Thrikkakkarayappans
A lot of folk songs are prevalent in narrating sublime Onam experience s of the past ..,””Maveli Nadu vaneedum kalam””is the popular one that every Malayali likes to recreate.People were equal and never even spoke a lie. The myth looms the belief that every year Maveli visits Kerala on Thiruvonam day. We Malayalees throughout the world invite him to our home.
flower carpet
fo
We unfold flower decorated carpets. Prepare sadyas..On The whole area of the front yard was plastered over with cow dung.on Uthradam day the earthen balls are doughed and .The leading one in the centre representing “”Mathevar””and five Thrikkarayappans and one seat for Mathevar is also prepared using mud.
single thrikkakkarayappan in uthradam morning
A solitary Thrikkakarayappan is installed in the morning after drawing symmetrical figures using a colloid of rice powder,water and leaf lubricants. The designing process is known as “”Aniyal.””
drawing patterns using rice powder colloid
The rice powder colloid is poured over the head of Thrikkakarayappan with reverence and is decked with spikes of basil leaves and flowers and red ixora flowers.
. The festive spirit overflows in the Uthradam eve as in the songs of pananar who sings”” Ganspathiye dhyanichitte Nalla nalikeram Udakkunnunde “”
preperations
Adayode pazham vachitte…. pananr s song narrates the course of pooja like this..a bell metal pitcher,kindi, usually made of bell metal, it is commonly used during Puja to dispense holy water. Kindi,Sandal paste, flowers.
flower carpet
Sandal paste, flowers there starts the drawing of kalams with rice powder water colloid .The design may be eight-petalled or pattern of eight or sixteen upon the drawing a royal peedam will be set up..then at first place the earthen platform on the peedom and Mathevar the in the shape of a conical frustum.
when tigresses prowl…
We deck the Thrikkakarayappan with spikes of basil and ixora.Decorate with rice solution.. We arrange a bell-metal pitcher plant with water, oil lamps..bananas.poovadas,sandal paste, butter,basil leaves and flowers . As the Pananar sings
spirit of Onam
”Ganspathiye dhyanichitte …Nalla thenagyonnu Udacheedunney” After invoking the Ganapathy by breaking a coconut the pooja begins. The provides, the special sweet offering to Thrikkakarayappan is a challenge to even the best cooks in the house.
peru flower
It had to wafer the thin shell of rice flour and filled with thumpa flowers jaggery and scraped coconut and ghee and it is steamed till it is well cooked. The taste had to be perfect and the rice flour covering of this Onam dish has to be as thin as delicate as Thumpapoo petal. It is the quality and proportion of the ingredients that determine the delicacy of the poovada .
A low stool or palaka will be placed , the elder in the family tender pooja. Every one remains eager staring the events. The Elder turned priest tender all the sweet offering, all ripe bananas and poovadas to Thrikkakarayappan. We may also decorate Thrikkakarayappan with a thread reverently taken from newly bought Onakkodi.””.chittadas”” or child’s dress have already intoxicated us with festive spirit…
its believed that when Chingam breaks runner beans begin to bloom
”Poove poaaaalua ..poove poaaaalua..poove.poaaalua.. Poove pooo,,poooii,pooooooh”
Once the pooja is competed ,we utter loud cries calling flower to visit home .
In the spring fever, with an air of enchantment.
whre endless thumpas grew on the canal ridge
We see that changes are sweeping in Kerala as every where. Rice fields are shrinking,hill slopes are being built up..Little children do not go out in groups together wild little flowers which nature’s bounty has bestowed on them.
each thumpa flower is supposed to be the foot of Vamana
Nowadays they creep into private gardens and pluck flowers..the dwindling open spacesor they may rush to the nearby town.
At Edapal the roadside were lined up with flower vendors from neighbouring states ..flowers are different of various hues ,sales were brisk.Our aspect of world of Onam had changed completely.
poovamkurunnila (little iron weed)
The flower carpets still haunt us..with different shapes ,patterns and colours.The same vegetarian food on planning leaf still continues .New clothes .new styles have been accepted,A little bit of Kerala was uprooted and transplanted in all the Cosmo cities in India and across the world where Malayali breathes. Wherever there is a Malayali there would be Onam.
wild flowers
“”.These days the moon is an eye-festival and heart-stealing with his profuse moonbeams, and he is the real gladdener for he is the sprinkler of fresh and coolant dewdrops through those moonbeams””as Kalidasa says
boat race Beeyyam backwaters, Ponnani
Beyond the mountain lay untrodden tracks. Great unseen rains fell on those timeless springheads and the Uthratamoon river swelled down.
Onam becomes a flower plucking girl…Onam is a young chap who pursue his girl image in the moon beams…
There was a world of cassettes and haunting melodies in Kerala The fume of the song makes us fresh inebriated ,that elevates us to a domain of Uthradam moon lays it’s blanket on us when\ youths are swept away by the pangs of love..
”Orunullu kakkappoo katan tharamo ..” Raveendran sirs light music sweeps us and elevates us..she comes noiselessly through the open window and in the flood of her joy the room becomes phosphoric atmosphere,like a luminous poison .
“You shall be beautiful as I am beautiful,You shall love,that which l love tand that by which l am loved.”Uthrada moon lass says herself upon you with supple tenderness the unnatural body fragrance make you drunk. she leaves her colours on your cheeks u feel the damp moobeams after the rain ,the blue doorway she disappeared into infinte tenderness.Amongthe youths men explore their feminine aspects and women explore their masculine aspects,and yokes to form syzygy that represents wholeness and completion in the anthropomorphic Uthradam moonlight.
The early dark of its ancient interior. The premordial night was a luminous blue over the mist fallen rice fields.
The onam moon illumines us falling on the available space of oursoul.that receates the the lost thumbappoo child hood againThe last oozing of the song hours by hours.
.The damp moobeams after the rain chases the blue doorway she disappeared into.
A lot of folk songs are prevalent in narrating sublime Onam experience s of the past ..,””Maveli Nadu vaneedum kalams””is the popular one that every Malayali likes to recreate…people were equal n never even spoke a lie.
The myth looms the belief that every year Maveli visits Kerala on thiruvonam day.we Malayalam throughout the world invites him to our home..we unfold flower decorated carpets..
prepare sadyas.. The song of Pana s Onam song came creeping through the coconut groves..we could hear the subdued voice….
Angoru mala nattile Nalla…ponnu kondu mahadevan than..
Their natural sense of melody and rhythm,they can easily fit into any creative setting..delightful mesh of music that blossoms festive spirit.
Uthradam pathirakke ..Nalla thiruvonam pularekkande..
Ingoru idanattile ball mannukondu mahadevan than..pananr shares the experience s of different desams.
As for Malayali Onam is very special to him, wherever he is,whether he is in Kerala or outside Kerala or in any part of the world .It is his passion it is his beloved festival.It is strongly bonded to many of the dearest memories a string of nostalgic memories.
Onam is celebrated with no heart involved. Onam is now generating a nostalgic feeling of the lost goodness in the society…maybe with less spirit..less compassion. Still, it’s an experience..an experience of we feeling.
Onam fills kerala with the warmth of a sensuous fever It is not alone the flood of flowers..from the closely entangled branches of Malayali the Onam moon never set.