An Eco-feministic Reading of the Rituals of Poomalakkavu and Marakkalappattu, the folk culture of North Kerala

Abstract

Abstract

he article intends to make a study on the eco feministic aspects of the rituals of poomalakkavu and the song of Marakkalappattu, the rich folk forms of North Kerala. Poomalakkavu is one of the centers of Dravidian worship which is indigenous to the locality. Marakkalappattu is one of the ritualistic songs sung during the paattu festival of the Dravidian cult which were not discussed in detail in the past folk studies. In the present scenario of the world, the nature and woman are facing serious threats. The Eco feminism branched out of Feminism in the last decades of the twentieth century take the binary of woman/man having close link with that of the nature/culture. The concept of nature as Mother Goddess and as fertility icon is an age old observance in India. It is not a new ideology for us, but a way of life. Hence an eco-feministic reading of the folk form is worth studying.