Thai Poosam and the Tamil Frontier Spirit

Thai Poosam is a significant day for ethnic Tamils living in Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion and Singapore. This year, it falls on Saturday, January 30. The holiday denotes the full moon of the month of Thai and is dedicated to the God Murukan or Skanda, also known as Seyon in the Sangam-era of Tamil literature.

'Tai Poosam Cavadee’ is a public holiday in Mauritius and Reunion . It is a holiday in certain states of Malaysia. There were moves to lobby the Singapore Government to make it an official holiday in Singapore in lieu of Wesak which had been declared an ‘Indian holiday’ though largely confined to Sino-Singaporeans influenced by Sri Lankan Buddhist missionary activity. [The Chinese, Malays and Indians in Singapore are entitled to two public holidays each. Two days had already been allocated for the Chinese lunar new year. Deepavali had been designated as one 'Indian holiday'].

Murugan Temple in Verugal, Sri Lanka East-pic by: drs. sarajevo

Thai Pongal is not a noteworthy event for the ethnic Tamils of those lands. It is not observed with the same Jaffna fervour amongst the estate workers of central Sri Lanka either. Is there a reason for this?

I would like to surmise why. Thai Pongal is a harvest festival dedicated to the Sun God. It coincides with the purported shift north in the movement of the sun. This is known as Uttaraayanam and has a special resonance for rural farming communities that have tilled their lands for generations. This is witnessed to this day in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. Each day in the entire month of Maarkali, Tamil farming communities draw decorative kolams using rice flour on their front porch and place a symbolic Pillaiyar [Ganesha as the patron deity of the farmer] at the center of the Kolam. The month long observance concludes with Thai Pongal.

However, the colonial interlude in the history of Tamil Nadu in the 1800s led to a breakdown of the vibrant rural paddy economy, of local authority and local irrigation networks. This resulted in repeated famines. The hunger and destitution forced many landless laborers to move across the seas to Malaya, Mauritius, Reunion and the tea plantations in Sri Lanka in the 1800s. The rural farmer lifestyle with its Vellalar/Mudaliyar-dominated caste feudalism had ended.

Like the God Murukan who moved out of his ‘parental home’ and sought his own ‘individual destiny’ as it were, the descendents of the indentured Tamil migrants who had been detached from their rural roots emphasized Thai Poosam as part of their new and at times more prosperous lives in far off lands. This was an expression of their independent tenacity in the new frontier of Tamil geographic space.

Many of the indentured laborers who moved overseas hailed from the fiercely independent Maravar/Thevar/Kallar/Thondaman caste noted for their devotion to the God Murukan. The Thevar Polygars/Palaiyakarar in Tirunelveli in the deep south of Tamil Nadu and the affiliated Thondamans in Pudukottai in central Tamil Nadu fiercely resisted the brief intrusion of the Delhi Sultanate in the 1300s, the raids of Tippu Sultan in the late 1700s and the onset of British rule in the 1800s. This militarized community formed regiments in the Vijayanagara and Madurai Mahratta Nayak armies. They were deeply religious and patronized Hindu religious institutions.

Thai Poosam therefore is a statement of displacement, independence and a tenacity of spirit, not agrarian conformity. While Ganesha went round his parents, Murukan went round the universe in search of the much sought after ‘Mango’. This holiday is a salute to self-reliance, perhaps even defiance. While this is conjecture on my part, it offers possible insights into the psyche of the 19th century Tamil diaspora.

Swamy threatens to launch stir on Madurai airport naming issue

Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has threatened to launch an agitation if the Tamil Nadu Government further delayed its consent to name the city airport after freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.

Addressing a well-attended meeting organised by his party here this evening, Swamy, a former Lok Sabha member from this city, said the civil aviation ministry had already forwarded to the state government his proposal to name the airport after Thevar, revered by the backward Thevar community, seeking its comments.

Besides he had himself written a letter regarding the same. "But the Tamil Nadu Government is sitting silent on the letter," he claimed. He also said AIADMK Government headed by O Panneerselvam in 2001 had also not given its consent for the proposal.

"We follow the same policy of Thevar -- that nationalism and spiritualism are two eyes of a man. Thevar had national
outlook,and broke the back of the British in Tamil Nadu when the so called Dravidian parties were backing the Raj. Now it is for the congress Government to decide whether to name the airport after a freedom fighter or not, " he said.

Yet another DMK assault on Hindu faith

Coconut ban in Meenakshi Temple

By BR Haran

THE Tamil Nadu government is contemplating a ban on coconuts inside the world famous Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. Police attribute ‘security reasons’ for this decision; they claim the temple has always been on the terror radar and that central intelligence agencies have frequently received threats of a jihadi attack.

Though the police have increased security on the advice of the central intelligence agencies, they are wary of jihadis using coconuts as bomb planting instruments. They say it is very difficult for them to screen puja materials brought in from outside by thousands of devotees everyday, and that is why they recommended a ban on coconuts inside the temple. The temple’s Executive Officer Rajanayagam, in a show of rare “intelligence”, suggested that devotees could use flowers instead of coconuts! The archagas of the temple are dead against this outrageous idea.

Temple: Centre of community development and livelihood

Temples are a symbol of Bharat’s centuries-old divine heritage. A temple is a centre of activity, not only for the devotees and the archagas, but also a great livelihood for the traders of flowers, coconuts, fruits, herbs and leaves, bamboo sticks, brass and earthen lamps, puja materials, etc. Bamboo sticks were used to make plates and baskets for carrying materials for worship and now the plastic bags have replaced them and bamboo merchants around temples are now extinct. Plastics are posing a grave threat to the environment and to the lives of elephants and cows reared by the temple, and other cattle and dogs which roam near the temple depending on the food and eatables given by devotees and vendors. In one stroke, a poor community is made extinct and a danger to environment and animal lives is welcomed.

Puranic significance of coconut

There is an interesting Puranic history behind the sanctity of the coconut. While Bhagwan Shiva was on his mission of “Tripura Samhaaram”, the pivotal piece (Achaani in Tamil) of his chariot broke at a place in Tamil Nadu— Achirupaakkam (Achchu – pivotal piece; Itra – broke; paakkam – town and hence Achirupaakkam). Bhagwan Ganesha arrived and reminded Shiva that He was the one who told the world to start any ritual or function or even any act only after invoking the blessings of Ganesha, and since Shiva himself had failed to do so, his chariot was stranded. Shiva asked for a prayaschita; Ganesha said, “Since you failed to start with Ganesh Puja out of ahankaar (Karvam in Tamil, meaning head-weight), you have to sacrifice your head.” Later Parvati came to the rescue of Shiva and asked Ganesha to suggest a remedy as world will be ruined if Shiva’s head is removed from His body. Ganesha creates a coconut with three eyes and a tuft (Kudumi in Tamil) and breaks it. Hence the Tamil practice of addressing Shiva as Kudumi Thevar.

Devotees of Swami Ayyappan going to Sabarimala on pilgrimage carry ghee inside a coconut and break it at the temple in order to use the ghee for Abishekam. Normally butter and ghee are used mostly in Vishnu temples, as the name ‘Navaneethan’ indicates, and carrying ghee inside a coconut by Ayyappa devotees is to signify the birth of Swami Ayyappan out of the unison of Shiva and Vishnu. Coconut is an integral part of Hinduism, culture and tradition; there is no worship, custom or ritual sans coconut. Any coconut merchant would vouch for the fact that temples are at the top of his clientele list, rarely next only to hotels. The state govern-ment’s proposal seems to be yet another anti-Hindu act with an intention of giving a huge blow to religious tradition and culture. It will certainly hit the livelihood of coconut vendors, merchants and farmers.

Failure of the law enforcing department

The police citing ‘security reasons’ for the proposed ban on coconuts is outrageous and plain stupid. The Meenakshi Amman Temple has been under threat ever since Muslim fundamentalists started observing the anniversary of the so-called Babri demolition (which they actually ignored this year, with two senior clerics, Shia and Sunni respectively, organising family wedding festivities on that date, and arguing against observing the Babri anniversary). Yet in Tamil Nadu, a big drama is unfolded every year! A bomb blast occurred in the temple on May 18, 1996 within a year of the formation of Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK). But TN police failed to check the growth of jihadi organisations, which resulted in the serial blasts in Coimbatore in February 1998.

Hostile environment: Government’s own creation

It is pertinent to understand the environment around the famous temple. Successive DMK governments have leased out the lands, shops and buildings around the temple for paltry sums. Most lessees are Muslims and the hundreds of shops (including meat shops) surrounding the temple are owned by Muslims; many are Kashmiri Muslims. Most shops mislead the public by having Hindu names! There is a rule by the Corporation that no structure should be built with a height of more than nine metres in a radius of one kilometre from the temple. But many buildings have come up, including a few churches and mosques. This rule holds good for other temples also, as it finds a place in HR & CE’s Rule Book itself. Regarding Meenakshi temple, it is difficult to have darshan of the temple towers even within half a kilometre! Instead of correcting this, the police talk of a ban on coconuts!