Karthik Rangappa

If someone makes a claim that they know India well, then do ask them to define their radius. For the little that I’ve seen of India, things change every 200 kms, right from cuisine, language, culture, landscape, climate and everything in between. It is nearly impossible for a human to know India in its entirety. The sheer vastness, diversity, and complexity of the country can be quite something for a human to comprehend in his or her lifetime.

I live in South Bangalore, 35 kms from my house is Tamil Nadu’s border. If you cross the border and continue driving another 100 kms, you will reach a place called ‘Kaveripattinam‘, which is just like any other South Indian small town. Until, you get into the details.

It was around December 2023, I first heard about Kaveripattinam, and its vibrant ‘Mayana Kollai‘, festival. Mayana Kollai festival is celebrated around the new moon, right after the Shivaratri festival. Of course, all the festivals in India are linked to the Sun, Moon, and the Harvest cycles. In Mayana Kollai festival, people worship Maha Kali, the goddess of Power, destruction, and death. A grand chariot carrying Angalamman or Kali or manifestation of Goddess Parvati goes around the streets of Kaveripattinam, blessing people. The preparation of the grand chariot, the procession around the town, the dances of people, animal sacrifice, are few highlights of Mayana Kollai.

I called my friend, Varun, who stays close to Kaveripattinam to check if he knew anything about the festival. He had a rough idea, but then he looped in Rajappa, a local, and a regular to the festival. I kind of convinced both Varun and Rajappa to take me to the festival. This was in Feb 2024. This time, my wife decided to join me as well 🙂

On the way, Rajapppa spoke about what really happens at the Mayana Kollai festival.

I figured that the people of Kaviripattinam look forward to this one festival every year, and why not? The entire town comes together to celebrate. There are multiple community kitchens set up, people dress up, paint their bodies, make offerings, pierce their bodies, pray, sing, drink, and some even get into a state of trance and dance their hearts out.

Did you take the ‘paint their bodies’, bit casually?

And did you take the piercing part casually too?

Mayana Kollai is a mega festival in Kaveripattinam, and it attracts locals from the neighboring villages too. The town gets crowded and is tough to navigate, especially for a person with a camera 🙂

People immediately see through and figure that you don’t really belong there, and that can get a bit intimidating. You get that ‘what is this city dweller doing here?‘, look from pretty much everyone. However, if there is one thing that I’ve learnt during my travel is the art of blending in, and the trick is simple – smile, and smile a lot 🙂

I quickly lost all my inhibitions and I was one in the crowd, almost in a semi state of trance myself, clicking portraits.

The blood shot eye, the intense look, and the saturated colors on her body, the never ending high decibel drum rolls in the background was powerful enough to induce a trance like state to people around. It was both fun and intriguing for me to watch everything around me. I was invited to people’s home, offered food and drinks, and was asked to take photos 🙂

Almost all the household had at least one member of the family participating in Mayana Kollai. Families make vows of scarifies if their wish were to be fulfilled by Goddess Angalamman. Be it for health, wealth, marriage, children or whatever. If the wish comes true, then its payback time – it could be through painful piercings, animal sacrifice, or just a prayer.

Being in South India, its highly likely you’d have heard of such festivals. I certainly have, but this was my first time I experienced something like this. The energy was crazy, the sights were unbelievable, and the atmosphere was electric. I spent time soaking in as much as I could, while I wondered, how different the world is just 150kms away from my house, and how little I know my country.

And here are few more images from Kaveripattinam’s Mayana Kollai, like always please do see these images on a big screen 🙂

If you know of any other interesting festival around you, then please do drop in the details in the comments below. I’d forever be ready to explore 🙂