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Paper short abstract

Kurichyan geomyths from Wayanad, Kerala, India present nature as technology. Through acts of seeding, diverting, and knotting, landscapes become corridors, shrines, and commons- stories that encode ecological techniques and cultural memory.

Paper long abstract

This paper draws on four Kurichya geomyths I recorded and translated in Wayanad, Kerala, India- 'Origin Myth of Malakkari', 'Origin of Kurukkalal Bhagavathy', 'The Story of Sea-less Wayanad', and 'Another Story of Sea-less Wayanad'- to explore how landscapes and waterscapes are narrated as acts of making. Unlike many traditions where nature appears as a scenic backdrop or divine fiat, these tales treat nature as technology: a set of procedures that configure land, shrines, and commons.

Three episodes illustrate this procedural view. In travel myths, stones dropped along the deity Muthappan’s route sprout into palms and bamboo, planting corridors that guide movement and provide resources. In shrine-installation tales, volatile forces are pacified through substances- toddy, bamboo, tooth, rock- so that ritual space and settlement can emerge. In “sea-drinking” stories, heroes and kings bind rock chambers to contain salt water, leaving enduring place-names that mark environmental labour. Methodologically, Propp’s functions are used descriptively to tag actions, Ochs and Capps’ framework tracks sequencing and pacing, and performance attention highlights emic names, materials, and place-names. These tools show how plants, liquids, and minerals operate as co-agents in the plot, shaping both narrative form and ecological knowledge. The argument advanced is that Kurichya geomyths define the “natures of narrative” as timing and technique: plots hinge on ecological operations- seeding, diverting, knotting- through which landscapes become corridors, shrines, and territories.

Keywords: Kurichyan; South India; geomythology; landscape narratives; eco-narratology; nature-culture