Their god is not your fancy dress

Every Halloween brings the ldquoappropriationrdquo discussion to the fore again with debates on what costumes pay homage and which are just culturally insensitive The discourse is all the more pointed amid the Kantara fever this year with instances of fans cosplaying the ancient Boota Kola ritual outside movie theatres After all is it really paying homage if you style a Halloween costume or cosplay as a 500yearold demigod of an indigenous peopleIn Tulu Nadu along the western coast of Karnataka there are over 1200 demigods known as DaivaBoota and they hold deep sacred meaning for the people of this region For them the success of Kantara is a doubleedged sword bringing public awareness to their centuriesold culture but also exposing it to insensitive mimicry in the form of ldquocosplayrdquo This outrage is widely reported in regional news media from Tamil Nadu and KarnatakaDaiva speaking to Shashank NilitareTheir worship includes the ancient practice of Boota Kola when the demigod merges with the member of a chosen family This merged demigodinhumanform then communicates with the villagers through a mediator mdash a member of a different clan chosen for this roleShashank Nillitare is the 16thgeneration mediator from his village Balnadu in Puttur Taluk of western coastal Karnataka ldquoMy family summons the spirit of Daiva In this generation I am the one who has been chosen to do sordquo Nillitare tells Sunday midday over a phone callThe recent cosplay of the demigods outside theatres showing Kantara has been a point of contention between appropriation and paying homageSince Diwali Nillitare an engineer by day has been working through the night as the Daiva season has begun ldquoIt starts every year on the day of Deepavali and ends on April 26 It is during this period that the Daiva tells us what we need to improve the harvestrdquo he saysNillitare invokes the spirit of Ullalthi Amma his villagersquos demigoddess Legend has it that she along with her brother came to Puttur western Karnataka during the reign of a cruel king Tired of injustice the divine duo killed the king freeing their people from the tyrantShashank Nilitare and Sadhana ThippanakajeBalnadu was then gifted to the demigod siblings by Lord Mahalingeshwara ldquoEach of the 16 villages here has a demigod and more subdemigods that are rooted in our culture Just like I am chosen from a long line of mediators in my family the Daiva presents itself in the body of someone from another family that was chosen over 500 years ago when the demigods first graced us with their presencerdquo adds NillitareThe birthright is considered sacred and no matter what their day job the manwoman chosen will rarely reject the duty They give up alcohol meat and leads in the harvest season Once the season ends too they are expected to lead a pious lifeNillitare has mixed feelings about Kantara ldquoThe movie was good in a way many people have learned of our traditions but thousands have gotten access to a sacred thing Itrsquos meant only for those who understand the importance of Daiva in our lives It hurts when we see people outside theatres and even in the movie enacting it Boota Kola for entertainmentrdquo he saysIn some villages he reveals the ritual is so closely guarded that it cannot be witnessed by even those from the neighbouring village Many Daivas tend to refuse counsel to outsiders says Nillitare ldquoThe demigods are believed to know the lineage of every person in the village but they cannot see an outsiderrsquos ancestors when shehe asks for helprdquo he explainsThe Daiva plays the role of a counsellor or a therapist in the village imparting counsel on a range of subjects from marital issues to business ldquoWhen the Daiva addresses you the first thing they say is ldquoAs a mother I feed you and as a father I will guide you That is what they are for usrdquo he saysVisual anthropologist Aslam Saiyad who has been researching the rituals of tribals including those from the Aarey forest for the last two years says he couldnrsquot make it through Kantara ldquoI watched a bit and realised the depiction is quite exotic itrsquos not like thatrdquo he saysThe Bollywoodisation of tribals says Saiyad is so ridiculous that past a point it becomes amusing ldquoThe ritual is a part of everyday life for tribals We get so enamoured by it that it tends to be portrayed in a very unrealistic fashion We like our tribals to wear leaves we cannot look at them like regular people which is why we enjoy movies like Kantarardquo he addsSadhana Thippanakaje is a food anthropologist and cultural documentarian of Karnataka and Maharashtrarsquos west coast and says that there are different versions of the Daiva along this coastline ldquoThis tradition overlaps with the Maharashtra and Konkan region as well Here we might call it baapdev father of gods jaagewala entity of this land or raakhandar protector of lands In Kantara the demigod is Panjurli who is a wild boar that protects the forest Similarly there are demigods who will protect paddy fieldsrdquo she saysThe attire and makeup for the rituals are made from nature the attire from banana stem and the makeup from leaves and flowers ldquoThe community largely comprises SC and ST members who live on the borders of the village But during this season the savarna too join to pay their respectsrdquo she addsldquoIf one does get a chance in their lifetime to witness a ceremony where the Daiva comes and express their divinity in dance it is a wonderful blessingrdquo says Thippanakaje As an observer she lets us in on how the movie has led to an almost commercialisation of something so sacred ldquoSome people from the mountainous regions of Karnataka like Mysuru may not have known about this tradition but after the movie many have started dressing up dancing and screaming to copy the movie They Daivas are not actors they are chosenrdquo she says disgust creeping into her voiceCosplay has to be respectfulTrue cosplayers will be quick to point out that a Halloween costume comes nowhere close to the effort put in by them to replicate their favourite characters mdash from Chewbacca to Captain America mdash from the toenail to the hair But with Comic Con India returning to several cities for its second leg of 2025 this month Hyderabad and Guwahati and with Kantara capturing the audiencersquos imagination we might just see some Buta Kola cosplay pop up on the internet Lifelong cosplayers though warn that this would not be appropriate cosplayMedha Srivastava in cosplayldquoTherersquos a thin line between appreciation and appropriationrdquo says Medha Srivastava illustrator and cosplayer ldquoand acknowledging it is what separates a respectful artist from a person who might be just imitating it carelessly For example Kali comes from our religion and there are a lot of people in the West who cosplay as Kali on Halloween We get offended by that rightrdquoldquoBefore cosplaying a very culturally rooted character we need to ask ourselves lsquoDo I understand the background and symbolism of this attire or this character Am I representing it respectfully without mocking it Or am I sexualising the characterrdquoRivika Khanna in full cosplayldquoWith historical characters cosplay has to be depicted respectfully to avoid hurting peoplersquos sentimentsrdquo says Rivika Khanna founder Mumbai Anime Corps ldquoCultural appropriation strips meaning from culture treats it like a prop and disrespects its origin On the other hand cultural appreciation is about honouring researching and crediting wearing it with understanding not entitlementrdquo