The Perpetual Curse !

With the recent Taliban take over of Afghanistan and the violence this area has endured over the centuries, took me back to all that I have read about these geographical locations in the Puranas and the mahakavyas. 

Taliban Recruit

Does the past tell us the tale of the future?

In Mahabharata, the present day Afghanistan was the Gandhara kingdom. 

This kingdom was established by Sri Rama's brother, Bharatha. 

Gandhara plays a major role in the events leading upto the Great battle and eventually the Srimad Bhagavad Geeta.

And in the context of Mahabharata,  Gandhari, queen mother of Kauravas and wife of blind king Dhritarashtra was the princess of Gandhara kingdom. And her brother Shakuni was the prince of Gandhara.

It is said in jain texts that before marrying the Kuru King, Gandhari had symbolically married a goat to avert a curse that her spouse would have a shortened life. 

And later when Pitahmah Bheeshma comes to know that his nephew Dhritarashtra had married a widow. It was considered as an insult to Kuru clan on purpose by King of Gandhara, Subala, father of Gandhari.

He waged a war against Gandhara for the insult, destroying the kingdom and imprisoning the king and princes. Only one Prince survives - Shakuni.

Shakuni

After reestablishing his kingdom and giving the reigns of the kingdom to his son, Uluka,  he migrates to Hastinapuri, capital city of Kuru kingdom.

He becomes a confidant and advisor of his nephew, the mighty Duryodhana.

But at his core was his burning rage seeking revenge for the misery his family was subjected to by the Kuru clan.

And thus, he plotted tactical destruction of the Kuru clan by orchestrating the Mahabharata battle; where brothers of Kuru clan fought each other. The battle consumed 100 Kaurava princes and 1 Pandu prince (Karna).

Upon learning very late in the battle, of this revenge saga, which had taken the lives of her 90 sons at that time, Gandhari curses Shakuni that his kingdom of Gandhara will never be a place of harmony ever.

Shakuni is killed on the 18th (last) day of the battle by Sahadeva.

Now let's see if this curse has stood the test of time ?

For example, every invader during the medieval period eyeing India had to pass thru the region of modern day Afghanistan. And the local kingdom was invariably subdued. Which in its wake brought violence and destruction.

Genghis Khan

The list of invaders over the period of centuries who have laid claim to area around Afghanistan include Alexander the great, Soviet union, America. 

But one invader stands out, Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire. The brutality the Mongolian invaders inflicted on the region would come back to haunt their descendents, the Hazaras the oppressed Afghan minority who are believed to be descendents of Genghis Khan. 

The whole area of modern day Afganistan, Pakistan and Kashmir have multiple historical references in puranic and vedic literature.

One other epic from Hindu scriptures mention that this region was inhabited by the Naga clan (descendants of Serpent) soon after Mahabharata war. 

Led by serpent king Takshak and the place was called Takshashilla, modern day PoK.

King Parikshith, grandson of Arjuna was cursed (not going into the backstory) to be killed by snakebite. And it was Takshak who fulfilled the curse. King Parikshith's son Janamejaya vows to seek revenge. He vows to exterminate all the Nagas from the face of the Earth and begins massacring of the Nagas at Takshashila. This was called the Sarpa Satra or the serpent sacrifice.

Sarpa satra

This onslaught was so violent and fierce that the powerful Takshak had to seek refuge with Lord Indra.

This blind rage of violence was brought to a halt when there was truce brokered between Takshak and Kuru King by lord Indra.

So here the point is historically this region has not known peace. As if the curse is fulfilling it's prophecy.  And is continuing even in modern era like a sarpa dosha that refuses to leave that geographical location. 

Sometimes it's just impossible to ignore what we assimilate from these great scriptures. Having had the great fortune to have read some of these litrature, I strongly believe that key to the future of human race is in these scriptures. Just like Ernico Fermi, we just need to unlock the right lock. 

Tales to remember, from the forgotten past!!!

Pooram Diaries - 1


Perhaps, unlike anywhere else in the world, Elephants are treated as superstars only in Kerala.

Common Day scene in Kerala. Pic credit: Binto P Anto

Legends, exploits, notoriety of these giants are discussed in Kerala with the same excitement with which chennai talks about Rajni and Jharkand speaks about Dhoni.

Here, I wish to remember some of the forgotten giants from the past.


Chengaloor Ranganathan.

Standing a majestic 11'5 feets tall, he was the tallest Asian elephant for a long time even after his death in 1917.

Which takes back to the incident around his death or rather, murder.

The tallest one in the centre is Chengaloor Ranganathan. He is neck and shoulders above others. Circa 1913

In 1914 Thrissur Aarattupuzha pooram, as usual Ranganathan took the centre stage adorning the Thidambu (deity's idol).
Being the most handsome and macho among all the other jumbos, there has been no pooram in which Ranganathan was a sidekick.

Naturally, other elephants also gave into his masculine superiority.

But in 1914, there was one notorious tusker in the group who himself was huge, muscular and equally majestic. But just falling short of  Ranganathan.

It was the Akavoor Govindan.

Standing on the left side of Ranganathan, in a moment of madness, the jumbo stabbed Ranganathan with his tusks in the neck.

Ranganathan, never recovered from this attack, neither did he ever take part in any pooram after that. 3 long painful years of treatment later, Ranganathan breathed his last in 1917.

Ranganathan was the first superstar reigning the pooram grounds for 10 years before his untimely death.

Skeletal remains of Ranganathan is still on display at the Thrissur zoological museum.

Skeletal remains of Ranganathan on display at the Thrissur zoological museum, over a century old. Photo Credit: K.K. Najeeb

What made Ranganathan a crowd puller was not just his physical appearance but also his docile and loving nature.

Speaking of nature, that takes me back to Akavoor Govindan, who was a pole opposite.

Govindan, was known with other adjectives as well,   the killer (kolayali Govindan) or the vazhakalli Govindan, the one who picks up fight with anyone.

And these adjectives pale before his deeds.

Govindan has killed 17 elephants in his lifetime and injured 15 other pachydrems. And add to it half a dozen people.

He was strong and displayed almost human like emotions of jealousy and need to dominate.

Killer Govindan, having a leisurely morning bath.

Everyone came to see the bad boy, who was not that bad looking either.

Despite his violent record, he was in demand for a whole decade ruling as the big bad boy.

Yet another pooram season. Govindan was having a bath in the chalakuddy river, getting ready for the pooram in the near by temple.
An other elephant too entered the waters for the bath.

No sooner did it enter, Govindan broke loose, charging.


Mahouts of the other tusker knew, its end game for it and unchained the disciplined elephant so that he has a chance to run away from the killer.

What next happened, was shocking and stuffs legends are made of.

The Elephant, instead of running away in fear. Turned towards the raging Govindan. Flung the chains at Govindan and upturned him into the river with ease. Brute force was what people witnessed.
That was not it, the elephant stabbed Govindan in his stomach as well.

After the bloodbath, the elephant calmly walked backed to his Mahout and acted as if nothing happened.

It was after all, the majestic and king of poorams of that time, the Guruvayoor Pazhaye Padmanabhan, who taught Govindan the right lessons.

Guruvayoor Pazhaye Pathmanabhan

It is said that after that incident Govindan never attacked anybody and mend his ways.

The injuries were not grevious, may be that was the whole intention of the majestic Padmanabhan.

Govindan recovered, but his aggression to win had not died.

In the famous Guruvayoor Aanaottam (Elephant race) in 1920s, Govindan was the unbeaten champion.

Guruvayoor Aanayottam, 2019

Something out of the ordinary happened in 1930. Govindan was leading upto the last stretch of the race, and suddenly a young, muscular and charming tusker emerged from behind and pulled off a stunning last leg victory.

It was the legendary Gajarajan Guruvayoor Keshavan. The one who would later go on to become the most famous, the most loved, the divine elephant of lord guruvayoorappan.

This was the beginning of the legend of Guruvayur Kesavan, who in 1934 went on to take over from pazhaye padmanabhan the duties of being the Elephant of the presiding deity of Guruvayoor.

The King of Elephants, Gajarajan Guruvayoor Kesavan.

In this first of the series, I take leave by just introducing Guruvayoor Kesavan. Look out for more tales from the past.

Odiyan

Odiyan....

One who can change forms.
One who has magical powers.
One who is feared by all.
One who fears none.
The strongest.

Kerala is indeed God's own country. Yet it is strife with tales of yakshi, chathan, redlaans and of course the odiyans.

My summer vaccations as a kid were mostly spent at my ancestral home in kerala. Despite being a city kid, everything about my kerala village seemed to blend into me seamlessly.

And so did the tales of odiyans.

I recollect.
As we walked thru the damp pathway surrounded with trees, towards the family temple, my father points out to tattered remains of a house and mentions in a tone that is devoid of any emotion....
"There used to be an Odiyan there, long time ago".

What I could gather from all the questions I later posed to my father was that:

Odiyan was the practioner of the odi vidya. A form of black magic which could turn a person into any other form; it could be an animal, a tree, a creeper or even another person.
Usually an odiyan is called into service by the affluent families to carry out a revenge attack on their arch enemies. The level of revenge could be varying from just scaring the person or even up to killing them.

One tale my dad recounted was that involving my grand dad.
My grandpa was a soldier in burma during the world war two and had just returned back to Kerala. In his absence, the land belonging to him was encroached by another person in the village. There was a bitter battle between the two for some years before my grandad emerged as the rightful owner of the land.
It was just months later, my grandad observed that there is this big black dog following him everywhere. My grandad who was usually at ease with animals, did not find something quite right about this dog . The dog had a vissible limp and always had its teeth unsheathed at him.

This continued for some weeks and one night when he was returning from the temple, out of the bushes the black dog jumped at him, attacking. My grandad kicked the beast away and picked up a stick and hit the dog hard on its head. The dog howled in pain and a small packet fell off from its ears. Villagers rushed to the spot hearing the commotion. Granpa asked them to tie up the dazed animal to the tree for the night.

In the morning what everyone saw was instead of the black dog, there was a naked man tied to the tree. The guy was known to all, he stayed near the temple in the secluded house and did odd jobs. He was called channakaalan vasu ( Vasu, who limped).

It was then revealed that Vasu was an odiyan and was instructed by my grandpa's rival to grievously injure him.

Both the rival and the odiyan were banished from the village.

The story here definitely sounds exaggerated and in tune to village tales.
But the fact of the matter is the reference and mention of the odiyans.
They were akin to hired rowdies or quotation groups of modern age. Just that they were more creative in their ways.

The odiyans not only used the cloak of night to execute their plans, they also indulged in a well thought out psychological scare tactics. Which also made the victim believe he had an encounter with the super natural ( if he survived it). Scare tactics, hypnotism and illusions played a major part.

And the myth always grew generation by generation. With many add-ons.
Some of which were viz,

To transform into another form, they had to place a packet behind their ears. The packet would have undergone various black magic spells and contained ashes of an unborn baby.

The most usual form assumed is that of a dog or the wolf.

The assumed form would also carry the exact bodily deformity as that of the Odiyan.

The effect of the packet wears off over the night.

Experienced Odiyans could turn invisible.

Only male can practice odi vidya.

And sooo on.

Odiyan's biggest weapons were stealth and secrecy. Even today grandmas around Kerala would refer to the Odiyan once in a while in their bed time stories to the kids.

And the young kids in their impressionable age would give wings to their imagination to figure out whether the dog that passed by was just an ordinary dog or...an Odiyan !!