In the coastal village of Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu , faith takes on an earthly form during Kulasai Dussera . Here, gods and goddesses descend to dwell among men—not through idols, but through devotees who embody the divine in a spectacle of trance, transformation, and devotion unlike any other festival in India. As India celebrates Dussehra with fireworks and effigies of Ravana, over eight lakh devotees converge at the 300-year-old Arulmigu Mutharamman Temple , where the air hums with chants, drums, and the sound of transformation itself. A Festival of Transformation The Kulasai Dussera, observed during Navaratri , spans ten days and culminates in the dramatic Soorasamharam , the slaying of the demon Mahishasura by Goddess Lalithambigai—an incarnation of Mutharamman , the fierce guardian deity of the town. Unlike Dussehra elsewhere, where the focus is on the Ramayana, the myth here centers on female divinity and creation’s power to restore mo...
This is one of my long term projects and started in mid 2022, will continue for next 10 to 20 years. This work has been conducted with the help of a direct present of myself and documented and making conversations with local peoples. According to the South China Morning Post (2021), within a few decades this island is expected to completely vanish. Around 40,000 people have fled and only about 3000 people call Ghoramara their home. These numbers are changing every day as there are no proper track of in and out of each individual. This Island has lost around 75% of its total area in the last 30 years. She also mentioned that a new island called Nayachar has been showing continuous growth since around 1970. This island plays an important role to protect north-western part of Ghoramara island from the tidal force of the Haldi river. In the year of 1990, Kolkata Port Trust was constructed to divert the main flow of the river towards western channel of the hooghly river. However, due to sediment deposition at the western bank of the Nayachar, the main flow touches the North Eastern slope of the Ghoramara island. Apart from that, heavy rain, rising sea level and frequent cyclones made life difficult for the people of Ghoramara.
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