Panjurli Bhuta Mask (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
Dramatic metal masks like this are used in religious rituals in Tulunadu, a small region along India’s southwest coast. Supplementing mainstream Hindu practices, Tulunadu’s regional cult venerates local spirits called Bhutas. These spirits have the power to upset human affairs or, when properly appeased, to bestow health and prosperity. During night-long rituals involving music, dance, and storytelling, Bhutas take possession of elaborately costumed, often masked oracles. Panjurli, the wild boar, embodies nature’s capacity to destroy civilization, just as this forest-dwelling animal can devastate a farmer’s fields overnight. Sometimes also associated with Vishnu (in his boar-avatar, Varaha) or Shiva (who in local legend cursed the pet piglet belonging to his wife, Parvati), Panjurli guards Tulunadu’s borders and resolves village disputes.
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