This was actually a private tonsuring and ear piercing ceremony done on temple premises, as a ritual activity for those who see Periyandavar as their kula deivam. Jnanavel Swami invited us to be there, for “coverage” and to spread awareness about these sorts of pujas. He’s also walked us through the stone inscriptions at the back of the temple – his own name appears on several occasions. Deekay enterprises is another big donor – they’re an import-export company, Jnanavel Swami tells us.
The pusari who is hard of hearing is the “specialist” called in specifically to create the periyandavar temple-in-temple. He uses semmannu to fashion all the deities; they are just semi-conical structures with a flat base on which to stand. Lingam, by any other form. Kolam lines mark out where they stand and delineate the sacred area as a whole. It is a devar sabhai. Outside this delineation, facing the devar sabhai is Mutthalarajan – alcohol consuming, bread-eating, meat-eating Mutthalarajan [though it remains to be verified who it is]. Outside to the right is Puttru/Poothamman – and she’s made in the anthill form, too, in accordance with her name, and is eventually dressed in a sari and decorated with neem and jasmine. To the left is a figure who must be Vinayaka, though a man we meet (a photographer, curious about our orientations and work) tells us that that place was occupied once by a rural/folk being or divinity that has now merged and become associated with Ganapati. He didn’t sound dravidianist or dismissive of the popular Hindu pantheon, and this makes me think again about associations and how such associative practices have materialised insights that may indeed have once been subtle thoughts and ideas expressed tenuously, and slowly in this fashion consolidated.
Within the devar sabhai is Kathavarayan, whom Mutthalarajan must face. At his four corners are four boundary or direction-guarding figures. At the far back, protected by Kathavarayan, is Periyandavar – Sivaperuman – flanked by Iccha Shakti and Kriya Shakti (Jnanavel Swami said), or by Brahma and Vishnu (the trimurti) if you follow other interpretations of the sabhai set-up. The outer frame of the space is held by a series of smaller figures, arranged in clusters of varied even and uneven numbers. They are the nayanars, Jnanavel told us, or other deified, revered beings holding the space together. In some rural areas, the idea is to have 108 pillayars around (Ara puja = 54; Kaal puja = 27), each one getting a padayal (with 108 broken coconuts) and a maa-vilakku (the maa-vilakku is essential, and several were made for this puja, too). Or other gatherings are: Ashtadigbalargal (for 8 directions), 7 rishi-gal, 5 Lingams - pancha bhootam, 4 Vedas, and 9 Grahas. The number 108 is important.
[Is there a Saraswati-Varalakshmi-Ambikai trio also?]
Why is everyone invoked though? Why not only Periyandavar? – Because when you call someone for a function, you don’t just call them, you call the whole family. Traditionally in villages, the ubhayakara collects bhiksha – rice, dal etc. – as a beggar. The puja is performed to unite the village, and to make Periyandavar the town’s deivam, the world’s Lord.
Rice flour slurry is poured upon each form, followed by turmeric slurry. Chandanam splashed on and not poured presumably owing to cost. This is the equivalent of an abhishekam, though it is an adding of auspicious substances, not a removing of impurities. Then each figure gets kunkumam pottus: three vertically downwards for lesser forms, and the tripundra also in kunkumam. Kola maavu lines are replicated with yellow thread that now marks, an inch or two above ground, the form of the whole temple [also called kautuka (कौतुक)]. In the centre where Kathavarayan stands, it’s made to criss-cross in a form that resembles a mandala.
Small neem sticks inserted into the still-soft mud of the deities’ forms become makeshift stands to support the flower maalas. Banana leaves are placed in front, vettrilai, banana, and a semblance of a meal: curd-rice with a touch of panchamrutam poured on top. Neem leaves. Arali maalas. Jasmine.
The whole set-up takes hours, and the puja itself merely minutes. Is it ok that the ritual element of Amman temple worship takes so little time? A Gurukkal we met later told us that the communities who run these temples are non-vegetarians, and only they can sustain the forces that are called upon in such shrines – so it is perfectly alright for their ritual processes to be different from the mainstream Saiva temples.
Karpooram is placed in front of each form to invoke Siva’s agni-roopam. In the villages there would have also been bali, animal sacrifice – a chicken, a goat, a pig. But in town that practice has long since been discontinued.
Traditional ear piercing happens after it all, much to the little guy’s great distress. And the phone held out showing cartoons was not helping. The puja as such was very short – camphor lit, Vinayaka propitiated, then Periyandavar at the back (at whose feet was placed a piece of the tonsured hair, with jasmine).