26-year-old Kochi man keeps alive an ancient Portuguese ‘exorcism’ hymn

Godson Gladwin leads the ‘Devastha vili’ in Portuguese in Vypeen
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Around midnight, a group of young men, dressed in black, assembles on the Vypeen beach. One of them, 26-year-old Godson Gladwin, is carrying a large wooden cross adorned with a single strand of jasmine. Soon after, with his head bowed and eyes shut, Godson begins to chant an ancient prayer, his powerful voice breaking the stillness of the night.

Godson is performing the ‘Devastha Vili’, a centuries-old prayer ritual brought to Kochi by the Portuguese. As he chants the haunting hymn aloud, the men in black chorus some stanzas.

Described as “an exorcism of lost souls”, ‘Devastha Vili’ is usually performed during the Lent period in the coastal regions of Kochi and Varappuzha dioceses.

Believed to have been composed by St Francis Xavier, when he came to these shores in the 16th century, the hymn dwells on the importance of righteousness in one’s life, the inevitability of death, the eternal judgement and offers a way to a spiritual renewal. The tradition stayed on and various versions of it evolved in a blend of Malayalam and Tamil, adopted by the Latin Catholics of the region.

The Anglo Indian community in Vypeen, however, continued to perform the Devastha in Portuguese. Though not from the community, Godson learnt it from one of its last Anglo Indian custodians Howard Hendricks.

Today, Godson is one of the only few who performs the Devastha in Portuguese. “As a child, I watched him (Howard Hendricks) chant in Portuguese. I was drawn to the words and the way he recited them. I would listen to him intently and, by the time I was in Class X, I found that I could recite most of it by heart,” says Godson.

After Howard passed on, Godson has been carrying forward the legacy. Godson’s father Gladwin John, who runs a travel company in Vypeen, performs the Devastha in Malayalam. “Godson is well-versed in the Malayalam version, too, but he felt a deep connection to Portuguese,” says Gladwin.

Godson Gladnwin | Photo Credit: THINTER

Godson and his team congregate at the historic Church of Our Lady of Hope in Vypeen by night every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the Lenten months for the first prayer. From there, they proceed to the Goshree bridge. They halt at several spots on the way to perform Devastha, believed to exorcise evil or lost spirits.

Author and screenplay writer P F Mathews says the ritual goes beyond the religious realm and harks back to Kochi’s chequered history. Growing up here, he has heard the Devastha in a blend of Malayalam, Tamil and Sanskrit. “It sounds like a deep lament straight from the heart,” he says.

Just as any other folklore, it revives the stories from the past, he adds. Devastha, therefore, can also be seen as a performing art such as Chavittunadakam.

In a bid to preserve heritage, Godson, who is currently studying German after completing his B.Sc in Physics, has been teaching younger boys who wish to learn the Portuguese Devastha.

“The person performing Devastha has to follow a strict penance, fast and prayer,” says Godson. “It is a powerful prayer for souls in purgatory and while chanting it, one is not allowed to turn back or stop even if there are sudden disturbances. I have felt tremors in my hands while chanting.”