Bhairavi was born in 1264 C.E. in Tiruchendur, on the south-east coast of the Indian subcontinent. At a young age she was sworn to the Nallaiappar temple in nearby Tirunelveli, and there began to learn the arts of the tevaratiyar, or temple-dancer. Although Tirunelveli and the areas surrounding it had been the hub of the Pandya dynasty for many centuries, the period of time concurrent with Bhairavi's life was marked by a resurgence of their power, and they expanded their borders well into what had been Chera and Chola territories under the rule of Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandyan (1268-1308).

Timeline

1251	Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan becomes ruler of Pandyan kingdom.
1264	Bhairavi is born
1268	Jatavarman dies. Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandyan becomes ruler of Pandyan kingdom.
1288	Marco Polo visits the Pandyan port of Kayal, just North of Tiruchendur.
1293	Marco Polo returns to Kayal, and also visits the Pandyan-controlled capital of Madurai.
1305	Maravarman builds Masilamani Nathar Koil on the coast near Thanjavur.
1309	Maravarman dies. Kingdom annexed by Cholas(?)
1311	The Muslim general, Malik Kafur, reaches Madurai, raiding the city and temples.
1316	Malik Kafur dies
1323	Madurai and other Pandyan areas become a province of the Delhi Empire, under the Tughlaks.

I try in many ways to know the things Bhairavi would know. Although I may not have the time, money or inclination to be able to do them as well as she does I like to have a good idea of those things in which she would be capable.

The Body

I have taken classes in Bharata Natyam, which is a traditional South Indian devotional dance form, at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. It was very, very hard, but really satisfying. Unfortunately severe attacks of life such as moving across the country have kept me from attending classes since 1999. I am currently researching Bharata Natyam teachers in the Los Angeles area.

I am also extremely interested in Indian martial arts, despite the fact that Bhairavi would most likely not have known of such things. I have been searching for some time for a Kalaripayat teacher but have had no luck thus far.

The Mind

For most of my research, it's impossible (and indeed, stupid) to avoid the Tamil language. In the meantime, I'm struggling to teach myself the Tamil alphabet. There is also an online Tamil Lexicon that has been a wonderful resource to me for years now.

New!!! (6/15/02) I've created a page of Bhairavi's Words on which I will have a variety of short in-persona paragraphs on various topics. One of my goals is to be more in persona at SCA events, but I find I always have a hard time knowing what to talk about. It is my hope that these mini-essays will help set my thoughts in order enough for me to actually be able to carry on conversations about various topics. I hope to update this page frequently as I discover new and exciting information.

I have made a page dedicated to my 'Quickie Notes', which is mostly a sheet of cut & pasted URLs and text from various web pages and book sources that I've gathered in my many late-night/early-morning Web research binges. I will hopefully have it all sorted out at some point in time. It contains many little tidbits of information on things I think are useful to my persona development, as well as other things I'm just interested in.

Much of my research has been web-based, and in order to better share the resources I have found, I have compiled all of my links onto the page for the mailing list I started for SCA members interested in Indian history:

Articles
The majority of these are "Works in Progress" (unless otherwise noted).

Analysis of South Indian names from Donors, Devotees and Daughters of God
Indian Costume - Focused mainly on the garments of the Southern regions, pre-Muslim influence.
Buddhist Choli reconstruction

Bhairavi