सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

Kulasekharapatnam — Kulasai for short — is a fishing town on the Gulf of Mannar whose Mutharamman temple keeps one of India's most extraordinary Dasara traditions. Elsewhere Navaratri's tenth day recalls the goddess's victory over Mahishasura through processions or effigies; at Kulasai the devotees themselves become the divine host. Tradition holds that those who take the Dasara vow put on vesham — the guise of Kali above all, but also of Mariamman, Ayyanar's warriors, sadhus, and a whole folk pantheon — and, so transformed, dance through the streets and beg alms house to house, every coin gathered belonging to the goddess. The begging is the heart of the vow: pride is surrendered with the face behind the paint. The festival has grown enormously, drawing devotees and veshams from across southern Tamil Nadu and beyond, and the sight of thousands of Kalis converging on the coastal temple is unlike anything else in the Tamil festival year.

The vow begins with the fast: devotees intending vesham keep vratam through Navaratri — many for the full ten days, some longer — wearing the goddess's yellow, avoiding meat and intoxicants, and sleeping simply. During the festival days they receive their painted guise from hereditary make-up artists, take up trident, whip or begging bowl according to the form, and dance to drum troupes through their own towns and then at Kulasai, collecting alms which are rendered to the temple hundi. Possession — the goddess descending on her dancers — is an accepted and supervised part of the tradition. The climax comes on Vijayadashami night: the festival image of Mutharamman is borne to the seashore, and in the small hours the goddess's pursuit and slaying of Mahishasura is enacted on the sands before a vast crowd, with the dawn sea-bath dissolving the vows. Devotees then wash off the vesham, ending their days as gods and returning to themselves.

The vesham vow is bound to Kulasai's temple, streets and shore, and to the hereditary artists and drummers who serve it, so there is no diaspora version to attend. Tamil families in Ottawa with roots in the Thoothukudi region follow the festival by live stream and through the extensive video coverage that circulates each Navaratri; some maintain the family's vow by funding a vesham taken by a relative at home, and others plan Purattasi visits to India when a vow falls due. For everyone else, Kulasai Dasara is best kept as part of Navaratri itself: the same goddess, the same victory. Keep the nine nights at home with a kolu or simple Devi pooja, tell children the story of Mahishasura's defeat, and on Vijayadashami honour the goddess's triumph. Check your local temple for Navaratri and Vijayadashami programmes.