User:Tintin1107/Logan

There are also numerous local festivals which some times attract large crowds from long distances ; of these the Tiruchaniaram festival, held at Taliparamba in Chirakkai taluk, in March ; the Kottiyur festival about May-June, held in the jungles of the Kotta- yam Taluk, at the foot of the mountains near the Periah Pass ; the Kilur Aral festivals, held in December in the Kurumbranad taluk ; the Car festival, held in November in Palghat Town ; the Konduvetti Takkujakal Nercha (a Mappilla feast), Ernad taluk in April; the Guruvayyur Ekadesi feast, held in Ponnani taluk in April ; and the Kurumandhani Kunnu festival, held in April in Valluvanad taluk, are among the chief events. Besides these, a festival which used formerly to be held every twelfth year at Tirunavayi temple in the Ponnani taluk deserves more than a passing reference although it has been discontinued for the past one hundred and forty years. This festival was called the Mamukhatn or Maha Makhani which means literally big sacrifice. It seems to have been originally the occasion for a kuttam or assembly of all Keralam. at which public affairs were discussed and settled. Hamilton thus alludes to the tradition current about it in his time (end of seventeenth and beginning of eighteenth centuries) ;— fct It was an ancient custom for the Zamorin to reign but twelve Years and no longer. If he died before his Term was Expired it saved him a troublesome Ceremony of cutting his own Throat on a public Scaffold erected for that Purpose, He first made a Feast for ail his Nobility and Gentry, who are very numerous. Alter the Feast he saluted his Guests and went on the Scaffold, and very decently cut his own Ihroat in the View of the Assembly, and his Body was a little While after burned with great Pomp and Ceremony, and the Grandees elected a new Zamorin. Whether that Custom was a religious or a civil Ceremony I know not, but it is now laid aside. And a new Custom is followed by the modern Zamorins, that a Jubilee is proclaimed throughout his Dominions at the End of twelve Years, and a Tent is pitched for him in a spacious Plain, and a great Feast is celebrated for ten or twelve days with Mirth and Jollity, Guns firing Night and Day, so at the End of the Feast any four of the Guests that have a Mind to gain a Crown by a desperate Action hi fighting their Way through thirty or forty thousand of his Guards and kill the Samorin in his Tent, he that kills him, succeeds him in his Empire. " In Anno 1695 one of those Jubilees happened, and the Tent pitched near Pennany (Ponnani), a Sea Port of his, about fifteen Leagues to the Southward of Calicut. There were but three Men that would venture on that desperate Action, who fell in with Sword and Target among the Guards, and after they had killed and wounded many were themselves killed. One of the Desperadoes had a Nephew of fifteen or sixteen years of Age, that kept close by his Uncle in the Attack on the Guards, and when he saw him fall the Youth got through the Guards into the Tent and made a stroke at his Majesty's Head, and had certainly despatched him if a large Brass Lam}) which was burning over his Head had not marred the- Blow : but before he could make another he was killed by the Guards : and 1 believe the same Zamorin reigns yet. I chanced to come that Time along the ("oast, and heard the Guns for two or three Days and Nights successively." (New Account, etc., Vol. I, pages"306-8). The Kerala Mahatmya so far corroborates Hamilton's story that it declares the king used to be deposed at this festival, but there is no mention of self-immolation, although it is quite possible the deposed kings may have occasionally adopted this mode of escape from the chagrin of not being re-elected by those who had hitherto been their adherents. Mr. Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, wrote about, this festival in the first volume of the Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society to the following eifect.—The installation of the iirst IVrumal took place on k' Pushya (Sth Lunar Asterism) in the momi; Magha l in Karkadaga Vijalanr (the period during which Jupiter remains in Cancer) and this day in every cycle of Jupiter thus became important in the history of Malabar " because the reign of each Perunial terminated on that, day, he being elected only for 12 years. " This great feast and the coronation occurring in the month Magha that month in every Karkadaga Vyalam- was known as the great Mayha or Mahamuyha which was afterwards corrected into Mama-ngam." At the end of this feast all prior leases of land were considered to be at an end and fresh grants were to be obtained at the beginning of the next reign." lk In all the principal deeds the position of Jupiter is to be mentioned/' " This practice is continued even up to the present day." Mr. Duncan seems to have obtained his information from the KcmlolpnilL The fact seems to have been that at each recurring festival all feudal ties were broken, and the parties, assembled in public con- clave at Tirunavayi, readjusted at such times all existing relations among themselves. The tradition is that this festival was instituted in the days of the emperors (Perumals), that is, prior to the Kollam era, and that when the last emperor set out for Mecca and left the country without a head the duty of celebrating it devolved on the raja of the locality where the festival used to take place, that is, on the VaUuvanad alias Vdlatri alias Aranyott Raja/' And this arrangement seems to have continued up to the twelfth or thirteenth century A.D., when the power of the Zamorins (chiefly through Muhammadan iniluencc 1 There ;8 no such month as that—Magha—mentioned by Mr, Dunmn and the title oi'the festival is properly that abovo given, n ur.ely, Muha ( — izreat) and Makham (=sacril.co). Ho evidently confounded makltain with Mahtraur* 2 Vyatam IB theTainil-MalnyaUim v,ord tor Jupiter, a) d a rycle of Jupiter ie roughly speaking 12 3ears, mo'O a1 curately 4,!i32 days odd. 3 So colled m the Jews'doed nf the eighth cei.tury A.D., on account of bis territory lying beyond (angotta) the river (ar) irom Cranganoro, the ercperoi'a headquarters. and arms and trade) became supreme in all Keralam. From that time down to the last celebration of the festival in 1743 the Zamo- rins were present at this festival as Suzerains of all Keralam, includ- ing TravcUieore, which as a Malayali State only attained to the first rank shortly after the date of the last Mahamakham festival in 1743. Those who acknowledged the Zarnorin's suzerainty sent flags in token of fealty, and the places where those (lags used to be hoisted at festival time are still pointed out. The.Vailuvanad Raja, who is still represented in the management of the Tirunavayi temple by one out of the four Brahman Karalars, instead of sending a flag used to send men called ('havers (men who have elected to die), whose office it was to endeavour to cut their way through the Zamorin Js guards to his throne in a manner presently to be described. If they had succeeded in killing him—as on the occasion cited by Hamilton, whose statement, except as to the date, is moreover corroborated by tradition—it is uncertain what would have happened; but probably if a capable raja had been ruling in Vail uvanad at sue]) a time, popular opinion would have endowed him with the suzerainty, for the Nayar militia were very fickle, and flocked to the standard of the man who was fittest to command and who treated them the most considerately. With the kind assistance of the present Zamorin, Maharaja Bahadur, the records of his family have been examined and a complete- account obtained of the events attending the festiv 1 held in 1083 AT)., the festival next preceding that alluded to by Hamilton. The festival used to continue for twenty-o;ght days every twelfth year, wlvm the planet Jupiter was in retrograde motion in the sign of Karkadagam or Cancer or the Crab, and at the time of the eighth lunar asterism in the mouth of Makaram the festival used to culminate. On the occasion in question the Zamorin some mouths before- hand sent orders for the preparation of the necessary timber and bamboos for the temporary buildings required at Tirunavayi, and the materials wore floated down stream from the Aliparamba Chirakkal lands. Then exactly two mouths before the opening day he sent out a circular to h:s followers worded as follows :— " Royal writing to the Akampati Janam (body-guards). " On the 5th Ma.ka.ram 858 is Mahamakha Talpuyam (time of the eighth lunar asterism in the festival season.), aud the Lokars (chief people of each locality) are required to attend at Tirunavayi as in olden times. " Mangatt Raman and Tmayanchori ] are scut to collect aud bring you in regular order for the Mahamakham. j i Two of the hereditary ministers, the first being a Nayar, the second an lllayatu.�

You must come to Tirunavayi on the 3rd of Makaram to

fight and foil as usual. But all of you should come for the Maha- uiakham." The Zamorin timed himself to arrive at Tirunavayi on the day after that appointed for the arrival of h's followers, and the lucky moment for setting out on th's particular occasion on the last day's stage of the journey was " at the rising of the constellation of Aquarius." The Tirunavayi temple stands on the north bank of the Ponuani river close to the present line of railway. Passengers by train can catch a glimpse of it by look ng across the level expanse of paddy- fields wh ch lie south of the s'xth telegraph post on the throe hundred and e'ghty-second mile of the railway. There is a modest clump of trees on the river bank hiding the temple, tho western gateway of which faces a perfectly straight piece of road a I'.ttlo over half a mile in length stretching from tho temple gateway \vvstwards to the elevated ridge h naming'n tho paddy-fields on tho west. This road is but little ra:sod above tho level of the paddy fl.it. D'.rectly facing this straight piece of roidas the elevated ridge is reached there are three or perhaps four terraces, the out lines of which may still be traced in the face of the precipitous bank. A little to one s'de of the upper terrace are the ruins of a strongly- built powdor magazine, and on the flat ground above and on both sides of the fine avenue slvid'ng tho public ro id at th s place is ample space for the erection of temporary houses. In a neighbouring enclosure undor cultivation Is a disused well of fine proportions and of most solid construction. From the upper terrace alluded to a commanding view is obtained facing eastwards of the level rice-plain at foot, of the bro.id placid river on tho right backed by low hills, of higher fiat-topped laterite plateaus on the left, their lower slopes boso.nod in trees, and, in the far d stance, of tho great elrun of Western <. Jh-its with the Nilg'ris in the extreme loft front hardly d stiiigu'sh-iblo in thoir proverbial colour from the sky above them, lit was on this spot, on a smooth plateau of h ird laterito ro;;k, ra sed some 30 to 40 feet above the plain, that the Zamorin used several times in the course of the festival to take his stand w.th tho sword of Chorainan Perumal, the last emperor, in h's hand. The swo"d is, and Ins b^en for centuries, slowly rusting away in its scabbard, but it is not alono on it tlut th > Zimor'n depends for h:s safety, for the plain b >low him is covered w.th tho thirty tho wind Nayars of Eniid. the ten tho is-ind of Polan-id, and numberless petty depend >nt chieftains, each count ng his light ng men by the hundred or tho thousand, or by thousands. Away on, tho r'ght, across tho river are tho camps of tho second prince of tho ZamoLin's family and of tho d vpendont Pimattur Raja ; tho third, fourth, fifth and sixth princes' camps too are close at hand in tho left front�Dehind the temple, and behind the terrace itself is the Zamoriu's own camp. The whole scene is be'ng made gay with flags as an elephant is being formally caparisoned with a chain of solid gold with " one hundred and fourteen small links and one clasp, making in all one hundred and fifteen "—as the record specifically testifies—and with golden bosses and other ornaments too numerous to be detailed. But this part of the festivities is not to be permitted to pass unchallenged, for it signifies in a formal manner the Zamorin's intention to assume the role of Rakshapurashan, or protector of the festivities and of the people there assembled. On the instant, therefore, there is a stir among the crowd assembled near the western gate of the temple directly facing at a half mile distance the Zamorin's standing-place on the upper-terrace. From tlv's post, running due east in a perfectly straight line to the western gate of the temple, is the straight piece of road already described, but the road itself is clear and the armed crowd on the plain, it is seen, are hemmed in by barred pal\sadings running the full length of the road on both sides. Two spears' length apart the pal.sades are placed, and the armed crowd on e'ther hand, con- sisting on this occasion of the thirty thousand Ernad Nayars, it is seen, are all carrying spears. The spearmen may not enter that narrow lane, and by the mere weight of their bodies present an impassable obstacle to the free p ^ sage of the foemennow bent on cutting down the Zamorin in his pride of place. Amid much din and firing of guns the morituri, the Chaver Nayarx, the elect of four ^Nayar houses in Vattuvanad., step forth from the crowd and receive the last bles.^ ings and farewells of their friends and relatives. They have just partaken of the last meal they are to eat on earth at the house of the temple representative of their chieftain ; they are decked with garlands and smeared with ashes. On this particular occasion it is one of the house of Pulumauna Panikkar who heads the fray. He is join H] by seven- teen o1 his friends—Na3Tar or Mappilla or other arms-bearing caste men—for all who so \vish may fall in with sword and target in support of the men who have elected to die. Armed with sv, ords and targets alone they rush at the spearmen thronging the pa-is:-ides ; they • w'nde and turn their bodies as if they had no boiKs ; casting them forward, backward, high and low, even to the astonishment of the behoMers " as wor hv M aster Johnson describes them m a passage already quoted (p. 137). But notwith- standing the suppleness <>f their limbs notwith^tan'l;ng their delight and skill and dexter t; in their weapons, the result i* inevitable, and is prosaically recor'ed in the chronicle thus: " The number of Chavers \\ho earn** and died early morning the next day after the elephant began to be adorne 1 with gold trappings—bei g Putumanma Ka> tur Me. on and followers—were l>s." 1 (1) Chandratt. i Pamkkar, («) Putunoumia Panikkar, (3) Kolkat Panikkar and (4) Verkot Pftnikkar.�At various times during the ten last days of the festival the same thing is repeated. Whenever the Zamorin takes his stand on the terrace, assumes the sword and shakes it, men rush forth from the crowd at the west temple gate only to be impaled on the spears of the guardsmen who relieve each other from day to day. The turns for this duty are specifically mentioned in the chronicle thus : " On the day the golden ornaments are begun to be used the body-guard consists of the Thirty Thousand ; of Ellaya Vakkayil Veltodi (and his men) the second day, of Netiyiruppu ' Muttarati Tirumalpad (and his men) the third day, of Itatturnad2 Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (and his men) the fourth day, of Ernad MunamkurH Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (and his men) the fifth day, of Ernad Elankur4 Nambi- yattiri Tirumalpad (and his men) the sixth day, and of the Ten Thousand,5 the Calicut Talachanna Nayar and Ernad Menon the seventh day." The chronicle is silent as to the turns for this duty on the eighth, ninth and tenth days. On the eleventh day, before the assembly broke up and after the final assault of the Chavers had been delivered, the Ernad Elankur Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (the Zamorin next in succession) and the Tinnnanisseri Namhutiri were conveyed in palanquins to the eastern end of the narrow palisaded lane, and thence they advanced on foot, prostrating themselves four times towards the Zamorin, once at the eastern end of the lane, twice in the middle, and once at the foot of the term cos. And after due permission was sought and obtained they took their places on the Zamorin's right hand. After this, so the chronicle runs, it was the duty of the men who had formed the body guard to march up wiih music and pomp to mak < obeisance. On this occasion, however, a large portion of the body-guird seems to have been displease 1, for they left without fulfi ling this duty, and this story corroborates in a marked way the fact already set forth (p 132) regarding the independence and important political influence possessed by the Nayars as a body. The Ernad Menon and the Calicut Talachanna Nayar with their followers were the only chiefs who made obeisance in due form to the Zamorin on this occasi >n, and possibly by the time of the next festival (1695 A.I >.), of which Hamilton wrote, the dissatisfaction may have increased among his followers, and the Zamorin's life even may have been endangered, as Hamilton alleges, probably through lack of men to guard him. Tradition asserts that the Chaver who manage, on one occasion to get through the guards and up to the Zamorin's seat belonged to the family of the Chandrattil 1'anikkar. 1 The Fifth Prince of the Z.imorin'a family. 2 Tho Fourth Prime of the Zamorin's family. s The Third Prince of the Zamorin's fam.ly.

Tho S<-cond Prince and Hmr Apparent of the Zomorin's family.

5 Th" Ten Thousand of Polanad, the district round about Calicut, formed the Zamorin's own i mined ato bodv-guard—Ccnf. the ar>count contained in the Keralolpatti of how these men were originally selected—Chap, III, Sect. (a).�The chronicle winds up with a list of the Chavers slain on tfiis occasion, viz. :—

When the Zamorin was taking his stand on the terrace apparently at the commencement of the festivities . . 5

On the day the elephant was adorned, as already related .. 18

" The next day of Chandmtlil Panikkar and followers, the number who came and died . . . . . . 11

" Of Vcrkof Panikkar and followers, the number that came and died the third day . . . . . . , . 12

" The number who came up to Vakkayur and died in the four days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

The number of Chavers who were arrested at the place where Kalattil Itti Karunakara Menon was. and brought tied to Vakkayur and put to death . . . . . . 1

" The number otChaver* arrested on the day of the sacrifice, when all the persons together made- the obeisance below Vakkayur at the time when the Zamorin was taking his stand, and left tied to the bars, and who Avere aftvnvards brought to Vakkayur and after the ceremony was OA er and the Zamorin had returned to the palace were put to the sAvord. . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Total 55

The chronicle does not mention the fact, but a current tradition says that the corpses of the slain were customarily kicked by elephants as far as the brink of the fine well, of which mention has been made, and into which they were tumbled promiscuously. The well itself is nearly filled up with debris of sorts, and a search made at the spot would probably elicit conclusive evidence of the truth of this tradition. The martial spirit of the Nayars was in former days kept alive by such desperate enterprises as the above, but in every day life the Nayar used to be prepared and ready to take vengeance on any who affronted him, for he invariably carried his weapons, and when a man was slain it was incumbent on his family to compass the death of a member of the slayer's family. This custom AA'as called Kudip- paka (literally, house feud), or in an abbreviated form, Kuduppu. One curious fact connected with this custom AA*as that the chieftain of the district intervened when a man was slain and the body of the deceased was by him taken to bis enemy's house and the corpse and the house were burnt together. It is understood that an out- house was usually selected for the purpose, but it was a common phrase to say " the slain rests in the yard of the slayer." Again, when mortal offence was given by one man to another, a solemn contract used to be entered into before the chieftain of the locality to fight a du?l, the chief himself being umpire. Large sums (up to a thousand fanams or two hundred and fifty rupees) used to be deposited as the battle-wager, and these sums formed one source (ankam) of the chieftain's revenue, and the right to levy�The chronicle winds up with a list of the Chavers slain on tfiis occasion, viz. :—