Brahmins with Vaishnavite Marks in Palakkad villages

Brahmins  with  Vaishnavite   Marks in Palakkad villages

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

    Strangely most of the people who migrated to Kerala were  iyers (Though I have seen an iyengar family  in my own village   and when enquired they   said, they migrated from Andhra) . While most of these  iyers wore Vibhuthi  (a smartha custom) , some of them wore  Gopi  crescent   like Madhwas   and some  single red Oordwa pundra line    like   the Vaishnavites of Tamil Nadu .(Oordwa Pundra   has been mentioned in Vasudeva Upanishad  and was in   existence from time immemorial)

A.Palakkad Brahmins   wearing Namam

 It is also interesting to note  that  the majority of people wearing Oordwa Pundra are      from two  of the eighteen villages  in Palakkad viz  Thirunellai (also called as Thiruvilla kadavu)    and Pallipuram . Sri Narayana Murthi belonging to Palakkad had written (http://www.narayanmurti.com/3_34_brahmins_of_palakkad.php ) that these  Vaishnavites “ came to these villages from Srirangam, Conjeevaram, Srivalliputhur and other centres of Vaishnavism. They were used to the pure Vaishnavite traditions of living, such as Namam, names of individuals, worship of dieties etc. Basically, they were  Vadama Smartha brahmins, who worship all Gods, but primarily in the Vishnu aspect. The Thirunellai people also worship Sankarshana, an aspect of Vishnu. All these are external, since they "wanted to be Romans, while in Rome" and they chose   to live like Smarthas  Some of them   said  that they  also owe allegiance to the Jeear in Srirangam or other Vaishnavite Acharyas and   the  Sankaracharyas are not welcome in those villages, even to-day. Mostly, they marry only between these villages, until 50 years ago.This has changed completely, now.” From another of my friend, I understand   that  once upon a time, they never used to say in mamo Partha “Parameshwara  preethyartham”  but say  “Narayana  Preethyartham”

B.Palakkad   Brahmins    wearing  Gopichandana

There are   also  Palakkad Brahmins who wear  crescents  of  Gopi Chandana of  yellow colour .All   the Brahmins of a small   village called  Pulakode   belong to this category They all wear   short crescent    with Gopi chandana .Possibly they might have belonged to Madhwa families in Kumbakonam.

Even   among those who normally wear a crescent  with Gopi Chandana  , there are a few   who wear  long  gopis like  the North Indian Vaishnavas .  Being very much interested  in the  history of Kerala Brahmins  , I had enquired   from those who wear   Gopi whether    they are Vaishnavite Madhwas  and they told   they were but followed all the Acharas, manthras  and  ceremonial dress  of Smarthas  .For all practical  practical purposes   except for Oordwa pundra they were  Smarthas.

C.Palakkad  Brahmins  specialised  in Vishnu  worship

   There   is another   small group  of people called Azhvars  in Palakkad  and they do pooja (at least on festival days)   in  most of the  Vishnu/Krishna/Rama temples  managed  by the  Tamil Brahmin. My friend Anantha Narayanan who is a Vaishnavite Palakkad Brahmin says “Regarding azhvar, they are called to do "dwaja arohanam", "avarohanam" in ratholsavam and certain pujas only. “.

 Note- I also do not know whether such Brahmins wearing Namam   or Gopi Chandanam  are there among the Pondi Brahmins  and the Trivandrum Brahmins

Grandpa’s home Heaven of love or Hell of silence ?

Grandpa’s home  Heaven of love  or Hell of silence  ?

                       

By

P.R.Ramachander

My mind  goes  back   to the   time  , when my children,

Had gone   to their    grand  parents   home for a holiday ,

Though their  grand parents   were as old  as we  are now at that time ,

They would jump    with joy  because  the children have come .

The thatha who had   stopped   going to market   to old age ,

Would have   gone    to the market   the  previous   day,

And would have  purchased   things   after  things after things,

Recollecting Nanu likes this, Rammu likes this  , meeru likes this  and so on

The old lady  who had lost all  her teeth  long back, and  had stopped,

Eating sweets  due to diabetes  and was finding difficult   to stand,

Would have  been busy  in her kitchen making sweets  and savouries,

One after  another   again and again , sitting  on the  kitchen platform

The children too   would    rush and run in to    their   thatha –patti house ,

As if   it was a heaven  of love and    would hug their grandparents   tightly,

And tell them, “Patti , have  you made Jamun?”  , Hey thatha,

Did you take out   the cricket   set  from the attic and kept them clean?”

The youngest   two year  too knew   that   he has reached his heaven,

And would rush to his room  , Take a paint brush and the paint the walls ,

Ofcourse  with water  kept ready by Thatha   and start    writing   sweet nothings,

On the walls  by a  huge pencil   without lead   and  drag  his patti  to see it all.

Times  have changed, in spite  of knowing   that  my  own tiny tots are coming,

I  would be sitting  with my  lap top , and my wife  would  not have  made any thing,

But sent her servant   to buy   some useless   sweets   which the  children ,

Would not even touch    and was  busy   with her Narayaneeyam classes.

AS soon as the   taxi comes  to the house  ,  as per  the orders  of their parents,

Each child  would hug us,  their  grand parents  in western style and say an emotion less  “hi”,

And then become   busy with  their cell phones, tabs    and lap tops,

And  after   two minutes  the grand patents  home  would again be a hell of silence

Ten commandments to the married couple of all ages

Ten commandments  to the married  couple   of all ages

By

P.R.Ramachander

 Just now read  a long write up  in Tamil , addressed to the wife   as to how  they should be . I felt that being happy  and being successful  is a joint  responsibility  Hence   these   modified commandments

1.Husband and wife  should plan    for all   activities of the next day together   on the previous day before going to bed

2. Though they can share any work , they  should clearly understand   that  every work of the home  is h joint responsibility.

3.They   should train    all others members of   the family  including elders and children,   to   do their own work , if  there  is a need   and there  is a crisis,

4.Husband and wife should not  criticise  each other  in front of other family members   especially  their children.

5. They should never scold their children by comparing them to their partner

6. In laws  are   our own family  members   and helping them is responsibility  of the couple

7.The house  where   they live is their house  and making it a   heaven is their joint responsibility

8.Always   jointly  keep   some amount of cash    for  use  in crisis   for the family

9.Always wear  dresses  suitable to the occasion and  have  sufficient  number with each of you.

10, Loving each other is  extremely important  and not  troubling each   other    is also  important

                                  .Each of you  are the  living  treasure of the other

                    And you please  try to make your joint  life in to  pretty bouquet. 

Ten Commandments to those budding adults by Sujatha

Ten Commandments to those  budding  adults  by Sujatha

By

Sujatha

Translated from Tamil by

P.R.Ramachander 

(introduction by author. I

 It is easy    to advice    and very difficult to follow and every day one person will advice,

If only  all  the advice books and commandments  have  been followed  from time immemorial,

Then the world would  not have any bad, or   dishonest people and would have become heaven,

This  is aimed at  adults from sixteen  to nineteen , with no hope that they wil follow)

1.Believe in any   one thing    firmly ,

As firm as ship  lying   on anchor,

It could be God , nature  , effort  etc,

But once decided  do not question it

2 Perform jobs   requested  by parents,

It may be boring but it would not be impossible,

They would not ask you to cross  seven seas,

But may ask you  to go to a nearby shop   and get table salt.

3.Never    sea   the matinee   show   of a picture,

While attending classes  , you may get head ache,

You may without forgetting tell a lie  at home,

And you would not be wasting your youth in a queue.

4. Every day  read at least four pages   of general knowledge,

PLease understand   that General knowledge   does not  deal,

With Cinema or love  and these  four pages   could be from,

A honest newspaper  or a   good book from Library.

5.Try to earn   at least  rupees   hundred  in a honest manner,

And this would help you  in demanding  honestly  ,

From your parents, brother , husband  or wife ,

Three  r thousand rupees to by a shirt   or  Chudidhar

6.,If you are   reading  what is written here , you are ,

One of those   belonging   to the top two percent  of India,

And please at least once a day   think about that vast majority ,

Who do not read, write  and struggle and starve

7.Avoid    anything to do    with love  on Sundays , because ,

Love is very expensive and is a fire   that would burn you ,

Slowly and slowly and please understand  , picking a kerchief,

Writing a poem to a girl   and winking at them is not love

8.Do some excercise daily  , like running   round the ground,

Eight times  , which would lessen bad vulgar thoughts in you,

Make you eat properly , In  general  keep you   happy  ,

Make you sleep well and make you not hurt any one.

9.REtun back home by nine pm  , for by that time ,

Silly TV programmes would be over,  children ,

Would have slept and you can   read your lessons  ,

And write once  what you read but never stay in other’s house  at h night

10. Before you sleep   make is a point  to talk  at least,

Ten minutes with parents siblings about any subject  ,

Which is important or not important  , laugh with them,

Hear what they have to say  , plan for the morrow.

Ayalore Gramam, Kerala

Ayalore

By

P.R.Ramachander

(This was written long time back.  Though there is a web site of Ayalur  , I could not access  it  and revise this)

This village was part of Kochi State. It had in the earlier days 120 Brahmin houses. Most of them belonged to the Vadamas and Brihatcharanam sub sect. Most of them had either Pallaseni Kavu or Chittalancheri Kavu as Adimai Kavus. The village also has considerable population of Tamil speaking Chettiars. The Siva temple was in the middle of the agraharam. About 100 years back one Mr. A.K.Samban built the drinking water system to the Gramam. He did this by providing Public taps. He also is supposed to have built the Cremation ground and Kula Purai for the village. The Krishnan temple, which was built by the Iyers about 100 years back, was built in the same compound as the Siva Temple. There is an interesting story of exchange of idols that is told even today. It seems the idols for the Nemmara Krishnan temple (Parthasarathy) and Ayalore Krishnan temple were made by the same Sculpture. But there was a mix up while delivering and the Parthasarathy reached Ayalore instead of Venna Krishnan and they decided to install it in their temple. The Pooja for the Krishnan temple is by Kerala Iyers. Navarathri is celebrated in this temple. The Lamp around the temple was lit by iyers from a particular street every day of the Navarathri and the streets also got the name from this practice. Onnam Vilakku Theru (First lamp street) and so on till Eighth Lamp Street. Though the Siva temple is under the management of the Devaswom, the major festival of the temple viz. Thiruvadirai is celebrated by the Kerala Iyers by running a huge chariot around the temple. It is interesting to note that this is a typical tamilian custom. In Kerala Sribali using elephants is more common. There was a custom of consecrating bulls to the Siva Temple earlier. These bulls used to majestically roam round the village. But this has now been discontinued. Chella Vadyar a famous pandit used to conduct Veda classes in his house earlier. The Village has a great planter who was perhaps the first of the Kerala Iyers of Chittoor district who established a rubber estate. His name was Hariharan. His estate is even now in tact. Some of the prominent persons of the village are/were Mr. A.K.Seshadrinathan who was the mayor of Ernakulam, Ayalore Krishnan the well known musician, Mr. P.V.Krishna Iyer who retired as Principal agricultural College, Dr. A.H.S.Sarma, who worked as Deputy Director of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural department, Mr. A.S.Narayanan who retired as the Chief Engineer of Electricity Board of Kerala etc.

Kerala Iyer Sub Groups - by migration

Kerala  Iyer  Sub Groups - by migration

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

There  are three  very important   groups of Tamil Iyers   who have   settled  down in Kerala –Palakkad iyers,  Pandi iyers and Trivandrum Iyers

Palakkad iyers

       Among the three groups  , this perhaps   is the largest .Uddanda  Sastrigal  who went to Zamorin’s court   and became the chief poet  there may  be one of the first.There are lot of theories   as to how  and why   Tamil Brahmins   went to Palakkad, Most of them seemed to have migrated  from Thanjavur   district of Tamil Nadu. The Logan’s Malabar Manual  mentions that  if a Tamil Brahmin   enters Malabar   with a head load of materials , there  is no tax for it , Though  they  did settle  down initially in Palakkad  , they moved  to Cochin state   and Malabar .There  is no story of them migrating  to Travancore except   for studying  in college  or studying music .

Pandi iyers

      These group of Iyers    are supposed to have migrated  to Kerala through Shenkota pass and settled down in nearby areas .Later   they spread   to  Ernakulam   and also Trichur , They kept themselves as a separate   group and have separate  samoohams  in these cities. The sastha  preethi in Kerala  was introduced   by them

Travancore iyers

      These  iyers are mainly   from Tirunelveli   district  of Tamil Nadu. Since Trivandrum was  the nearest  town to Tirunelveli district    amd also because  Scholars in music  and Vedas   were  emcouraged  by  Travancore kings , large number of them settled down there . This group  of people  maintained  their connection with Their   people in Tamil nadu for most of the time. Ramayyan Dalawai who was  a minister  of Marthanda  Verma  was  one of them. Large number of them were  lawyers and Musicians in Travancore.

The tweet of Lord Vishnu to the common man

The tweet   of Lord  Vishnu   to the common man

By

P.R.Ramachander

(I got this idea   after reading a  Tamil article by  my Scholar friend  Sri J.K.Sivan .I adopted the idea    and  slightly  modified the contents. Namaskaram my friend)

One day   in his  native place   Vaikunta .

Which some say should have been Goloka,

Lord Vishnu  was    taking   his needed  rest,

AS his three wives were   chitchatting  about nothing.

At that time   the sage Narada  , well known ,

For his seeing   negative aspects   of things ,

Came before  the great Lord , who asked him,

“You appear  tired, where from are  you coming?’

Narada  in a very pensive  mood   told the lord,

“I am coming   from Bharatha , your own land,

And I am feeling sad   that I went there “

And the Lord smiled , “Okay Narada  , let me hear.”

“All  devotees   believe   that you are  inside temples,

In some you are standing, some sitting and some lying down.

But  unfortunately  , you have been sold   for a good price,

 In most places and you have been replaced with some imposter.”

“Most of your temples   are   deserted    and barren  ,

Except for the starving , neglected   and poor priest.

But   there are a  few temples   , where  the crowd is so much.

That even to have  just a  glance of so called  you  it is difficult”

Lord Vishnu   asked  the sage  “How come ? “ and Narada  replied,

“To see you in such temples   there   is a very huge   queue,

And if  one is   sufficiently rich or if  one    is politically powerful,

He  need not stand in the queue    and  can reach  you in a jiffy.”

The Lord asked, “I am sure   those people   are like that  because ,

They are  my devotees” but Narada  smiled    and said the lord,

“Most of your great devotees   are so poor, that  theywould not ,

Even be allowed  to see   your temple    standing  outside.”

Narada  continued  “ Oh my lord  ,  Things are still worse ,

There  are very many  clever , intelligent people   created by you ,

Who wear   ochre  robes   and tell  every one that they are Gods ,

And   before   their  homes  also bigger  queues  than temple are  there.”

Narada continued”  There   are also people   dressed   as if they are great,

And tell you poor illiterate   devotees that  you do not  understand ,

The language  of the poor illiterate   and if they   want any thing from you,

They   have to pay money to the learned, so that they will talk with you.”

The lord became   sad   and asked sage Narada  , “How do I”

“Communicate with my devotees” and Narada  replied,

“You can tweet, you can put in face book   or you can,

Send a message in Instagram or address them in Skype”

Though the great Lord    was   supposed   to know everything,

“He was greatly confused  and after enquiry   decided to tweet ,

He wrote “My dear   children  , I am Krishna  who fulfils your desires,

 I do not have a form and assume   any form that   you can think of .”

“Suppose  you want to talk to me, pray  me , ask  for my blessings,

All  that  you have to do is to   firmly  believe  that  you are talking  to me,

Worship me in your mind  and  do some good    to any being  on earth,

AS I am  each and   every one  of them, and I would   give all  that you ask.”

“Please  know  that  I have  never  asked  you to  go   to any of  my temples,

AS   each and every  nook    and corner  of the world , I am there  to help you,

Please  also understand   that I understand all languages  including  ,

That  of  the  dumb , deaf  , fool , mad  man , beggar   and great  saint”

“Suppose   you need to talk to me , Simply start   talking   to me ,

The way  that  you normally   do  and I would   definitely hear  you.

Please also understand   that  I do not  love   to wear  golden ornaments,

And I cry   when I see   you  people   are  being cheated by  the merchants of Religion.

“ I hate  those   who pay  bribe   to see me , Take it from me,

I will never bless them   but   always   curse  them, and please know,

That  a person  cannot become me   by  putting ochre   robes ,

And   showing you  magical feats   which you think are miracles”

“ Oh my people , I have taught you   in my Gita   that   each and every,

One of you is myself and   that  any one   who makes  money in my name,

And cheating and troubling you are    great asuras and so please ignore them”

Written by one   whom  you have  not still understood.