Saints, Serpents, and Terrifying Goddesses: Fertility Culture on the Malabar Coast (c. 1500–1800)

This chapter examines the unique and interlocking dynamics of fertility rituals and practices of different cultural traditions in the Malabar region, on the western coastal area of Kerala, between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Healing traditions in this region reflected the plurality and interdependence of different cultural frameworks that contributed to the range of medical knowledge in this period. Concepts of illness, including those relating to fertility issues, were constructed through the religious-cultural consciousness of the people. This chapter tries to explore some areas of what may be termed fertility psyche, beliefs and practices, in relation to the binding factors of religion, social functioning, caste institutions, and various concepts such as pollution. Although humor-based healing traditions such as Ayurveda coexisted with magico-spiritual practices, the belief in the supernatural was very predominant in the region. These beliefs created a large complex of rituals and festivals that also created a network of fertility geographies and cults across the Malabar region. These constituted a parallel world of alternative and non-textual fertility healing practices.