Skip to content

Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers

Scala Arts Publishers, Inc.

  • About us
    • About us
    • Director’s message
    • Meet the team
  • Publish with us
    • Publish with us
    • Client list
  • How to order
    • How to order
  • Scala publications
    • All titles
    • Upcoming titles
    • Art
      • Fine art
      • Contemporary art
      • Decorative art
      • Architecture
      • Sculpture
    • Collections
    • Education
      • Schools & colleges
      • Academic
      • Children’s
    • Exhibitions
    • Heritage
      • Royal collection
      • Castles
      • Homes & gardens
      • Sporting venues
    • Illustrated histories
    • Libraries
    • Religious sites
    • Series
      • Director’s Choice
      • Art Spaces
      • Highlights
      • 4-Fold
Menu
  • About us
    • About us
    • Director’s message
    • Meet the team
  • Publish with us
    • Publish with us
    • Client list
  • How to order
    • How to order
  • Scala publications
    • All titles
    • Upcoming titles
    • Art
      • Fine art
      • Contemporary art
      • Decorative art
      • Architecture
      • Sculpture
    • Collections
    • Education
      • Schools & colleges
      • Academic
      • Children’s
    • Exhibitions
    • Heritage
      • Royal collection
      • Castles
      • Homes & gardens
      • Sporting venues
    • Illustrated histories
    • Libraries
    • Religious sites
    • Series
      • Director’s Choice
      • Art Spaces
      • Highlights
      • 4-Fold
Search
Close this search box.

In God’s Mirror

The Theyyams of Malabar

Pepita Seth

  • Categories: Upcoming titles
ISBN: 978 1 78551 411 1
Size: 274 x 243 mm
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 336
In association with: Kapil Jariwala Gallery
Date published: June, 2023
UK £45
/ US $60

Highlights

  • Extraordinary photography of an ancient ritual in South India
  • Unprecedented insights in words and pictures into one of India’s richest and least documented cultures
  • The author is a British woman who lives in Kerala and was granted unique access over many years

Description

Theyyam is an extraordinary 2,000-year-old ritual of worship found only in the northern region of India’s south-western state of Kerala. It is in this myth-wrapped land that empowered men become temporarily transformed into deities. Whilst the process is an internal one that obliterates the practitioner’s human persona, on an external level his face is transformed by intricate make-up and his body fantastically costumed.

The word ‘Theyyam’ is a corruption of daivam, meaning, quite simply, God. The practitioners of Theyyam perform specific rituals and dance to express their joy at seeing their devotees, whilst the last stages of their manifestation involve them blessing, healing, exorcising, answering questions and maintaining the link between humanity and the divine.

Pepita Seth’s decades-long association with Theyyam’s practitioners gave her unprecedented access to their unique culture. In God’s Mirror: The Theyyams of Malabar is the culmination, in her words and photographs, of her commitment to this extraordinary subject.

Author information

Pepita Seth first visited India in 1970. After several years she became drawn to Kerala and eventually based herself in Thrissur, where she now lives. She has written and lectured extensively on Kerala’s traditions and had exhibitions of her photographs in India, Britain and the United States. In 1981 she received official permission to enter Kerala’s temples, and she has been photographing Theyyam since the early 1990s. Her book Heaven on Earth: the Universe of Kerala’s Guruvayur Temple was published in 2009. In 2012 the Indian Government awarded her the Padma Shri. She has also published two novels, The Spirit Land (1994) and The Edge of Another World (2015).

Share

Amazon UK
ACC UK
Amazon USA
ACC USA

Related publications

Memory Bank

A Biography of Blythe House

Addie Herder

Machines for Living

Guercino’s Friar with a Gold Earring

Fra Bonaventura Bisi, Painter and Art Dealer

Orchid

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Chinese Fans

The Untold Story

Kutná Hora: Sedlec Cathedral Church and Ossuary

Director's Choice

Treasures of Christ Church Cathedral Dublin

Director's Choice

Impressions of Oman

Nineteenth-Century Sketches by Charles Golding Constable

Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd
305 Access House
141-157 Acre Lane
London SW2 5UA
United Kingdom

Scala Arts Publishers, Inc.
c/o CohnReznick LLP
1301 Avenue of the Americas
10th Floor
New York, NY 10019
United States

  • Contact us

Follow us

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • FAQ
  • Download catalogue
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookie policy
  • Credits