KERALA Part 1

Festival
by
Dr. P.C. Simon
copyright 2004

Amid heat, dust, and clamour, a jostling mass of excited,
chattering devotees clad in lunghis and saris sweeps me along the
narrow street toward the massive stone temple. A din of bells,
drums, and chants; the mingled odour of incense and jasmine flowers
wound around the bushy tuft of charcoal black hair of women
worshippers - bombard all my senses as I stumble along, trapped and
impelled by this human river of faith.
A man bearing an elaborately adorned kavady on his shoulders
stumbles but cannot fall because he is wedged on all sides by
humanity. Another man, his eyes wild with devotion, his cheeks and
lips pierced with the trident of Shiva, tries to thrust his way
through the unyielding crowd. Around me, rapt faces adorned with
holy ash, bear the mark of Vishnu on their foreheads. Single- mindedly the throng advances, trampling underfoot the broken
garlands that litter the ground with bright orange marigold petals
and delicate white plumeria blossoms.
Drumbeats become louder as we stagger through the great
temple gates. In the shadows, stolid and grand as the pillars
around him, the temple elephant stands, patiently awaiting his
entrance to the great drama. His huge grey body is painted in swirls
of colour, his tusks adorned with brass and tassels, his howdah
caparisoned with silk and gold; he is a fit mount for the god Vishnu
during this great festival of Navaratri.

Above us, covering every inch of the granite walls, stone
figures clamber and writhe in scenes from the sacred books, all as
crowded and vibrant as the human scene below. Each carving is an
epic story from the Ramayanam or Mahabharatam. This is Trivandrum,
this is Kerala where I was born.
I am in the majestic Ananta Padmanabhaswami temple, famous
for its intricate granite carvings and its seven stories high
gopuram (tower). The temple is a great pilgrimage center, built in
the 8th century on the spot where Vishnu was abandoned as an
infant.
A Pulaya (untouchable) woman saw Vishnu, as a discarded
child on the street and nursed him, and left him under a tree so
that his mother would find him but would not know that he had been
polluted by the touch of a Pulaya woman. Ananta, the five hooded
serpent, came to guard him. The temple was built at the spot where
he was found. A coconut shell used as a cup for Vishnu as a child is
preserved in the royal pagoda at Trivandrum. (52, p.212).
This temple is so large that entire processions with
elephants can be held within it. In its corridors are 368 music- resonating, carved granite pillars. The reclining image of
Anantapadmanabha (Vishnu) is so large it has to be viewed from three
different doors to appreciate its size and majesty.