Ajaysekher.net » Cultural Politics

Buddha Poornima at Thirunavaya

Ajay — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:48:59 +0000

Super Moon of Buddha Poornima 2012 reflected in river Perar or Nila at Thirunavaya. May 6, 2012

The full moon day of Vaisakha is celebrated in all the Asian countries as the birthday of the Buddha. Vaisakha Paurnami or Buddha Poornima is conceived as representing the birth, enlightenment and the passing away of the compassionate one. It was a lifetime opportunity for me to watch the super moon of 2012 Buddha Poornima, rise in the eastern horizon on the banks of the Nila or ancient Perar. Coincidentally I witnessed the unusually big moon at Thirunavaya on the northern bank of the river while returning from the ancient port city of Ponnani that forms the mouth of the river Perar where it drains into the mighty Arabian Sea.

Nila or Perar at Thirunavaya. Early 2012

Thirunavaya is known for its religious and historical significances. It is the location of the ancient carnival called Mamankam. In the middle ages it deteriorated into a bloody feud between the Zamorin of Calicut and the Valluva Konathiri or Vellatiri of Valluvanad. But before the 10th century it was a great cultural and spiritual festival related to the Sramana democratic traditions of ancient Kerala. Historians like P K Gopalakrishnan, Velayudhan Panikkassery and V V K Valath argue that it was a great Buddhist festival originally called Mahamargolsavam. Maha Margam is nothing but the way of the Buddha or the Dhama Pada.

But after the Brahmanic take over and spiritual hijacking that happened between the sixth and ninth centuries it degraded into a petty competition between the regional local chieftains resulting in bloody duels and the massacre of the suicidal militia called Chaver. The barbarism and violence involved in the establishment of the Savarna Brahmanical high culture in Kerala could be read in the vulgar decadence of this ancient carnival in Kerala. The well used to dump the bodies of the militia (Mani Kinar), the platform used by the kings (Nilapadu Thara) and the Changampally Kalari (school of martial arts) are still surviving here.

Buddha Poornima or Vaisakha Paurnami an image of the birth, enlightenment and Mahaparinibana/demise of the Buddha

Thirunavaya is also associated with the transition from Sramana culture to Brahmanical one. Keralolpathy and other Brahmanical texts testify that it was here that the Buddhists were defeated in verbal combats and their texts burned and tongues cut by the pedantic perverts of elite barbarism. Radical Malayalam scholars like P Pavithran argue that the ‘Nava’ reference in the place name is linked to this hoary episode in Kerala history. Conventional interpretations associate it with the Navagraha Yogis who performed the installation in the Navamukunda temple. Some versions also talk about the repetition of the installation that happened nine times . Whatever may be the etymological root of the place name it is inextricably linked to the cultural pasts of Kerala. The pulled or plucked tongue of the Chamana become a key icon of cultural hegemony and the resistance of the silenced.

Thirunavaya offers the best views of Nila or Perar. The Mamankam memorials and the old temples make it a historically and architecturally rich cultural location. I had a long and enlightening conversation with Mr Rajiv, a police officer who patrols the region as illegal sand mining is ruining the river and the ecology. We talked about the early human settlements and civilizations on the banks of the Perar and ventured deep into the history and cultural pasts of the region. We watched the super moon climbing like poetry in the dark blue canvas of the starry night. It was a great and meaningful dialogue with a sensitive and informed fellow being and we really enjoyed the time. When we parted it was almost 9pm and I rode to Kuttippuram, five kilometers east, where I am currently residing in a rented quarters.

Perar and Pakkanar

Ajay — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:09:57 +0000

Perar or Bharathapuzha at Tritala. Tritala regulator-cum-bridge in the background

The myth of the ancient aboriginal Paraya woman giving birth to the whole clans and communities in the river basin of Bharathapuzha or Perar (Parayi-petta-pathirukulam) articulates multiple truths regarding the heterologies of the region as far as Valluvanad and Vannerinad are concerned. Historians and anthropologists assert the fact that the Paraya were one of the ancient settlers in south India. As the “Out of Africa” theory that situates the whole human race in the womb of an ancient black mother, the Parayi myth traces the origin of the Kerala people to an ancient aboriginal Paraya woman who inhabited the banks of the ancient Perar.

Great Banyans by the Perar between Kudallur and Tritala

The legendary Pakkanar who immortalized the subaltern legacy along the river Perar was also a child of the ancient aboriginal woman. His ancestral household and family called Eerattingal is still found in Tritala on the river bank. I visited this ancient family and their temple in memory of Pakkanar in the afternoon of May 5, 2012. The current elder Mr Pakkan told me about the oral tales related to Pakkanar. According to him Pakkanar redirected the course of the river for the installation of the family deity, the goddess. His staff was a pole from a Kanjira tree and when he passed away it was planted on the river bank and it grew into a new tree. A huge and old Kanjira tree is still found by the river that is revered as a memorial for Pakkanar.

The huge Kanjiram that is worshiped as a Pakkanar memorial by the Perar at Tritala

Along with Pakkanar the temple deities include Eerattu Kutty, Chathan and Bhagavathy. The idol of the goddess in rough granite style closely resemble the posture of the Sapta Kanyas found in Krishnapuram palace museum. The local deities like Chathan and Kutty also show remarkable linkages to the corrupt form of Buddhist worship. It is clear that the family and people were one of the earliest inhabitants of the region and the family has witnessed various waves of cultural invasions and influences over the ages. In the discussion I urged the elder to record and publish the family legends and regional heterology to resist hegemonic appropriations and reversals.

Pakkan the current elder of Eerattingal family talking before the Pakkanar temple, Tritala

Sahodaran and the Futures of Kerala

Ajay — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 07:02:15 +0000

Cover of Sahodaran Ayyappan: Towards a Democratic Future. Life and Select Works by Ajay Sekher (Calicut: Other Books, 2012)

He was condemned as “Pulayan Ayyappan” by the elites and the orthodox who upheld the values of caste and Brahmanism. He considered it an honorary title that marked his radical cultural activism that aligned him with the excluded. He is the chief architect of Kerala modernity and democracy in various fields including social reform, human rights, civil rights, rationalism, journalism, poetry, prose, public cultural activism, representative democracy and policy planning. He was affectionately addressed as brother or Sahodaran by the people that formed the title of his journal and later daily. K Ayyappan B. A. or Sahodaran Ayyappan of Cherai is one of the key organic intellectuals who shaped the literary culture of Kerala and imagined its secular and democratic public sphere. He is one of the pioneers of counter hegemonic and democratic cultural politics in Kerala that revolutionized the state at the wake of the 20th century.

B R P Bhaskar releasing Sahodaran Ayyappan at Press Club, Trivandrum. Zakariah, Dalitbandhu...

As the leading intellectual-disciple of Narayana Guru the philosopher of Kerala renaissance and modernity, Sahodaran reformed language, culture and social reality in Kerala through his radical democratic political interventions and rationalist practices. He is the founder of the rationalist movement in Kerala. He is the founder of public journalism and media cultures in Kerala. He has also contributed to the development of trade unionism and literacy movement among the basic working classes and communities in Kerala. His 1917 inter-dining campaign at Cherai and 1945 Human Rights Declaration at Kochi are historic landmarks that changed society and polity in Kerala towards a better future.

His strategic early interventions in the launching of civil rights movement, Neo Buddhist movement, universal adult franchise movement, rational and scientific movement, affirmative action and social inclusion movements etc. form the bedrock of Kerala democracy and social progress. As a life long warrior against caste and related social inequality his critique of cultural elitism and religious dogmas are scathing and lasting. His original thinking and imagination in the field of futuristic development and decenter ed progress of the state is yet to be studied in epistemological terms and applied in political practices.

Sahodaran Ayyappan: Towards a Democratic Future is an attempt to critically contextualize and reread the life and legacies of this pivotal thinker and social practitioner. It includes a critical biography of Sahodaran and English translations of his select works. The foreword by Gail Omvedt and reflections by J Reghu are incorporated in the volume. The book was launched on 13th of April 2012 by the veteran journalist and human rights activist B R P Bhaskar and the leading Malayalam writer Zakariah at Trivandrum Press Club. It is published by Other Books, Calicut who specializes in bringing out books of socio-cultural significance in Kerala in English language for a global audience. The book is available in their showroom in Calicut which is situated in the Railway Link Road and also in leading bookshops all over Kerala on demand. Online purchasing through sites like Flipkart.com is also ensured by the publishers.

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Architectural and Iconographic Relics of Buddhism in Kerala

Ajay — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:33:57 +0000

Like a floating pagoda: Ananthapura temple, Kasaragod

Most of the temples that are a thousand years old are modified Buddhist temples in Kerala. According to historians Brahmanism came and converted the temples from 8th to 16th centuries. Buddhism and Jainism came to south India as early as BC 3rd century and established the early Sramana civilization of Kerala that was casteless and democratic. They also spread literacy and scripts in ancient Tamilakam.

Gautamapuram temple, Kottayam

Pali, Sanskrit, Ayurveda, Vasthuvidya, Visual arts and music that flourished in Kerala were legacies of Buddhism and Jainism. Kerala gave birth to some of the leading intellectuals of Buddhism including architects, astrologers and medical practitioners.

A seated Boddhisatva on the wall of Ananthapura temple

A Sreedhara Menon in his official History of Kerala observes that the present Hindu temples in Malabar resemble the architectural style of Sramana temples (Menon 99). The temples of Kasaragod show this remarkable similarity and the missing link. In his linguistic and cultural analytical work Budddh’s Footprints, Prof. P O Purushothaman through his linguistic archeology affirms that all the ancient monuments of worship in Kerala were originally related to Buddhism and Jainism ( Purushothaman 50-51).

Seema Malaka lake temple, Srilanka

Ananthapura temple near Kumbala looks exactly like a Buddhist lake temple. Its replicas could be found all over Asia as far as China, Japan, Korea and Thailand. The reliefs on the wall of the shrine also show some Buddhist motifs including the figures of Boddhisatvas, though slightly modified many times in the last millennium during the renovations.

Kilirur temple shrine housing Buddha relief, in Gaja Prishta style (simple)

The legend that associates this temple with Padmanabha temple,Thiruvananthapuram also proves the Buddhist past of this temple as Padmanabha temple was a Buddhist temple before the 8^thcentury. A reclining Padmapaani (lotus in hand) Buddha idol was modified into a Padmanabha (lotus from the navel) Vishnu icon (Ayyappan, Jayaprakas, Jose).

Gaja Prishta style: Madhur temple, Kasaragod

The ancient practice of keeping the crocodile in the pond also enacts the conservationist spirit of Buddhism that established hospitals even for animals and birds as testified by the second edict of Asoka in which Kerala is mentioned in connection with wild life conservation. The word Anantha found in both place names could be a later modification of Aananda (Buddha’s foremost disciple and also the Buddhist concept of “bliss and joy”). Any way the temple even today looks exactly like a Japanese lake temple or a floating Korean Buddhist pagoda.

Ananthapura temple, Kasaragod

The Hindu temples at Adur and Madhur in Kasaragod district also show marked architectural affiliations to Buddhist and Jain monuments. The three-tiered sanctorum in Gaja Prishta style in both the temples; is often linked to the Sramana architectural style by archeologists (Sarkar 23). The same Gaja Prishta (elephant butt) style is also surviving in many other Hindu temples with Buddhist past as in Kilirur temple in Kottayam in south Kerala.

Adur temple, Kasaragod. Gaja Prishta style

A close comparative study of the ancient monuments in Kerala reveals the fact that the temple architecture and ritual practices were appropriated from the Sramana traditions of Jainism and Buddhism. Religion, power and politics were misused for this take over by the forces of internal imperialism.

Buddha recovered at Pallikal Bharanikavu, Kayamkulam. C. 7th century AD

Cheat, usurpation, violence and unimaginable barbarism were also employed for this erasing act. But somehow it is still violently re-enacted in carnivals like Kodungallur Bharani in which low castes are given one-day license to invade and pollute the shrine after drunken and obscene parleys. The altars inside the present shrine still shows the lotus carvings that prove that it was the seat of a Buddhist idol, says experts (Valath).

Buddha as Krishna in Kilirur temple, Kottayam

Brahmanism with the help of tribal chieftains, servile militia and petty kings converted these temples around 8^th and 9^thcenturies. The partially damaged Buddhist idols and Jain reliefs recovered from central and south Kerala testify this bloody and fierce invasion that subverted the ethical and egalitarian democratic culture of Kerala that began in BC third century with the arrival of Sramana monks.

A Japanese Buddhist shrine in a pond of white lotuses

But the lasting imprints of the Sramana culture are still tangible and visible in the folk as well as classical architecture and ritualistic practices all over Kerala in connection with ancient temples and carnivals (Valath). The Mamankam of Thirunavaya, Kettukazhcha of horses and oxen found in Thrissur and Kollam, Annamkettu and Paravathookam of Kottayam and Alapuzha districts are all abiding articulations of the ancient Sramana democratic culture of Kerala.

Mavelikara Buddha idol. c. 8th century AD

References

Ayyappan, A. “Padmanabha Vigraham.” Mathrubhumi Weekly. April 8, 1984.

Jayaprakas, M S. Padmanabha Kshetra Vivadam. Trivandrum: BSP, 2011.

Jose, Dalitbandhu N K. Sripadmanabha Kshetranidhi Arutethu? Trivandrum: Bahujan Vartha, 2011.

Menon, Sreedhara. Kerala Charithram. Kottayam: DCB, 2010.

Purushothaman, P O. Buddhante Kalpadukal. Kottayam: Current Books, 2006.

Sarkar. Temple Architecture in Kerala. Trivandrum: Govt of Kerala,1998.

Valath, V V K. Thrissur Jilla. Thrissur: Kerala Sahitya Akademi, 2008.

A Life in People’s History: Dalitbandhu N K Jose

Ajay — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:07:02 +0000

Dalitbandhu N K Jose before his works in his study at Namasivayam house, Kudavechur, Vaikam. 19 Feb 2012. He turned 84 recently

History is lived and fought by the people and not by the kings and priests, says Dalitbandhu. Mr N K Jose hailing from Kudavechur in Vaikam in Kottayam district of Kerala is a people’s historian. He has given Malayalam more than 140 books on key issues in Kerala history that are vital for the people at the bottom of Kerala society. He has completed his 84^th year of relentless and committed service to the people the subaltern classes of Kerala through his vibrant and insightful historical writings.

Historiography is not an elite academic exercise for him but an inevitable part of life and struggle. It is the struggle to survive, resisting the onslaughts of cultural invasions and hegemony. It is a counter hegemonic practice and quintessential life struggle for this veteran freedom fighter who was a secretary of J P during his youth and spent some time even in Wardha ashram. In his mature later career he became an ardent critique of Brahmanism and the Savarna or Caste Hindu hegemonic culture in India and Kerala.

Vaikam temple. Dalitbandhu's Namasivayam household was associated with it a few centuries ago says the learned historian

Though the mainstream media and academia excluded him the people at the bottom, especially the dalitbahujans of Kerala have embraced him and his vital and strategically essential epistemological contributions that are so important to their sense of the past and present. His books are bibles in almost every dalit home in Kerala today. Everyday the people visit his home and interact with him on various issues related to culture, politics and history. It is open to all throughout the day and is a common resort of the excluded.

There are critics who say that his historiography lacks methodology, ideological tenor and depth, but his political intentions and affiliation to the liberation of the people, the downtrodden can never be contested. There are academics who preach that such writings are trivial and could not be considered as knowledge but even they are moved by the organic integrity and power of his counter narratives and simple humane wisdom. Through more than 50 years of consistent committed writing Dalitbandhu N K Jose has proved himself to be a real relative of the depressed.

Mavelikara Buddha idol. 7th century in Anuradhapura style according to peoples like Dalitbandhu

I was delighted to visit him at his beautiful simple home called Namasivayam at Ambika Market close to the Thanneermukkam barrage across the lake Vembanad on its eastern shore, on the morning of Sunday 19 Feb 2012. He was surrounded by young activists and scholars especially from the dalit sections as always. It was DHRM youth who celebrated his 84^thbirthday recently. Even amidst his busy schedule talking to the students and writing his regular notes he welcomed me with a whole heart and showed me all his books and publications.

Pathiramanal Island in Lake Vembanad the heart of Kuttanad the land of Kuttan or Buddhan

We had an intimate and enlightening dialogue before his exquisite book shelf in his study. A wooden engraved portrait of Jesus blessed me with endless love from the top of the bookshelf. I also got his latest titles on Padmanabha Temple Treasures and Buddha Dhamam Keralathil. He suddenly remembered the visit of Nithyachaitanya Yati to Namasivayam and showed me a Siva Linga installed by him in the garden. After meeting the young friends briefly I returned back to Kottayam and it was a truly illuminating journey for me.

You may visit his home page here.

Deepan Sivaraman’s Peer Gynt: A Photo Applause

Ajay — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:21:59 +0000

Deepan's Play at ITFoK, Thrissur. Feb 2012

Sandwich-reachout stage and prop improvizations

Dramatization of violence and the uncanny

Awesome puppets and props in tandom with dynamic action and choreography

Theatre, puppetry, dance, music and more...

Mamankam and Changampally Kalari: Ancient Practices of Healthcare and Martial Arts in Kerala

Ajay — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:33:47 +0000

Mamankam memorial: Changampally Kalari near Thirunavaya

The healthcare and self defense practices of Ayurveda and Kalari in Kerala are of Buddhist origin. They are lasting legacies of Buddhism in Kerala as literacy and the general intellectual culture. The Avarna communities like Ezhavas constitute the chunk of its practitioners traditionally and even in the present. Vagbhata and Nagarjuna who developed this indigenous practice of medicine were Buddhist monks who did missionary work in south India.

Pazhuka Mandapam near Navamukunda temple, Thirunavaya on the banks of Nila

Even in 18^th century, at the peak of Brahmanical untouchability and exclusion on caste lines, the Dutch appointed an Ezhava medic, Itty Achuthan of Kadakarapally near Cherthala to write the famous Hortus Malabaricus. Even today one of the ancient Kalaris surviving in Kerala like Cheerapanchira in Alapuzha district, that trained the legendary Ayyappan of Sabarimala, belongs to an Avarna Ezhava household.

Manikinar: well used to dump the Chaver, Thirunavaya

Changampally Kalari in Thirunavaya in Malapuram district is associated with Mamankam, the martial carnival that settled the succession disputes in ancient Kerala once in every 12 years. Historians like Velayudhan Panikasery argue that the festival is of Buddhist origin. Initially it was a great cultural and trade festival of human interaction on the banks of the great Perar or Bharathapuzha just above the ancient port city of Ponnani where trade and passenger ships from across the world anchored in the calm waters of the inland port.

Nilapadu Thara: vantage used by the Konathiries and Zamorins

Anyway the Changampally household was appointed in charge of the Kalari here by the Zamorin of Calicut in the middle ages according to local legends. The family has converted to Islam in the 18^thcentury during the Mysore occupation. When I visited the Kalari in early February 2012, Mr Jaffar Gurukal who is running an Ayurvedic centre near the ancient Kalari told me that before conversion they were Tulu Brahmans. This could be an elitist assimilation or fabrication done later under the hegemony of Brahmanical values; as Tulu Brahmans are never identified as traditionally having martial Kalari practice or institutions in Tulunadu or down south. Almost all Kalari households in Tulunadu and Malabar belonged to Sudra and Avarna communities.

Carving in Changampally Kalari

The Changam and Pally words in their house name are marked key words associated with Buddhism. Changam or Chingam represent Chamana or Amana or Sramana culture as in Chinga Vanam or Changanassery (place names in Kottayam district). As Sramana culture is inseparable from the month of Chingam and the great secular egalitarian festival of Onam in Kerala, the words Changam/Chingam and Pally/Pilly are also inextricably linked to the Buddhist past of Kerala that is the foundation of egalitarian culture here, that was erased by Brahmanism after the 8^th century.

It is great to see the ancient Kalari shrine and surroundings and the Mamankam sites being preserved by the Government and the people. An apt museum and interpretation centre that could educate the people on their rich cultural traditions can be an added attraction here. The road from Thirunavaya to Kuttipuram is also in good condition. The Nila Park just below the Kuttipuram bridge about which poets like Idassery have written is also luring visitors. I found a large group of Small Pratincoles on the sandy flats of the river near the park as the sun was setting beyond the river and into the trees.

From Classic to Contemporary Theatre: Usha Ganguly’s Chandalika

Ajay — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:57:17 +0000

Usha Ganguly’s production of Chandalika by Tagore is brilliant and illuminating. It was staged in the International Theatre Festival of Kerala 2012 at Thrissur on 5 February 2012. The Hindi version of the Bengali text by Tagore is sensitively conceived, choreographed and richly presented with the total involvement of trained theatre persons of Rangakarmi from Kolkotha.

Light design, props and costumes are fabulous and apt. So is casting and percussion music. The play projects the anti caste and anti Brahmanic human thrust of the story, originally adapted by Tagore from the Buddhist Pali canon. The Buddhist philosophy of human equality and fraternity are accented in the production. The interpretation also humanizes Prakriti and her mother considerably. The mother played by Usha herself is powerful and unforgettable. The production itself can be compared to her earlier adaptations from Mahasweta Devi in theatre.

Usha Ganguly as the mother in her Chandalika

The play which is a cultural and political statement against untouchability, caste and elitism in India is very much contemporary and relevant in all locations of regional linguistic culture all over the country today, where caste inequality is still on the rise. It is also remarkable that poets like Asan in Malayalam had also reinvented this tale from the Buddhist lore in early 20^thcentury. Asan’s Chandalabhikshuki deals with the same theme in poetry. Usha also hinted about the similarity in cultural tradition and identity among the Kerala and Bengaly people. She was aptly pointing towards the Buddhist past of Kerala and Bengal.

Chandalika at ITFoK, Thrissur, Feb 2012

The play also provides striking parallels to contemporary plays like Molagapody that raises the caste question in present Tamil cultural contexts. It is also interesting to note that writers like Asan and Tagore began to address the issue of caste and untouchability in early 20^th century and even in early 21^st century writers like Bama are struggling with worst material conditions of exclusion and naked violence associated with caste and cultural elitism.

It is also hopeful to note that theatre and other cultural forms of writing and performance are addressing and focusing on this ancient curse of India in a concerted way. Let us also hope that cultural politics and artistic creativity and imagination could do some transformation and emancipation in the socio cultural realm through such expressive and imaginative ventures.

International Theatre Festival of Kerala 2012

Ajay — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:30:25 +0000

Street play "Humortal" in progress before Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Thrissur. 4 Feb 2012

Mixed spectators at ITFoK

ITFoK 2012 is on at Sangeetha Nataka Akademi complex in Thrissur from 2012 February 1 to 8. This fourth edition of the festival focuses on classics rather than contemporary world theatre. It is marked for the overwhelming presence of cultural activists and theatre persons from all over Kerala and all across the world.

Gayatri singing the opening lines before Manganiar musicians 1 Feb 2012

The focus on classics may also imply a strategic avoidance and erasure of the vibrancy and dynamism of contemporary theatre. But some of the plays in the fest like Molagapodybased on Bama’s short fiction expressed the political and polemical dramatic articulations that could speak to its time. Usha Ganguly’s adaptation of Chandalika by Tagore is also a meaningful theatrical experience that addresses the social inequality and weight of history in Indian and Bengali contexts.

Ramankutty Nair Asan, Thripekulam Achutha Marar, M V Devan and Parasala Ponnammal lighting the lamps together. 1 Feb 2012

Whatever be the thematic content and its political signification the audiences in Thrissur are making it a true and live festival of cultural interaction and carnival. The auditoriums are burgeoning with the enthusiasm of the spectators. But the artistic directors and conceptual designers must rethink about the political implications and contemporary relevance in the selection.

Malavikagnimitram by Kavalam. 1-2-12

Chinese Dragon from U K

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea from Italy

Molagapody by Srijith Sundaram (Tamil)

Water Station by Sankar Venkiteswaran

Sankar Venkiteswaran’s Water Station and Deepan Sivaraman’s Peer Gyntare two exceptional plays from Kerala. While Sankar meditatively penetrated into the subtle layers of the visual, Deepan powerfully dramatized the other and darker realms of the human mind and senses through his firebrand style and execution.

Peer Gynt by Deepan Sivaraman

Imagining O by School of Arts, University of Kent was a revolutionary production in terms of theatrical improvisation, unconventional idiom, and the kind of new experience it offered to the audience. The young director and his crew created a parallel world of fantasy and desire with a new body culture and communication. It also provided a feminist critique of the classics and the contemporary world.

Director and actors of Imagining O, University of Kent

Odesseyus Chaoticus from Israel

Anupam Kher in Kuch Bhi Ho Saktha He

Carmen Funebre from Poland

Birthday Party by Sunil S

Buddha as Krishna: Kilirur Temple and Kerala History

Ajay — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:57:45 +0000

Western gateway of Kilirur temple, Kottayam

Kilirur temple stands on a laterite hill surrounded by waterways and canals. It is so close to the backwaters of lake Vembanad that forms the heart of Kuttanad. It is locally called Kilirur Kunnummel Bhagavathy temple (hilltop temple of the goddess). It is just 8 km west of Kottayam town.

central temple enshrining the goddess. Oiginally Mahamaya, Karthyayani after 16th century.

The uniqueness of the temple is the relief of the Buddha inside a shrine now dedicated to Krishna. The idol of Krishna also looks like a Yogic Avalokitesvara in Padmasana. The shrine is in Gaja Prishta architectural style (resembling the butt of a standing elephant) that is associated with temples of Buddhist antiquity. It is facing east and the northern door is marked for Sri Buddha, but remains closed. There is also an ancient sacred grove and Naga deities towards the east of the temple compound on the hillock. Some of the former lords who were in charge of the temple are still known as Pallymenavans and all of them are non-Brahmans.

Ancient Naga deities in the Sarpa Kavu on the east of the Kilirur temple. A relic of nature worship and conservation related to Buddhism

According to historians and researchers this was one of the last surviving Buddhist temples in central Kerala along with Nilamperur Pally Bhagavathy temple (Ilankulam, Ravivarma, Valath, Ajunarayanan, Sugathan, Sadasivan). Both these Buddhist temples were patronized by Pallyvana Perumal, a Chera prince of the 15th century, whose image is still worshiped in Nilamperur.

Sapta Kanya or seven virgins. Originally nuns or Bhikshunis who pioneered Buddhist missionary work in Kilirur under the leadership of Pallyvana Perumal. Yellow robes and turmeric powder still used to worship them.

Sadasivan says that the Bhagavathy of the central shrine was originally the idol of queen Mahamaya the mother of the enlightened one. Pallyvana Perumal was a devotee of the mother of the affectionate one and thus he placed her at the centre of the temple. It is also remarkable that there is no Namputhiri Illams in Kilirur and even the Brahman priests who do their service in the temple never stayed in the place though they do daily worshiping rituals in the temple through out the year. The Brahmanical aversion to a Mlecha (Buddhist) holy place could be the reason for this, say researchers (Ravivarma) and local people.

southern temple dedicated to Krishna, enshrining the Buddha relief in meditative posture beneath Bodhi tree. Built in simple Gaja Prishta style. Facing east and its northern door is marked "Sri Buddha"

Local people still believe that the temple was originally a Buddhist shrine. Mr Rajappan Nair of Chandanaparambil narrated his memories and local lore about the temple. It is interesting that local people still cherish the legends of Pallyvana Perumal and the Buddhist connection between Kilirur and Nilamperur.

Idol of Krishna closely resmbling a Boddhisatva in Ardha Padmasana. Buddha relief is on the other side of the backwall.

This last surviving Buddha image in a Kerala temple must be preserved for posterity and the temple and its rich and composite history must be conserved for the whole humanity who value the life and teachings of the compassionate one. Further studies and excavations in the premises may recover precious details regarding the Sramana past of Kerala and its democratic and egalitarian culture.

Remembering local history: Rajappan Nair near Kilirur temple. 28 Dec 2011

Reference

Ajunarayanan. Keralathile Buddhamatha Paramparyam.

Jayaprakas. Padmanabhaswamy Kshetram Arku Swantham?

Ilamkulam. Keralacharithrathinte Irulatanja Edukal.

Panikasery. Keralam Pathinanjum Pathinarum Noottandukalil.

Puthusery. Kerala Charithrathinte Atisthana Rekhakal.

Ravivarma. Pandathe Malayalakara.

Sadasivan. A Social History of India. Google Book available online:

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Be3PCvzf-BYC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=Kilirur+temple+and+buddhism&source=bl&ots=9j3sOcnoAp&sig=Xwx0TxObZeQ25p3WftN1YHOWuMU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Vvj7TvngB8bprQeJjKkH&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Kilirur%20temple%20and%20buddhism&f=false