‘Corona Theyyam’ to cast out virus

KOZHIKODE: “My father was a traditional healer who would chant a mantra while dispensing medicine to the patients. It is a belief that the incantatory power of words can have an impact on the human beings,” said the poet Girish Puliyoor, whose new poem is on the Covid-19 pandemic.
The poem ‘Corona Theyyam’ was written with the hope that the evil that has gripped the world could be exorcised through the magical spell of words.
“Human history is marked by our struggle with natural forces and at times coming into terms with them. The chequered history of human beings is marked by the fights with diseases like smallpox that threatened to devour humanity,” Girish said.
One way of survival was to surrender before the natural forces and to appease them. “Aayiram Villi in our village in Puliyoor in Thiruvananthapuram and Theyyam in north Kerala epitomise the natural force. We have concepts like Muthu Mariyamma and Vasoori Mala Theyyam,” he said.
The poem is written in the form of human beings prostrating before Mother Earth. “The disease is visualised in the poem as the punishment by the mother for the series of wickedness committed that put the existence of earth in danger. Finally, the mother decides to eliminate the children to save the earth for posterity,” Girish said.
But after all, like any mother, the earth also is kind and considerate. “She cannot turn deaf to the loud cries of her children who have realised their mistake and have repented. The fierce and the merciful co-exists in the same deity,” Girish said.
The poem was composed in March, during the lockdown. “I could only record the poem ten days ago,” he said. Girish is in isolation after the staff at the studio tested positive.
“The orchestration is done by Jayan Pisharody and the poem is written and sung in the form of the ‘Thottam’ of the Theyyam. Thottam is rendered in a loud voice as it should be audible for the entire public assembled in the Kavu. And it is in the simple form because it should be comprehensible to even the laymen,” he said.