In Frames | The night of Bhoota Kola

News in Frames | The ancient art form of Bhoota Kola, which gained mainstream popularity after the film Kantara, inspires anticipation and hope in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod

As the evening deepens into an inky darkness of the night, the people of the village of Mujungavu near Kumabala in Kasaragod, Kerala, gather around to watch the Bhoota Kola. The air is suffused with anticipation and hope, for the Bhoota Kola is an oracle and prayers to it are believed to bring them fortune and relieve them of their problems.

The trained Bhoota Kola performer, in a possessed state, provides the answers to the community and is revered as the manifestation of God himself. The ritual performance that starts in the night goes on into the early hours of the morning.

Performed in the open air, the Bhoota Kola comes in the forms of Panchuruli, Kallurutti, Koragajja and so on. Originally from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka and the northern parts of Kasaragod district, the Bhoota Kola has striking similarities with Kerala’s Theyyam, but have subtle differences too.

The costumes of the Bhoota Kola are not as strikingly colourful as those of the Theyyam. The Bhoota Kola performer is bedecked in an attire entirely made of intricately woven palm leaves.

The elaborate face painting, however, is similar to Theyyam. The incantations the performer utters are in Tulu. The nema or kola (as the performance is called) usually involves a fierce dance accompanied by drums, music and other rituals.

Even for the ardent followers of Theyyam of Kerala, the Bhoota Kola from Tulu Nadu was not so familiar until the release of the Kannada movie Kantara, which brought the less­known ritualistic art form into the mainstream.

The Tuluvas, the people who speak the Tulu language, believe in animism and the Bhoota Kola is performed to invoke these spirits of Nature. The traditional right to perform the kola belong to the Nalike and Parava tribes of the region. A typical Bhoota Kola season starts in January and extends to May.