Abstract:
Despite several ethnic communities living in areas extending from Verugal to Veeramunai, the Tamil
and the Muslim communities of Batticaloa live intertwined by geographical and physical landscape
and cultural interchanges resulting from them. Religious and social beniefs that the Hindu and Muslim
communities have structured for themselves have blossomed into performances of Thiruvempaavai
to Hindus and Bakkir baith to Muslims which link their respective communities with their respective
religions. The intrinsic cultured performance of a culture is an important internal factor. Performance
produces cultural contents. And as stated by Bronislaw Malinowsky (Anthropology Researcher),
performance completes the activity that fulfills man’s biological, psychological and social needs.
(Mozhithal 2018. Page1). Thus, through this research it is found that Thiruvempaavai of Batticaloa
Hindus and Bakkir baith of Muslims are religious and social performances that fulfill the biological,
psychological and social needs of the respective communities. Despite Thiruvempaavai and bakkir
baith blossoming as two different religious and social cultural entities, Thiruvempaavai of the Hindus
living in Batticaloa and the Bakkir baith of Muslims have many resembling multiplicity of
characteristics such as the performance method, performance objectives, season and time of
performance, social interaction, social benefits, music instruments used, songs sung, themes of those
songs, history of their origin, etc. When resemblances contained in this performance are revealed
through researches, it is certain that mutual understanding and ethnic integration will strengthen in the
communities where these performances are rooted.
