Right is right

[Guest guest]

Dextral not Sinistral

 

She is on His right. Her feet is in His left hand. His right arm is

around Her waist as He embraces her closely. So closely that they are

cheek by jowl! It is said that She was still trembling after being

rescued from the ogre who kidnapped Her and hid Her deep in the sludge

beneath the oceans. To comfort Her, He held Her very tightly. She is

seated high on His right thigh. His right foot is on the many hoods of

the King of Serpents. His left foot is firmly on terra firma, Bhoomi.

His face is handsome and serene and His eye, left eye, is full of

kindness and grace. How else can it be when She is so close! She has a

slight smile on Her rosy lips as if She is happy to have been rescued

by Her Valiant Husband. She is higher than Him and is bent towards Him

as if sharing some secrets with Him. Who are we, mere dusts in this

huge creation of Theirs, to even think about those secrets?

His tusk is not the huge one we are wont to see elsewhere. It is but a

fraction of the huge golden scimitar like tusk we see in

Thiruedaventhai some kilometers to the north. It is small and white

and adds to the " lavanya " of this Maha Pothrin. His left eye is clear

and not huge (sphuta padma lochanah) as He appears to be looking

directly at us. His snout is in perfect propotion to the face and

wonders of wonders He is green in colour. A very soothing green in

glorious constrast to the fair burden He carries. This

Bhoomidevi-Varaha is in " varna kalapa " that is the Divine Couple are

coloured. Why green? Surely the boars which we happen to see, mostly

on the television channels, are grey in colour. The answer is, as

usual provided by that peerless daughter of Vishnuchitta, Godha Devi.

She says that after being hidden in the submarine mire by the uncle of

Prahalada, Mother Earth became infested with green growths, algae,

liverworts,moss etc.etc. and was green in colour. Our preceptors say,

tounge strictly in cheek, that when a wife is dirty and soiled after

the day's work the husband must be careful not to appear before her in

all his finery. If he has any sense of proportion he must look untidy

too. After all Varaha is Purushottamma, the best among males, and He

understands the female psyche well. So when He jumped into the bog to

recue Her He was careful to appear as green as She was.

He is called Adi Varahaswamy and Gnana Piran and His " divya mangala

vigraha " sacred frame, has been carved from the rock of the hillock

near the base of the Lighthouse at Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram. The

archaka informed us that the original colours and artistry were far

more beautiful than the present ones. But to us This Bhoomidevi-Varaha

is the most handsome Couple we have been fortunate enough to worship.

Teeming millions make a beeline to eye the sculptures hewn from the

nearby rocks. Very very few visit Thiruvallaventhai where this

gloriously coloured Divya Dampathi are waiting to bestow grace on all

comers. This small ill lit sanctum is about half a kilometer away from

the legendary Sthala Sayana Perumal temple. Except for an hour in the

morning between 9am and 10am, it remains closed. Some devotees, and

they are rare even among Vaishnavas, who specifically ask for this

temple at the Sthala Sayana Perumal temple are led here, and granted

darshan. The archaka who looks after this temple is indigent and

thankfully welcomes contributions. Naivedhyam has to come from Sthala

Sayana Perumal temple. Truly we live in the dark age of Kali. If this

is the condition in five thousand years of Kali, the mind boggles to

contemplate on the situation millenia hence.

The Divine Couple are gracing us by the light of " deepa aradhana " as

there is no electricty. Except for the ruling classes the whole state

is in perpetual state of power cut. The kind archaka painstakingly

shows us the various sculptures on the walls outside the " Garbha

griha " . Chandrasekhara is seen on the right and Brahma on the left. A

king is seated with his wife for perpetuity in stone. To our right is

a wall which we are informed is the closed opening of a tunnel that

leads to the Nithyakalyana Perumal temple in Thiruedaventhai. This

temple is as old as that and was the original place, " vendathal

sthalam " where those desirous of marriage used to come and beseech the

Divine Couple. Even temples of our Lord in this Lila Vibhoothi are not

exempt from the ravages of time!

As the main Deity, " moola vigraha " is coloured, ritual embrocation,

" thirumanjanam " is out of question. That is done to a smaller icon

called Kahuta bera. The utsavar, processional deity, with Sri and

Bhooma devi is made of metal and is of the four armed human frame and

not Varaha moorthy. He is as usual " manmatha manmatha " more personable

than the God of love.

In our tradition Piratti, Supreme Mother, is the main mediatrix who

enables the erring " jivathma " soul, to attain the Parmathma. She

forces Him to overlook the innumerable transgressions of the soul and

grant liberation. She graces us with the proper attitude and knowledge

to be eligible to attain Him. She, unlike Him, is totally oblivious to

the sins we have accumulated over repeated cycles of rebirths. It

behoves us to approach Her and once we do that we will be well on our

way to emancipation. To highlight this concept, Varaha is holding up

the feet of His Consort, as if to say " ...pray here and you will reach

Me. " We request the archaka to once again expose to us the covered

feet of Piratti in His left hand.

All experiences in this domain are finite, alas ! We are herded out of

the sanctum of Gnana Piran, in Thiruvallaventhai, into the brilliant

light of the mid-day sun in Mamallapuram.

Truly now we understand what Nammazhwar meant when he said about Gnana

Piran, Varaha Perumal, " ...naan kanda nalluthu... " the goodness that I

witnessed.

 

Dr.S.Sundar Rajan MS ortho

Trichy

20 Jan 2009