Abstract

Every period finds its own meanings and understandings fitting to its own aims and
purposes. The study attempts to trace an understanding of Mathileri Kanni that essentially
portrays a variety of reflections of sexuality and gender. Even though Mathileri Kanni exalts
heterosexual union and its divinity, it undoubtedly defiles its supposed sanctity through
homosexual undercurrents, which in turn get legitimized in terms of homosocial bonding. Thus
exposing the queerness in the heterosexual marriage portrayed in this ballad, I attempt to
question the partialities that have been dominant in reading this ballad. In this paper I tried to
examine the content and more specifically the style of narratorial rendering of the ballad that
describes same-sex eroticism.

Keywords: Vadakkan Pattukal, Gender, sexuality, cross-dressing, same-sex desire