KalyANOtsawam

[Guest guest]

Dear BhAgawatas,

 

Though I grew up in a rather traditional ambience, I had never witnessed

until recently, leave alone taken part in, the KalyANOtsawam form of

worship of the deities Venkatesha and PadmAwathI. It seemed to me to be an

indulgence of sorts, in keeping with the elaborate, time-consuming (and

expensive) events that weddings often become in south India, wherein the

sacred incantations and vows are drowned out completely by the cacophony

of gossip and drums. I used to feel much the same way about the

re-enactments of SrIrAma PattAbhisEkam at the end of the RAma Nawami

Utsawams each spring. The latter, though, seemed to me at that time

(thirty odd years ago) to have a redeeming value as the climax of a

festival of harikathA and music which was very uplifting and enjoyable.

 

Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law, my wife and I took part in the

KalyANOtsawam some time ago at the ChaluwarAya Swamy temple just beyond

the southern outskirts of Bangalore. No one seems to be sure, but the

temple which is on top of a hill is probably several hundred years old,

and has a beautiful, quiet, and rustic ambience. A rather elderly couple

also joined us in the Utsawam.

 

The experience of this celebratory worship was new to me and

extraordinary. As bhakthas trickled in to form a large gathering, and as

they joined in the chorus of some of the hymns, I was transported into a

world I had regrettably avoided hitherto. It was wonderful.

 

I do not mean to be self-indulgent in writing about this experience to

this erudite audience. I would like to know about the "origins" of this

form of worship which, besides celebrating the Divine Couple, seems to

have a very "secular" content and intent to it. To wit, the declaration of

the sanctity of marital life by invoking the wedding of Lord NArAyaNa

Himself. I also thought that the Christian practice of taking wedding vows

again (after many years of marriage) is analogous to the KalyANOtsawam

performed by married couples. I wonder too whether, in this wonderful

tradition, there is the intent that large numbers of people would

naturally join this Pooja with "UtsAham", the same way that they would

attend weddings of kith and kin. That is, not all of these worshippers

might perform a "regular" Pooja but they, too, would partake of the

blessings of Lord NArAyaNa this way. I imagine that there are many layers

of meaning to this form of worship, as well as to the RAma Nawami festival

culminating in the PattAbhishEka MahOtsawam. I would be grateful to you if

you enlighten me about this tradition. Is it, for example, a tradition

"built" by the Sri VaishNawa AchAryas ?

 

If these questions have been elaborated upon earlier in this forum (or

elsewhere), please direct me to the appropriate archives/sources.

 

Many thanks.......///shivashankar

___________________________

 

S.A. Shivashankar

Materials Research Centre

Indian Institute of Science

Bangalore 560 012, INDIA