ItemArticle

K???an???am Performance: K???a Devotion, Ritual Ecology, and Colonial Transformation in South India

Title
K???an???am Performance: K???a Devotion, Ritual Ecology, and Colonial Transformation in South India
Creator
Mohan P, Aswathy; Ashraf, Muhammed Niyas; Varghese, Anna
Description
This paper critically explores K???an???am, a Sanskrit ritual dance-theater tradition from Kerala, as a product of socio-political and religious transformations in early modern South India. Conceived in the mid-17th century by the Zamorin King M?nav?da, author of the Sanskrit text K???ag?ti, K???an???am was both a devotional offering to Lord K???a and a strategic expression of ritual sovereignty. Rooted in K???a bhakti (devotion), the tradition reflects how religious performance was mobilized to assert political legitimacy, particularly amid rivalry with regional powers such as Travancore. The Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple, situated in the Malabar region of northern Kerala and central to the performance of K???an???am, emerged as a vital sacred space where royal patronage, ritual authority, and caste hierarchy intersected. The performances exclusivity restricted to Hindu audiences within temple premises reinforced patterns of spatial control and caste-based exclusion. Institutional support codified the tradition, sustaining it across generations within a narrow sociocultural framework. With the decline of Zamorin rule and the onset of colonialism, K???an???am faced structural disruptions. Colonial interventions in temple administration, landholding, and religious patronage weakened its ritual foundations. Guruvayurs transformation into a public devotional center reflected wider shifts in ritual ecology and sacred geography under colonial modernity. In both the colonial and postcolonial periods, K???an???am struggled to survive, nearly facing extinction before its revival under the Guruvayur temples custodianship. By examining K???a devotion, royal ambition, caste dynamics, and colonial transformation, this paper offers a critical lens on Keralas evolving religious and cultural landscapes. 2025 by the authors.
Source
Religions;Volume;16;Issue;12;Article No.;1503;
Date
01-01-2025
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
Subject
caste; colonialism; k???a devotion; K???an???am; postcolonial transformation; sacred space; zamorin
Coverage
Mohan P A., Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST University, Bengaluru, 560029, India; Ashraf M.N., Department of History, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, 560064, India, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University, Campus Boekentoren, Gent, 9000, Belgium; Varghese A., Department of International Studies, Political Science and History, CHRIST University, Bengaluru, 560029, India
Rights
All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 20771444;
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Mohan P, Aswathy; Ashraf, Muhammed Niyas; Varghese, Anna, “K???an???am Performance: K???a Devotion, Ritual Ecology, and Colonial Transformation in South India,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 18, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/23541.

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