Bringing Spirits Alive Through Bhoota Kola

The stage is set. On the edge of a thinly-grown forest, a village gathers around a huge clearing. Facing the temple, they wait for their ancestral spirits to come down to the earth. Eerie? Intriguing? Welcome to Bhoota Kola, an ancient tradition of the Tulunad region of coastal Karnataka, where spirits are celebrated and revered, instead of feared.

A Performer at the Bhoota Kola Ritual, Source: Wikimedia Commons

Spirit worship or ancestral worship has been a part of Hindu tradition for centuries. With time, this worship thinned out in most regions and idol worship took prominence. The Tulunad region, however, goes on to celebrate the spirits (or bhoota) to date.

Some historians date this worship back to 700-800 BC, while others speak of the tradition being brought into the region by Sri Lankans in the 14th century. Regardless of the origin, it is safe to say that the Tulu-speaking villages in the region have revered the spirits for a long time and they continue to do so with lights, colour, and pomp, every year between December and May.

A Dancer During the Ritual, Source: Wikimedia Commons

Back at the grounds in front of a temple in a Tulu-speaking village where the locals wait for the annual miracle, traditional dancers brighten up the celebration with their colourful costumes and agile performances (kola). With torches in their hands and garlands around their necks, they revel in the glory of the spirits that they worship.

The idols of the Tulunad’s primary spirit gods are decked up and taken out in processions. Some gods are of the human form while others take the form of animals such as boars, snakes, tigers, and buffaloes. As the rituals of worshipping the bhootas begin, devotees recite local folklore to make the night vibrant and auspicious.

A Performer Paints His Face, Source: Wikimedia Commons

While the whole village is immersed in the revelry, a chosen one gets ready to channel the thoughts of the worshipped spirits. He paints his face according to the colours of the bhoota that the village worships. From sublime yellow to aggressive black, the face can represent any of the spirit gods, also called daivas of the Tulunad region.

This divine medium, also called the patri, emerges into the field and performs some traditional songs and dances, all the while waiting to be possessed by one of the revered bhootas. The villagers eat, drink, make merry, burst firecrackers and then fall silent by the fire as the night proceeds to the darkest hour before the dawn.

A Performer Gets Ready to Receive the Energies of the Spirits, Source: Wikimedia Commons

The patri dances into the night and finally goes into a trance when he is believed to be transmitting the energies of the bhoota. He approaches the administrative elders of the village, who are typically the owners of traditional administrative homes, called the guttu homes.

Paying homage to the guttu owners, the embodied spirit begins his speech in ancient Tulu. The speech, called nudi in the local language, aims to address the problems of the village, dish out justice for wrongdoers, and establish authority and system, suggesting administrative changes wherever required.

At the end of the medium’s trance, the guttu owners make note of the speech and promise to deliver on all grounds as the gods of the community wish them to. Thus ends a night of ritualistic processions and traditional performances.

Bhoota Worship at the Temple, Source: Wikimedia Commons

Over the years, the tribes of the Tulunad region have taken up worshipping traditional gods alongside worshipping the bhootas or the spirits. They may even worship both forms in their temples. But bhoota kola remains as is, primarily because of how the local people can connect and bond with it.

Whether or not there really is a supernatural factor involved in the worship of the bhootas and the performance of the divine mediums is another story. But the coming together of an entire community that pays respect to its elders and guardians can suffice to bring about harmony and contentment among the tribe.