If Sabarimala is for men, this temple is for women

One of  my relatives. Vasudevan, today morning left Bangalore for Sabarimala in Kerala. He had organsied a bhajan and seve in his house in Yelahanka yesterday.

When Vasudevana called me at 11 a.m., in the morning to tell me that he would be leaving along with a group to Sabarimala, my relatives and friends wanted to know why women are barred from entering the Ayyappa shrine in Sabarimala and whether there is any other exclusive shrine for women.

I told them there indeed is an exclusive temple for female devotes in Kerala and that it is as famous as the Ayyappan Temple in that State. However, it is not all that well-known outside Kerala.

This is the temple of Chakkulathukavu. The temple is an ancient one and it has an interesting legend connected with it.

This how the story unfolds.

Two demons-Sumba and Nisumba-meditated for years and acquired supernatural powers from Lord Brahma. The Creator of the world (Brahma) also gave them a boon that they could only be killed by a woman and nobody else.

The two demons soon became vain and went about conquering all the kingdoms. They even defeated the Devas under Indra, leaving the Devas panicky. The Devas fled from Indraloka and tried to hide in jungles.

Narada, the celestial saint, takes pity on the plight on the devas and decided to intercede with Brahma on their behalf. Brahma, however, tells Narada that ups and downs are a part of life and Devas too have experienced it. He said the demons could ne defeated only by  Devi and it was for the Devas to find her.

Narada then told the Devas what Brahma told them. The devas then came to the Himalayas and began a pooje near the Ganga river to appease the Goddess.

Parvathi had come to the spot and she heard the Devas chanting slokas. Parvathi decided to help out the Devas and a new form issued forth from her. This was Durga.   

Durga defeated the demons and the Devas go back to Indraloka. This is the Durga that is present here.

Every year during November- December , the pongal festival takes place. Women come here with rice, jaggery and coconuts. They bring a circular mud pot to cook pongal. The women stand in a queue in front of the temple and the queue stretches upto 20 kms.

An eagle flies overhead as the chief priest lights the main hearth in the temple. He then passes on the fire to the person or woman standing next to him. The fire is thus passed on from one to another till it reaches the woman who is last in the line.   

On the first Friday of every December (Dhanu), a unique ritual is followed in the temple. The male priests wash the feet of female devotees who have fasted for 10 days. This is because of the belief that the female devotees visiting the temple on that day are incarnation of  Chakkulathu Amma (goddess).

These devotees are showered with flowers and perfume is sprinkled on them. Aarti is then conducted.

The temple itself is believed to be over  3,000 years old and the tradition of worshipping women is an ancient one. Every Friday female devotees bring their male relatives who are addicted to alcohol, drugs or gambling. These addicts are made to touch the sword of the  Devi and swear that they would renounce their bad habit.

The temple priest told me that of the 3 lakhs devotees coming here every year, 80 per cent are women. During Pongal, the temple becomes the exclusive preserve of women as men do not participate in making or preparing pongal.

The pongal festival lasts for 12 days.Visit the temple once to make a wish. The priest assures me that any wish made with true devotion and bhakti will be fulfilled.   

   

When Munroe ate Tirupathi prasada

Till the laddus came to be distributed as prasada from the 1940s, the Srinivasa or Balaji Temple of Tirupathi every day distributed a special variety of pongal called Munroe Prabhu Kangalam.

This Munroe was none other than the man who had spoken to Raghavendra Swamy in Mantralaya. How did Munroe’s name come to be associated with a sacred dish of one of the most holy temples of India. Well, there is story behind it.    

The Tirupathi prasada, comprising pongal and vada is famous and it is associated with curing many diseases and debilities. One of the many beneficiaries of this prasada is the British Governor, Sir Thomas Munroe.

Munroe is well-known among the devotes of Raghavendra Swamy as the person who spoke to Rayaru when he visited Mantralaya. The act of Munroe speaking to Rayaru who was sitting in his Brindavana is now part of the Mantralaya folklore.

But, how many know that the same Munroe also visited Tirupathi and he was cured of an ailment only after eating with his bare hands the prasada of Srinivasa.

Munroe was a Scottish soldier and he joined the East India Company. A natural athlete, he was a superb boxer and an all-rounder in sports during his school days in Glascow.

In 1779, he joined the English Army in Madras as an Infantry cadet. He fought in the wars against Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.

After the death of Tipu in 1799, he was from 1800 to 1807 made incharge of the northern districts ceded to the British by the Nizam of Hyderabad.

It was in the northern districts he first introduced the Ryotwari system of land revenue collected from farmers. This system continues even today with several modifications.

He went back to England and returned to Madras in 1814 and was given the special assignment of reforming the police and judicial system of Madras Presidency. In 1820, he was appointed as the Governor of Madras  and it was during this tenure that he visited Tirupathi and had a taste of the prasada.

As Tirupathi came under the Madras Presidency, Munroe was told about the deity of Srinivasa and thousands of people who came to the temple.

Income from temples in those years formed a major part of the revenue for the East India company.  A devout Christian, Munroe closely scrutinised the accounts of temples, including that of Balaji but rarely visited them.

He once went to Tirupathi and decided to look around the temple. As he was inspecting the premises, he found hundreds of clean shaven devotes eating pongal from their bare hands. While children were eating the pongal with relish, the old people were seen squatting on the ground and eating the prasada.

Now here is where there are two versions of what further happened.

This is the first version.

Munroe appeared disgusted by the manner in which the people were eating pongal with their bare hands. He asked the officials to maintain hygyine and directed them to collect all the pongal prasada and throw them out. He lectured to the devotes, telling them they would get diahorrea and cholera if they ate pongal.

The officials accompanying Munroe forced the devotes to throw out the prasada. Munroe went away satisfied that he had put an end to a “dirty” practice, as he called it. The pain increased to such an extent that the remedies that he took on his own did not work.

The administration rushed a number doctors to Munroe but none could cure his stomach pain. Munroe endured sleepless nights and he was reduced to such a state that he was amenable to any suggestion or remedy that would cure him.

A Hindu official in his entrouge suggested that Munroe would be better off if he took some prasada from the Srinivasa temple.

When Munroe demurred, the official bravely remarked that he was suffering as he had forced the devotees to throw away a sacred dish. “Eat it and you will be cured,” he said.  Left with no alternative, Munroe began eating the very pongal which he had ordered to be thrown away.

The first fistful of pongal he ate gave him a strange satisfaction. The more he ate, the less the pain became and by the time he ate the entire pongal, the stomach pain had subsided.’

Munroe realised the enormity of  his wrong order and directed the temple authorities to resume giving prasada to the devotees. He also lifted all the restrictions that he had wanted to impose or imposed on the temple and the distribution of prasada.

He also ordered the revenue authorities of the area to set aside a part of the revenue collected from Kodapaayal village near Tirupathi to be made over to the temple for preparing and distributing the pongal prasada. He also personally created an endowment for the prasada which continues to be placed before the Lord of Seven Hills even today.

This pongal prasada was given to all the devotees who visited Tirupathi tili 1940 when it was replaced by the laddus. Till then the pongal was known as Munroe Prabhu Kangalam.

The incident had a seminal effect on Munroe and his family. They al became ardent devotees of Srinivasa and never missed an opportunity in praising the Lord.

The second version of the story is not so romantic. It says Munro was frequently  suffering from stomach pain and no doctor could cure it or come out with a remedy.

Munroe had several secretaries each of whom were delegated with a specific task. One of his secretary was a Hindu and he suggested to Munro to take a vow that he would visit Tirpuathi if he was cured of the ailment.

Munroe vowed to visit Tirupathi if he was cured. Of course, the stomach ailment went away and a grateful Munroe came down to Tirpuathi from Madras where he was headquartered and prayed to Srinivasa. He also created an endowment in which daily prasada in his name is offered to Srinivasa. The TTD continues this endowment even to this day.

He died of cholera when he was visiting the northern areas of the Madras Presidency. This death, as I see it, could be attributed to his insensitive remark to the devotees that they would die of cholera of they ate pongal.