PHOTO SERIES CREATES A PARALLEL VISUAL NARRATIVE OF SILAPPATHIKARAM
Contemporary photographer Abul Kalam Azad is noted for his pioneering experimental works. In his latest ongoing series Story of Love, Desire and Agony, the photographer creates a parallel visual narrative of epic tragedy Silappathikaram, in the contemporary context. He has shot the series in contemporary locations of ancient seaports Puhar (an ancient port city known as Kaveri Poompattinam) and Muchiri in present Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “The epic poem Silappathikaram is believed to have been written during the Sangam period by the Chera dynasty’s Prince-turned-Jainpoet Ilango Adigal. The epic narrates a popular folklore story related to the native practice of mother goddess worship. The story of this epic is set in the backdrop of the three dynasties and covers the coastal and inland life of ancient Tamilakam. The epic has all the intrinsic characteristics of Sangam poetry. I wanted to re-read the classical tragic epic in the contemporary context. The photo series is divided into five parts. I have focussed on the multiple facets of the continuing mother goddess cult practices and rituals, the diverse landscape (thinai/modes) of South India, the remnants of the cross-border cultural connections and the epic’s influence on the social formation of the South,” says Abul Kalam Azad.
The expansive photo series deals with identity, territory, and gender. This photo series has five parts. “The first part was shot in Kodungallur Bhagavathy temple. The local folklore myths connect the presiding deity and the pre-Vedic Hindu ritual offerings with the legendary Kannaki. In this Bhagavathy Kavu (sacred grove), during the Meena Bharani festival, the men and women oracles and villagers regard themselves as being possessed by the Mother Goddess and ritualistically make an offering to the presiding deity, which local myths connect to Kannaki. The second part was shot at Mathilakam in Kerala (previously known as Trikkana Mathilakam, the village where Ilango Adigal is believed to have been residing while composing the epic — Silappathikaram,” the photographer adds.
The third part of the five-part series, titled The Men of Pukar, is Abul’s attempt to re-look and re-discover Ilango’s Puhar and its men in the contemporary context. “This project was shot with the support of the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA). Currently, I am in Wayanad doing the fourth and fifth parts of the series,” he adds.
The epic has all the characteristics of Sangam poetry. I wanted to re-read the epic in the contemporary context
— Abul