Product ID: WMBM0006

Bhuta Masks

Product Description:
‘Bhuta’ is a Sanskrit word that means ‘passed away’ or ‘sprit’. The term is also used to refer to the ancestor cult practiced in the Tulu Nadu region of southern coastal Karnataka, India. Bhuta ceremonies (Bhuta kola) do not feature the worship of inanimate idols but the interaction between the audience and an oracle who receive the invoked spirit. Such ceremonies typically took place once a year and were sponsored by upper-class families usually from the Kshatriyas caste. Dancers as oracles wore masks such as this as part of their elaborate headgear and costumes. Once the ceremonies were over, the masks were returned to the temples (sthaana) where they were worshipped as representations of the spirits.

Product Specification:
22 x 12 x 26 cm

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