Mudiyettu, the village ritual theatre of Kali and Darika

Background

Kerala presents its State honours for letters and the arts this month, so it is worth being exact about a Kerala ritual the world has already recorded as living heritage.
Mudiyettu is a ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala, inscribed for India on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
It retells a myth about a battle between the goddess Kali and the demon Darika: the sage Narada asks Shiva to restrain Darika, who cannot be defeated by mortals, and Shiva decrees that Kali will kill him.
It is a community ritual in which the entire village participates, performed after the summer harvest, with villagers gathering at the temple early in the morning on a set day.
The performers fast and pray to purify themselves, then draw a large image of Kali, the kalam, on the temple floor with coloured powders, and the goddess's spirit is invoked.
It is performed yearly in Bhagavati Kavus, the goddess's temples, in villages along the Chalakkudy Puzha, the Periyar and the Moovattupuzha rivers.
Each caste takes part through mutual cooperation, which builds a shared identity and bonds within the community.
Elders and senior performers pass the tradition on by bringing younger people in as apprentices during performances, transmitting the community's values, ethics, moral codes and aesthetic norms.