Vidyaranya Temple Building at Sringeri

“My soul lies with the Gods here, only my physical being is in my hamlet. My Gods, Lord Basaveshvara and Shilanthavva, will uplift us all. They are great levellers,” says Thyagamani of S Doddapura, a small hamlet adjacent to Mallinathapura village of Malavalli taluk in Mandya district.

Thyagamani’s piety is understandable as she is speaking just after the end of Mallinathapura’ s Thatte Habba, the village festival, celebrated once in two years to worship Lord Basaveshvara and Shilanthavva. Ten families of S Doddapura, including that of Thyagamani’s, are vokkalus (devotees) of Mallinathapura’ s Basaveshvara and Shilanthavva.

What sets apart Thatte Habba, also known as Dodda Habba, from the region’s scores of other festivals is the swing, its greatest attraction.

Thattes are actually nearly 50-feet high arecanut palms erected at the four corners of a square-like space at the village entrance. A rope made of buffalo skin, known as mili, is suspended in the middle of the enclosure and to this is notched up a wooden plank seven feet above the ground.

In order to swing, one has to first squat on the wooden plank and then somebody has to give the plank a shove. The individual on the plank stands up as the swing reaches one end of the space, then squats as it reaches the centre, only to rise again as it reaches the other end, lending momentum. A truly exhilarating experience!

The four thattes are more than mere totems of the kinship binding Mallinathapura’ s three major castes: the Urs community, Kurubas and Dalits. The first two are provided by Dodattis and Chikkattis, the Urs sub-groups, the third by Kurubas and the fourth by Dalits.

Kenchegowda, a Kuruba, explained that like every year, this year too all the Kurubas had pooled in their resources to get the arecanut palm. Though residents of neighbouring Kanikalli hamlet, the deities of the Kurubas — Kalyana Basaveshvara, Shilanthavva and Mugamashnamma — are in Mallinathapura.

Thatte Habba’s division of labour is emphatic. As Kenchegowda said, his people play the thamate and dance to its rhythm. “Our job cannot be done by them and we can’t perform their roles,” he observed. Even if one community refuses to participate, the habba won’t take off, he added.

For Mahadevaiah, a Dalit, the festival is an occasion to commune with his kith and kin and offer his prayers to gramadevathe for a bountiful harvest.

There were signs of trouble at this year’s festival. For the first time ever, police were present to ward off any untoward incident.

The new development could either be for good or worse. But it was an indication that the festival is no more the same, Puttaraje Urs, a resident of the village, said.