Valia Amma:Great Mother of Snake Temple

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Valia Amma - Great Mother of the Snake Temple

An unusual story about a centuries old snake temple in Kerala presided over by a

woman called the Valia Amma or Great Mother who devotes her life to the snake

god Nagaraj.

The air hums with bird songs as dawn breaks over Alapuzha. Coconut palms trail

their branches gently on thatched roofs as morning sounds gather strength.

Temple bells ringing, the swish of a broom in the muttom (courtyard), a motor

boat starting up at the old boat jetty. A newspaper boy goes by on his bicycle.

 

Our stodgy, comfortable Ambassador noses its way out of the little idikki or

lane and heads out of the main town area. We pass banana sellers, tea shops,

‘cool bars’ selling colas and biscuits, jewellery stores, churches, temples,

mosques and extremely picturesque canals and over-bridges. On both sides is the

exotic backwater area that has put Alapuzha on the world tourist map as the

“Venice of the East’.

We have 32 km to go before we reach the famed Mannarassala Snake Temple.

Snake worship is amongst the oldest forms of devotion in this beautiful land

which is believed to have sprung forth from the sea. Legend has it that when

the legendary Hindu warrior Parshuram threw his battle axe into the sea to

atone for his sin of slaying thousands of warriors, the sea forgave and

receded, thus bringing into existence the land that is known as Kerala.

But the story continues, it was not the lush fertile Kerala of today, rather, it

was a dry, barren piece of earth that would support neither fruit nor life.

Parshuram then threw himself into an even greater frenzy of prayer and penance,

till Nagaraj the mighty serpent god appeared before him and bestowed his

blessings on the land.

Ferocious serpents appeared in an instant and spread their venom across the

length and breadth of Kerala transforming it into a rich, pastoral setting

replete with nature’s gifts. Nagaraj also agreed to reside permanently in this

land at the very spot where the sage had sought him.

In the centuries that followed this spot filled with beautiful mandara trees

became a hallowed one and was known as the Mannarassala Temple. For the Lord

himself resided here and was paid daily obeisance by the chosen Brahman – one

of Parashurama’s chief disciples – and members of his family. The illam of

family seat of that Brahman continues to stand there within the temple premises

to this day.

Across the passage of time, the quality of worship remained unchanged. A chaptre

form temple’s history reads thus – Vasudevva and Sreedevi, descendants of

Parasurama’s chosen disciple and sincere devotees of the lord, were

unfortunately childless. One dry summer afternoon, a terrible fire broke out

and ravaged the jungle around the dwelling place of Nagaraj . Hundreds of

serpents were forced out of their peaceful resting palaces in the cane trees

and dragged themselves about on the ground, charred and blinded.

Vasudeva and Sreedevi rushed to their rescue fanning them with sweet, scented

grass. Pouring over their bodies melted butter mixed with honey and oil. They

chanted holy incantations, performed puja and made offerings of ghee (clarified

butter), molasses, coconut juice and kadali fruit all mixed together with nurum

palam or the elixir of life, and thus healed their wonds.

Lord Nagaraj, who was extremely pleased with the couple’s devotion, blessed

them, and promised that he himself would be born as their son. And so it came

to pass. Sreedevi Antarjanam was blessed with a five-hooded serpent child as

well as a human child and they grew up in these sylvan surroundings which was

now known as Mannarassala or the earth that had cooled after the fire.

As the children attained manhood, the elder child who was Nagaraj, instructed

the younger brother to marry and perpetuate the line while he himself would

retire from the human world. Henceforth he would enter complete solitude in the

cellar below the house called the nilavara and continue to look after all

succeeding generations of the family as well as thousands of devotees who

needed him.

No one was allowed into the nilavara except his mother – the Valia Amma or Great

Mother, as she came to be revered. Even today, the Valia Amma continues to be

the focus of the temple. Only she can offer worship to Nagaraj, she is the

privileged priestess whose powers are perceived as divine. Once the earthly

life of a Valia Amma is over the oldest anjarjanam (woman) from the same family

will take her place and from that moment on, live her life out in dedication to

the snake god.

She has her pujas to perform everyday besides setting aside time for devotees

and overseeing special ceremonies held at the temple by hundreds of families

like the choroonu (the first feed of rice for a baby), vidyarambham (initiation

of a child into learning), the naming ceremony for children and weddings. Once

every year, on the day after Shivaratri, she performs the ritual worship for

Nagaraj who is still believed to reside there in the Nilavara and who is now

referred to as appoopan or grandfather. The jungle within the temple’s premises

is called the Appoopan Kavu or the grandfather’s grove.

Day by day, men and women stream into the temple driven by their faith in the

Valia Amma who will whisper their prayers into grandfather’s ears. Even as

early in the day as this I can see over a dozen families standing before the

deity in an attitude of supplication.

Some come to rid themselves of the curse of the serpents which they may have

brought upon themselves by destroying a serpent grove or by not setting aside a

portion of their compounds for the serpents as most Keralites feel bound to do.

They come here to plead with the serpent lord not to punish them with insanity

or early death. They come prepared to perform the pampin thullal which is a

fascinating ritual gripping in its intensity and strangeness and performed by a

sect called the Pullavans.

As dusk settles quietly over a specially erected platform in the Nair family’s

ancestral home an elaborate kolam is drawn. An auspicious design in rice

powder, a kolam is decorative yet deeply religious in content and meaning. A

puja is performed to invest the kolam with divine life and to invoke the snake

god.

As the Nair family watches hypnotized, the Pullavan men dance and their women

sing hauntingly. Slowly the ceremony reaches a climax with the young girls of

the Nair household now sitting cross-legged on the kolam. As the swinging

builds up, the girls start swaying, tongues flickering in the dim light of the

lamps.

It is believed that they are now possessed by the snake god and questions are

put to them as to whether the deities are propitiated or not. The young girls

answer in a trance, their voices guttural. Later, they rush to the pampirkavu

or main snake shrine where they accept offerings of coconut water. The family

relaxes, for the gods are happy.

Thousands come to mannarassala in despair over their childlessness. There is

implicit belief in Nagaraj’s power to bestow fertility. The childless couple

comes with an uruli (a round bell-metal vessel) and requests the Valia Amma to

overturn it before the snake deity. She grants their wish and the uruli remains

overturned – in a large hall set aside for this very purpose – till the couple

is blessed with a child ; at which point they must return in thanksgiving and

the uruli is set upright again.

Subramaniam Namboothiri, a dignified man in his 60s and the president of the

Mannarassala Temple Trust tells us that it is rare to Nagaraj to reject a

childless couple’s sincere prayer. With great courtesy, Namboothiri leads us

into the temple courtyard where every pillar, every vacant space is adorned

with intricate stone representations of snakes resplendent with turmeric paste.

The temple itself is a beautiful building in wood and stone, its wall bearing

hundreds of snake images. There is a special note in Namboothiri’s voice as he

stresses how unique it

is for a temple like this to remain in one family for over 3,000 years without

it being taken over by the Dewaswom Board (the government body of temple

administration).

To my left is a natural pond skirted by dense wooded area that seems dark and

mysterious. Do I imagine it of do I really hear the faint rustle of dry leaves

as though the snakes who live here are enquiring who are you ? What do you seek

? I look fearfully at the pond but can see nothing. Namboothiri tells me that it

is only in the evening that the snakes slither into the pond.

We pass the ilanji tree in front of the Sarpayakshi Shrine. It is a gnarled old

tree marked with serpent holes which the serpents treat as their home. We

circle it once and then move towards the sanctorum where the chief deities

Nagaraj and his consort Sarpayakshi hold court. Near the sanctum sanctorum is

the thevarma chamber, a tiny room where the Valia Amma sites lots in mediation.

 

Born Savitri Antarjanam she assumed the position of the Valia Amma at the tender

age of 14 dedicating her entire life to the service of Nagaraj, living as a

celebrate as was decreed. For over 75 years, the frail old lady was a

receptacle of a million human hopes and fears. After she passed away a few

years ago, Umadevi antarjarma, a woman in her 40 from the same family, took her

place as the Valia Amma. Her days as wife and mother are behind her now as she

concentrates only on serving the Lord. We go to her now as she sits serenely

gracious in an inner room behind the temple.

She seems remote seen through the wooden bars of the window dressed, in simple

cream cotton with sandalwood paste on her forehead and a thin gold chain around

her neck. Her voice is only a whisper as she prays. Yet her gentle presence in

that half lit room exudes a certain mystique, an indomitability that makes you

wonder.

What kind of life does she lead ? Almost deified herself, perceived as the

epitome of spiritual splendour, she must reach out and understand human

fertility and, through her communion with the Lord, save their soul. Surely she

must find it an awesome task.

Her faces gives me a clue as she murmurs a blessing and palace a small packet of

sacred ash near the window sill. Subramaniam Namboothiri motions with his hand

that we must not touch her, lest we pollute her, so we simply pick it up and

turn away. Behind me, the crowd swells and leans eagerly towards the Valia

Amma. They have offerings to make to the deity. Salt for recovering health,

silk and grains for education and prosperity, turmeric for protection from

poison and any number of urulis for the most precious gift of all – a child.

The Valia Amma listens to all of them, her eyes half-closed, her face aglow. The

sea to troubled humanity seems to draw solace from her silence, the lines of

worry on the supplicant’s face seem to ease out even as he surrenders to the

greater power before him. He knows that Valia Amma will plead with the Lord on

his behalf and he thus beseeched will no abandon. In his mind , for those few

moments that he stands there before the blessed one, he has transcended his own

human limitations and touched the lord himself. He could not ask for more.