This project arose out of my interest to understand the social life an eccentric Sufi, who lived 8 kilometres away from my house, in a locality called Vengara, Malappuram distict in Kerala. My initial interest was to explore how normative Islam, which is the dominant religious expression of Kerala Muslims, tried to engage with the narratives about a Sufi, who did not seem to be adhering to the doctrinal prescriptions and proscriptions of Islam. I have done a few months of fieldwork at the dargah of Koyapapa in Vengara, Malappuram district in Kerala intermittently from 2017 onwards.
This project is growing to explore ideas of charisma, embodiment, piety and barakat among Muslims in Kerala.