Saidali PP

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA, documents and analyses the ritual and performative life of Muharram in selected coastal and riverine towns of southern Tamil Nadu (Eruvadi, Melapalayam, Kayalpattinam, and Puliyangudi). It foregrounds processions, devotional recitations, martial and fire-related performances, material culture, and foodways to understand how these practices shape local memory and identity. Saidali PP is the Coordinator of this project.

Saidali PP is an Assistant Professor of History at Sadakathullah Appa College, Tirunelveli, holding an MA from Jamia Millia Islamia and an MPhil from the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU. A recipient of the CSDS–ICSSR doctoral fellowship, his research explores the re-making of Islamic identities, memory, and Mappila history. Sahul Hameed, an Assistant Professor of History at Sadakathullah Appa College, whose research focuses on Tamil Muslim religious education, the Dravidian movement, and regional cultural transformations; and Abdul Azeez, Head of the PG and Research Department of History at the college and an expert in the social history, the advent of Islam in the Tirunelveli district, and local Muslim communities, will join Saidali as collaborators for this project. Given the experience of Saidali PP in archival research and his community-based knowledge of local Muharram rituals, along with broader South Asian Islamic histories, he is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

Ritual cultures of southern Tamil Nadu’s Muslim communities are under-documented in contemporary scholarship. Existing work often privileges other regional forms; the proposal addresses a gap by focusing on the distinctive forms and local vocabularies of Muharram practice in these towns and on how ritual sound, movement, and objects mediate identity and cultural transition. 

The research combines on-the-ground fieldwork and archival review. Core methods are participant observation, audio-visual documentation (video, audio, photography) of processions and performances, semi-structured interviews with ritual practitioners and community elders, collection of material-culture data (objects, foodways), and review of Arabu-Tamil and local texts. Field recordings will be transcribed and translated where needed, and documentation will be organised into a searchable archive.

The outcome of this project will be a bilingual research report/essay, a short documentary film, a curated photo archive, and a digital repository of audio-visual materials with a bilingual glossary. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA, along with the final reports, will include the bilingual essay, the edited documentary film, audiovisual files, and accompanying metadata.

This project aligns with the framework of IFA’s Arts Research programme, as it re-conceptualises Muharram as a discursive tradition rather than treating it solely as a religious ritual, thereby highlighting how evolving debates and transformations in its observance reflect broader changes in Tamil Muslim identity, gender, caste, and inter-community relations. By documenting these practices and situating them within local historical, artistic, and cultural contexts, the study will recover a neglected dimension of Tamil Muslim heritage while advancing cross-regional and comparative understandings of ritual, performance, material culture, and religious identity in South Asia.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

The Project is part-supported by BNP Paribas India.