by Naveen Gurpur
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Bantwal, May 15: As a part of religious worship, ‘Mookambika Guliga Bootha’, an ancient form of worship prevalent among the Tulu-speaking community, was hosted by the family in Manila of Bantwal district.
In the practice, the ‘Mookambika Guliga’ (worship of Holy Spirit) is slowly prepared for self-hypnotism and for imposing the spirit on him. It is then taken in a procession along with instruments to a place where the holy fire is lit.
The possessed spirit puts all its efforts into jumping on the gutted place made of areca nut trees.
The worship started late night and went on till morning. All this practice stops on 'Pathanaje' (the last day for such ritual in Tulu dialect). This particular ‘Bhoota’ was hosted after 16 years in the village, the devotees said.
“This particular form of Bhoota, is rarely practiced anywhere as it takes in lot of risk as it is performed with burning fire,” said one of the villagers.
“Such worship is considered to be the guardians of the villages, and is believed to be having powers of helping and showing grace. They also play an important role in the folk judicial system,” he informed.
Bhoota Kola has an artistic look to it with the spirit wearing unique costumes, dancing to the tunes of drums and wind instruments, as it gets closer to possession of the spirit, the tempo depth increases. A typical costume is a gown made of palm leaves and a big nimbus like structure called ‘ani’ made of palm leaf and decorated with a few ornaments.