Buta Kola

Ritual folk dance and divination from India

Būta Kōlā, also referred to as Daiva Kōlā or Daiva Nēmā, is a shamanistic dance performance prevalent among the Hindus of Tulu Nadu and parts of Malenadu of Karnataka and Kasargod in northern Kerala, India. The dance is highly stylized and performed as part of 'Bhootaradhane' or worship of the local deities worshipped by the Tulu speaking population. It has influenced Yakshagana folk theatre. Būta kōlā is closely related to Theyyam of North Malabar region.

Koragajja: The most worshipped Daiva (Spirit) by the Tulu people and is prayed to for help in solving any problem, to get back something lost, or to get any work done on time. Panjurli: A boar spirit that is worshipped to ward off the menace of wild boars in order to protect the crops. According to Tulu mythology, a wild boar died in Lord Shiva's celestial garden. The boar's offspring was adopted by Goddess Parvati. The young boar became destructive as he grew older and began destroying the plants and trees in Lord Shiva's garden. Lord Shiva became upset by this and decided to kill him. Goddess Parvati, however, defended the boar and asked her husband to pardon him. So instead of killing him, Lord Shiva banished the boar to Earth as his gana and tasked him with protecting the people of Earth and assured him that he will be revered by the people as a protector god. This particular boar became a Bhoota (Divine Spirit) known as Panjurli. But some people syncretise Panjurli with Varaha, the boar incarnation of Lord Vishnu, since the two deities are boars. He's also a Rudransh because of it he is also known as Shiva Shambhootha Or one who has the powers of Mahadev. Panjurli Daiva is also the one of the earliest daivas who is worshipped in all over Tulunad his earliest worship dates back to 700 BCE 800 BCE along with Bermer Daiva (Brahma). The idea behind the worship of Panjurli is that wild boars destroyed crops and thus, farmers started worshipping a boar king who was known as Panjurli and in return they believe that panjurli protects the crops. Bobbarya: The God of the seas, is worshipped mostly by members of the fishing community. Kalkuda and Kallurti: They are Daivas who are brother and sister. According to legend, Kalkuda was a great sculptor who built the Gommateshwara statue in Karkala. After he completed building beautiful temples and monumental statues, the ruler of Karkala cut off his left arm and right leg so that he could not create such beautiful sculptures for any other king. On seeing her brother's state, Kallurti vowed to take revenge and requested Lord Shiva to turn them into deities. Shiva agreed and the pair then took violent revenge on the king, his family, and his kingdom. Their destruction was only stopped when a master magician promised them that they would be worshipped as and how they wanted. Guliga: As per legend, he was born out of a stone. The Goddess Parvati discovered this stone in a pile of ash. Guliga was created when Lord Shiva flung this ash into the water and was sent to Lord Vishnu after his birth so that he may serve him. However, Guliga was extremely destructive and this greatly annoyed Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu exiled Guliga to Earth as a result and tasked him with protecting the people on Earth.

The word is derived from būta (Tulu for ‘spirit’, ‘deity’; in turn derived from Sanskrit भूत for ‘free elements’, 'which is purified', 'fit', 'proper', ‘true’, 'past', 'creatures'; Anglicized: ‘bhūta’, ‘bhoota’, ‘bootha’) and kōla (Tulu for ‘play, performance, festival’, or 'shape/form'). A bhūta kōlā or nēmā is typically an annual ritual performance where local spirits or deities (bhūtas, daivas) are being channelised by ritual specialists from certain scheduled castes such as the Nalike, Pambada, or Parawa communities. The bhūta cult is prevalent among the Tuluvas of Tulu Nadu region. The word kōla is conventionally reserved for the worship of a single spirit whereas a nēma involves the channelising of several spirits in hierarchical order. In kōlas and nēmas family and village disputes are referred to the spirit for mediation and adjudication. In feudal times, the justice aspect of the ritual included matters of political justice, such as the legitimation of political authority, as well as aspects of distributive justice. The produce of land directly owned by the būta (commons) as well as certain contributions from the leading manors was redistributed among the villagers. The history of Bhuta Kola is unknown but some scholars suppose that this tradition was probably originated during 700 BCE by the migration of early tulu tribes introducing the worship of Bermer (Brahma), Panjurli (the boar spirit) and other spirits although Bhuta Kola is a modified form of prehistoric religious rituals. The earliest inscription of Bhuta Kola was from 14th century from Barkuru which mentions about an individual bhuta named kundodara demands a sacrifice from a king who wants to deport his ship in sea.

The Bhūta worship of South Canara is of four kinds, kōla, bandi, nēma, and agelu tambila. Kōla: Demi god dancing, is offered to the Bhūtas in the sthana of the village believed that which they are supposed to reside. Bandi: Bandi is the same as kōla, with the addition of dragging about a chariot, on which the one who is representing the Bhūta is seated; most often, he is from the nalke, pambada or ajala communities. Nēma: Nēma is a private ceremony in honour of the Bhūtas, held in the house of anyone who is so inclined. It is performed once in every year, two, ten, fifteen, or twenty years by well to do families. Agelu tambila: is a kind of worship offered only to the family people, wherein rice, dishes, meat, alcohol are served on plantain leaves and offered to spirits, deities, departed forefathers annually or once wishes are completed.

The ritual performance at a būta kōla or daiva nēma involves music, dance, recital, and elaborate costumes. Recitals in Old Tulu recount the origins of the deity and tell the story of how it came to the present location. These epics are known as pāḍdanas.

Thurston counts among the best known deities "Brahmeru, Kodamanitaya, Kukkintaya, Jumadi, Sarala Jumadi, Pancha Jumadi, Lekkesiri, Panjurli (a divine boar), Kuppe Panjurli, Rakta Panjurli, Jarandaya, Urundarayya, Hosadēvata (or Hosa Bhūta or Posa appe), Dēvanajiri, Kalkuḍa, Tukkateri, Guliga, Babbariya (or Bobbarāyā), Neecha, Duggalaya, Mahisandaya, Varte, Koragajja, Chāmundi, Baiderukulu, Ukkatiri, Kallurti, Shiraadi, Ullalthi, Okkuballala, Korddabbu, Ullaya, Korathi, Siri, Mantradevathe,Sathya Devathe, Rakteshwari, Istadevathe and Odityay. The Bhūtas are supposed to belong to different castes. For example Okkuballala and Dēvanajiri are Jains, Kodamanitaya and Kukkinataya are Bunts, Kalkuḍa is a smith, Bobbariya is a Māppilla, and Nicha a Koraga." Some of them are ancestral spirits such as Bobbariya, Kalkuḍa, Kallurti, Siri, Kumār Koti and Chennayya. Some are deified wild animals such as the boar Paňjurli (the female counterpart is Varte Paňjurli) or the tiger Pilichamuṇḍi. Some būtas are Androgynous such as some instances of Jumadi who is represented as female below the neck (breasts), but with a male head sporting a mustache. The world of the forest and the world of the spirits are therefore seen as mirror images of each other. The wild animals threatening the human cultivator and his fields such as the tiger, the snake, the wild boar, and the gaur, find their mirror images in their corresponding būtas Pilli, Naga, Paňjurli and Maisandaya. The relationship between these three worlds is one of balance and moral order. If this order is upset by the humans, it is believed that the spirits become vicious. If the order is maintained, the spirits are believed to be supportive and benevolent. Thus, the spirits of Tulu culture are neither "good" nor "bad" as such; they are "neither cruel nor capricious. They methodically and persistently remind a lax humanity of the need for morality and the value of solidarity". Nobody is believed to be above the moral and cosmological norms of this threefold universe, not even the spirits or the gods. Thus the būtas are not whimsical or arbitrary in their judgement. The būtas are their patron's protectors with regard to a system of moral norms, not despite them. As Claus observes, the principal mediators in this network of feudal transactions are communities who once upon a time may have led a liminal life between grāmya and jāṅgala/āraṇya. Tribal communities living in and off the forest and trading in forest products were predestined to serve as spirit impersonators as their life world, the forest, is only the tangible side of the world of the spirits. In pursuit of their livelihood they regularly transgress structural boundaries between village and forest. They live on the margins of the village, in the wasteland between forest and field, thus they are themselves, in a sense, liminal. That such liminal people should be mediums for the spirits seems entirely apt. Today communities like Nalike, Parava or Pambada who impersonate different kinds of būtas and daivas can no longer be characterised as tribal. They are mostly landless agricultural labourers in the wet season and spirit impersonators in the dry season.

Today feudal relations no longer obtain and thus former ruling families no longer hold any political or judicial office. But still the village demands that they sponsor their annual kōla or nēma to honour the village deity. The people believe that the neglect of the spirits will make their life miserable. Unlike with the better known Hindu gods of the purāṇic variety, būta worship is congregational.

The secular function of the kōla or nēma has been described as a "sacred court of justice" where traditional (feudal) moral ideals are brought to bear on difficult real life situations. In the subsequent court of justice the spirit is approached by the villagers for blessings or asked to help resolve conflicts.

The art of being a channel/medium is learned. Young boys belonging to the Pambada, Parava, Nalike castes attend rituals where their kin is performing; and they help out with shredding the coconut leaves for the garment of the channel/medium, holding the mirror while the channel/medium is putting on the make up etc. They learn the art of the performance by observing the performance of their kin and trying to mimic it. Along with being able to mimic the way their kin performed, what is essential to be a successful channel/medium is also the aptitude of being possessed by the deity. There are certain rules the channel/medium needs to follow to prepare his body for the possession. This may include being a vegetarian and not drinking alcohol. The pāḍdanas recite the origins of the spirits and deities. This is one way for the rituals to reconstruct the past and render a legitimization to it. Koti Chennaya, a 2007 movie made in Tulu which went to win the Best Tulu Film at the 54th National Film Awards. Deyi Baidethi, a 2019 Tulu language historical film on the life of Deyi Baideti, mother of Koti and Chennayya. The 2022 Kannada film Kantara showcases the portrayal of Buta Kola in its main storyline. As a result of the movie, the Government of Karnataka introduced a monthly allowance for performers of Buta Kola who are over 60 years of age.