20/08/07
Des dieux rouges dans la foret verte / Red gods in the green forest
A Kanoor un taxi vient me chercher pour m'emporter vers la guesthouse Costa Malabari. Korian m'y accueille. C'est un vieil homme a l'air malicieux, un chretien perdu en terre de theyham depuis 10 ou 20 ans et tombe fou amoureux de ce rituel.
Il m'explique tout: a la difference du kathakali qui est une forme de theatre, le theyham est un rituel religieux uniquement accomplis dans l'enceinte du temple. Ses origines sont ancestrales: le theyham est ne bien avant l'indouisme au point qu'il puisse meme etre considere comme son ancetre.
Les dieux du theyham sont ceux de la terre, de la mer, du ciel... des dieux cruels et protecteurs tels Kali ou des dieux puissants comme Agni, le dieu du feu purificateur. Ce dernier dieu me tient particulierement a coeur car il revele la signification premiere de mon prenom: Agnes. Quand mes parents croyaient me donner un nom d'agneau, "agnus", le pur et sacrificiel agneau latin, ils me nommaient en fait "feu", du bien plus ancien sanskrit "agni". Et la couleur symbolique du feu en Inde est... le rouge!
Helas les rituels incluant Agni sont tres rares car extremement dangereux: des torches sont attachees directement aux costumes mettant a tout instant le celebrant d'etre gravement brule. Je me prends cependant a rever devant une belle collection de photos tandis que mon hote me redis que la saison est finie, que j'aurais du venir la semaine precedente...
Neenmoins il appelle des amis, des voisins, pour savoir si un theyham est prevu quelque part. Et puis il ecoute, il ecoute la foret. Et du fond de la foret monte une rumeur, un battement de coeur lourd et vibrant: ce sont les tambours qui annoncent un theyham.
Vite, Korian se renseigne et indique la direction a prendre a un taxi: il y a une fete aujourd'hui, je pourrais voir trois theyhams (le terme designe autant la ceremonie que chacune des personnes incarnant a cette occasion un dieu).
Vite, rouler sur les petites routes de terre rousse. Longer les villas cossues que se font construire les Indiens revenus d'avoir fait fortune au Koweit.
Le son des tambours s'emplifient... voila, c'est la.
Une grande tente abrite des tables ou des enfants finissent de manger des plats de riz et de curry epices. On y sert aussi du the, des jus de fruits... et du vin de palme. Si les hindouistes ne boivent pas d'alcool, dans le theyham non seulement il est admis mais le vin de palme joue un role crucial dans l'atteinte de l'etat de transe.
On me propose de tout en me devisageant avec bienveillance, mais je refuse poliment: le rituel a deja commence depuis plusieurs heures, certains "dieux" retirent meme deja leurs costumes, je dois me depecher de dessiner.
Je me fraye un chemin dans la foule - il y a la 200 a 300 personnes - et je deviens tout de suite autant l'attraction que le theyham. Je suis la seule occidentale. C'est pire encore lorsque je sors mon pinceau.
Un homme tout de rouge vetu est au milieu de la cour du temple niche entre les palmiers. Trois hommes lui attachent sur le dos un mat de pres de 7 metres de haut fait de bambou et de feuilles de palmier tissees entre elles. Il vacille mais tient bon. Il se met a marcher, a sautiller, a tourner sur lui-meme. Le mat tangue au dessus de lui. Un autre theyham vient danser avec lui. Les tambours redoublent de vigueur. Les pas s'accelerent. J'ai du mal a dessiner. Les costumes sont tres compliques et me sont totalement etrangers, on me bouscule, on m'agrippe les bras, les mains meme. Au bout d'une heure le grand mat est retire du dos du danceur si faible, qu'on le fait asseoir. On lui sert a boire dans un petit recipient en cuivre au long bec. L'alcool fait son effet. Il se releve pour danser a nouveau et sauter plus haut a present qu'il est libere du poids exceptionnel sur ses epaules.
Quand enfin il se rassoit, la foule se precipite vers lui. Il s'est mis a parler sur un ton monocorde et tous sont attentifs. Parfois il manque de s'evanouir et plusieurs hommes le retiennent alors, lui redonne du vin.
Une file se forme: d'abord les hommes, puis les femmes dans leurs saris multicolores, attendent de pouvoir parler au dieu. En effet le theyham en transe et possede par le dieu est alors capable de voir l'avenir et de repondre avec sagesse aux questions des villageois. Vais-je marier ma fille? Vais-je enfin avoir un enfant? Mon affaire va-t-elle tourner? Est-ce un bon moment pour investir?
A chacun le theyham prend le temps de repondre, meme quand la question vient d'un petit enfant.
Assis devant un autel, un autre theyham repond aux questions et justement beaucoup d'enfants font la queue pour le voir. Il porte un etrange costume: un grand anneau de bois sous les bras auxquels sont attaches de longues herbes fraiches.
Assis devant un autel, un autre theyham repond aux questions et justement beaucoup d'enfants font la queue pour le voir. Il porte un etrange costume: un grand anneau de bois sous les bras auxquels sont attaches de longues herbes fraiches.
J'ai a peine le temps de le dessiner qu'il retire deja sa coiffe: a cet instant le theyham redevient humain. Il eclate de rire en voyant mon dessin et m'entraine aussitot vers les "coulisses", quelques baches tendues entre les palmiers.
Des theyhams et des costumiers epuises y dorment. Une petite foule se forme a nouveau dans mon dos.
Mais a mesure que la fete avance, les hommes sont de plus en plus saouls (les femmes ne sont pas autorisees a boire), j'ai du mal a les repousser. L'un d'entre eux devient si insistant que je decide de partir, epuisee par la chaleur, l'humidite, la foule et l'effort de concentration intense.
J'ai assiste a mon premier theyham.
In Kanoor a taxi comes to pick me up and takes me to the Costa Malabari guesthouse. There I am welcome by Korian. It's a old and malicious man, a Christian lost in theyham territory since 10 or 20 years and who has fallen absolutely in love with this ritual.
He explains it all to me: unlike the Kathakali which is a teather form, the theyham is a religious ritual and is only accomplished within the limits of the temple. Theyham's origins are ancestral: it was born way before the indouism, to the point of even being considered as its ancestor.
Theyham's gods are the gods of the earth, the sea, the sky... cruels and protecting ones like Kali or very powerful ones like Agni, the purificating fire's god. I particularly cherish that last one for it reveals the true meaning of the name that was given to me, Agnes. When my parents thought to call me after a lamb, the sacrificial and pur Latin lamb (agnus), they really were calling me "fire", the sanskrit and much older origin of the word (agni). And the symbolic color of fire in India is... red!
Sadly Agni 's rituals are extremely rare because of their great danger: flaming torches are attached to the costumes which puts the performer at risk of severe burning at any time. Yet I start dreaming about it in front of a beautiful collection of pictures while my host is telling me again that the season is over, that I should have come the week before...
Nevertheless he calls friends, neighbours, to know if a theyham is scheduled somewhere. And he listens, he listen to the forest. And far from within the forest comes a rumor, a heavy and vibrant heart beat: the drums announcing a theyham.
Fast, Korian inquires into it and gives directions to a taxi: there is a festival today, I should be able to see 3 theyhams (the word refers as well to the ceremony as to the persons then incarnating a god).
Fast, driving on the red little roads. Going along the rich villas built by Indians coming back from having made a fortune in Koweit. The sound of the drums grows... there it is.
A big tent is sheltering tables where children are finishing to eat some rice and spicy curry dishes. Tea is also served there, as well as fruit juices... and palm wine. If Hindus don't drink alcohol, in theyham not only it's allowed but palm wine plays a critical role in helping the performers getting into a trance.
I am offered of everything and kindly stared at, but I politely refuse. The ritual has already started a few hours ago, some "gods" are even already taking of their costumes, I have to hurry to draw.
I make my way in the crowd - there are 200 or 300 persons - and I become right away as much of an attraction than the theyham itself. I am the one and only occidental. It gets even worth when I pull out my brush.
A man fully dressed in red is standing in the middle of the temple's courtyard hidden between the palm-trees. Three men are fixing a mast, about seven 7 meters hight, made of bamboo and of woven palm-trees leaves. He stumbles but holds on. He starts walking, leaping about, gyrating. The mast is swinging above him. Another theyham comes and dances with him. Drums gets more vigorous. Steps speed up. I have a hard time drawing. Costumes are intricate and totally new to me, I am being bumped into, my arms and even my hands are being grabbed. After an hour the big mast is taken off the dancers' back, and the later is so weak that he has to sit down. He is being given to drink from the long pipe of a small copper dish. Alcool soon helps him. He gets up again to danse and jump even higher now that he is free of the exceptional weight on his shoulders.
When he finally sits down again, the crowd rushed towards him. He has started to speak with a monotonous tone and everyone is carefully listening. Sometimes he is about to faint and several men hold on to him and give him again some wine.
A queue is forming: first men, then women wearing colorful saris, wait to speak with the god. Indeed the theyham while he is transe and is possessed by the god is then capable to see the future and to answer with great wisdom all villagers' questions. Am I going to find an husband for my daughter? Am I going to have a child? Is my business going to be all right? Is it a good moment to invest?
To everyone the theyham takes time to answer, even when the question is asked by a small child.
To everyone the theyham takes time to answer, even when the question is asked by a small child.
Sitting in front of a shrine an other theyham is answering questions and indeed a lot of children are queuing to see him. He wears a strange costume: a big wood ring under his arms to which long fresh grass is attached.
I barely have time to draw him and he is already taking off is headdress: at that very moment the theyham becomes human again. He burst of laughing when discovering my drawing and right away leads me "backstage", a few tarpaulins spread between palm-trees.
Some exhausted theyhams and costume designers are sleeping there. A small crowd is gathering again behind me. But as the festival goes on, men are more and more drunk and I have a hard time pushing them away. One of them becomes so insistent that I decide to leave, worn-out by the heat, the humidity, the crowd and the intense focusing effort.
I just witnessed my first theyham.
I just witnessed my first theyham.
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