Provisional period: the Scholar Council has not yet seated its first three members. Records labelled "verified" in the underlying registry are displayed as provisional until the council ratifies its first verdicts. Submissions still go through scholar review; only the public label downgrades.

Plate RIT · YYAMTheyyamTheyyam

urn:vamshanidhi:ritual:theyyam

Ritual tradition

Unverified

Theyyam

Theyyam

village · shakta

iDescription

Ritual art of North Kerala where trained performers embody village deities through elaborate costume, body paint and 12-24 hour trance-like invocation.

iiNames in other languages

  • थेय्यम्

    hin · Deva

    केरल की प्राचीन अनुष्ठान परंपरा जिसमें नर्तक देवी-देवताओं और पूर्वजों का आह्वान करता है। विस्तृत श्रृंगार और वेशभूषा के साथ।

  • தெய்யம்

    tam · Taml

  • ತೇಯ್ಯಂ

    kan · Knda

  • തെയ്യം

    mal · Mlym

  • తెయ్యం

    tel · Telu

iiiRegional variants

1 attested
  • poothan-thira

ivPerforming temples

18 attested

vProvenance

Provenance ledger

4 entries

  1. Evidentiary classificationverified_evidence · Vamshanidhi moderation recordscholarly interpretation
  2. Āgama traditionshakta corpus · Scholar-tagged at ingestionscholarly interpretation
  3. Regional name attestations6 translations · eng/Latn, hin/Deva, tam/Taml, kan/Knda, mal/Mlym, tel/Teluscholarly interpretation
  4. Performing temples18 temples attested · Contributor + scholar-verified joinsoral tradition

Notice an error, a missing source, or a date that should be revised? Suggest a correction. Every amendment enters the scholar moderation queue with the contributor cited.

URN · urn:vamshanidhi:ritual:theyyam

वंशनिधि

Civilization memory · Federated · Established 2026

Vamshanidhiवंशनिधिvamshanidhi.in

As of 2026-05-24 · Provenance: self-published