The Drama Unfolds: Tuluva Myth and Ritual in its Western Stage1

Abstract: In the annual siri rituals, hundreds of women sing the story of siri and become possessed by the siri spirits. The ritual performance is regarded as curative. This article makes an attempt to study and analyze this oral text highlighting how the Anthropologist and the Folklorist approach the text and performance, and the difference between textual analysis and performance analysis. This also attempts to contrast the two academic approaches to the study of kinds of oral textual traditions that exist in ritual contexts. In the annual Siri rituals of Dakshina Kannada District2 in Karnataka,southern India, hundreds of women sing the story of Siri and become possessed by the siri spirits.3 As the story describes them, these spirits are three generations of women of a matrilineal family: Siri; her daughter, Sonne; and her twin grand-daughters, Abbaga and Daraga. The story recounts the tragedies that befall them. In its various contexts, singing the Sir