Textualising the Siri Epic, and: The Siri Epic as Performed by Gopala Naika (review)

The Siri Epic as Performed by Gopala Naika (Parts 1 and 2) and Textualising the Siri Epic comprise a three-volume study dedicated to the textualisation and introduction of a version of a South Indian epic concerning the primary ritual text of a "trance possession cult" of women led by male singer Gopala Naika. The study was made through the cooperative efforts of a Finnish-Indian oral epic research team, Mr. Naika, and other locals. The truly "epic" project was headed by Lauri Honko, formerly Professor of Folkloristics and Comparative Religion at the University of Turku, Finland, and now leader of the Kalevala Institute, a unit at the university dedicated to research in comparative epic research.

Textualising the Siri Epic is a complete introduction to the previous two volumes, in which the written text is presented. Although volume 1 contains a short introduction, the third volume goes into much greater depth and explores a host of theoretical and methodological questions. Honko has attempted not only to present a useful combination of text and context but also has followed in tremendous detail the process of making a written version of an oral epic, moving from the pool of tradition and the performer's mental text (Honko's term to describe a text composed of all possibilities of the story residing somewhere in the performer's mind, an idea discussed further later in this review), through performance, documentation, and the final fixed, written text. The project dates from 1984, when Honko made an initial trip to southern India, although actual documentation by the combined Finnish-Indian team did not begin until 1989, with a great percentage of the onsite activity carried out in the early 1990s.

The textualised epic is based on a series of performances given by Gopala Naika of Machar village in the southern corner of Karnataka in South India. The language of the epic is Tulu, which is spoken by about two million people, making it a minority dialect in the region. The singer is an agriculturist and leader of a "possession cult-group" of approximately sixty women in which the epic figures as a "mythic charter" and the "intertextual base of the prayers and rituals" (Textualising, p. 447) in the possession activities of the group. The possessions take place at periodic Siri festivals which may involve dozens of similar groups of women who invite a pantheon of gods surrounding the goddess Siri (wife of Shiva) into their bodies. (Group members tend to have histories of mental problems, and the Siri groups seem to provide a sort of therapy through possession, reminding one in a general way of women's possession and shaman cults in other parts of Asia.) The epic is a weave of female concerns with a continual stress on grounding in time and space. Life-cycle themes include charting the path through puberty trauma, into marriage, and on into later demands of marriage. Many fears and stresses are voiced: barrenness, the rigors of childbirth, abandonment, competition with other women, male infidelity, and the production of sons. Positive role models and scripts are also supplied: women finding their roles in society, often after repeated failures, the maintenance of confidence through life ordeals, and public recognition of status. Although the female participants certainly benefit on personal levels, the festival and possessions are done as a "service to god" (Textualising, p. 546).

The male singers/leaders of these groups, such as Gopala Naika, are mediums...