PARAYAKADAVU:
Its Divine Associations
-R
M Nair
Amma
Parayakadavu
was a small fishermen's village situated on
a coastal strip of land near Kollam in Kerala.
It was sandwiched between the backwaters and
the Arabian sea. Coconut trees dotted the
peninsula.
Life
in the village has associations of mythological
characters dating back to thousands of years.
One of them runs like this: Lord Muruga or
Lord Subrahmanyam, brother of Lord Ganesh,
on an occasion antagonised his father, Lord
Shiva, who cursed him to take the birth of
a fish. His mother, Goddess Parvati intervened,
and argued to save her son. Shiva turned all
the more furious and cursed her too that she
be born a fisherwoman. However, later on he
consoled them and agreed he would rescue both
of them.
Subrahmanyam
became a whale. He struck terror for the fishermen
whose nets he tore up into shreds and whipped
about their boats. They could no more take
to the sea and fishing came to an abrupt end.
The villagers starved as their only source
of income dried up. The chieftain of the village
had to take up the challenge of saving the
population from starvation and death. He announced
a reward plus his beautiful daughter to whosover
catches the whale and saves his subjects.
An old man came from nowhere. He accepted
the challenge, threw a string of ropes into
the sea.. The whale was caught and brought
ashore by the fishermen. (On the land, the
whale changed its form to Lord Subrahmanyam).
Now
the old man comes forward and claims the hand
of the young damsel.The chieftain is in a
dilemma.The winner is a limping, old man and
his daughter is a young, beautiful girl. The
princess told her father he must keep his
word, and walked off with the old man. (The
princess was Parvati and the old man was Lord
Shiva) The villagers followed asking for their
destination. The couple would only say ``Where
we reach will be our dwelling place'' (Chellunna
Uru). The villagers continued following them
till the two turned into statues at a certain
place. A temple was constructed soon. Chellunna
Uru evolved into today's Chengannoor!
As
time passed there was a mysterious occurrence
at the temple. Water brought for pooja contains
a fish time and again. Astrologers determined
that this was due to a curse of Subrahmanyam
and also because no ceremony was conducted
for the wedding of the old man and the princess.
The remedy was set: The people of Alappad
(Parayakadavu) should come with all paraphernalia
to Chengannoor and conduct the marriage afresh!
The villagers of Alappad thereafter promptly
arrived with all accompaniments for the divine
wedding. And this ceremony is observed every
year like a festival.
We
left Lord Subrahmanyam on the shore! What
happened to him. He too might have vanished.
But the villagers built a temple at the spot
where he relinquished his whale form. And
the viewers might ask, after thousands of
years now what has happened to the temple,
is it still there? Well, the answer is YES.
Amma:
the Divine Mother
COURTESY:
Amma's Biography
by Swami Amritaswarupananda
