Over the past year my work has taken me far and wide in the Vellore and Thiruvanamalai districts of Tamil Nadu. What continued to fascinate me were the temples in the town and the huge statues on the outskirts.
Being born and raised in the city, the temples I have been to were invariably those that housed one of the three pantheons of the orthodox Hindu faith. They would be a Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu or one of his consorts. Without exception, they were led by Brahmin priests.
On one of my trips I saw this headless statue.
It was kept outside a small temple. It did not appear that much attention had been paid to its upkeep. At that point I couldn’t get any answers from any of the locals I asked.
I subsequently saw at least 3 of the same type of headless images on the outskirts of different towns. When I pressed the locals again, the responses were very ambiguous. Most of them liked to believe the tale that if the head was put back on, the statue would come to life and turn into a demon and kill them all! Great story! But meeting each other became an obsession.
Later I found out that these temples belonged to the cult of Koothandavar and that such temples were scattered all over Tamil Nadu. Vellore district had 3 of these and one day I found myself in a village called Pulimedu which had one of these Koothandavar temples.
This time the priest of the temple was found and with a bit of gentile persuasion he agreed to open the temple for me. Ready! there it was – the head, not one but two of them!
Now I’ll have to get into history or myth (whatever you choose to believe!)
The history
Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata, was getting very bored during the twelve years of exile that he, his other brothers and his wife Draupadi were forced to undertake by cousin Dhuryodhana. He ostensibly decided to take off to learn warfare and hone his archery skills. When traveling through the Naga kingdom he fell in love with the Princess of that land-Ulupi was called. He married her and then went on to seek knowledge of her, unaware that he had left behind a pregnant wife. Iravan was born. It is assumed that he inherited his father’s archery skills and was known as a peerless warrior. But let us leave Iravan for the moment.
What we know is that Arjuna, apart from being an accomplished archer, was obviously an equal in making love because outside of Draupidi there were Ulupi, Subhadra and Chitragada. For history buffs, Abhimanyu was sired by Subhadra. But I digress. Now is the time of the great war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
The Pandavas are simply out of luck. They are outnumbered, outmaneuvered and all the great warriors aka Bhishma, Drona etc are on the opposite side.
This is when the biggest manipulator ever, Lord Krishna, comes into action. He tells the Pandavas that their chances of winning this war are dubious at best. But he has a solution. If the purest of them all is offered to Goddess Durga as a sacrifice, the chances of victory are almost assured. When it comes to choosing, there are only two candidates: him and Arjuna, who have met that requirement. (How I don’t know, but it’s wise not to ask.) The entire Pandava camp was nervous, obviously. Even with these two guys around, victory wasn’t certain. He then he walked in Iravan from anywhere. He offered himself as the sacrifice. And obviously, being the son of Arjuna, he was considered fully fit for the position. Krishna agreed very quickly!
Let’s not underestimate Iravan. Obviously he wasn’t an idiot. He knew that, being only one of Arjuna’s sons, there was no chance for him to be known and worshiped (there was no Tamil Nadu then). Abhimanyu was destined to be a star! He had many conditions before accepting to be the sacrificial lamb. Two of them important for the sake of the continuation of this story.
One: he said he wanted to get married that very night. And she also wanted to see the war in its entirety even if he was dead … The first one was perceived as very difficult. What a woman a widower would want, knowing full well that the guy was going to have his head cut off the next day. Do you remember Sati?
For Krishna this was a doddle! she immediately agreed to both conditions. To satisfy the former, she transformed into the celestial Mohini and married Iravan. He was excited, but history records that during the night he became suspicious of the scent emanating from Mohini. He smelled like milk and curd etc. But then… The second condition was easy. Krishna, being the God, testified that even after his death, Iravan’s eyes will see. His head will be fixed to a post guarding the battlefield.
The present
There are two sects in Tamil Nadu. One is the Koothandavar and the other, the followers of Draupadi, both with different beliefs. However, I must emphasize here that both beliefs are not part of the original Mahabharata. They are a uniquely Tamil belief. Here I write about the cult of Koothandavar.
For them the most important aspect of this was the marriage between Iravan (now called Koothandavar) and Mohini. (half man/half woman).
Each of these temples has its biggest celebration during the Tamil month of Chitrai (April/May). The thiruvizha, as it is called, lasts 15 days, 3 days less than the 18 days of the Kurukshetra war (I need to find out why). The biggest festival occurs in a one-horse village called Koovagam. Tens of thousands of Hijras (Ali’s, as they are called in Tamil Nadu) congregate in this city.
On the penultimate day, these Ali are married to the Koothandhavar deity. A night of revelation and, according to some, debauchery follows. The next day, Aravan or Koothandhavar is ritually killed. After this, the Alis are now widows. Lamentations follow, the breaking of the bracelets and the removal of their finery. Now the so-called widows change into white sarees and keep them for another month.