LORD SUBRAHMANIA

Lord Subramania is the son of Lord Siva, the god of destruction and his wife Parvati. He is a Tamil god, who is as old as the universe, but as young as every new beginning. He is celibate, but married to two women. He is a hunter, a warrior, and a philosopher. He is a teacher, and he inspires literature and the arts. He is recognized in Sanskrit literature, and the oldest Tamil poetry. He also goes by the names of Murukan, Skanda, Kumara, Kartikeya, and Velan. He is one of the most significant deities of the South Indian Hindus. He is one of the most well loved gods of South India especially in Tamil Nadu. His weapon is the spear, and his vehicle is the peacock. He has three brothers; Lord Ganapathy the elephant headed god, Lord Ayyappa, and Kanadi Sri Chatan Swamy.

SUBRAHMANIA FESTIVAL

As the KSRTC busses pull into a small town with just a few shops on the side of the road, everyone piles out and rushes to the Tata jeeps parked on the side roads. Young boys stand at the backs of the Tatas yelling at the top of their lungs in Malayalam. Everyone Crams into the four wheel drive vehicles, up to six people in the front, eight to ten on the two bench seats in the back, four on the roof, two hanging on the sides of the front doors, and two hanging off of the back. Once fully loaded the Tata starts its descent up the hill to the temple about fifteen kilometers away.

Thousands of people are gathered in front of a small entrance to a temple woderfully decorated with banana leaves and banana flowers. People started gathering at about 8:00 in the evening. The temple is small and fades into the side of a large stone hill. Off to one side and about half way between the temple and the road a small stage is set up with an enclosed back.

At about 9:00 everyone gathers in front of the stage and finds a seat in the dirt. Soon after most of the people have seated themselves, the curtain opens on the stage, and for the next forty-five minutes a comedic play is put on in Malayalam, and everyone laughs and yells.

After the play is completed, some of the people go to different prescribed spots on the different nearby roads that converge on the temple. It is these spots where the processions begin. The procession starts off with the thunderous beat of the drums and the squeal of the long pipes that accompany men who are repeatedly spinnning the kavatis they hold on their heads and shoulders. Watch the video here to see the kavadis.

Myth of Kavadis

The tradition of carryig the kavadi is a re-enactment of a Tamil myth. The story goes like this, Agastaya, who was a sage devoted to Siva, went to Mt. Kailas to worship Siva. Siva gave the sage two hills, Sivakiri and Saktakiri, and told the sage to take them to Potikai, his mountain abode.

Agastya commissioned one of his disciples, Itampan who is also the teacher of the Asuras, to carry them. Agastya acquainted Itampan with the directions, and blessed him with certain mantras to carry the hills. Agastya gave Itampan the staff of Brahma, laid it across his shoulders, and tied the mountains to it with two snakes. Itampan walked for a while, and when he reached the forest in a spot now known as Palani, he set the mountains down so that he could take a rest.

After a short rest he stood up again and tried to lift the mountains only to find that they were fixed to the spot. He thought for a while, and could not figure out why the mountains were now unmovable. After a few minutes he climbed Sivakiri, which was the larger of the two mountains, so that he could gain an insight into why he could not lift them.

When he reached the top he found a young boy standing there in only his undergarments holding a staff. The boy claimed the hills as his own. Itampan was determined to bring the hills to Potikai, so in defense of the hills he began to fight with the boy, only to quickly lose his life.

Itampan's wife, Itampi, and Agastya were instantly on the scene pleading with the youth for mercy. The boy revealed himself as Subramania, and restored the life of Itampan. Itampan aked Subramania if he could stand at the god's portal forever. Subramania granted him this, and Itampan requested that whoever should offer vows to Subramania wearing a kavadi should be specially blessd. Subramania also granted him this.

Festival (continued)

The large procession begins playing their muisc while the kavadi's are spinning. They are accompanied by large groups of people who are dancing clapping and yelling. This starts about fifteen miles away from the temple, and they continue on like this for the entire fifteen miles to the temple, occasionally lowering the kavadis so that they could fit under the power wires.

Some of the Kavadis are very large, and each one is decorated differently. Most of the Kavatis are about 6 to 7 feet wide, and covered with painted carvings of snakes, elephants, and lord Subramania, evenly placed on the wooden pyramid shaped frame that rises into the air. Many different colored reflective mylar tassles are represented on the many spinning kavadis. Some of the kavadis are small and round and are comprised entirely of reflective tassles that seem to be alive as they spin.

Each procession is guided toward the temple where most of the people are gathered. Everyone gathered there is yelling, singing, and dancing. The path that leads to the temple entrance is lined from the road to the temple on both sides with vendors selling puffed rice and other such offerings, deserts, jewelry, toys, and coffee and tea. The four roads that converge in front of the path that leads to the temple entrance are all filled with more people who are dancing and singing. There are so many people that it seems the entire population of the 5 surrounding farming villages is present, the roads are filled for miles.

As you move away from one group the sounds of all of the other groups nearby conglomerate in your ear to create a chaotic mix of hundreds of pipes and drums. The only thing you can see above the sea of dancing people and entranced musicians is the trees and the rotating kavadis that scrape the leaves as high as five stories high. Each group in turn makes its way down it’s perspective road, and then following the quarter mile path that leads to the entrance of the temple. One group after the other is cheered down the path playing and spinning what seems to be endlessly. Once they get right in front of the temple each group stops and the musicians play, and the kavadi holder’s spin. Once they have played for a few minutes showing of incredible talent, they then disapear into the temple. The hill surrounding the area is covered with people watching the area on the ground is filled with people surrounding each group.

At one point in the evening a group of men comes out of the temple to dance with the musicians. With further inspection you can see that there is a thin 14-inch steel trident entering one side of each man’s cheek and exiting the other cheek. There is also a lemon on each side of the trident, pushed up against their cheeks. These small tridents represent the spear that is the weapon of lord Subramania. Watch the videos of these devotees here.

Each man is dancing holding two sticks. The dance appears to be a mock battle, where the men dance around smacking there sticks together rhythmically and in sync with each other and the musicians. This is a traditional folk dance called kolkali. These men pierce their cheeks with these representative spears as a sign of devotion to Lord Subramania.

After the devotional dances have been completed and these men return to the inner region of the temple, the kavadis and music continue until the last group has played, danced, and spun in front of and entered the temple. This does not occur until 4:30 AM. At this time the surprisingly large amount of devoted people who have stayed return to the street and pile into the hired cars, to be driven to the town and the bus stand. There they wait until 5:30 AM when the next bus comes.