Dianne Discovers Kerala's Women Power

Gopakumar AV

Dianna Jennet proves a well-rooted myth about Americans wrong. True, Americans are fully entrenched in their culture, but who says they can't assimilate cultures from distant lands?
Dianne Jennet a true-blue American from Palo Alto California is quite at home in south Indian state. Kerala the land of spices and Ayurveda.

Her empathy with the local culture is so total. Her interest and scholarship in the culture of Kerala has resulted in wide media coverage. In totally literate Kerala where the penetration of media is very high, she is almost a household name now, especially among the women folk.

"Pongala" festival, in Attukal, Trivandrum, where thousands of women get together, is a unique one, perhaps the largest women-only festival in the world. Here women gather to cook and offer red rice and sweet porridge to Bhagavathi, the mother goddess. Dianne, who has researched the pongala festival, has acquired rare insight in to spirituality of Kerala women.

"It is the devotion with which you do something that makes it sacred. Attukal Pongala is a contemporary ritual, an unconcious creation of a new tradition by masses. Yes, it is the women who loyally turn out in large numbers every year, who make this a sacred ritual." says she.

A regular visitor to Kerala since 1993, as part of her research on women and spirituality, she is a keen observe of the society and its vibrant culture. She came back in 1995 as a researcher on "women and spirituality" at the institute of integral studies California. She started her research on holy serpent grove (kavus) tradition, which has many women oriented rituals. "Pongala", offering food cooked in the open was part of this tradition. She went to Pongala and Vedeo taped the ritual. But the massive congregation of women was beyond her imagination. Women from all social strata were there to get the blessing of the mother God. She speaks eruditely on the origin and transformation of the rituals and observes that Syrian Christians of Kerala also has similar rituals.

In 1997 Dianne herself offered Pongala at the temple. Last year on the Pongala day, she offered Pongala in her California home.A stranger walking down Cowper street in Palo Alto, California always stops for a minute fascinated by the colorful "kolam" (Intricate decorative design) in white rice flour , on the drive way of Dianne Jennet's home. The neighborhood is now quite used to this early morning ritual of Dianne, which she made her own from India.

Her research has had a tremendous influence on her, says she. She was an outsider delving in to another culture's belief system. "But I feel I have observed the traditions in its true spirit, almost sacredly". In her research, she covered a lot of ground. Her thesis "Attukal pongala, from the perspective of women and spirituality" was well received in the US and she was awarded the doctorate last year. "I could see a developed society burnished and nourished by strong cultural practices. Every phase of life is guided by commendable tradition". The sacred groves for example emphasize the balance between human being and nature. The sacred offering to serpent God evokes a feeling of oneness, the union of man and nature.
The health care tradition, Ayurveda is another focus area, "It is an elixir, which one can trust in the modern world of toxic antibiotics. More over its truly holistic, and a sustainable practice".

Her busy research schedules didn't allow her to explore Ayurveda in depth yet. She has plans to visite the major Ayurvedic resorts in the state and learns more about this therapy soon. Being the dedicated researcher who delves deep and comes up with rare insights, one expect a scholarly book an Ayurveda from her.
Her love for Kerala, its people customs, rituals and culture is not a passing fad. Every time she comes to Kerala she make it point to bring a few of her friends. This time there were four of them with her. They all go back thanking Dianne for giving them this chance.

Dianne who is a guest lecturer in several universities is now putting all her energies to develop a women spirituality network "Serpentina" on the Net. Her thesis would be soon available on the net. She hopes to bring her students to Kerala to experience her cultural wealth.