Random thoughts of
one whose original roots
were in Puthukode.
By
P.R.Ramachander
I
belonged to an astrologer/Musician family
of Puthucode and my grandfather left that village about 120
years back and moved to Chelakkara, which is the only village of Kerala
which I knew but somehow
Puthukode struck to my name
in spite of these
120 years.In this life of 76 years , I have visited Puducode some 8-9
times. Only twice have I stayed
in the village of my forefathers
for a
day. But I loved the village and I was proud of the village where
my grandfather had his roots, Whatever I write below are really random thoughts , which are information
that I have heard from my
father and my co-brother Sri. P.V.V.Raghavan
whose soul always lived in Puducode, though his body
lived in Mumbai .Had he been alive
he would have called this as
ignorant thoughts , but I really
want to call it as random
thoughts. Shall I begin my thoughts by A prayer
song addressed to Goddess
Annapurneswari of Puthucode.
A prayer to
Goddess Annapurni of Puthucode by Smt,P.S.Chellamma Teacher , Mani Mandir , Puthucode
Puthukkottu
Annapurneswari Akshara Mala
Stotram
Translated by
P.R.Ramachander
1.Annapurneswari , Akhilandeswari ,
Abhaya
Pradhayini , Puthukodiye
1.Oh Goddess Annapurna
who is the Goddess of all the universe
,
Who gives us
protection and who lives in Puthucode.
2.Aadhi parasakhi, Aananda Bhairavi,
Aadhiyai theerpai
, Puthukodiye
2.Oh Primeval divine
power who is the joy filled BHairavi ,
Please destroy our
sorrows, Oh goddess who lives in Puthucode .
3.Innalai ozhithu
, inpathai tharuvai ,
Ishta varam tharum
Puthucodiye
3.Please destroy our pains and give us pleasure ,
Oh Goddess of Puducode who gives desired boons.
4.Eesanin nayagi , Devi Maheswari,
Iru padam paninthom
, Puthukodiye
4.Oh consort of Lord Shiva who us
the the greatest Goddess,
WE salute both
your feet, Oh Goddess who lives in
Puthucode.
5.Ullilum irunthu, veliyilum irunthu,
Ulagathai kaappai
, Puthucodiye.
5.Living
inside as well as outside ,
Please
protect the world, Oh
Goddess who lives in
Puthucode
6.OOnathai neeki ,
ookathai tharuvai ,
OOrellam pugazhum
puthukodiye.
6.Please remove my handicaps and give me enthusiasm ,
Oh Goddess who lives
in Puthucode who is praised in
all places.
7.Rishikal
yaavarum pothri vanangidum ,
Veda SWaroopini
Puthukodiye.
7.Oh Goddess who
lives in Puthucode who is worshipped,
And praised by all
sages who has the form of Vedas.
8.Edutha kariyam
vethri kidaikkave ,
Endrendrum Kaapaai
, puthukodiye.
8.Please protect
us always and help us to succeed,
All jobs that we
take up , Oh Goddess who lives in Puducode
9.Yezhaikal yengalai
, endrum kaappai ,
Yethathaazhvillamal
puthukodiye.
9.Please protect us
poor people ,
Not bothering
about our status , Oh Goddess
who lives in Pudukode.
10.Iyngari
sankari devi , krupakari ,
Iswaryam tharuvaai
, Puthokodiye.
10.Oh Goddess with
five hands , who is consort of Sankara and who is very charitable,
Please Give me
wealth , Oh Goddess who lives
in Puthucode
11.Onpathu devikal ondraai serntha,
Oyyara
roopini , puthukodiye
11.Oh Goddess with
pretty form,
Made by joining
together of nine forms, Oh Goddess
who lives in Puthucode.
12. OM yendrezhuthaal
odiye varuvaii,
OM Sakthi nayagi, puthukodiye.
12.Please Come
running in the form of letter “Om”,
Oh Goddess of the
letter om , Oh Goddess who lives in Puthucode
13.Oushadhamai un
namathai japithaal,
Vyadhiyai
theerppai , puthukodiye.
13.If we chant your
name as medicine ,
You would cure our disease, Oh Goddess who lives in
Puthucode.
14.Ambike nin thirupadathai paninthaal,
Adaikkalam tharuvai
, Puthukodiye
14.Oh Mother if
we salute your divine feet ,
You would give us protection , Oh Goddess who lives
in Puthucode
15.Ajnanathai neeki
, jnanathai thauvai ,
Jnana
vikasini , Puthukodiye
15.Please
remove our ignorance nd give us
wisdom,
Oh Godess who
increases wisdom, Oh Goddess who lives
in Puducode
16.OmShakthi Nayagi
, Om Sakthi Nayagi ,
Om Shakthi Nayagi, Puthikodiye
10.Om Shakthi who leads, Om Shakthi who leads,
Om Shakthi who leads, Oh Goddess who lives in Puducode.
Now some info
about Puthucode, its temple , its Navarathri festival and its famous Puthukottu Pulungari.
Puthucode or
Puducode is a village in Palakkad District of Kerala .It was one of the biggest Agraharams in Kerala , which consisted of 500
Brahmin houses once upon a time.
As of now the centre of the Agraharam is
occupied by a very pretty and a very big temple of Puthucode Bhagwathy and in another corner is a Shiva Temple . The Brahmins of Puthucode consider that Puducode Bhagwathi
is Goddess Annapurneswari .But
The Goddess does not have the
usual form of Annapurneswari with a ladle and pot in hands but holds Shanka and Chakra in Both hands. Though
most of the Brahmins believe that
this temple was established by the Tamil Brahmins themselves
, most of the Keralites believe
that it is one of the
108 Devi temples .While some Bramins believe that the idol of the Bhagawathi was brought out from the temple tank by One Rama Sastrigal, others believe
that this idol was got made in
Trithala and was brought by few Brahmins carrying
the idol on their heads without keeping it on the earth any where
and without taking rest. There is
Prathistha of Ganapathi as well as Lord Ayyappan in the temple .There is also a Bhootha Prathistha
and Sarpa Kavu inside the temple There
is a practice of Chanting Shyamala Dandagam which praises Goddess
Saraswathi by the Brahmins of the village. For some period the
Temple was given by the Tamil Brahmins
for Management to the Naduvil
Madam .But in 1982 an organization of Tamil Brahmins called “Sri Annapurneswari pooja Coordinators(SAPCO) was formed and since that time
only Tamil Brahmins manage the
temple .The daily Pooja of the temple is
done by a Tamil Brahmin priest. This association was formed
under the leadership of the owner
of “Vadhyar boats” a company manufacturing boats in Madras , who is from Puducode.Maha Periyavaa is
supposed to have visited the temple and stayed
there one month. Later Swamy Jayendra Saraswathi of Kamakoti peetam also visited the temple.
The people of
Puducode with great pride say , there is
no greater Agraharam than Puthucode .The Village was populated by great Vedic Pundits, Scholars in Sastra , Astrologers , as well as Carnatic
Musicians.At the initial stages there
was only a school run by one
Gopalakrishna Iyer in the village which used
to give education up to elementary level. At that time to study up to high school , students had either to go to Alathur or
Thiruvilvamala..Poor and middle class students
used to walk down to and fro while rich families used to hire a home and
employ a cook so that their children can
study there .Later a Sanskrit Pata
Sala called “Hari Hara
Pathasala “ was established by
one Justice Sundaram Iyer who
was from Puducode a prominent
Madras High Court judge during
the early part of the 20th centuary.
This was integrated in to an
English medium higher secondary school
with greater emphasis on Sanskrit
by one Sri P.R. Narayana iyer.This institution also became a Sanskrit
College in later days.
Puducode
village was also a great centre of education in Sama Veda , where late P.K.Gopala Vadhyar who was
an expert in the THanjavur method of Chanting Sama Veda
, lived.He was an expert in Kauthuma
Tradition of chanting Sama Veda(Called Ramanna patam ) ,
though this style of chanting has almost
disappeared from its home Thanjavur.,.Howard university entrusted
the job of recording this unique method
of chanting to one L.S.Rajagopal of
Trichur .I understand that the major part of chanting of Sama Veda by
Gopala Krishna Vadhyar has
been preserved in that
university. The BHavan’s branch of Puthucode has also preserved these records.
”
Among Puthucode's well known residents
are the late Shri Puthucode Krishnamurthy, a Carnatic musician, Mr. M.H.
Krishna Iyer- of Manapadam Gramam(Ex Deputy collector) ,Mr. P.
Rajagopal I.A.S of Kanakkannur(Ex collector Palakkad) and Justice Mr. P R
Sundaram Iyer of South Village. Mr. P C Sriram, a well-known cameraman in
Indian Cinema, is the grandson of Justice P R Sundaram
Iyer. Mr.O.Rajagopal Ex-Union Minister Railway is from Kanakkannur,
Puthucode.”(
http://www.puthucode.com/).
A great expert in Sastras called
Ambi Satrigal also lived there.
Puducode
was also a great centre of Carnatic music in Kerala.” Some of the
great musicians of the earlier times were Seshu Bhagavathar, Venkichu
Bhagavathar, Seetharama Bhagavathar who served in the court of Cochin king,
Visweswara Bhagavathar and Madhu Bhagavathar who was an expert in Veena. Among
the present day greats is Puducode Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar (
http://orkut.google.com/c20656126-tcf335210d4bb02bd.html)
.I also understand that the Asthana
Vidwan of the Guruvayur temple at one time was a tamil Brahmin belonging to Puthucode. Some members
of the Bhagwathar family were also astrologers and some Sastric Pundits. I know that there was a Deekshithar and Ganapadi
family belonging to Puthucode .I
am one of the member of the
Sastri/Jyosyar/BHagawathar
families of Puthucode and my
father used to tell me that , with our
family there
was a referral book which was a the Palm leaf manuscript dealing with Rules and rituals of Brahmin tradition and whenever a need for
interpretation of the rules was needed
, Tamil Brahims from all over
Kerala Used to come to Puthucode
and consult that Manuscript which was with our family .Our Family is big one with lots of Branches and in spite
of my best efforts I could
not trace this great book.
The
Greatest festival that Puthucode celebrates is the Navarathri ,It is a time when representatives of almost all the 500 original families come back to their village.Elaborate arrangements
for their free stay and free
food is arranged by the Brahmins of the village . The procession carrying
Goddess is called Shiveli. From the
first to the fifth day the Shiveli is held only inside the temple, While the sixth day the
Goddess goes out to the Thekke Gramam(south village) , On 7th
she goes to the KIzhakke
Gramam(East village) , on 8th
to the Vadakke Gramam (North village and on the ninth day to the Padinjare gramam (west village) ,.The
celebrations on each of these days is
simply gigantic along with large number
of Elephants, several top ranking artists playing Pancha Vadhyam , Chenda
etc , Bursting of crackers .The Goddess goes out three times to those Gramams on each day.There would be Shyamala Dandakam chanting in the extremely
well decorated temple , followed
by the great feast .The Major main Dish is
the Puthukottu Pulungari and Olan
and the famous Idichu Piuzhinja Payasam
(also called Sada sadayam) . On the
ninth day night
the goddess comes out for a pig Hunting
(Panni Nayattu) ,She goes up to a
place where a wooden pig is kept and is
supposed to kill it by using bows and arrows.On the tenth day is Arattu
.The Goddess is taken out and gets dipped in a temple tank and returns. While
returning she is supposed to go 15 times around the temple .The people
there especially Children go on
shouting and playing loud instruments and make the elephant run faster and faster
.At the end, the elephant touches the flag pole and enters her temple bringing to an end the
festivities.
In the
Souvenier Published during the
Kumbabishekam of the temple , the preparation of Puthukottu Pulankari is given in detail .Based on it I have made a recipe for the modern home.
Puthucode Kovil Pulungari/ Pulinkari
Pumpkin 150 g, Yam 150 g, Ash gourd 150 g, Plantains 50 g,Raw rice 10 g, tur
dhal 25 g, dried chillies 3, Fenugreek (Mentha) 5 g, Tamarind 50 g, Coconut
(shredded) 25 g, Mustard 2 g, green chillies 5 g, Jaggery 20 g, curry leaves,
Coconut oil 25 g and some quantity of curry leaves and salt to taste.
Method:
1.Cut and cook Ah gourd and yam together in a cooker
2.Also cook Tur dal in the cooker
3. Cut and boil pumpkin and plantains
4. fry rice till they pop and powder it
5.fry fenugreek (Mentha) to golden brown and powder it
6.Grind coconut and green chillies together
7 Extract Tamarind juice and boil it for 5 minutes
8. Add all vegetables, jaggery, and cooked dhal for 10 minutes
9.Add rice powder and boil for 5 minutes
10. Take out from stove and immediately add coconut paste, mentha powder,
coconut oil and curry leaves and stir.
11. Season it with mustard and dry chilies in coconut oil.
I would be
grateful if corrections and
additions are made to this
random jottings so that even after
100 years people would know about Puducode in all its
glory.
