ABSTRACT

This chapter analyzes the social constructs leading towards the highly charged trance states in men and women prior to, during, and after the fire walking rituals. Arguing that the women identify themselves with Goddess Tiraupati and her helplessness through the performances of mythology, it presents personal narratives of participants in such rituals. The entire epic of Mahabharata is performed as a set of storytelling, theatrical and ritual performances in the northern districts of Tamilnadu in honor of Goddess Tiraupati. Tiraupati’s moment of humiliation in the Kaurava court is also the moment of her self-realization. From the moment of breaking into self-knowledge, Tiraupati transforms from being a passive woman into a ferocious goddess who would not rest until her vow is fulfilled. The transformation is both self-realization and self-transcendence at the same time. Finding structural similarities in the narratives of several participants, the chapter also presents the way in which emotional intensities are created through the narrativizing of values.