Embodying the Spirit (<i>meyppāṭu</i>): A <i>puttiṇai</i> Perspective

I explain the early Tamil idea of <i>meyppāṭu</i> as a kind of action, which consists of embodying the spirit, and show how it manifests itself in ordinary emotional experience, in love at first sight, in emoting in theatre, and in spirit possession. The analytical tool I employ is the c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nirmal Selvamony
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Religions
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/24
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Summary:I explain the early Tamil idea of <i>meyppāṭu</i> as a kind of action, which consists of embodying the spirit, and show how it manifests itself in ordinary emotional experience, in love at first sight, in emoting in theatre, and in spirit possession. The analytical tool I employ is the concept of <i>mūviṭam</i>, or the personaic triad, the central concept in the theory called <i>puttiṇai</i>. Using this tool, I outline the idea of <i>meyppāṭu</i> in the primal community, in the state society, and also in the industrialist state, and show how the understanding of <i>meyppāṭu</i> in the primal world (what I have called <i>viḻuttiṇai</i>) ensured a love-based lifeway necessary for the wellbeing of the people and all the beings other than humans that were also part of that world, and why this understanding is necessary today to end the present Anthropocenic industrialist lifeway, which has brought humans and beings other than humans to the brink of disaster.
ISSN:2077-1444