Hinduism
D. R. Wijewardene Memorial
Pooja |
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Lake House Hindu Association held the
D. R. Wijewardene Memorial Pooja recently at Slave Island
Sri Sivasubramaniar Temple. Here Director Finance ANCL Shan
Shanmuganathan, Chief Administrative Officer Rohana
Ariyarathne, Director Editorial Nihal Ratnayake and
Thinakaran Editor Siva Subramaniyam are seen handing over
their Kalanchis. Lake House staff also participated. Picture
by Roshan Pitipana |
Trincomalee Thirukoneswaram temple Annual Festival
Chelvathamby Maniccavasagar
Among the various monuments of Hindu antiquity found in Sri Lanka,
the Thirukoneswaram Temple in Trincomalee is one of the three principal
places of warship dedicated to God Shiva. The Thiruketheeswaram in
Mannar and Munneswaram in Chilaw are the other two temples of equal
repute. The annual festival of this ancient and historical temple will
commence with the flag hoisting ceremony in the first week of April.
The Board of Trustees of this temple has made elaborate arrangements
for the success of this festival and the flag hoisting will be done by
the Mahotsava Chief Priest of this temple.
The Koneswaram temple as a sacred place of Hindu worship of the
ancient past would have remained in its original form, upto the present
day, had not the misguided zeal of the Portuguese friends caused it to
be razed to the ground, to procure building materials for this new
fortifications which they built on the rock by the cliff and overlooking
the deep blue sea.
There is a legendary story about the Koneswaram Temple. A Portuguese
soldier once entered the sanctum (Shrine room) and defiled it by his
presence as he was drunk and carrying a piece of roasted beef in his
hand.
The wrath of God having fallen on the man for his unholy behaviour in
desecrating the holy place, he has fallen accidentally into the sea
below and drowned. It is said that the dead soldier's apparition could
still being seen by the faithful when the priest after pooja holds his
torch over the edge of the precipice as and when night falls.
Koneswaram was flourishing as a great centre of Saiva worship and
pilgrimage and religious songs are sung in honour of its presiding Deity
by the Saiva Saint Thirugnasampanthar in the 7th century.
In 1623, the Portuguese captain General Don Constantine desa de
Norontha with the permission of the viceroy of India Don Jeronimo de
Azevedo to build a Fort, marched towards the Koneswaram temple with a
formidable army destroyed the sacred edifice, threw off idols into the
sea and on its site built a triangular fort and fortified it with
artillery and garrison. The required materials to build the Fort were
collected from the debris of the destroyed temple.
The Dutch who drew away the Portuguese in 1658, demolished the old
Fort and in its place built a bigger one acclaimed as the most
magnificent Fort along the Eastern coast of the Island.
With the evacuation of the Dutch, it was handed over to the British
on August 26, 1795 which they named as Fort Frederick, the Duke of York
(1763-1827) who established the Royal Military Asylum in England in
1801, for the sons of the English Servicemen.
The Saga of this historic temple is said to have been described in a
Tamil poem written by one Kavirajah Varojayan, an erudite and a
celebrated bard of ancient Sri Lanka.
In the days of old , a king named Mami Neethi Kanda Cholan, who ruled
over the country Cholamandalom, came to know about the wonders of
Trincomalee, had come over the island on a pilgrimage as he was a great
devotee of the God. Later his son, Kulakoddu Maharajah, having learnt
about the holy place from his father, had come over to Trincomalee and
built this temple which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The British occupation of the maritime province of Ceylon in 1796,
had one salutary effect on the inhabitants and this was in respect of
the freedom of worship.
According to Hindu tradition, God Shiva as Mahadeva is the creator.
The God Shiva's consort is Parvathi, the divine vehicle of God Shiva is
the sacred bull known as Nanthi. Lord Shiva, as the supreme power
performs five fold functions namely creations, maintenance, destruction,
purification and release.
God Konesar is worshipped not only by Hindus, but also by Buddhists
in large numbers. As such, let us all pray to God Konesar and receive
His Divine Blessings.
Abirami Pattar's festival in Sri Lanka and India
Every year during the month of February "Abirami Pattar" Festival is
celebrated in an elaborate manner in temples in Sri Lanka and at
Thirukadaiyur in South India.
Many years ago in South India there was one devotee Goddess Abirami
called Subramanian in Thiru Kadaiyur, Tamil Nadu. He had deep devotion
towards the Mother Goddess Abirami, indulging in performing poojas,
showering of flowers at the feet of Goddess Abirami. One day King
SAROBOJI visited this temple when devotee Subramanian was meditating.
The King Saroboji was provoked seeing Subramanian's ignorance about his
arrival.
The king asked who that man was. One of the devotees told the King
that he was mad in thinking that the other women as Amman and used to
shower flowers on them. But, the Chief Priest of this temple told, that
he was a deep devotee of Goddess Abirami.
The king wanted to test who he was. So, king Saroboji looked at
Subramanian and asked whether today is New Moon Day (Amavasai) or Full
Moon Day. At that time Subramanian was in eternal bliss of Goddess
Abirami enjoying her beautiful face surrounded with thousands of
sunlight. Subramanian answered the king that the day was Full Moon Day
which was actually "New Moon Day" (AmaVvasai).
The king Saroboji got angry an ordered to push Subramanian into the
burning fire at evening if the moon did not appear. Thereafter, the king
awakened Subramanian and called him to come with them, to undergo the
punishment. To be continued
The Ramayana tradition
Continued from Feb 19
Shanmugam Arumugam
"The Ramayana is not history or a biography. It is part of Hindu
mythology"...... "Mythology is an integral part of religion. It is as
necessary for religion and national culture as the skin and the skeleton
that preservers a fruit, with its juice and its taste," states C.
Rajagopalachariar in the Ramayanaya.
The Ramayana epoch is well rooted in the traditions of Lanka.
The Ramayana, narrates events, believed to have taken place in the
epochs of 20 centuries before the Christian era.
The story of the Ramayana is one of traditional knowledge to everyone
in Lanka.
Kubera, a Raksha, by his thapas of merit, was gifted with riches and
was placed in charge of Lanka, the Yaksha Kingdom and Lanka Pura, the
capital city built by Visvakarma, the architect of the Gods.
However, because of their abuses, the Rakshas were banished and lost
their kingdom too.
But Ravana, the eldest offspring of Kuvera's brother Vishrava others
being Kumbakarma, Surpanaha and Vibhushana, by austere penances, wrested
a boon of immortality and the Kingship of Lanka from the Gods, the
Rakshas thus came back to power over Lanka. In the exuberance of their
newly gifted power, they dared subdue the whole universe, even Indra,
King of the Devas was defeated and taken captive.
The Rakshas were an ugly, fierce, and carnivorous tribe, unlike the
Yakshas or the Nagas.
Ravana himself was a great devotee of the Lord. Tradition has it,
that his chief object of worship was the Shiva Lingam at Koneswaram,
Trincomalee; Thiruketheeswaram Temple also would have received his
devotion.
The Ramayana records wherever the Lord of the Rakshas went, a golden
Shiva Linga was borne before him and he placed it on a sandy altar and
worshipped it with flowers, perfumes and sandal paste.
Having paid homage to that symbol that delivers all beings from their
sufferings and which was large and exceedingly beautiful, adorned with a
crescent moon, that Ranger of the Night, with uplifted arms, danced and
sang before it" - The Ramayana of Valmiki; translated by Hari Prasad
Shastri, Shanti Sadan, London, 1959, Uttara Kanda states; "Ravana goes
to the banks of the Narmada River." To be continued
[Folk deities]
The Agni Puthri daughter of fire God
Thilaka T. Wijeyaratnam
In the district of Thirunelveli in South India was a small village
called "Mavalioothu". The wealthy farmer and land owner of the village
had employed a young man of the untouchable caste to care for his
cattle.
As was customary in villages farmer's beautiful unmarried young
daughter is up in the mornings and going to the cowshed to collect the
fresh cow dung, to mix with water and sprinkle outside the court yard.
Her mother died when she was very young and her step mother was a wicked
woman.
Whenever she went to collect cow dung the step-mother suspected her
of going to meet the young attractive labourer. He also keeps the cow
dung ready for her. Besides, he would collect flowers and fruits for
her.
A friendship between the two developed into love. Soon everybody in
the farm got to know of this romance. One day while the two were
intimately chatting in the cowshed, the step mother caught them red
handed. The young man darted out and while doing so accidentally pushed
the woman. She fell on a stone and with her head bleeding and she wailed
loudly. The girl also was scared and ran away. The farm head sent the
people to catch them.
There was a heap of hay piled up in a field. The girl hid in there.
The young man lost his way in the dark and fell by chance into a well
and was dead.
This girl had a parrot as a pet. The farm head's clerk told his other
labourers to free the bird and follow it.
They did likewise. The bird flew to the field and sat atop the pile
of hay. The labourers knew the girl was in and informed the step mother.
She ordered them to set fire to the pile of hay. They expected her to
come running out to save her life. But the girl thought, "If my clothes
get burnt, I will have to be without clothes before all these men.
Better for me to die than face the humiliation". So she stayed without
coming out. When the hay stack was reduced to ashes the village folk saw
that the body of the young girl was burnt but remained there like a
statue.
Naturally the emotional village folk attributed some divinity to her
called her "Agni Puthri".... and worshiped her. They washed her with
turmeric water and burried her there. One of the devotees then got into
a trance.
She spoke. "For cruelly setting fire to this goddess, you have
committed blasphemy. As such every year during festivals, one from your
family should fire walk. She will protect you."
They had planted a banyan seedling there. It is now a big tree.
Annually fire walking takes place and the person comes out unscathed. So
another folk deity was born.
Courtesy Kalaniooran - in Kalki
The Voice of the Avatar
K.S. Sivakumaran
We are told that the word Avatar in Sanskrit means that the Almighty
descend from the celestial Heaven down the earth in human form. In
Thamil we call it Avatharam meaning reincarnation. But in Sinhala I am
told it means apparition. Let that be.
Recently readers might have seen a Canadian film in English called
Avatar. From what I gathered from the film was that it implicitly
suggest the transmigration of a soul in reincarnation. In Thamil it is
called "Koodu Viddu Koodu Paaithal".
There are many reincarnated sages around the world who preach and
practice Universal Love primarily based on Hinduism. Among them is Sri
Sathya Sai Baba.
I see him as human representative of the almighty doing service to
the people at large particularly in the field of education and health.
In other words he is an Avatar from my point of view and belief. It
does not mean the other saints and sages are different. They too preach
and practise in their own ways. They are all contemporary mystics.
Although I had been to Puttaparthi a number of times I was unable to
have an eye contact with him leave alone having an audience with him.
Perhaps this is due to my immaturity and skepticism which I have not
surrendered to surrender at his feet. But implicitly he communicates
with me through some positive signs and helps me ward off a few
difficulties that I encountered.
Recently I came across a monthly magazine published in 2005 in
England (Heartfield Centre) celebrating Sri Sathya Sai Baba noble
pronouncements.
For the benefit of our readers let me assemble some of the words of
the Sage.
* You remember God when distress assaults you; you forget Him when
you are free from it.
* Your life can be peaceful only when you can control the excitement
of your body and mind.
* You can reach perfect bliss only when your heart becomes free from
envy, egoism, greed and other evil traits; spend the time with God who
can make your shoulders strong and your burden light.
* You should not pray God for secular advantages; you should pray
only for grace.
* You must necessarily have three essential qualities like
Discipline, Devotion and Duty.
* You have to remove wasteful and wicked thoughts from your heart,
plough the heart with good deeds, water it with love and manure it with
faith.
* You should not try to differentiate one religion from another, the
end and aim of all religions and all castes is one and the same.
* You serve yourself by serving others.
* You come alone when you are born; you go alone when you die.
* You can find the foot prints of God wherever there is beauty,
virtue, humility, justice, truth, love and peace; you can hear the foot
steps of God, only when silence reigns in the mind.
* You must surrender your judgment to the Lord; then the Lord will
assume full responsibility. |