Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Saints, Serpents, and Terrifying Goddesses: Fertility Culture on the Malabar Coast (c. 1500–1800)

  • Chapter
Histories of Medicine and Healing in the Indian Ocean World

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

Abstract

This chapter examines the unique and interlocking dynamics of fertility rituals and practices of different cultural traditions in the Malabar region, on the western coastal area of Kerala, between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Healing traditions in this region reflected the plurality and interdependence of different cultural frameworks that contributed to the range of medical knowledge in this period. Concepts of illness, including those relating to fertility issues, were constructed through the religious-cultural consciousness of the people. This chapter tries to explore some areas of what may be termed fertility psyche, beliefs and practices, in relation to the binding factors of religion, social functioning, caste institutions, and various concepts such as pollution. Although humor-based healing traditions such as Ayurveda coexisted with magico-spiritual practices, the belief in the supernatural was very predominant in the region. These beliefs created a large complex of rituals and festivals that also created a network of fertility geographies and cults across the Malabar region. These constituted a parallel world of alternative and non-textual fertility healing practices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Frederick M. Smith (2006), The Self Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature (New York, NY: Columbia University Press), p. 547.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Sarah Caldwell (1998), “Bhagavati: Ball of Fire”, in Devi: Goddesses of India, ed. John Stratton Hawley and Donna M. Wulff (Berkeley: University of California Press), p. 212

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719), Genealogy of the South Indian Gods: A Manual of the Mythology and Religion of the People of Southern India, freely translated into English by Rev. G. J. Metzger (1869) (Madras: Higginbotham), p. 104.

    Google Scholar 

  4. J. R. Freeman (1999), “Gods, Groves and Culture of Nature in Kerala”, Modern Asian Studies, 33(2): 32–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rich Freeman (2008), “The Teyyam Tradition of Kerala”, in The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, ed. Gavin Flood (New Delhi: Blackwell), pp. 160–165.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Prof. Gopikkuttan (1996), Koka Sandesham (Malayalam translation) (Trichur: Current Books)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ralph W. Nicholas (1981), “The Goddess Sitala and Epidemic Small Pox in Bengal”, The Journal of Asian Studies, 41: 21–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Babagrahi Misra (1969), “’sitala’: The Small Pox Goddess of India”, Asian Folklore Studies, 28(2): 133–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Duarte Barbosa (2009 [1865]), A Description of the Coast of Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century, trans. and ed. Henry E. J. Stanley (London: Hakluyt Society), p. 115.

    Google Scholar 

  10. K. Rathnamma, Compilation and Commentary (1997), Ananthapuravarnanam (Trivandrum: State Institution of Languages)

    Google Scholar 

  11. William Dalrymple (2009), “The Dancer of Kannur”, Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (London: Bloomsbury).

    Google Scholar 

  12. J. T. Philips, trans. (1717), An Account of the Religion, Manners, and Learning of the Malabar, translated from the Dutch (London: Black Swan), pp. 84–85.

    Google Scholar 

  13. P. Antony, ed. (2000), Payyannur Pattu, Tuebingen University Library: Malayalam Manuscript Series, General ed., Scaria Zacharia (Kottayam: DC Books), pp. 9–10.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Duarte Barbosa (2009), A Description of the Coast of Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century, trans. and ed. Henry E. J. Stanley (London: Hakluyt Society, 1865), p. 176.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Michael Geddes (1694), The History of the Church of Malabar ... (London: Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford).

    Google Scholar 

  16. J. R. Freeman (1999), “Gods, Groves, and the Culture of Nature in Kerala”, Modern Asian Studies, 33(2): 257–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. P. K. Gopalakrishnan (2000), Keralathinte Samskarika Charitram (Trivandrum: State Institute of Languages), p. 255.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Niklas Thode Jensen (2005), “The Medical Skills of the Malabar Doctors in Tranquebar, India, as recorded by Surgeon T L F Folly, 1798”, Medical History, 49(4): 489–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Ziyaud-Din A. Desai (1989), A Topographical List of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu Inscriptions of South India (New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical Research), p. 103.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Stephen Dale and Gangadhara Menon (1978), “‘Nerccas’: Saint Martyr Worship among the Muslims of Kerala”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 41(3): 523–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Qazi Muhammed (2000 [1607]), Muhiyuddeen Mala (Calicut: Thirurangadi Book Stall)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ponnani Nalakath Kunji Moideen Kutty (2004 [1895]), Nafeesath Mala (Calicut: Thirurangadi Book Stall), p. 4

    Google Scholar 

  23. E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (1983), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 465.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Abd al-Ghani Abd al-Khaliq, ed. (1957), Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, al Tibb al-Nabawi (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al Ilmiyya), pp. 127–136.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Sainuddheen Makhdhum (2012 [1575]), Fath-hul-Muin (Calicut: Poomkavanam), p. 304.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Seema Alavi (2008), Islam and Healing: Loss and Recovery of an Indo-Muslim Medical Tradition 1600–1900 (Ranikhet: Permanent Black), pp. 18–28.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Aref Abu-Rabia (2005), “The Evil Eye and Cultural Beliefs among the Bedouin Tribes of the Negev, Middle East”, Folklore, 116(3): 241–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. A. Sreedhara Menon (2008), Cultural Heritage of Kerala (Kottayam: DC Books), p. 105

    Google Scholar 

  29. F. Fawcett (1985), Nayars of Malabar (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services), p. 311.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Edward Balfour (1885), The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Vol. 3 (London: B. Quaritch), 3 vols., pp. 569–580.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Ludovico Di Varthema (1863 [1510]), The Travels of Ludovico Di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Desert and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, AD 1503 to 1508, trans. John Winter Jones (London: Hakulyt Society), pp. 173–174.

    Google Scholar 

  32. D. G. Blackburn and J. R. Stewart (2011), “Viviparity and Placentration in Snakes”, in Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Snakes, ed. R. D. Aldrich and D. M. Sever (New Hampshire: Science), pp. 119–181.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  33. Sainuddin Makhdhum (1999 [1583]), Tuhfat-hul-Mujahideenfeen Ba-a-Si Akhbaril Burthukhaliyeen, translated as “A Tribute to The Warriors with Information about Portuguese” (Malayalam translation), ed. C. Hamsa (Calicut: Al-Huda Book Stall), p. 41.

    Google Scholar 

  34. P. Bhaskaranuni (2000), Pathompatham Nootandile Keralam (Trissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi), p. 12.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Nur Yulman (1963), “On the Purity of Women in the Castes of Ceylon and Malabar”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 93: 25–58.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Karen Paige and Jeffery M. Paige (1981), The Politics of Reproductive Ritual (California: University of California), p. 24.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Susan Lipshitz (1978), Tearing the Veil: Essays on Femininity (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul), p. 48.

    Google Scholar 

  38. William Logan (1951 [1887]), Malabar Manual (New Delhi: Asian Educational Service), p. 118.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Uma Chakravarti (2004), “Conceptualizing Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India; Gender, Caste, Class, and State”, in Readings in Indian Government and Politics, Class, Caste, Gender, ed. Manoranjan Mohanty (New Delhi: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  40. Ibid., pp. 29–30. “A lucky venture! A lucky venture! Plenty of rubies, plenty of emeralds, many thanks you owe to God for bringing you to a country where there are such riches! Says Emnome de Deus (2009), The Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama to India, 1497–1499, trans. Glenn J. Ames (Leiden: Brill), p. 72

    Google Scholar 

  41. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela (1840 [1167]), The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, trans. and ed. A. Asher (London: A. Asher), p. 140.

    Google Scholar 

  42. M. K. Vaidyar, ed. (1951 [1800]), Mahasara, A compilation of 33 medieval texts by an unknown person in the beginning of 1800, with a preface by M. K. Vaidyar (Madras: Government Oriental Manuscript Library), p. xvi.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari (1909), Castes and Tribes of Southern India, 7 vols. (Madras: Government Press), Vol. 4, p. 228.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Barbosa, A Description of the Coast of Africa and Malabar, p. 57; K. K. N. Kurup (1977), Aryan and Dravidian Elements in Malabar Folklore: A Case Study of Ramavilliam Kalakam (Kerala Historical Society: Distributors; Trivandrum: College Book House), p. 19.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Sriman Nambothiri (1990), Chikitsa Manjari (trans-Malayalam) (Alapuzha: Vidyarambham), p. 442.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Koramangalam Narayanan Nambhutiri (2007), “Natuvaidyahile Vannan Paramparyam”, in Natarivukal: Natuvaidym, ed. Hafeel (Kottayam: DC Books), pp. 80–89.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. P. K. Yasser Arafath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Anna Winterbottom Facil Tesfaye

Copyright information

© 2016 P. K. Yasser Arafath

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Arafath, P.K.Y. (2016). Saints, Serpents, and Terrifying Goddesses: Fertility Culture on the Malabar Coast (c. 1500–1800). In: Winterbottom, A., Tesfaye, F. (eds) Histories of Medicine and Healing in the Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137567574_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137567574_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56267-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56757-4

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation