SingavEL kunRam

[Guest guest]

The hills that Thirumangai Azhvaar celebrates as

SingavEL kunRam is popularly known as aHObilam. I

had the good fortune of visiting aHObilam with my

Chithappa during my recent trip to India. Contrary to

what I had imagined it was a relatively easy trip. The

hikes involved were not easy, but not very difficult

either. In fact, with the crystal clear Bavanaasini water

flowing most of the way, the hike was simply

exhilarating for me. One could almost picture Sri

SatakOpa jeer (founder of sri aHObila madam) walking

up these hills and Lord Narasimhar Himself appearing

before him as a sanyaasi.

 

There are two overnight buses from Madras for going to

aHObilam. The 7:00 p.m. bus takes you all the way to

aHObilam, just a few yards from the Temple and right in

front of Sri aHObilamadam. The second bus leaving

Madras at 8:00 p.m. passes through a town called

Allagadda, about 30 KM short of aHObilam. We took

this bus because the ride was supposed to be smoother. I

don't want to even think how the 7 O' clock bus would

have been :-). From Allagadda we took a taxi to

aHObilam. The taxi stayed with us the whole day and

took us back to Allegadda for the same "deluxe" bus

back to Madras. Buses are also available from

Allagadda to aHObilam and back every 45 minutes.

 

If you are allergic to overnight bus rides you can take a

train from Madras to Kadappa and then take a 60 KM

bus ride to Allagadda. You can reach Kadappa from

Thiruppathi as well, if you wish to combine Thiruppathi

and aHObilam into a single trip out of Madras.

 

The hills near aHObilam with nava nrusimHars is called

mElaHObilam. That makes the town keezhaHObilam.

The nine shrines in the hills are:

 

jvaalaa aHObila maalOla krOdaa kaaraNYja baargava:

yOgaan^andha chathravata paavanO navamoorththaya:

 

In addition, we have Prahallaadha Varadhan at

keezhaHObilam and Ugra sthambam way up at the top

of one of the hills. Counting these two we have 11

perumaaLs. In addition, there is a second yOgaanandha

moorthi. With this we have twelve. Of all these shrines

Jvaalaa and Ugra are the most difficult and cannot be

reached without the help of aadhivaasi (senji tribe)

guides. Legend has it that Thaayaar was born into the

senji tribe as Senji Lakshmi and married Narasimha

perumaaL in hunter form. It seems during the annual

kalyaaNa uthsavam the senjees come with all kinds of

"seer" including meat.

 

Before I left for India I had an exchange about animal

sacrifice with a dear friend. Thirumangai aazhvaar gives

us a hint about this subject in the following pasuram:

 

\bt

angkaNNYaalamanca angkOraaLariyaay avuNan

pongavaagamvaLLugiraal pOzhndhapunidhanidam,

paingaNaanaikkombukoNdu patthimaiyaal, adikkeezhch

chengaNaaLiyittiRainchum singkavELkunRamE.

 

-- Periya thirumozhi 1.7.1

\et

 

 

angkaN NYaalam anca : Striking fear in the heart of everyone

angkOr aaL ariyaay : taking the shape of man-lion

avuNan ponga : angry Hiranyakasipu's

vaagam vaLLugiraal : body was ripped open with the sharp nails

pOzhndha

punidhanidam : of the pure one!

paingaN aanaik kombu : ivory from the elephants with cool eyes

koNdu : are brought

patthimaiyaal : with bhakthi

yittu iRainchum : and offered with prayer

adikkeezhch : at his divine feet

chengaN aaLi : by red eyed lion;

singkavELkunRamE : let us worship this Lion Lord of aHObilam.

 

According to its dharmam the angry lion kills the

innocent elephant. From the carcass, the lion then offers

the most precious part, i.e. ivory, to the Lord.

 

If ones tradition involves meat eating, like that of the

noble senjees, don't they have the right to make ritual

offering of meat to our Lord?

 

 

-- Dileepan

[Guest guest]

Dileepan writes:

 

<deleted>

 

Of all these shrines

* Jvaalaa and Ugra are the most difficult and cannot be

* reached without the help of aadhivaasi (senji tribe)

* guides. Legend has it that Thaayaar was born into the

* senji tribe as Senji Lakshmi and married Narasimha

* perumaaL in hunter form. It seems during the annual

* kalyaaNa uthsavam the senjees come with all kinds of

* "seer" including meat.

*

* Before I left for India I had an exchange about animal

* sacrifice with a dear friend. Thirumangai aazhvaar gives

* us a hint about this subject in the following pasuram:

*

* \bt

* angkaNNYaalamanca angkOraaLariyaay avuNan

* pongavaagamvaLLugiraal pOzhndhapunidhanidam,

* paingaNaanaikkombukoNdu patthimaiyaal, adikkeezhch

* chengaNaaLiyittiRainchum singkavELkunRamE.

*

* -- Periya thirumozhi 1.7.1

* \et

*

*

* angkaN NYaalam anca : Striking fear in the heart of everyone

* angkOr aaL ariyaay : taking the shape of man-lion

* avuNan ponga : angry Hiranyakasipu's

* vaagam vaLLugiraal : body was ripped open with the sharp nails

* pOzhndha

* punidhanidam : of the pure one!

* paingaN aanaik kombu : ivory from the elephants with cool eyes

* koNdu : are brought

* patthimaiyaal : with bhakthi

* yittu iRainchum : and offered with prayer

* adikkeezhch : at his divine feet

* chengaN aaLi : by red eyed lion;

* singkavELkunRamE : let us worship this Lion Lord of aHObilam.

*

* According to its dharmam the angry lion kills the

* innocent elephant. From the carcass, the lion then offers

* the most precious part, i.e. ivory, to the Lord.

*

* If ones tradition involves meat eating, like that of the

* noble senjees, don't they have the right to make ritual

* offering of meat to our Lord?

 

Yes indeed. But the vedic sacrifices prescribed killing

and offering the animals to the Lord, irrespective of

one's tradition. Since anything offered in a sacrifice

was 'prasaadam', I am sure the cooked meat was also

consumed by the brahmana priests who performed the

sacrifices and the yagna's yajamana.

 

While we don't see this practise anymore by the brahmana

priests, at the earlier times they were extremely angry

at the Buddhists because the Buddhists criticised the

vedic sacrifices. periyavaachchaan piLLai expresses his

irritation at the Buddhists (for their opposition to

vedic animal sacrifices) in his commentary to

thirumaalai.

 

But the vedanta scholars probably never thought highly of

the vedic sacrifices!

 

(aside: some of the native Dravidian worship practises

are amazingly primitive and shocking even now. There was

a detailed report in 'The Hindu' about 6 months back

about animal sacrifice to the village goddess 'Laxmi'

(not to be confused with Sri or Lakshmi, the divine

consort of vishnu) in the Andhra region. Men, intoxicated

with alcohol and driven to a frenzy by all the

accompanying drum beats literally bite off the jaws of

young lamb cubs and offer the meat and blood to the

village deities. Similar sacrifices are performed in

thamizh naadu villages too.)

 

--badri

 

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S.Badrinarayanan

Graduate Student

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Cornell University

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