ADALYA JOURNAL ISSN NO: 1301-2746 KĀMA WORSHIPS OF NORTHERN KERALA: IN A WOMEN CENTERED RITUALISTIC PERSPECTIVE 1Anju M, Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of History, Periyar University, Periyar Palkalai Nagar, Salem- 636 011, Tamil Nadu, India. Email –
[email protected] 2 *Dr. C. Jeya Veera Devan, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Periyar University, Periyar Palkalai Nagar, Salem-636 011, Tamil Nadu, India. -------------------- -------------------------- ------------------------ ------------------- -------------------- Abstract Kāma worships is one among the important ritual festival. The centre of this worship mainly in Northern Kerala. One of the important specialty of this festival is the involvement of the female participants. This Kāma worships is otherwise called as Poorothsavam, and which is very distinct from other ritual practice of northern Kerala. Thus so there have been many studies that prevailed in the area of Kāma worships of northern Kerala. But here in this, the study focuses on the women representation in it. And it also tries to study in a women-centered point of view. In other words, the paper tries to enquire about the role of women in Kāma worships and how they are involved in it? Why they are chosen for this ritual? The reason to celebrate this ritual as a traditional ceremony, the mythological relevance of this ritual in the traditional Kerala culture, and how this is regarding to the concept of fertility? These questions are analyzed in detail in this paper. Keywords: Kāma worships of Northern Kerala, Ritual activities, Female participations, Lore of a Community, Cultural/Ritualistic background of Norther Kerala, the Fertility concept. Introduction Kāma worships is one of the rare ritual practice exists only in northern part of Kerala.