram who set
himself up near parambath kavu, and became an extremely popular (and money-making)
oracle.. He has passed away, and his son continues the same role. Kaliyattakkavu and
Nirakaithakotta continue to attract large audiences in their festivals. This revival has
another feature also. The revival of the Muslim ceremonies is taking place under the
leadership of the sectarian bodies referred to above. In the revival or institution of temple
festivals the traditional ceremonies are combined with ‘modern’ rituals like religious
discourses, performances with stories from puranas, 'Ganamelas’, and so on , in order to
ensure popular appeal and enhance its religious credibility.