Picture of the week: Rising from the ashes

Shot on OnePlus #FramesofIndia
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

Theyyam Kandanar Kelan, a deity based on the legend of an archer-farmer, braves the blazing, gnawing flames in an hour-long ritualistic frenzy at the Kaliyattam festival at Karakeel Wayanattu Kulavan Devasthaanam, Ettikkulam in Kannur. The belief is that the farmer was clearing vast tracts of forest by burning the vegetation to prepare land for farming, but got trapped in the flames. As he tried to clamber up a lone tree that was still surviving in the middle, he got killed by snakebite. Another theyyam, Vayanattu Kulavan, which was passing by, came to his rescue and resurrected him from the ashes.