Poramadi Nadakam and Araya Culture: Dramatic Representation, Cultural Traces

Abstract

Araya is a tribal community residing in Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and certain parts of Thiruvananthapuram districts in Kerala. In A. Sreedara Menon’s Kerala Charitram, the tribe is categorized as an Australoid race. Since the Araya people used to live in the hilly areas, they are also known as Malayaraya. Their myth says that they are creations of Lord Shiva. To take care and control of the Earth, Lord Shiva created a male and a female and sent them to Earth. One day, while they were living on earth, saint Agastya saw them. He was astonished to see human beings wearing bow and arrow. He questioned them and after listening to their story, decided to test them. He pointed to a big tree and asked the man to shoot a leaf from the tree. The man shot down the whole tree with a single arrow. Inferring that if they were allowed to live they would conquer the whole universe, the saint swallowed them. Lord Shiva who was in search of his creations met the saint and enquired about them. Agastya told him the truth, that he saw them and destroyed them knowing the danger if they lived on earth. But Lord Shiva insisted on a resurrection of his creations. Finding no other means, Agastya recreated them from the sacrificial fire. He advised them to have fruits as food and to use plants as medicine. Thus Agastya became their guru and Shiva, their father. The Araya people regard the man and the woman as the progenitors of the Araya tribe. The man and the woman went to Ponmudi and settled there. Their successors established the Ay dynasty. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Chera king attacked and conquered Ay and an era of war followed. Some Arayas of the Ay dynasty entered the forest to escape the attacks and to lead a free life.