Curators: Prof. David Shulman, Dr. Michal Mor, Yael Baron

Opening Date: 1.1.2024

We are about to embark on a journey in the footsteps of a Kerala Brahmin ritualist and astrologer named Appattu Adiri, from the beautiful village of Panniyur in central Kerala, in the early eighteenth century. Adiri, as we will call him, has left us an autobiography, “The Story of Myself,” describing his life with its sorrows and occasional joys—as we shall see.

Adiri wrote his life’s story because of a political crisis in the village. For centuries, the great kings of Kozhikkodu on the northern coast had supported the village of Panniyur in its long rivalry with the nearby village of Sukapuram. But in the early 18th century, the king switched his loyalty to Sukapuram. Panniyur was in trouble, its householders and ritualists prevented from performing Vedic recitation in temples. Adiri, in despair, impoverished, at first wanted to leave his home and family and go on pilgrimage to Benares in North India, to end his life there worshipping Lord Śiva. His wife persuaded him that instead he could worship the same god in the village temple, fasting and praying. And so Adiri spent twelve years in the temple, eating only one light meal each day, meditating on God.

Adiri embodies the ethos of early modern Kerala. Our journey offers us several stations and performances that Adiri, like any cultured Malayali, was likely to have experienced in his time—ritual and theatrical events, literary salon readings, and, in the end, a personal revelation by his god.

The journey follows the course of our five-year research project, The New Ecology of Expressive Modes in Early Modern South India, led by Professor David Shulman. All photographs and video clips were taken by members of the NEEM project.