As believed in the hindu mythology, the family

also had great believes on horoscope and

astrology. So if any difficulties arise in the
family, the immediately call for an astrologer
and checks it up. They even checks up the
timings for farming in the astrology.
Years ago, when very worse difficulties like
floods, agricultural loss, death domestic
animals, starvation, prolonged illness etc struck
the family, through the calculations from the
astrology, it was assumed that it can be from
the dissatisfaction of the dead ancestors of the
family. If ancestors are not pleased, it was
believed that it will lead way to the destruction
of the entire family. So in order to please the
ancestors, a ritual called kalasham started
being celebrated in the family. Kalasham by
word means that “finally everything ended well”
ORIGIN

It's usually celebrated along the

common celebrated festivals
like onam, vishu and karkidaka
sankranthi. Where in kalasham
will be done on the eve or on
the festival day during night
when all the family members
are free to gather around. It
happens in the tharavadu
(ancestral home).
It was a custom that got
originated in the central kerala
and then eventually got spread
towards the northern part of
kerala also. The exact time of
its origin is still unknown. All
known today is that its been
practising since a very long
while.
Early basic version for ancestral representation
STORY ASSOCIATED

Another story heard behind the ritual is that in

ancient times women were not allowed to step
outside their houses, even to temples. So when
these elder people die their body is buried in the
house compound and placed as a wooden idol and
these women worship in there everyday. They clean
the place and give food and water to the ancestors
and also lights up a lamp there. And special
worships are done in karkidaka (ramayana) and Kottil
vrischika (41 days) months.

LOCAL CRAFTS PEOPLE

So a small house like structure called as kottil was

built and inside which, the dead ancestors were
worshiped and the gods and goddesses they used to
worship was also place along. All the idols were
made of either stone, brass and mostly wood. Thus
giving a grater employment opportunity to the local
crafts people community called as aasharimar (its a
community that deals with the carpentry works). Wooden idols
Front view of the kottil and the ancient structure of the doors, pillars, roofs and air circulation is shown
Daily ritual
happening in the
kottil
In frame : Rejani
(50)
Pooja accessories Broom Way to kottil
DEITIES

Ancestors used to worship deities like neeja

bhagavathi, bhuvaneswari, karinkutty
chathan, veerabhadran and all as part of
devi preethi pooja and bhuvaneswari pooja.
This kalasham can be done as per swathika
karma or thandrika karma. This thandrika
karma is performed by upper class people
like namboothiris where in offerings are
purely vegetarian. But swathika karma is
performed by all caste people where in
meat, alcohol and all is worshiped. The
offering to karinkutty chathan is chicken, to
veerabhadran it is alcohol and
bhuvaneswari it is pure veg.
Later another belief came in like that, if we
place these dead ancestors as wooden
idols they won't be able to achieve moksha,
so all idols was combined and burnt and
ashes was poured to the divine rivers. So in
the present days only the gods and
goddesses idols are present in the kottil.
FOOD FOR OCCASION

In our kottil, there are 4 gods - guru, veerabhadran,

bhuvaneshwari and karinkutty chathan. The
evolution of karinkutty chathan was from
vishnumaya (ayyappan). Its vehicle is buffalo. This
vishnumaya listen only towards the positive prays
of the people and is purely vegetarian. But this
evolved karinkutty chathan is way more powerful
and listen to both positive and negative prayers and
take rice bran, husk, rice powder and chicken as
offering.
So on the day of kalasham, this karinkutty chathan
along with neeja bhagavathi and mannodayan
(moorthi/god of the whole land) is taken from kottil
Ada Meat and liquor
as they prefer non veg and is placed under a
sacred tree. The neck of a chicken is cut and the
blood is poured on to all these idols along with the
bran powder.
The offerings inside the kottil is boiled beans, fried
grinded rice, jaggery, ada, appam, malar, avail and
bananas. All these can be cooked by anyone in the
family and they use big urali (vessel) to cook it. Jaggery Boiled beans
RESTRICTION

Another thing noted was the

person doing all these karma
is the oldest living member of
the family and usually it's
men. Women are allowed in
every other works and
helping but the main ritual is
done by men.

DRESS

The main karmi will wear a

kasavu mundu and a cotton
cloth (thorth) on shoulder
and no shirt should be worn
by the main karmi. The other
people attending the function
will be in traditional kerala
attire like kerala saree and
pattu pavada. Karmi - Jayaraj (61) Pattu pavada
RITUALS AND AFTERMATH

The rituals starts with the karmi (the one who does the
pooja) doing a self pooja for himself to make him clean. It
includes sprinkling of water, then applying of
kalabham/chandanam, then lighting the lamp (deepam),
then dhoopam (smoking of dhashangam) and later followed
by tulsi and flowers. A coconut will be cut into two and in
each halves these tulsi and flowers will be kept and the
water inside the coconut will also be taken for sprinkling.
And then all these will be repeated for all the deities. Later a
cotton cloth is wrapped at the tip of the stem of a banana
leaf and burned as arati. Later the black ash from this is
taken applied on the forehead (kuri). Later the meat and
alcohol is placed in front of them in a banana leaf and the
doors will be closed for a while, later it is believed that they
have taken the offering and then this food and beverage will
be eaten by the family members who gathered along for the
ritual. And the whole place is dusted and cleaned.

Arati
 CHANTS

The chantings during the pooja are the normal one like
om nama shivaya and om namo narayanaya
and for goddesses they sing
amme narayana devi narayana lakshmi narayana bhadre
narayana
And for remembering ganesha and overall wellness of the
ritual :
Shuklambaradaram Vishnum
Shashivarnam Chaturbhujam
Prasanna vadanam Dhyaayeth
Sarva vighno pashantaye
Shaantaakaaram bhujagashayanam
padmanaabham suresham
Vishwaa dharam Gagana Sadrusham
Megha Varnam Subhangam
Lakshmi kantam kamalanayanam
yogibhir dhyaana gamyam
Vande vishnum bhava bhaya haram
sarva lokaika naatham.
and overall chanting for ancestral wellness.
Self cleansing
KOLAM AND LOCAL MATERIAL CULTURE AND COLOR
ASSOCIATIONS

For the drawing of the kalam (kolam), it's usually put in a

square manner from ages. The outline of the square is white
done with rice powder. Then turmeric powder is used for
yellow powder. Charcoal of paddy cover (umikari) is used as
black color. Limestone (chunnambu) mixed with turmeric is
used for red color. Charcoal mixed with rice powder called as
krishnapodi is used as grey color. Vaga is used for green
color. All these colors are used inside to fill the squares. There
will be 16 squares inside the big square. Then the banana leaf
is cut into squares called as narukk and placed on these
colored squares and flowers will be put on it and a small lamp
will also be lighted on top. All these associate a lot with the
local material culture of the area as banana plantation is a
important part of the culture and also the making of these
organic powders. All these colors chosen are the colors
associated with hindu mythology of gods and goddesses
where in goddesses has red to showcase power, black for
danger and destruction, white for peace, yellow for
enlightenment and energy and to an extend aesthetics also
takes part in it.
Kalam
Understanding more about the kalam and the rituals through on field sketches and notes and even questionnaire
QUESTIONNAIRE

The questionnaire was mostly based on the origin - why, when, where? etc
And the deities? and rituals? happening along with the chants? and the ancient stories associated?, the post and
pre functions? to be done before the conduct of the ritual and the relations with the culture and community? Any
particular restrictions? etc. Why is liquor and meat is the offerings?

There were other variations of the kalam also,

that is in circular and starish in nature.
Specific pattern was associated with specific
god
Guru and bhuvaneswari has square grids and
the ancestral peedams are having just a black
circle with small white circles in the
circumference and for the sub peedams there
are patterns like 5 legged stars and 6 legged
stars inside the circles. There will be four
ancestral peedams
Kalasham happening in the neighbourhood
which is done on a large scale and the
kalams are mostly kalamezhuthu here
VESSEL AND ACCESSORY

Throughout the ritual many lamps (vilakk) are placed - small and big. One special lamp is kodi vilakk. The other
vessels and accessories in the ritual includes bell, thalika (plate) for keeping chandanam, kindi, avana palaka for
sitting, Idangazhi also called as para for keeping the rice grains, Betel leaves (vetilla) and areca nut palm (adakka)
are also kept along.

Para Kodi vilakk

 Lota Uruli

Thallika Aavanapalaka Bell

Chethi

Areca nut plum

Betel leaf
Tharavadu
(ancestral
home) and its
roof, door, floor
structures in
detail and its
surroundings
-Moorkanikkara,
Thrissur
(location)
Ancient motor Oola kuda
Aamadapetti

A beloved
box that the
old
grandmas
had to keep
their
precious
things. It
holds
special
granthas of
that times
and even
the key is
also unique
in its way.
Mantra pedakam Mundu petti Kilivathil
All the ancient scripts
and precious
accessories of the
ancient ancestors are
still kept inside an
ancient cupboard and is
still preserved.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JAGGERYhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindustantime
s.com%2Fmore-lifestyle%2Fmake-a-gur-choice-jaggery-is-the-superfood-of-the-season
%2Fstory-sJVEvjTLsxEhufLPGvZ6fI.html&psig=AOvVaw0kdrxlAFfmoLPxe49sTkF8&us
t=1646463475201000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCIiby8jwq_YCF
QAAAAAdAAAAABAD

BETELhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vivamart.no%2Fp
roduct%2Fbetel-leaves-7-pcs%2F&psig=AOvVaw0THHhneus4y6RvNFVc49GR&ust=1
646463518251000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCKiukN3wq_YCFQ
AAAAAdAAAAABAD

ARECANUThttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.shutterstock
.com%2Fsearch%2Fareca%2Bnut%2Btree&psig=AOvVaw1G73l2aMHmlwEcDJfI0bdO
&ust=1646463568475000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCNCO6vTw
q_YCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

BOILEDBEANhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbravocooking.c
om%2Fboiled-green-beans%2F&psig=AOvVaw3yfNVHH1JNn96imExiSnWc&ust=1646
463611770000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCLjFxYnxq_YCFQAAA
AAdAAAAABAD

LIQUORhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tripadvisor.co.uk
%2FLocationPhotoDirectLink-g679024-d3267985-i257017553-Kal_Bhairav_Temple-Ujj
ain_Ujjain_District_Madhya_Pradesh.html&psig=AOvVaw1mJ1dgPxxlGPV8gVNpE_e8
&ust=1646463646123000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCMjfvp_xq_
YCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

MEAThttps://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.123rf.com%2Fpho
to_105722766_food-meat-and-fruits-sacrificial-offering-for-god-on-table.html&psig=AOv
Vaw0L16z3CDiobPI0_bTAsmyd&ust=1646463711561000&source=images&cd=vfe&ve
d=0CAgQjRxqFwoTCOiwirnxq_YCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
There is not really any mention about
this festival in the internet since it is
really indegenious to the family and the
central and northern kerala
So the entire document was done by
visiting the ancestral home in
Moorkanikkara, thrissur, kerala and was
photographed by myself. Some pictures
resembling some of the offerings has
been taken from internet and the links
have been provided in the previous
slide.
And the majority of the information is
provided by my uncle (Jayaraj 61) and
aunt (Rejani - 50)