person in facial paint and costume

Theyyam is a popular ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India. People consider Theyyam itself as a God and they seek blessings from them. This shot is of ‘Aaralathu Bhagavati*’, from my home in Nileshwaram (Kasargod district), Kerala. *Bhagavati, is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in India as a polite form to address or as an honorific title for female deities in Hinduism.