Women? Good Lord!

Either the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has read my blogpost or better sense has prevailed. A new sense of purpose maybe. Among the many complaints mentioned in my earlier post I am happy to report substantial changes, for the better that I witnessed during my recent visit to the Sabari Hills. The washrooms/restrooms earlier resting on man made lakes and the other attended shortcomings have been renovated. No more water logging. No more running around to fetch water. And clean! Well done TDB.

Plastic! Where art thou? The Sabarimalai and its entire trekking stretch and the Sannidhanam is plastic free now. No polybags, no pet bottles. NO PLASTIC! Kudos! However Dear TDB here are a few suggestions which can make this step even more devotee friendly. While ban on pet bottles is a very welcome step, you must also ensure presence of far more numbers of fresh drinking water kiosks. I for one was left mostly thirsty as I did not carry any water storing unit and had to discard the pet bottle at a garbage bin at the start of the trek at Pampa. You must also encourage the water/water substitute brands to possibly sell their liquids in recyclable glass bottles which will not only ensure conserving the environment around the holy hills but also give people a chance to buy and carry liquids to quench their thirst. Well done TDB for converting a nitpicker into a suggestion maker!

At the starting point of the trek up the Sabarimalai there is a police check point. Not only looking out for pickpockets or unruly devotees but also to check the age certificate of the women devotees who they suspect might be over 10 or under 50 years of age. For those who came in late, the rules at Sabarimalai bar girls/women in the above age bracket from entering the temple premises because of an age old tradition which believes their presence will defile a temple where the resident god, Lord Ayyappan has taken a vow of permanent celibacy. You would also be aware of the recent movements from various quarters to stop what is described as a regressive practice which is not only patriarchal but is also unconstitutional. While the matter is still in the courts and various parties are jockeying to take position for and against any change in this tradition, I for one am all for the rules be amended and the women, all women be allowed to have a darshan of our maker. You may call me gender neutral on this issue. Just as Hindu rituals/practices have either evolved for the better through internal reforms or by the stroke in the law books. If Sati can be abolished, if widow remarriage permitted, if right to property be allowed for the girl child, then why not an innocuous temple entry?

Shani Shingnapur - Trailer for Sabarimalai?

I can already read your mind. “Hinduism under attack! Our rituals and our tradition!” Say the fundamentalists. “Why only us Hindus? Why not the other religions married to the book?” Say the champions of Uniform Civil Code. I will take up your queries, one at a time.

I have already touched upon Sati and other ‘traditions’. For those who are unaware, a visit to Sabarimalai demands a 41 day period of penance which entails celibacy, no vices, black attire, no shaving/hair cutting etc. In short lead a life of a yogi/hermit. That is the tradition. Today however many if not most do not undergo the penance. I have seen people even during the penance indulge in activities not permitted. And one can see many a trekker smoking away to glory. These traditions are expendable of course for it is the men who indulge in it you see. Double standards if there was one and so much for Hinduism under attack. Be a sport. Be true. And let the ladies in. I am sure they are far more pious and serious than most men are!

“Why only us Hindus? Why not the Abrahamic religions? You don’t have guts to touch their religious practices!” Sadly I too have to agree with you here. A combination of ‘why disturb the beehive’ mentality and lopsided lust for 'minority votes’ by a section of our political class has led to a substantial number of our citizen remaining in perennial darkness of regressive practices. Appeasement is what it is called commonly. And it must change. Change soon. This country owes it to some of its most backward and oppressed citizenry in the name of following 7^th Century laws. And I am willing to go the whole way on this point. I have what I think only one question for you. Must I too regress or stagnate or stop evolving for the better just because others don’t? Will you for example stop giving attention to your work or your business or studies because some others in the company or marketplace or classrooms are unwilling to or unable to or are not permitted to? I am sure you will agree with me that you won’t! That is the crux of my argument. I will continue to strive and improve and continue to set a positive example. And will keep doing it for my benefit. And I am sure one day it will rub off on the others. I as in Hindus and others as in those who are still suppressed by the dogma arising out of the pulpit.

MalikapuratthuAmma. Waiting for the wait to end!

There is an interesting sidelight to the Celibate Yogi in Sabarimalai. A lady, much in love with Lord Ayyappan, Malikapuratthu Amma, whose shrine too is one among the many in the Ponnambalam is waiting for the day when the Lord will break his vows. The condition imposed by the Lord to accept her is that he would do so the day when there is not a single ‘debutant’, christened Kanni Swamy, among the devotees who visit the temple! The other legend about Ayyappan is that he is a much married man. He has two wives. Purna and Pushkala. SO! The Lord has not forsaken the womenfolk. It is as good a time as any for men to stop forsaking them too!

Purna Pushkala sametha Ayyappa Swamiyeiiii!

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PS: The lady of my house says she will never visit Sabarimalai till she attains the age prescribed by the traditions. It will be a deiva kuttram she says. I too won’t insist. The lady knows what she wants and I leave it at that. I am sure most men will agree with me.

You might find this interesting too. The Bad, The Good, The Best of Sabarimalai

 

Glossary:

Dharshan : Holy glimpse of the Idol of the god/goddess in Hindu temples.

Ponnambalam : Golden Temple

Kanni Swamy : First time visitor/devotee at Sabarimalai.

Deiva Kuttram : Blasphemy

Sannidhanam: Sanctum Sanctorum  

Sati: Practice of a widow joining/forced into the funeral pyres of her husband. Abolished by law during British India days after a sustained campaign against it by Reformist Raja Ram Mohun Roy.

The Bad, The Good, The Best

The Bad:

I had written about this earlier in these pages. Despite my intention not to repeat the same I am compelled to. Pilgrimages to holy shrines/sites in India often call for an arduous trek across difficult terrain.  The period of penance before the actual trek is supposedly designed to train you to meet the ordeal. And any discomfort beyond the said training is mitigated by the holy chants that you call out during the trek. For example “Jai Mata Di” at Vaishnao Devi or a series of chants viz, “Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa” as in this case at Sabarimalai. Since I had undergone the prescribed penance for 41 days I thought I was fairly ready to take in my stride anything the trek threw at me. What transpired however was so difficult that thanks to the handiwork of the Travancore Devaswom Board I just could not get my mind together to chant the Lord’s name beyond a measly few times. Instead the entire trek was made doubly difficult as I could not take my mind away from cursing the Travancore Devaswom Board for reasons best described here!

The Good:

For someone who has spent a substantial period of my life on the banks of the majestic Ganga river in Kolkata and the subsequent experience of seeing mere rivulets masquerading as rivers aka Noyyal in Coimbatore or Thamaraparani in Tirunelveli, to witness with horror what were once rivers being reduced to the status of the world’s largest open sewage lines today viz., Coouam in Chennai, it came as a very very pleasant; nay pleasing experience to take a dip in the Pampa at the foothills of Sabari Hills as is the prescribed practise. The Holy Pampa fed with sumptuous rains rushing and gushing frothily to wash away my sins as is the belief. Whatever the belief, the swelling river with crystal clear water was a sight for sore eyes!

Washing away my sins.....Pampa!

The Best:

Recently I came across a discussion on the microblogging site Twitter about the performance of Indians at the just concluded Wimbledon. A certain Tweep had commented that the three Indian winners at the various events at SW19 Amit Nagal (Boys Doubles), Sania Mirza (Ladies Doubles) and Leander Paes (Mixed Doubles) represented the reiteration of a secular India wherein the three winners represented Hindu, Muslim and Christian faiths. The comment lead to criticism from many, including yours truly, that why should one drag religion into an event where it has absolutely no role to play. Since India’s is a secular society why should one keep harping on the religion of the people/personalities went the argument. The counter posed by many to this was that while the primary DNA pattern of an Indian is Secular, it was however necessary to keep celebrating this element in us as a guard lest complacency set in and this unique but critical feature of the Idea of India be compromised. I remembered the discussion as I stood before Saint Vavar’s Shrine at the Sannidhanam of the Sabarimalai Temple. Vavar was a Muslim warrior from Arabia who went on to become, post his loss in a battle with Lord Ayyappa, a leader in the Lord’s Army and his loyal devotee says the legend. So deep was the love between the Lord and his Muslim devotee that the legend further says that the Lord asked the King of Panthalam, his earthly abode to build a temple for Vavar which duly came up at Erumely, the starting point of the trek to Sabarimalai. A Muslim Shrine in one of the holiest Hindu Temples! If this amazes you, you haven’t heard it all yet! Read on............

A Shrine of a Muslim at one the Holiest Hindu Temples!

Lullaby to the Lord, Only  K J Yesudas!

Among the various rituals that are practised in Hindu temples are the waking up of the God/Goddess as the case may be (Suprabhatam), bathing (Abhishekam), feeding (Neivedhyam) and post the darshan putting the god to sleep (Mangalam). This practise of ritually putting the Lord to sleep at Sabarimalai is done by singing the lullaby called the Harivarasanam. As I stood with thousands of other devotees all around the Ponnambalam to watch the rituals, the air was filled with the melodious and divine singing of the Harivarasanam on the public address system by one of India’s greatest singers, K J Yesudas. As his name suggests, Yesudas, Servant of Jesus, born as and till date a practising Christian! True to this spirit, Sabarimalai is a temple which is run on the principle of religion no bar!

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PS: Here is the divine Harivarasanam by the Maestro K J Yesudas himself!   

Glossary:

Sannidhanam : Sanctum Sanctorum

Ponnambalam : Golden Temple