Thiruvananthapuram: The annual pre-Navarathri journey of the Saraswathi Devi idol, accompanied by those of Velimala Kumaraswamy and Sucheendram Munnoottimanka, from Padmanabhapuram in Kanyakumari will reach Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram on October 9. The 10-day Navarathri festival will begin on October 10, the day after the arrival of the idols.
In a low-key ceremony on October 6, Travancore Devaswom Board officials received the idols of Munnoottimanka from the Sucheendram Temple and that of Lord Subramaniam (Kumaraswamy) from Kumaracoil in the foothill of Velimala in Kanyakumari. The Navarathri procession began on October 7 with the ceremonial handing over of the traditional sword placed on a silk-covered pedestal in front of a mural of Lord Padmanabha in Upparika Malika, the fourth floor of the Padmanabhapuram Palace. ('Upparika' is a Persian word meaning tall.) The sword, which was accepted by devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran, symbolized Marthanda Varma’s 'Thrippadidanam' in 1750, the warrior King's historical decision to relinquish his throne and serve the Lord.
The inter-state ritual procession, which will cover over 100 kilometres in nearly three days, will have over 150 people escorting the idols on foot. Devi will be seated in a palanquin, Munnoottimanka on a caparisoned elephant, and Kumaraswamy on a silver horse.
After being accorded a ceremonial welcome at the eastern entrance of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple, the Devi idol will be installed at the Navarathri Mandapam near Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple. The Munnoottimanka idol will be placed at the Chenthitta temple, and Kumaraswamy will be housed in Aryasala Devi temple. After a night of rest for the Devi, the 10-day Navarathri celebrations will begin the next day on October 10.
The procession, which began just after sunrise on Sunday, halted at Kuzhithura late in the evening on the day. On Monday, the idols were given a ceremonial welcome at the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in Kaliyakkavila. The night halt will be at Neyyatinkara temple, where pujas will be held on the idols. The procession will reach the capital on the evening of the third day, on October 10.
Kambar's gift and the king's promise
What was once a ritual created to sustain the Travancore royal family’s link with its former capital in Padmanabhapuram now signifies inter-state cultural harmony. Lore has it that the medieval Tamil poet Kambar, the author of Kambaramayanam, had presented his Saraswathi Amman idol to a Chera king during the Sangam period in the early 12th Century. The Chera King had promised Kambar that a festival will be conducted every year for Saraswathi Amman without fail.
It was easy to keep the promise as long as the capital was in Padmanabhapuram. But when Swathi Thirunal (1813-1846) shifted the capital to Thiruvananthapuram, the threat of Tipu's aggression triggering the move, there was a fear that the Travancore kings would abandon Kambar’s Saraswathi. It was to allay these fears that Swathi Thirunal thought up the Devi’s annual pilgrimage. He also embellished the narrative.
Swathi Thirunal's flights of fancy
“He did not like the idea of Saraswathi travelling alone, he wanted her to have a bodyguard. This was how the warrior king Kumaraswamy, an incarnation of Lord Subramaniam, came to accompany her,” said historian M G Sashibhooshan. “He gave her a friend, too. This was Munnottimanka,” he added.
Munnottimanka is more popularly called 'Kundni Manka'. It is said that she is a complaint box, that she frequently complains to the Devi about Kumaraswamy's affair with a village belle Valli. Sashibhooshan said that such stories could actually have come out of the fertile imagination of Swati Thirunal. “He might have wanted to give the arduous trek the flavour of a folk tale,” he said.
The idols will begin their return journey on October 21, a day after the Navarathri festival is over.
