Vidhyarambham (BH:D64)

October 6, 2011

Day of Dussehra. A coincidental double demon murder by Rama and Durga. Well-timed! Down here in the south, it is known as Vijayadashami. Popularly, in Kerala, it is the day of Vidhyarambham. Thousands of 2-3 year olds were introduced into the world of letters today. Several temples and churches organized Vidhyarambham ceremony. Being brought up in this culture, i had wrongly assumed that all Indians begin their relationship with writing on this auspicious day. Apparently, this is restricted to Kerala. 

Vidhyarambham would a good festival for other states to popularize. Like a festival barter. Kerala has taken Ganesh Utsav and Akshaya Thrittiya, may be Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu can have large scale Vidhyarambham. Not that there is anything religious or astrologically auspicious about such a ceremony, but i think it is good to have such a day marked. In my opinion, the day you were initiated into reading and writing is just as important as your birthday. In fact, it is the first day of your conscious identity construction. Considering how much effort is spent in remembering and making up for forgetting different anniversaries, Vidhyarambham certainly deserves to be celebrated and remembered. 

The TV channels were showing live visuals from Mookambika, the templed dedicated to the goddess of learning. i have been to this temple several times in the 90s during my days of extreme academic greed! Going to Mookambika was like petitioning at the head office of the learning department of the Hindu heavens. The goddess is primarily Saraswati (she has two other moods every day!) and she has been installed there by none other than the most learned Malayalee ever, Sarvanjyani Sankaracharya. This temple is always packed with devotees from Kerala. But since it is in Karnataka, the administration and divine interventions are performed by Kannadiga (specifically the 'adiga' bit) priests.

The temple's creation myth, which is eerily similar to the Greek one of Orpheus and Eurydice, has it that the goddess appeared before Sankaracharya in the Himalayas and agreed to follow him to Kerala. There was only one condition (that same greek condition): He should not look back till they both reach Kerala. When he reached Kollur in Karnataka, doubts overwhelmed Sankara's mind. Since he couldn't hear any of the jingling of the Goddess's jewelry (all Hindu goddesses put the models of Jayalakshmi silks and Josco gold jewelers to shame when it comes to dressing up), he turned around. "That's it!" she said, "we're done!" and refused to go any further. She said that his fellow countrymen (statesmen now) could visit her at the temple in Kollur. 

The same priest from the 90s still carries the idol around for the circumambulatory procession. Back then, i remember, hundreds of palms closed together in bhakti would go up in the air as this idol came around sitting on that priests head. Today on TV, i could see all sorts of cameras going up in the air to greet the goddess. May be this is why cameras are being blessed with bigger and better memories, better resolution and clarity of observation every few months. Goddess is great! 

Our home puja was officially dismantled by 8am when Amma came back from the temple. The ending ceremony is marked by each of us writing "Hari Shree Ganapataye Namaha;Avighnamastu" on a piece of paper and tearing it up. Like almost all other rituals in life, i have no idea why the tearing up happens. It is this same short Sankrit mantra that the small kids are initiated with. It is either written on rice or some unhygienic people prefer writing it on the child's tongue with a golden ring. When it is the same ring that binds them all, Mordor level infections can happen. i wonder if the initiation ceremonies in the churches also use the same Sanskrit mantra. May be they write something along the lines of "Yesushree Parishudhatmave Namaha; Avighnamastu".

"Lalitha Sahasranamam" youtube video with English captions was streaming in the background while we were writing, tearing and then engaging in the nominal reading which forms the three-part puja ending ritual. The laptop was right in front of me as i was reading with a deep sense of irony, from Patricia Fara's book mentioned yesterday, the chapter titled "Rationality" , ritualistically! 

Suddenly the word 'breast' popped up in the captions and caught my attention naturally. 

Verse 36 of the Lalitha Sahasranamam is a rather interesting anatomic specification. The goddess is said to have three folds on her belly so that the weight of her breasts can be balanced. Now i regret missing out on the weekly Lalitha Sahasranama sessions in College Station. Obviously, ' Fara's scientific rationality' went out of my sphere of attention and i followed the captions till the end, the whole 20 minutes or so of it. Nothing as specific as verse 36 (such an apt number) came by later. But the earlier verses contain exquisite physical description of the goddess starting from the top.

i have reread the wonderful poem, Beware by Shanta Acharya, given below, several times in the last couple of days. i think it is only appropriate to fully quote this great example of truly gifted writing on a day that literacy is worshipped. A poem that feels like the first bite into a ripe, juicy 'amla' (Indian gooseberry)!

Beware

I

Beware of living in a nation

with no road signs or price tags in shops

and certainly no Freedom of Information.

It could be a massive experiment in progress

by the rulers to improve verbal communication,

as the government is bankrupt and its people illiterate.

It could also be that the people are simply super-intelligent,

psychic, lateral thinkers who excel in problem solving

and instinctively know how to figure things out.

It possibly encourages enterprise and intelligence gathering

as individuals ferret out ways of bartering information.

It certainly keeps the economy flowing, and prevents people

from knowing whether they are coming or going.

II

Beware of living in a nation

with a surfeit of street signs and price tags in shops

but still no real Freedom of Information.

It could be a massive experiment in progress

by the rulers to discourage communication

among its citizens for fear of increasing social cohesion.

It could also be that people lack intelligence,

always in need of nurture; someone to hold their hand

as they remain illiterate and incapable of figuring things out.

It discourages enterprise and any form of self-knowing,

engaged perpetually in information processing,

leaving little time and energy for thinking.

It keeps the economy flowing, gives people the illusion

they are in control of their lives, coolly coming and going.

~Shanta Acharya

Now for the musical trivia: K. L. Saigal strongly believed that he needs the help of alcohol to bring the perfect emotion to his renditions. As the years passed, this addiction was becoming detrimental to his recording sessions. So Naushad once insisted that Saigal should not drink before recording a particular song. 

Saigal was unhappy. 

He was convinced that he will not be able to do justice to the song if he sung it sober. Naushad stuck to his guns. The composer did not want the singer disappearing into a bar and leaving the recording session hanging. 

Saigal sang. 

A masterpiece was born. 

When he heard the recording, he burst into tears. He had no idea how beautifully he could sing without the help of alcohol. 

But it was too late. The next year, he passed away due to liver failure.

Here is that masterpiece which lovers of Indian film music will always treasure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHzaJFb3RYE

I will be back with the notes after the Munnar trip. 

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