The Gods of The God's Own Country: THEYYAM: Confessions of a Monkey-Trapped Prodigal Son of The God's Own Country

Gods of God's own country is a reminder of the forgotten culture and the communities around it. Theyyam is a Dravidian ritual art form of Kerala, The God's own country. This book provides detailed information about Theyyam, beautiful images, and hundreds of stories about them. We dedicate this book to the Theyyam artists, the real Gods “Of the People, By the People, For the People.” The author had the amazing grace of chasing the light with his camera during his expeditions in around twenty countries in management consulting and volunteer roles in the past three decades. However, he is yet to catch sight of a place where over 500 Gods descend on earth during a single season. Sandwiched between the Western Ghats (a UNESCO world heritage) and the queenly Arabian sea, carpeted by natural greenery, the hilly terrains of North Malabar open it's off-beat paths for the Theyyam Gods to traverse gods-forsaken disciples. Thanks to those Theyyam Gods, the Malabar corner is that truly shining city on a hill. These Gods double up as costume designers, painters, musicians, artisans, drummers, and choreographers. They transcended the human realms and have burgeoned into a mystical form where they endure the blazing fire and carry hefty costumes effortlessly. Confessions of a Monkey Trapped Prodigal Son of God's Own Country takes you on a whirlwind ride into the dense history and versatility of Theyyam, the ritual dance of the glistening cities atop the Malabar Hills of God's Own Country -Kerala. It is rich in captivating images of Theyyam and storytelling. The book's second part embarks on the herculean task of covering the centuries-old, mesmerizing 101 Theyyam stories. Like the Blues in the Mississippi Delta, Thottam and Theyyam express the touches of the melancholy of the Dravida natives of God's Own Country, submerged under the 5000-year-old Chaturvarnya system through song and dance.