On the face of it, she’s a woman, going about her domestic duties. But as the Bharani Festival approaches, a host of women in Kodungallur, Kerala, transform into Komarams (oracles), who embody Goddess Kali. As they walk the distance, with a hooked sword in their hands and bells jangling on their waist, the Komarams’ eyes go wild in a frenzied trance. Each vein in their bodies is throbbing with the rage of red. Like the River Periyar that flows into the Arabian Sea, blood streams down the face and temple of the Komarams, freely and hysterically. She is anoracle, and through her devotion and complete surrender to Goddess Kali, she redeems everyone around her. With her belief and her actions, a komaram breaks every barrier of caste, gender, religious norms and sexual propriety, and restores balance once again in all the three worlds.
Archana Padmini, an who belongs to the caste of women who become komarams, took us through the journey of those seven days during the Bharani festival at Kodungallur. As a woman from a lower caste in Kerala, Archana grew up witnessing her family’s financial struggles in Palakkad, Kerala. Although she left town to pursue education, she kept up with her roots and rituals. She says, “I don’t follow all the customs and rituals in my community but I am a staunch follower of a few. Had these rituals been forgotten, I wouldn’t have been who I am today…The Bharani festival in the month of Meena (Pisces) is the bedrock of my existence. I become myself on that day. It’s the day I am possessed by Goddess Kali. After my grandmother, I am the only woman from my family to become a komaram.”
As a theatre artiste, she believe that her inner-self and her spirit are that of Kali’s. She dresses up like a komaram every year for the Bharani Festival to become Kali. She enters the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, and like a ritual, breaks the barriers of caste. The festival brings out the real woman behind the face — this would be true, not just in Archana’s case but also in the case of several other women who follow the same path. Bharani is the day for rebel women — seen as possessed and filthy by a larger part of the society. The women arrive three days prior for the kavu teendal or ceremonial pollution of the shrine, ready to sacrifice their lives for Kali.
Archana believes, “As a theatre artist, I perform many characters in many plays…And after each play, I come out of the character. Yet there’s one character, one spirit, that doesn’t get washed off…And that’s Kali. Bharani is a day that belongs to the ‘lower’ castes. Kali is my blood and my anchor.”