Festivals of India - Of Lights And Fire

This is a festival that is celebrated in many parts of south India and Sri Lanka as well. The festival is more than two thousand years old, being mentioned even in the Akananooru and poems of Avvaiyar. It is celebrated by lighting lamps at sunset at the conjunction of the full moon and the Krittika star. It is indeed a beautiful sight to see houses outlined by lamps lit by tiny waving flames dancing in the wind. Earthen lamps ('agal') are lit in most places. In some places in Kerala, children would collect seed cases of the marotti tree, scoop out the seeds and use the dry shell for lamps!

There are plenty of stories behind the festival. You would have heard of the mythological story of how Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma argued about who was supreme. To stop their argument, Lord Shiva appeared as an endless flame in front of them. Whoever could find the head or feet of Lord Shiva would be the winner. Neither won! Lord Shiva is worshipped as Arunachaleshwara, visually represented as Agni or Fire, at the Annamalaiyar temple at the base of the Annamalai hills in Tamil Nadu. The Tiruvannamalai Deepam is very special, a ten day festival culminating in lighting the Bharani deepam at day break and the Maha deepam on top of the hill at dusk, about six o'clock in the evening.

In many Vishnu temples, a huge bonfire, sokkapanai, is lit to celebrate 'Thiru Kartikai. In Srirangam, a tall palm (or coconut) tree without any leaves is setup in front of the Kartigai mandapam. A basket like structure with palm leaves is made around it. At the appropriate moment, the Tirusutrukaaran clambers up the palm and lights the fire. The tall fire reaches out to the sky, reminiscent of the Lord Shiva as the endless flame. In other places, especially in villages, a pot with seeds of the marudam tree is set alight and the sparks fanned so that it would be like a huge flower pot cracker, many feet tall! Yet others make a basket of palm leaves and fill it with some embers and swirl it around, resulting in a shower of sparks.

The festival is also connected with Lord Muruga. Of the 27 nakshatras, Kartika is considered the star of Lord Muruga. A cluster of seven stars that are called Krittika in Sanskrit- the six heavenly beings. Krittikas, with the seventh being Lord Muruga. It is believed that Lord Shiva created Lord Muruga from six primary faces, each of which became one child and was looked after by the six Krittikas. The six babies were then joined into a single force by Goddess Parvati which is why Lord Muruga has six heads and is known as Arumugam or Shanmukha, the six faced.

What is interesting about these different legends is that they deal with fire in some form. The Krittika star is associated with Agni devata, the ancient God of Fire. Is it also because we are moving towards winter and so the need for lights and fire to keep us warm? The aval-pori and nel-pori laddus that are made especially on kartigai day actually are part of an ancient tradition!

- Ahana Lakshmi