Jallikattu - Importance of Native Indian Bulls

Jallikattu - Importance of Native Indian Bulls

      

      Jallikattu - meaning - Embracing the bull in Tamil. This post, will explain about Jallikattu, why it is being played in Southern India, it's historical significance and it's importance.

           Indian Humped bulls are also called as 'Indian Aurochs', which is a sub species of extinct aurochs cattle breed. About 2 million years before, aurochs were originated in India and started to spread towards west during Holocene epoch. The scientific name of Zebu cattle breed is 'Bos Indicus', which are descended from Indian Aurochs. Zebu have humps on shoulders, large dewlaps and droopy ears. Today, we can see more of our native humped bulls in other countries than India. 

        In history,  these Indian native bulls are traced back to Indus valley civilization. These humped bulls were roamed during Indus valley civilization and it is part of our history, we could see the motifs of the humped bulls in the Indus seals which are excavated from the archaeological sites of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. Thousands and thousands of zebu cattle breeds were exported to Brazil, United states of America and many other countries. But, we still didn't realise the importance and significance of our native humped bulls.

            Kangayam, pullikulam, Brahman, Nellore, Ongole, Sahiwal, Red sindhi, Butana, Kenana, Tharpakar, Guzerat, Boran, Umbalacheri are the major Zebu bulls of the world. The large humps and dewlaps are the special features of native breeds. It has many importance which have gone unnoticed, i have explained the same in this post under Jallikattu section below.

Worshiping Bulls:

              In Hinduism, the humped bull is considered as vahana (mount) for lord Shiva, it's also called as 'Nandi', the gate guardian deity of Kailash. In all shiva temples, we could see nandi statue before entering into the main deity Shiva. In our culture, it is believed, if we say our wish / prayer in nandi's ear, it will be reached to Lord Shiva and our wishes will be fulfilled. Thus, Nandi is considered as a medium to reach Shiva and also, he is considered as a chief guru of 8 disciples.

 In history,  Worshiping Shiva and Nandi can be traced back to 'Pasupati seal' found in Harappa and Mohenjo daro sites.

Nandi in Shiva Temple

Now, let us see about Jallikattu...

What is Jallikattu ? 

                Everyone must have heard the name 'Jallikattu' due to its controversy in the recent past. Every year, Jallikattu will be conducted during the day of Mattu pongal (Second day of Pongal). The one which is held in Alanganallur village, near Madurai is one of the most popular event.

              Why Jallikattu ?? Why to hurt animals ?? Oh no..!! poor illiterate uncivilized Tamil people !!! Huh ??? 'Jallikattu' is neither status symbol nor uncivilized manner, in fact southern part of India is the only one region where our culture and traditions are still being followed, only those who are already converted into western maaya and illiterate about India are thinking that Indian culture & traditions are myth , it's full of superstitions. Let me explain about Jallikattu now, in Jallikattu only humped bulls will participate for the game. 

        Before explaining about the science behind the game, let me remind you that this the day 2nd day of Thai / Makar month (mostly 15th January ) that is dedicated to native Cows and Bulls. 

Jallikattu / Eru Thazhuvudhal / Manju Virattu

        We worship bulls, we celebrate them and it's a thanksgiving to the Cows and Bulls of our family. In villages, we can still see Dogs, Goats, Chickens, Cows, Buffalo, Bulls as pet animal. But, more than all the pet animal Cow deserves special place in the house, we call them with a pet name and even include cows, bulls in our family picture. Even in temples, there is a place called 'Goshala' (Cow's place), where temple committee will take care of humped cows over there and prashadam for god will be prepared from that temple cow's milk.  

                  Why to play games with bull ?? We are ONLY playing games with bulls, due to which humans may get hurt, but not the bulls. Jallikattu means 'Embracing the bull', not hurting the animal.

In Spain and other foreign countries, they are killing the bulls for the happiness of the rich humans. Does anybody question that ? 

                  
                 In India, we only had humped bull breeds, out of which Kangeyam and Pullikulam breeds are most famous for jallikattu, it is the game for bravery of a man, one who holds bull's hump for 20 - 30 seconds will be the winner.  A bull will be there in the game arena  for max 40 seconds. 

        There are many variants of Jallikattu, 'Vadi  Manjuvirattu' is renowned for mattu pongal,  during this game bulls will comes out of 'Vaadi Vaasal' with a high speed (gate through which bulls enter into the competition area). There are many rules for this game, the person who participates in the competition should be physically fit, at a time only one person should hold the hump, those who touch the tail, horns, neck of the bull are disqualified from the game, like this there are many more rules and restrictions for this game. First, Kovil Kaalai (Temple bull) will come out of the gate and the players allow it a free run, will not touch the bull.

Now, why this Jallikattu game is needed ? 

        This game is not needed for humans, this game is practiced for ages, in order to preserve our country breeds. How ??  Only with the genes of stud bulls, stronger calves will be given birth, thus in order to preserve the genes of our vedic bull breeds, this practise is being followed for many generations. 

        How do we have stud bulls ?? only by feeding food and maintaining them? Can we humans, be stronger only by eating and taking rest? Stud bulls should be agile, alert and virile. In the peak of the reproductive period, the necessary male hormones needs to be secreted, pumping hearts and adrenaline rushes. 

            When the stud bulls enters into the vadi vaasal with much force and speed, their testosterone level increases,  when the humans tries to control the bull, in a agile it will give back the force, due to which their hear pumps fast and hormone level increases. When the bull wins in the competition (No one couldn't control the bull), then it will be taken directly to the cows of temple for mating. As per our science, it is believed that after this competition, bulls will have complete power and the calves will have the best genes with more power and strength. Only our vedic humped cow gives A2 milk, A2 milk produced by our Indian cows are good health, where as the A1 milk from cross breed are toxic for health. A2 milk is having more micro nutrients and minerals which enhances our immunity system.
          

  

           Followed by clothing and food, western diseases are also spread in India, due to several factors such as A1 milk, hormone injected meat and GM foods. Jersey and Holstein cows yields more A1 milk, but very less nutrition and also after few years, they stop yielding milk and not having enough stamina to give birth to calves, even if it gives birth to calves, they very weak, so it is directly sent for slaughter. Due to this artificial insemination from A1 breeds are making our native breeds extinct.

          On a year, our vedic humped cows gives 3 times more milk than the humpless cows. One should not calculate the number of litres of milk in a day, one should calculate the number of litres of milk produced in a YEAR. Today Brazil is minting money by selling humped desi  bulls semen, which they have taken from India.

         When we are doing Homam, we use ghee and Gomutra. The Gomutra of humped cows are having many benefits, it has been used in treating various diseases and also used in ayurveda . Indian humped cows doesn't need any antibiotics, it eats greens, water and does work peacefully, whereas the humpless cows eats and drinks throughout the day, falls sick and takes antibiotics, so it's milk is not good for health. 

Why only humped cow's milk is good for health ? 

    Our native cows and bulls have hump and there is a unique channel (Nadi) from the hump till the backbone tail, that causes the secretion of purity whether it is milk, urine or cow dung. This Nadi will be there only in Indian native bulls. This channel is the secret for A2 milk and it is the powerhouse of purity.

Kamadenu Cow that we worship

            
              After knowing the secret of our milk, westerners took many of our native humped cows to their land. They are now milking money from our priceless bulls, giving the best milk to their people and in return they have sent useless humpless cows to India, which gives toxic milk. They know the benefits of A2 milk, they are supplying A2 milk in their market with our desi cows and wants us to drink toxic milk to get diseases, due to which they will be rich with their pharma and health industry. 

        If this Jallikattu sport is stopped, the agile and stud genes of our native bulls will become extinct and as a result, we would not be having A2 milk, medicinal Gomutra and cow dungs of our cows. When native cows and bulls becomes extinct, we have to depend on foreign countries for their cow breeds to get useless A1 milk. This the main reason for banning Jallikattu and by tarnishing the truth of indian breed,  erasing the ancient sport from our history and stopping our age old traditions in the name of animal welfare. 

Now, many foreign countries are drinking safe and nutritious A2 milk. 

A2 milk in a Foreign supermarket.

Bulls in our History

            Our Indian Humped bulls are depicted in the harappan seal coins, plates etc. There are many terracotta hand painted harappan bull figurines excavated from the site.

Humped bull in seal

Terracotta humped bull figurine

        There are pre historic painting around 30,000 years old found in Bhimbetka rock shelters. The oldest rock art is found at Bhimbetka cave site, in Bhopal (Madhya pradesh).

           
            There are seven animal capitals during the reign of Ashoka, from the pillars of Ashoka. The archaeological site is called as 'Rampurva', which is located at West Champaran district of Bihar, India. Rampurva bull capital is composed of lotus motif at the base and zebu bull on top of it.

Rampurva Bull capital

         There are many legacies about our native breed bull, In Ancient Egypt people worships sacred bull called 'Apis' , son of Goddess 'Hathor' , it is believed that 'Apis' served as intermediary between Gods and humans (like our Nandi in temples) and the statue of the bull 'Apis' looks similar to our Indian bull Nandi. Thus, it makes clear that Hinduism was there in Egypt, our tradition, gods , culture were mentioned in their history, but with different names. Our Sanatana Dharma were followed in ancient Egypt by Egyptian kings and architects.

Apis Bull

Worshiping Solar bull Egypt

           

               Worship of Apis bull (Nandi) was then continued by the Greeks followed by Romans and it continued till 300 A.D

Our native bulls and cows are unnoticed treasures for human lives. These priceless genes of bulls and cows needs to be maintained, for healthy next generations of humans!!

More details and history about Bull in Kumari Kandam posts

--Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Happy Pongal / Makar Sankranti !!!

Pongal / Makar Sankranti

                     
    Wish you and your family a very Happy Pongal !!!

          "Pongal", this festival is dedicated to Sun god, falls on 1st day of 'Thai' month  (Thai in Tamil, Makar in Sanskrit), when the Sun enters into Capricorn. This festival is celebrated for several thousand years, also known as harvest festival, as during this month farmers harvest the rice and sugarcane. It is celebrated as 4 days festival, starting from last day of Dhanu / Margazhi month to 3rd day of Thai / Makar month. 

Suryan (sun god)

              Pongal is also celebrated as Makar Sankranthi and Uttarayan is other parts of India. 'Uttarayan' is six month period where the Sun travels towards North, starting on this day. But, especially in Tamil Nadu and Telangana, Pongal is celebrated with much rigor and pomp for 4 days. 
           In Kerala, on the day of Makar Sankranti, after sunset, one can see 3 flashes of light on top of the 'Ponnambalamedu hill', which is few kilometers away from the famous Sabarimala temple. It is called as 'MakaraVilaku', Makar is the name of the star (Capricorn), it is believed that on this day Lord Ayyappa himself can be seen in the form of light. Every year, millions of devotees will gather in that temple to witness the Makaravilaku. 

              By the mid of Margazhi month, will start preparing for Pongal festival by cleaning our house gradually like gathering the old things, dusting door, windows, ceiling, fans etc. buying new dresses, new rice, dal, jaggery, fresh sugar canes, turmeric plant branches, new pongal pot and many more things. We will be eating sugar canes on this whole month. There is specialty for this sugar canes, while biting the sugar cane, will peel the skin of the sugar cane with our teeth, this will strengthen our teeth and the juice of sugar cane helps in digestion. My grand mother asks us to eat sugar cane after Pongal in the evening, so that pongal cooked in new rice will not cause stomach ache.

Bhogi

      The day before Pongal, i.e last of the Dhanu / Margazhi month, usually comes on 13th January, 'Bhogi' festival is celebrated. On this day, old fabrics, useless mats will be burnt. It signifies the real meaning of 'Burn our old bad thoughts and adapt good new thoughts'.  

             During our childhood days, will sleep in the afternoon so that we can be awake and draw color rangoli till midnight. Every street in our city will be bright and all women will be busy in drawing rangoli, their creativity can be seen in those rangolis . It's like night rangoli competition in the street, where all the ladies decorates their main gate with colorful rangolis (most famous is pongal pot rangoli and peacock rangoli). In my childhood days, when my mom was drawing border of the rangoli, will check other aunty's rangoli and ask our mom to draw bigger, creative and distinctive rangoli. Once, my mom completes the border, will fill the design with different color powders, adding shades in the rangoli is the fun part and after filling the colors, when my mom gives bright white color outlines, it will look more brighter and beautiful. When we complete the rangoli, it will be almost midnight, sometimes we wake early around 3 A.M in the morning to draw rangoli, those were fun festive days, where we can show our creativity.

Puran Poli / Opputu / Bobbatlu

              Puran Poli is the special sweet prepared during Bhogi festival. It looks a small size thin stuffed parata, the outer layer is made of maida and the stuffing is mashed channa dal with jaggery. With the stuffing, will place it in the maida dough and flatten it like a parata, then place it on hot tawa and cook with ghee on both the sides. When, it becomes little brown / red color on both sides, then take it out from the tawa and it is ready to serve.

Pongal / Makar Sankrati

            Pongal meaning 'Overflowing', signifying overflowing prosperity and happiness at home as it's the harvest season. On this day, we wake up early in the morning, takes oil bath , wear new dresses and celebrate with sweets. A day before the festival, will clean pooja room, pooja utensils and apply turmeric, kum kum on all god photos, pooja utensils etc. After taking bath, decorate pooja room with flowers and garlands, will draw Maa kolam (Rangoli using rice flour) at the entrance of our house, at the pooja room, on the kitchen counter slab, over the gas stove (stove where the pongal pots are going to be placed) and at the terrace,where we worship Sun god (usually will use terrace for Sun god pooja, we can use our balcony also).

          As per my family tradition, by 6 in the morning will do pooja at the main door of our house. It will be done by the eldest woman of the house followed by all other women of the house (Mostly only women will do this pooja). At the main door will place a plate with little rice and over that Kamakshi Amman Vilaku (a type of lamp) will be kept.  It will be lit before doing main door pooja and in another plate place Lord Ganesha made of turmeric paste. (Refer below picture for reference)

 Along with Ganesha, place betel leaves, betel nut and fruits as Prasadham for Ganesha(Food Offering to God). After this pooja, will start the preparation for Pongal dishes.

              First, will wash the pot (as per my family tradition will use Vengala uruli, its a brass pot) and apply viboothi pattai ( 3 lines of ash powder) at three sides of the pot with turmeric and kumkum dots at the center of the viboothi pattai. Then, will tie the neck of the pot using turmeric plant branch (Manjal kothu), ginger plant branch (Manjal kothu) and pour water and milk according to the amount of rice going to be used. Before placing the pot over the stove, check Rahu kalam for that day, as per our customs, we don't start or do any good things during the rahu kalam. So, will place two pots over the stove (One pot for Paal Pongal and One pot for Sakkarai Pongal) either before the rahu kalam or after the rahu kalam. Once,the pot is kept over the stove, will wait for the milk to get boiled, will tilt the pot facing east (Sun god) so that when the milk boiled, it will overflow from the pot towards east direction. During its overflow, all the family members will gather and chorously say 'Pongalo Pongal, Pongalo Pongal, Pongalo Pongal'.

                In one pot, will pour soaked raw rice and in another pot will pour soaked raw rice and moong dal mixture. Have to stir the pot in between, so that rice won't stick to the bottom of the vessel. For 'Paal Pongal', rice will be cooked with the water and milk in the pot, as it's the new rice it will be little bit mashed and all the water and milk will be absorbed. When the rice is completely cooked, it will be in a thick paste consistency (It will be more thicker when it cooled down) and then turn the stove off. At the same time, in the second pot, raw rice and moong dal will be cooked and it will be also in the paste consistency, add required jaggery and cardamon powder in the second pot, once jaggery starts to melt and it will blend well with the rice and dal mixture. Once all the water are absorbed, turn off the sweet pongal pot and add the tempering of cashews, raisins which is roasted in ghee.

Pooja Procedure:

          Once the pongals are ready, will keep these two pongal pots in pooja room. Then, in a big banana leaf will place the prepared full course lunch menu such as Pachadi, vegetable curry, kulambu, vada, sweet pongal and will keep paal pongal at the centre. On top of the paal pongal will pour a teaspoon of cooked dal and ghee. Next, will place full lengthy sugar canes at the two sides of the room, in a plate will keep bunch of betel leaves, betel nuts, fruits and a coconut, then lit diyas / lamps, lit scented sticks, scented cones and then break the coconut into 2 pieces and keep it back on the plate. Now, will take deeparadhana  (Arati) for all the gods in the puja room and at the main door. 

         Then, will go to terrace with prepared pongal neivedhyams (Food prepared for God). In a big banana leaf will arrange couple of betel leaves, betel nuts, coconut, fruits, piece of sugar cane, Vada, Sambar, Curries and 2 types of pongal. In the terrace, will first put Maa kolam (Rangoli using rice flour) / colorful rangoli and place the banana leave facing sun and worship sun god with the prasadham and will take Deeparadhana for the sun god.

Pongal celebration in Village

               In my mother's place, we buy earthenware pot and sugarcane on the day of Pongal, early in the morning. Every year, we buy two new pot for this festival, one for 'Paal Pongal' (Rice cooked using milk and water) and one pot for 'Sakkarai Pongal' (Rice, moong dal cooked using milk, Jaggery and water)

          Mochai Kulambu - For the pongal, will prepare tangy spicy Mochai kulambu (Field Beans sambar) which is the best combination for milk pongal. It's actually mixed vegetable kulambu, where as mochai will be dominated. The day before Pongal (Bhogi), will peel off fresh mochai from it's skin. After having delicious lunch spread, will eat sugar cane as mid meal snacks, which is helpful for digestion, as the new rice will be little difficult for digestion.

Mattu Pongal

                   The day after pongal / Sankranti is called as 'Mattu Pongal', on this day will worship Bulls and cows of our home, it's like paying tribute to bulls, which is a helping friend for farmers. In our house, will consider cows as Goddess lakshmi, will bathe cow and bull, decorate them with flowers and garlands, apply turmeric and kumkum on their forehead, will give fresh green leaves to them to eat and will give special food for them. At last, will take Deeparadhana for bulls, then it will be going around the street, everyone who sees cows and bulls will give food to them and worship them.

              
Jallikattu / Manju Virattu / Eru thazhuvudhal

                        Everyone must have heard the name 'Jallikattu' due to its controversy in the recent past. Why Jallikattu ?? Why to hurt animals ?? Oh no..!! poor illiterate uncivilized Tamil people !!! Huh ??? 'Jallikattu' is neither status symbol nor uncivilized manner, in fact southern part of India is the only one region where our culture and traditions are still being followed, only those who are already converted into western maaya and illiterate about India are thinking that Indian culture & traditions are myth , it's full of superstitions. Let me explain about Jallikattu now, in Jallikattu only humped bulls will participate for the game. Before explaining about the science behind the game, let me remind you that this day 2nd day of Thai / Makar month (mostly 15th January ) is dedicated to Cows and Bulls. We worship, we celebrate and it's thanksgiving to the Cows and Bulls of our family. In villages, we can still see Dogs, Goats, Chickens, Cows, Buffalo, Bulls as pet animal. But, more than all the pet animal Cow deserves special place in the house, we call them with a pet name and even include cows , bulls in our family picture. Even in temples, there is a place called 'Goshala' (Cow's place), where temple committee will take of the humped cows over there and food for god will be prepared from that milk.  

                  Why to play games with bull ?? We are ONLY playing games with bulls, which may hurt humans not the bulls, but in Spain and other countries, they are killing the bulls for the happiness for the human game. Do anybody questioned that ? Jallikattu means 'Embracing the bull', not hurting the animal.

                  
                 In India, we only had humped bull breeds, out of which Kangeyam and Pullikulam breeds are most famous for jallikattu, it is the game for bravery of a man, one who holds bull's hump for 20 - 30 seconds will be the winner.  A bull will be there in the game arena  for max 40 seconds. There are many variants of Jallikattu, 'Vadi  Manjuvirattu' is renowned for mattu pongal,  during this game bulls will comes out of 'Vaadi Vaasal' with a high speed (gate through which bulls enter into the competition area). There are many rules for this game, the person who participates in the competition should be physically fit, at a time only one person should hold the hump, those who touch the tail, horns, neck are disqualified from the game, like this there are many more rules and restrictions for this game. First, Kovil Kaali (Temple bull) will come of the gate and the players allow it a free run, will not touch the bull.
               Now, why this game is needed ? it is not needed for humans, this game is practiced for ages , in order to preserve our country breeds. How ??  Only with the genes of stud bulls, stronger calves will be given birth, thus preserving the genes of our vedic bull breeds. How do we have stud bulls ?? only by feeding and maintaining them ? Can we be stronger only by eating and taking rest ? Stud bulls should be agile, alert and virile. In the peak of the reproductive period, the necessary male hormones needs to be secreted, pumping hearts and adrenaline rushes. 
            When the stud bulls enters into the vadi vaasal with much force and speed, their testosterone level increases,  when the humans tried to control the bull, in a agile it will give back the force, due to which their hear pumps fast and hormone level increases. When the bull wins in the competition (No one couldn't control the bull), then it will be taken directly to the cows of temple for mating. As per our science, it is believed that after this competition, bulls will have complete power and the calves will have best genes with more power and strength. Only our vedic humped cow gives A2 milk, A2 milk produced by our Indian cows are good health, where as the A1 milk from cross breed are toxic for health. A2 milk is having more micro nutrients and minerals which enhances our immunity system.
          

    

           Followed by clothing and food, western diseases are also spreaded in India, due to A1 milk, hormone injected meat and GM foods. Jersey and Holstein cows yields more A1 milk, but very less nutrition and also after few years, they stop yielding milk and not having enough stamina to give birth to calves, even if it gives birth to calves, they very weak, so it is directly sent for slaughter. Due to this artificial insemination from A1 breeds are making our native breeds extinct.
          On a year, our vedic humped cows gives 3 times more milk than the humpless cows. One should not calculate the number of liters of milk in a day, should calculate the number of liters of milk produced in a YEAR. Today Brazil is minting money by selling humped desi  bulls semen, which they have taken from India.
         When we are doing Homam, we use ghees and Gomutra. The Gomutra of humped cows are having many benefits, it has been used in treating various diseases and also used in ayurveda . Indian humped cows doesn't need any antibiotics, it eats greens, water and does work peacefully, whereas the humpless cows eats and drinks throughout the day, falls sick and takes antibiotics, so it's milk is not good for health. Why only humped cows milk is good for health ? Coz, our vedic cows have hump, there is an unique channel (Nadi) from hump till the backbone tail, which causes secretion of purity whether it is milk, urine or cow dung.

Kamadenu Cow that we worship

            
              After knowing the secret of our milk, westerns took many of our Vedic humped cows, milking money and giving best milk to their people, in return they have sent useless humpless cows to India, which gives toxic milk. They know the benefits of A2 milk, they are supplying A2 milk in their market with our desi cows and wants us to drink toxic milk to get diseases, due to which they will be rich with their pharma and health industry. That's the main reason for banning Jallikattu and tarnish indian breed truth, ancient sport , tradition in the name of animal welfare. Now, many foriegn countries are drinking safe and nutritious A2 milk. 

A2 milk in a Foreign supermarket.

             
Kaanum Pongal

             The fourth and last day of Pongal celebration is called as 'Kaanum Pongal', 'Kaanum' means to visit. It is the day for family get together, meet family members, will go to our relatives places, get blessings from our elders and go for picnic / outing to near by places. During this day, the public sightseeing places will be crowded, most of the people go to beaches and other picnic spots. 

-- Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Thiruvathira / Arudhra Darshan

Thiruvathirai / Arudra Dharisanam

'Thiruvathirai / Arudra' is the name of the nakshthra in vedic astrology. This festival falls on Dhanu / Margazhi month which is Mid December - mid January as per sidereal calendar, when the Sun enters into Sagittarius. On this month, when the full moon appears in the sky with 'Thiruvathirai' nakshthra (Ardra in Sanskrit), this festival is celebrated, it's the star of Lord Shiva. In English, this star is associated with Betelgeuse / Alpha orionis, which is the second brightest star in the Orion constellation. It is the important festival of Lord Shiva, where women of the house observe fasting and worship the Lord of universe for the longevity of their husband and unmarried women worship the Lord, to get good husband. It is predominately celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

 
In Kerala, women celebrates this festival for their husband, where as in Tamil Nadu, they celebrate it as Lord Shiva's birthday, it is also believed that on this day Lord Shiva incarnated in the form of Natarajar, king of dance (Nata - Dance, Raja - King). The Thillai Natarajar temple at Chidhambaram, Tamil Nadu is popularly acclaimed for this festival. 

Significance of Thiruvathira

• It is one of the oldest festival of Bharat (India), which we celebrate and worship Lord Shiva.
• This day's night is the longest night of the year.
• Lord Shiva's cosmic dance will be enacted at Thillai Natarajar Temple, Chidambaram. Below picture, the cosmic dance pose of Lord Shiva called as Aananda Thandavam , 'Natarajar' , the one who founded the graceful dance of bharat 'Bharatanatyam'. The one who learns Bharathnatyam, never missed to do a pose of Lord Natarajar.

 

Natarajar

Thillai Natarajar Temple, Chidambaram

        This place represents 'Aakash / sky', which is one of the five natural elements. Lord Shiva, represents this natural element in the form of 'Lingam', called as 'Aagaya / Aakash Lingam' (Ether). This temple is located in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, which is 16 kilometers west from the shore of Bay of Bengal. It's a ten day festival celebrated with much rigor and pomp at this temple. 'Chit' means True Awareness, 'Aum' means sacred pranav mantra, 'Param' means The Supreme being , together, 'Consciousness of Supreme Lord Shiva'. There is also another meaning to this, 'Chit' - wisdom and 'Ambaram' - Atmosphere, together it means 'Atmosphere of wisdom'.

        The deity Lord natarajar can be seen in hall called 'Chitsabha' (Garbha griha), behind this deity, there is a black screen, which is considered to cover the Akasha lingam, actually there is no lingam over there, it is a belief that it's an invincible lingam, usually covered with bilva (Indian Bael) garlands. Invisible ?? or Nothing ?? Or Vacuum ??

        It is Zero point field - ZPF. Zero-point energy (ZPE) is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. The matter and force fields have zero-point energy. A related term is zero-point field (ZPF), which is the lowest energy state of a particular field.

            The vacuum can be viewed not as empty space, but as the combination of all zero-point fields. It's Zero point Field (ZPE), energy filled in the vacuum (ether) also called as vacuum energy / Quantum energy. All space is filled with this (ZPF) quantum vacuum energy. It fills everything and in doing so changes what we think is a vacuum into a space absolutely full to the brim with energy, technically known as a “Plenum”.

        70 % of our universe contains this quantum vacuum energy and this ZPE works with space & time , it is the cause for the expansion of our universe. In Tamil, there is a very old famous term called 'Chidambara Rahasayam' (Secret in Chidambaram temple), actually what is the secret over there ?

Is the empty space, ether, ZPF. 'Aakasha' in sanskrit means ether / upper sky / atmosphere, which is associated with vacuum in this temple. Our vedas and siddhantic science influenced many westerners and Nicholas Tesla is one of them. Ether is Tesla's fascinating subject, many of his discoveries have been stolen and patented in other westerners name, Tesla secretly kept some his work related to ether which is not discovered till now, he understood our science of siddhis, Brahman, consciousness and energy, he used many sanskrit terms like 'Aakasha', 'Prana', 'Kalpa' in his works.

        Now, why this ether is related to this Thillai Natarajar temple ? As i said above, 'Chidambaram' means Consciousness of the Supreme. When you have the Consciousness, true meaning of Vacuum will be clearly understood, our soul first unites with ether (Aakash), then with the remaining elements of nature, in modern science, Quantum, vacuum, cosmos etc are neither completely explained nor understood, but it was penned down in our vedic science 5000 years ago. Chakras are energy centers of our body, there are 7 chakras in our body which resonates with different frequencies with rainbow colors, they are associated with physical, mental and emotional interactions. These chakras vitalises our physical body and brings about the development of self consciousness. Raising our Kundalini through these 7 chakras awake our consciousness, higher self.

            Now, coming back to Thillai Natarajar temple, Chidambaram, there are only couple of temples, where Lord Shiva is represented by anthropomorphic form rather than Lingam. It is also said that Chidambaram is at the center of World's Magnetic Equator. This is the only one temple in all over India, dedicated to Lord Shiva as Natarajar, the lord of dance. 'Natyanjali' festival devoted to Lord Natarajar is celebrated every year at this temple, which is the opportunity for all classical dancers to perform and pay tribute to the Creator of the Dance. His dance of anger is called 'Rudra Thandavam' and his dance of joy is called as 'Aananda Thandavam'. 

Temple Gopuram with Teppakulam (water storage)

        The cosmic dance of Lord Natarajar symbolizes five acts.
1. The small drum that he holds in his upper right hand symbolizes creation (Srishti)
2. the lower right hand raised in blessing refers protection and symbolizes preservation - Abhaya mudra meaning 'Fear not'
3. the upper left hand that holds the cosmic flame stands for destruction - posing Ardhachandra mudra (Half moon)
4. the foot over the asura (demon) denotes ignorance - obs curation
5. Anugraha - Granting grace. The raised left foot refuges the soul and the left hand pointing down to the foot in Gajahasta pose (Elephant trunk) reveals grace.

During early morning of the full moon night, Maha Abhishekam will be performed to Lord Natarajar and his consort Sivakama Sundari at Raja Sabhai hall, this will happen for about 3 - 4 hours. Then the deities will be decorated with sacred jewels, scented fresh flowers, gems, silk clothes, garlands etc, followed by special poojas. The devotees will stand in a crowded queue to get blessings of the Lord Shiva and Goddess Sivakama Sundari on this festive day, all the people in a single tone loudly chant Lord Shiva's name and slokas.

Spatika Lingam

Spatika means Quartz crystal. Quartz in the shape of Lingam, . There are only few temples, where spatika lingam is present. This Spatika Lingam represented as Lord Chandramauleeshwara is one one of the most ancient spatika linga, was installed by Shri Adi Sankaracharya at this Chitsabha and daily six times pooja will be performed here. Getting the Darshan (View) of this Spatika linga is very blissful, spatika removes negativity, strengthens postivity within a person, liberates from all causes of fear, anger and ignorance. That's the reason this is also called as 'Mukthi Lingam', indeed it is believed that visit to this temple will lead to liberation from cycle of birth and death.

Pooja Procedure at home

A day before Thiruvathirai, we clean the pooja room, pooja utensils and apply turmeric, kumkum on all the utensils. On the day of this festival, women and girls wake up early in the morning, takes oil bath and wear new clothes, will keep fasting on this day (not taking rice, but can eat fruits). First, will decorate pooja room with flowers, will pour oil in all the lamps followed by cotton wicks, Dasangam and Agarbathi's (Scented cones and sticks) will be kept ready. In the early morning, will start preparing neivedhyam (Special food offered to God), on this day the special foods are 'Thiruvathira Kali', 'Ezhukari Kootu', the preparations of these foods are explained below.

     On a small low height platform (Manai in Tamil), we place Lord Shiva's photo and keep the table on the floor. On the 2 sides of the photo, place 2 diyas, Agarbathi, decorate the photo with flowers and garlands. As per our family practice, we use plates for placing neivedhyam , we use banana leaf only on Pongal and Kula devatha Pooja. So, on a plate, will keep betel leaves, betel nuts, bunch of bananas, turmeric sticks, a coconut and prepared neivedhyam. Then, will light all the diyas / lamps , light Agarbathi and will do aradhana (Worshiping by taking rounds around the God) ,then break the coconut into two pieces and keep it back on the plate. Then, will take Deeparadhana (Worshiping using deepam fire and taking rounds around God) and everyone will take blessings from the fire and will put Viboothi, Kumkum on their forehead, married women will apply kumkum on their forehead and mangalsutra. Before sharing prashadham (Neivedhyam) with neighbours, we have to eat it first.

            In my mother's place, we place 'Ammi Kal' in pooja room, 'Ammi Kal' is a traditional grinding stone that is used for grinding cooking paste, chutneys, masalas etc. We were using this method of grinding for ages, it's good exercise for hands and strengthens the hips. On this festival day, we assume the cylindrical roller stone as Lord Shiva and decorate this ammi kal in the pooja room, by drawing eyes with turmeric powder and kumkum, covering the stone with new piece of cloth, adorn the stone with jewels and apply Viboothi (Ash) at last. 

Ammi Kal (Grinding Stone)

Special Prasadham offered

Thiruvathira Kali 

             Kali means cereal cooked like thick paste form using rice, moong dal and jaggery. First, will coarsely grind raw rice , mix moong dal and cook with excess water so that it will be in a paste consistency, to that paste mixture, sufficient jaggery and cardamon powder will be added, will cook till the jaggery blends with the rice paste and then kali is ready.

Ezhu Kari kootu (7 vegetables dish) / Thallagam

              It is side dish filled with 7 fresh vegetables without onion and garlic. Usually, will use Ash gourd, Yellow Pumpkin, Field beans (Mochai), Broad beans (Avarakkai), Brinjal, Chow Chow (Chayote) and sweet potato (Yam and Raw banana can also be used if some veggies are not available), will cook these veggies with more water and to make it thick, will grind freshly grated coconut, with green chilli, coriander , rice flour to a paste consistency and then mix with the cooked vegetables. Will cook this dish till the raw smell goes off (around 5 mins) and turn off the stove. At last, add tempering to this dish using coconut oil, mustard, asafoetida and few curry leaves.

--Aarthi Thiyagarajan