Warrier's Collage 06082020 : Festivals of Kerala

Warrier's Collage https://youtu.be/R83BlU5nnbs Welcome to God's Own Country Warrier's Collage 06082020 : Festivals of Kerala Good Morning Collage is aware that last few days temples and festivals of Kerala have taken more space. The discussion on God's Own Country triggered this trend. The purpose was to clear a misunderstanding that Kerala had only a couple of temples. By now, the presence of several temples and diverse practices in worship across the 600km long strip of land must have become evident. For now, we will move on to some other subject from tomorrow. Many thanks for contribution and participation. Look for : Festivals of Kerala B Time Budgeting C Responses D Books E Travancore Tales. F Leisure G M G Warrier A Interaction 1) Dr T V Surendran On second thought... Dr T V Surendran, Mananthavady shares a dilemma : " Deviation from the Epics, mantras etc. The other day, just before Corona lockdown, a cute little one year old baby girl was brought to me with fever and seizures. I gave tepid sponging, paying more attention to both sides of the neck( not forehead, as people do usually). The baby regained consciousness in about twenty minutes. The anxious parents were all smiles, relieved. While proceeding with the history and examination, the grandmother told me that even the mother of the baby, and and many more in the family, were my patients . ( Nothing special, most of us... senior Paediatricians treat generations) This particular baby, they said, was "saved" by me, soon after birth, on a rainy, stormy night. Now I remembered, attending and reviving à still born baby. Taking a detailed developmental history, this cutie had some delayed milestones of development ( mental retardation). I counselled the parents . The whole day, I was thinking..... Had I not revived the baby soon after birth, the poor parents would not have to see the life-long misery of the child. Now I ask myself.....Did I SAVE the baby? Or.... ( Life comes pre-set without rewind and fast-forward keys. Of course we can think in any dimensions. Even the worst criminals, do things they consider right at the moment they act. You'll not find in law books or even scriptures, but, my perception is, the reasoning for allowing lawyers to defend prima facie criminal acts could be this. - Warrier) 2) Vathsala Jayaraman " Ref to Shri Babusenan's story and the shlesha prayogas in Malayalam. We have many such poems in Tamil also. Thank you for the literary entertainment." 3) K Ramasubramanian Ref : Collage dated August 5, 2020 " Collage is increasing in size with wider participation. Many contributions in the style and variety of COLLAGE are pouring in. That is a healthy sign. Normally such boom is short-lived, in my limited understanding. You become more responsible to see that then, interest is sustained for long. This edition is a good one" ( I'm aware.Thanks for your friendly caution. I've been carrying on with a monologue type of communication which started with my letters addressed to my son when he went to hostel (I called it "My Page" then) during 1990's. Only recently I have experimented with interactive format. Let us see how WC evolves-Warrier) B Festivals of Kerala 1) Thrichambaram Temple https://www.keralatourism.org/malabar/trichambaram-temple/133 Brief on temple https://youtu.be/vR_5SKCLrCw Main feature of the temple festival 2) Thrissur Pooram https://youtu.be/JOoIF2XPMqs Enjoy 3) Attukal Pongala https://www.keralatourism.org/event/attukal-pongala-festival/30 Brief on Pongala https://youtu.be/X2VJwrPT-W0 Watch the preparations and the Pongala Festival. 4) Koodalmanikyam Temple http://www.koodalmanikyam.com/temple.html Introduction C Time Budgeting : M G Warrier https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/i-dont-spend-time-24098/ Most of you are aware of Time Management techniques. This approach is different. Long long ago, Kiran Bedi spoke about this. Now she may not remember. D Responses 1) E T Rajendran " The link to Parassinikadavu Sree Muthappan Temple triggered me to venture writing this. In fact, only now I got more information on the historical background of this temple. Broadly, earlier I knew only the two Theyyams viz Thiruvappana and Vellattam, the former depicting Lord Vishnu and the latter Lord Shiva. This temple is very near to my ancestral house in the native village of Thaliyil, just one km. from the temple towards west. There will be no family in the nearby villages of the temple who have not visited this temple. Offering one or the other type of prayer is invariably done by everybody who visits this temple. For students in the nearby schools/villages it is a must to visit the temple on the day the academic results are out. Let me now take a leaf out of my student life. After finishing the last paper in the SSLC Exam, my grand father advised me to pray Shree Muthappan and family ancestors for success in the exam. Thus waiting for two months, on the 25th of May 1964 the results were to come in the newspapers. On the early morning of that day, my elder brother took me to the nearby mini town, one km. away from my house for looking my result in print in the news paper. There were some of my friends also waiting for the paper distributor to come. I was not a student of very high standard and therefore not expecting very high marks. By God’s grace, I passed in First Class; frankly I did not expect this, going by my marks in School exams. (In fact I got the result - all the students - on the previous evening through a contact the School authorities had with the Newspaper. Although I was overjoyed and told my parents immediately, I wanted to be sure of this and anxiously waited till the next morning for a sigh of relief). Why I narrated this event is that immediately on return to my house with the newspaper, the much pleased parents gave me a 25 paise coin advising me to proceed to Parassinikadavu Shree Muthappan Temple and offer a prayer - Payamkutti - that was the charge those days and until recently. That is the faith and devotion everybody had on the deity in this temple. (Sorry for a long description of me and my exam result). Those days, we never miss the annual Utsavam in the temple, which falls in the month of December. I generally make it a point to have a Darshan in the temple whenever I visit my native place. Now-a-days, some families get the Theyyams viz Thiruvappana and Vellattam, performed in their houses on some auspicious days like house warming and for fulfilling their wishes. In fact, I attended one such Theyyam performance in our neighbour’s house; there was a one to one conversation; the Theyyam blessing me that the God will always be with me. As explained in the link coverage, the temple and its precincts are well developed over the years. The Prasadam from the temple, which everybody gets, irrespective of whether you are offering any prescribed prayers or not, is invariably the boiled green gram (red caramani now-a-days) along with a glassfull of tea. The Prasadam served in a piece of banana leaf is known for its taste and is quite sumptuous to quench one’s thirst and hunger. It is served throughout from morning till closing of the temple in the night. During lunch time, rice with two -three items of vegetables and Payasam are served, for which there will be a long que. Unfortunately during the heavy monsoon rain in 2019 the overflowing river water entered the temple sanctum; the water stagnation remained for a few days affecting the daily rituals in the temple. Had I been in my native place now, I would have gladly extended a warm welcome to all my friends in this group to have a darshan in the temple. Alas, Corona has locked us all! Let us pray to Sree Muthappa to have the invisible Corona vanquished from the humanity. It seems we have to wait in captivity for a vaccine to come to our rescue. For the time being only the social vaccine protects us. Kottiyoor Temple : Despite my belonging to the District where this famous Shiva Temple is situated, I could not so far have a darshan in this Temple. May be it is not yet time; I have to wait for the call and a strong will or vice versa. Here again, there will hardly be anybody in any family, at least a male member, in the district who has not visited this temple for darshan. I understand the famous Daksha Yagam was performed in this land. Auspicious time for darshan is in the month of Vaisakha (May-June) Unlike earlier days, the facilities are quite good now. In this temple also, the annual ritual performance was affected by heavy rain last year. Tirunelli Sree Mahavishnu Temple: Definitely Shri Warrier would have visited this Temple and had darshan of the deity. The deity of Sree Mahavishnu in this famous temple in Tirunelli, Wynad, was said to have been consecrated by Lord Parasuraman for atoning sin committed by Him. This place is famous for Pitru Karma for ancestors. It is believed that Lord Parasuraman and Lord Sri Ram along with his brother Lord Lakshmanan had also performed Pithru Karma in this sacred place. On amavasi days people throng in this place for performing rites for the departed souls of their ancestors. I have so far not been able to visit this place to have darshan of the Lord. Only about ten days back I could have virtual darshan of the Temple in a programme titled Pradakshinam in Amrita TV channel, (telecast every morning Monday to Friday from 6 to 6.30 AM) and the background of settng up this very old Temple. After seeing the Temple in TV, I felt as if having actually visited the Temple for darshan. During the last few years I could have such a Darshan of many temples in and outside Kerala. They do not show the deity in the Temples, but display all other temple rituals and history of each Temple. Of course my intention is not discourage physical visits of Temples. Atheist or otherwise, my feeling is that temple visits are not necessarily for fulfilment of one’s desires, but to get a positive vibe in mind, very much required during the crisis prevailing now. Oh, we are unable to do it now for fear of Corona! Kodungaloor Bhagavathi Temple: By the grace of the Goddess, I had darshan in this Temple on a number of occasions, combining with darshan in Guruvayoor Temple." 2) R Jayakumar Fireflies " It is very philosophical of you to say that a firefly can lit up the whole universe if one looks at it with a positive mind. It means to imagine a firefly as the sun or a star in the sky. That is quite poetic. It is very rare to sight a glow-worm or a firefly in Mumbai. I have not seen it at least in the last thirty five years. In 60s-70s when we were staying in Chembur I remember to have seen them in the night. Those days the street lights and home lights were very dull and a glow-worm could easily be spotted at night. Also in those days when we travelled by Madras Mail the journey involved two nights, and I never could get sleep in a rail journey. During the night I sat near the window seat and gazed outside at the dark and the moving objects. Now and then a flash of light could be seen and I rejoiced seeing a glow worm. There was no chance of sharing the joy of seeing a glow warm with anyone as others wouldn't like to be distributed from their sleep. Even the onward journey by Nellai Exp was a full night journey giving one more night to look for fireflies. Down the memory lane during my school days I remember that every monsoon brought the joy playing with strange and attractive insects that appeared on the ground and on trees. Prominent one was the Pon Vandu, meaning Golden Beetle in English, with shiny colours all over its body and looked the size of a jackfruit seed. It could be adopted as a pet, reared laying eggs and hatching them. But had to be kept in a closed box. These beetles were traded among children by bartering for other things or for a penny (pie) or two. There was another insect a kind of tiny sand spider which appeared during rainy season. Its whole body was covered with bright red colour soft furs. We called it Pattu Poochi (silken insect) and took them home placing in an empty match box and played with them. Elders discouraged this saying that it caused diseases like cold and cough or conjectivity. Fireflies, we called it glow worms, or Minmini Poochi in Tamil, came at night like flying sparks and often entered into the house. They too were kept in empty match boxes and experimented to see if the glow part could glow if separated from the insect's body. Cruelty to animals was part of amusement to children." E Books 1) Humankind : A Hopeful History https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/12/humankind-a-hopeful-history-by-rutger-bregman-review RBites may read a brief review of this book by R Gurumurty, CGM, published in the current issue of RBI Newsletter. 2) Mappila Ramayanam https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/mappila-ramayanam-setting-indias-most-ancient-epic-in-a-malabari-muslim-milieu/lite/ https://www.thehindu.com/books/literary-review/Remembering-Mappila-Ramakatha-in-Ramayana-month/article14558660.ece Article by Mini Krishnan in The Hindu F Travancore Tales V Babusenan remembers another Palace story : "Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma is hailed as the architect of modern Travancore State and he achieved this through the usual technique of annexation by force. His nephew, who succeeded him in 1754, was an entirely different person in temperament. Very soft and quiet and philosophic in outlook, he reminded one of King Janaka in the puranas. He ruled for 40 years and died at the age of 74 (pretty old age in those days) with the result that he got two nick-names: Dharma Raja and Kizhavan (old) Raja. His real name was Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. Nothing will better illustrate his temperament than an incident that occurred in the palace of the Cochin Maharaja. The well known Sakthan Thampuran was at that time the Maharaja of Cochin. Dharmaraja and Sakthan Thampuran were chit-chatting on the first floor of the latter's palace when the question of its height cropped up. Dharmaraja asked his bodyguard if he could jump that height. The latter looked down and said that it was too high to make an attempt. The Maharaja agreed with him. SakthanThampuran merely looked at his bodyguard who jumped down forthwith and broke his limbs. Dharmaraja visited him in the hospital. When nobody was near, he asked: "Didn't you know that it was too high to attempt a jump?" "Yes, I knew, Sire." "Then, why did you jump?" "It was the only way to save my neck." To be the consort of such a king as Dharmaraja was a great privilege of any lady and to quarrel with him occasionally was a prerogative. Of course, there were occasional small and short quarrels which only added some vinegar and pepper to their old-age togetherness. But alas! Gouri Parvathi(?) Bai overdid it once. It went out of hand. It remained unabated, but none dared to intervene. Ardhanaareeswara is a beautiful concept in Siva worship- both Lord Siva and his consort Gouri sharing the body equally. Some at least will remember the Dikshitar kriti 'Ardhanaareeswaram aaraadhayami satatam'. Both the King and his consort used to visit the Ardhanareeswara temple near the palace every day together. They continued this practice even during the cold war days but strictly keeping the post-Covid decorum during their circum-ambulations. One morning, while they were going round the deity with their sullen faces, Kunchan Nambiar appeared as if from nowhere, stood in front of the deity at a distance with folded hands and prayed aloud addressing the Devi portion like this: " Has he not given half of his body to you? Still you refuse to sit properly O!you Gracious Gouri Ambe you can do this To the One who carries The river on his head. Nambiar used the expression 'mudiyaaraayavan' which has two meanings: 1 mudi aaru(river) aayavan, that is, one who carries Ganga on his head 2.mudiyaru(about to die) aayavan. Overhearing this (it was meant for her) the Gracious Lady smiled. The King also smiled. The Covid decorum melted away. Four eyes, humid with gratitude, sent side glances to where Nambiar was standing with folded hands." G Leisure 1) Minding the Mind https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/minding-the-mind-the-way-to-a-cure/article8433761.ece Mind's role in curing physical ailments. 2) Laddoos https://www.thebetterindia.com/234619/ladoo-laddu-india-food-history-trivia-origin-desserts-how-to-recipe-laddoo-gop94/ In different shapes and colours. All sweet!😊 3) Friendship https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/madhuri-ram/an-unusual-friendship-24064/ 4) A Firefly https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/forestsandus/fireflies-and-climate-change-in-landour-mussoorie-24045/ Posted online comments. Watch Firefly Music Festival : https://youtu.be/QMSKxyYy7LI 5) Passing the Buck! Poem by Dinesh Gopalan PASSING THE BUCK I can't sneeze, I can't cough, I'm scared to even speak! The germs fly out of my mouth, Supposedly deadly! I can't meet, I can't talk, Except from afar, covered! My touch may cause you harm, Everyone, a carrier! I can't speak, not unless, It is to voice out fear. All around, when there's stress, Reinforcement is dear! The new normal is on us, I can't care for myself. On you lies the onus, To take care of my health! We used to pass the buck, But not on such a grand scale, It needs no apocalypse, To bring out the worst in us ! Dinesh Gopalan 5 August, 2020