Dozens of men and boys gather on the side of a road in Alappuzha, a city in the southern Indian state of Kerala, on a late afternoon in mid-March.
They’re hard at work building one of 13 Kuthira, or large wooden towers, using saws, ropes, and their bare hands. The towers are offerings to the Hindu Goddess Bhadrakali, the protector of the good. Each represent a Kara, or region surrounding the Chettikulangara Devi temple, the home of the celebrated deity.
The 1,200-year-old Chettikulangara Kumbha Bharani festival draws more than 5,000 people annually and is currently under review for Intangible Cultural Heritage status by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“The last seven days we have been working hard to make this,” says Bibin Karthika, an Alappuzha resident and follower of the Hindu faith. “This is our tribute to her.”
As the sun sets, each tower will be carried by devotees to carefully-chosen locations outside of the Devi temple in a night-long procession called the Kettukazhcha.
“I came especially to see this,” says Sateesh Parashar, a retired architect who returned to Alappuzha after 30 years for the annual festival.
“I was born here, this is my home,” adds Parashar. He currently lives in Delhi with his wife Shalini but says that retirement has gifted him time to travel and reminisce about his childhood.
This is their first time attending the festival together and they made it to the early morning Kuthiyottam, a dance and symbolic sacrifice of boys aged 8 to 12.
“We present a human being to the goddess,” says M.K Rajeev, president of the Sridevi Vilasom Hindu Matha Convention, the organization behind the festival. He explains that during a controversial practice called Chooral Muriyal, one drop of blood is integral to the symbolism of the human offering and insists that the bleeding is done without the knowledge of the child.
However, the 250-year-old tradition has drawn criticism by the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights which banned the practice in 2016 for acts deemed harmful. This includes piercing the sides of the boys’ midriffs and passing gold threads through the punctured skin, which results in bleeding.
Despite the ban, the ritual was performed again this year, and according to local police reports, a child cruelty case has been filed against the Sridevi Vilasom Hindu Matha Convention.
(All photos by Susana Plascencia unless otherwise noted.)
Family members of the boys who will be symbolically offered to the deity participate in a procession to the Devi temple during the Kuthiyottam. The boys walk in the middle of the procession but remain unseen until after the ritual has been performed. (Photo courtesy of Shalini Parashar.)
A volunteer worker saws off excess wood from a deity sculpture that will be placed on the Prabhada, the largest part of the festival tower.
Touch-ups are made on wooden figures of Hindu gods Bhima, a mighty warrior, Hanuman, the lord of celibacy, and Panchali, one of the sacred five virgins whose name is believed to dispel sin.
A completed festival tower is prepared to be carried to the Devi temple.
Local volunteers tug on the Adikkottu, or the wooden foundation of the festival tower, as they drag the heavy structure to the Devi temple grounds.
President of the Sridevi Vilasom Hindu Matha Convention, Rajeev (left), meets with festival attendees near the Devi temple.
Marigolds adorn the outside of the Devi temple alongside depleted lamps on the day of the festival.
Devotees enter the Devi temple to greet and pay their respects to Goddess Bhadrakali before the Kettukazhcha. Only those who follow the Hindu faith are allowed inside the temple.
A young girl exits the Devi temple to reunite with her waiting parents.
Each 100-foot tall tower—made of wood, coir, and cloth and adorned with flowers and ornaments—is placed in a specific region or kara next to the temple.