Abhirami Battar's Story

This is the story of a great saint who wove a beautiful garland of Thamizh verses for the petite shoulders of Goddess Parvathi so that Her praise could be sung throughout the world for all time to come. Like all stories, let me start at the very beginning.

The Almighty Sun rose and stretched his enormous arms out to embrace every nook and cranny of the golden Chola empire. One such nook was the blessed, beautiful temple town of Thirukkadaiyoor which plays host to Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Abhirami. The people woke up feeling the abundant warmth and rushed to finish their daily activities. Some were already queueing up around the walls of the temple. The temple sported a beehive look with the staff doing everything other than flying to keep up with the crowd and to prepare for the special poojais to be performed today. King Saraboji of Thanjavur was expected at the temple any minute now. It wasn't every day that the king of the land visits a small town and the entire community was decked up for display wearing its best behaviour.

Now there resided in the temple, a sadhu called Abhirami Battar. No one knew where he came from or how long he had stayed there. One fine day, he, sorted of, apparitioned and started acting like the whole temple and the premier deity, Goddess Abhirami belonged to him and thus his name came to be. He had the most amazing voice and sang such good praise of the Goddess during the poojais that even the hardest of hearts would melt and the heaviest of burdens would fly far away like a cotton seed caught in a summer breeze. He kept count of Thithis and adviced people on auspicious days to perform some functions. He was never dishonest. Obviously, no one objected to him staying there. Typical of a sadhu, he was always immersed in meditation and had a bad temper. So everyone, painstakingly, ducked out of his way lest they get cursed.

Today, he woke up hearing the commotion around him and went straight to the shrine of the Goddess, eyes closed. No one dared warn him that the king was already in the shrine for the first poojai of the day. He stood square in front of the Goddess, hiding Her from everyone else's view and opened his eyes to Her magical smile which gleamed brighter than Her emerald green saree and all Her gold and diamond jewels. Thoughts took shape in his mind and a beautiful verse poured out. The indignant king's angry expression disappeared and a wide smile took its place. His minister whispered into the king's ears, the history of the sadhu and his significance in the temple. With arms stretched apart, the king 'condescended' to walk up to Abhirami Battar and congratulate him. The whole town was gathered to watch this spectacle. But Battar was still in deep thought of the Goddess' glorified face which shone like the full moon on a clear night. The king nudged him out of his meditation and Battar was annoyed. He insulted the king by asked him to leave immediately. Angered by his insubordination, the king asked him what the Thithi was . Still thinking of the Mother's face, Battar replied that it was a Full Moon.The king was a good astrologer himself and knew very well that it would be a New Moon that day. He asked Battar to rethink what he had just uttered. Battar insulted him once again by saying that the Moon would come out that day or he wasn't Abhirami's son. So to avenge his disrespect and teach Battar a lesson, the king ordered a watch that night. Battar would be made to stand on a wooden swing under which a fire would be started. If the moon would not come out that day, he would stand on the swing until he apologised to the king or was burnt alive. The entire town stood transfixed.

Battar came out of his meditative state later that day and heard from the town folk about his altercation with the king that morning. He had put himself in a fix. The elders advised him to go to the palace and seek forgiveness immediately. They told him that the king was a just , God fearing man and would definitely accept apologies from a sadhu. No one wanted to even imagine the torture of standing on fire, much less seeing their Battar undergoing it.


Battar was shocked. How could a sadhu have said an untrue statement like that? He truly believed that anything he said was because Abhirami made him say it. She had been his mother ever since he could remember and had taught him everything he knew. Why would she let him say that? He raised his hands up in prayer.


Devi, why me? why now? Everything I am is because of You. All I see is Your ethereal beauty. I am deaf to anything but Your magical laughter. I eat out of Your Hand. I put all my faith in You. If You want my life, it is Yours to take! But my dear Mother, my head can only bow in prayer to You..... my tongue will continue to sing only Your praise.


He made up his mind. He told the town folk.... My mother will protect my word. There will be a Pournami (Full Moon) tonight.


Left with no choice, the town gathered to bid farewell to their Battar. Battar strolled up to the wooden swing that evening with his head held high as if he was walking to his Mother's shrine to bid her good night. As he was hoisted up and the fire was started under his feet, he started his praise of Abhirami. Amudham began to flow into each ear that listened and people stood mesmerized by Battar's genius and devotion. Each Poem began with the last word of the previous poem, making it literally "unending". (This class of poetry is called "Andhadhi" - Beginning with the end.) His verses only grew more devotional as the fire grew hotter under him. People started sobbing silently and the king got nervous. He was planning to get Battar down from the swing when.....Near the end of the 79th verse....

The Goddess Abhirami, in all her glory, appeared in the night sky. Battar and thousands others who were watching joined their hands above their heads in unison. Battar's eyes filled with tears of ecstasy. The Goddess, Herself, had deigned to appear to him. She looked at the fire under him and it turned into flowers. She praised his devotion and his mastery over poetry. The king earnestly asked for forgiveness and she granted it.

Then she explained to him that Chandra Bhagavan will not be able to take out his chariot tonight because that would cause a change in the state of all living beings on the earth. But She agreed that a devotee's word must be upheld. She removed one of her earrings and threw it into the sky and it lit up the sky like the bright, full moon itself.

Battar's joy knew no bounds. He continued his poems glorifying the worship of Abhirami and her unfathomable love for her devotees. She would always be there to protect them. He completed 100 poems, the last of which end with the first word of the first poem... Udhikkindra (the rising).

Link to Abhirami Andhadhi --> http://www.scribd.com/doc/6293535/abirami-anthathi

Thus ends one of the beautiful plays that Goddess Abhirami enacted to remind the Earth folk that She would, Herself, arise to help the needy who truly believe in Her.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!!!

Hola! Everybody out there...

Wow!! Its a new year all over again and everybody is starting something new...

a new diet (whether u r going to kick it in 2 months is worth a whole new blog),

new decision to stop spending loads on chocolates and ice cream (wait... shouldn't diet and not eating chocolates mean the same thing... if u r still thinking on that... little hint... its the age of eat what u want and still lose weight),

new resolution to save up for the future and not buy the absolute must have mobile (or shoes or cute lil dress) of the season.. work towards personal and professional goals... etc

keep up the good work and don't lose steam on the way towards the destination!!

My resolution would be to work on keeping a record on what I want with life and myself and fulfilling the wishes of everyone around me!!

START SOMETHING NEW TODAY!

Arcindya

Found a new video worth watching

Hey there,

I am back. Saw an awesome video about the great Chola king, Raja Raja I and his architectural marvel, Brihadeswara Temple in Thanjavur. The duration is about an hour but i assure u, it is absolutely worth it.

Did u know that we were already making bronze idols and building large scale temples when the whole of Europe was in the Dark ages?? Oh yes, we were!!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5096103596865842301&q=tamil

TAKE SOME TIME OFF TO WATCH THIS! It's a shame we need OTHERS to tell us about our own history. But knowledge from anywhere is good.

Arcindya

Being a Thamizh!!

Thamizhukkum amudhendru per
andhath thamizh inbath thamizh
yengaL uyirukku ner, uyirukku ner.

These lines written by BarathiDasan are my favorite among all the song lyrics that i've ever listened to.

Meaning: Thamizh is also called amruth (the nectar that the Gods drink to get immortality)
That thamizh, lovable (comfort giving) thamizh is right next to our life in priority.
Now I realize translating tamil into english is just a waste of time. U can never convey the emotions and hidden thoughts that a poet expresses in his mother tongue in any other language. To be fair, i will say that this is true in the reverse case also. Will not sidetrack further....

The language is to die for! Wikipedia calls her "the only living classical language" where a classical language should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. She is one of the very few languages whose origin is not Sanskrit. Along the way, lots of words were absorbed from it. The special characteristic is the letter "zha" and the way people pronounce it.

Thamizhukku Zha Azhagu - Vairamuthu (Zha makes thamizh beautiful!)

She ranks 17 among the world's most spoken languages and she grows as we speak. The wealth of literature and culture that she built up over the eons will stay with us forever.

Now about the people... We are a very ancient race (Dravidian) with recorded history dating back to 2 millenia. Did u also know that we began the Harappa and Mohenjadaro civilizations?

"Dravidians, whose descendents still live in Southern India, established the first city communities, in the Indus valley, introduced irrigation schemes, developed pottery and evolved a well ordered system of government." (Reader's Digest Great World Atlas, 1970). This is just a theory.

We migrated down into peninsular India in search of greener pastures and settled in the land now called Thamizh Nadu (land of the thamizhs).

The land was classified as

Kurinci (Mountainous regions),
Mullai (Forests),
Marutam (Farmlands),
Neithal (Sea and the surrounding lands)
and
Paalai (Desert regions)

Three big empires arose.

The Cholas with their capital, Thanjavur on the rich delta of the river Kaveri, (on whom I will blog later)
The Cheras who ruled over most of Kerala (the fertile lands which receive ample rainfall and are criss crossed with rivers bringing silt) and
The Pandyas with their capital Madurai - the land which gave thamizh three sangams and ample literature to make her one of the best.

The Pallavas rose to importance a lot later. They were sea farers with their capital somewhere near present day Chennai.

All of them contributed to the culture, architectural wonders in the form of temples and literature. Thamizh was having her GOLDEN AGE.

And after the golden age comes the slow decay of once strong empires. Small lords and vassals of northern rulers ruled for a while. The Mughals came in to plunder the wealth sometimes or take advantage of the fertile land or sea accessibility for their progress. Temples were destroyed and some literature was totally wiped clean. Then, the British East India Company ushered in another round of the Dark age with their nice talk and promise of trade. The small rulers fell like domino pins owing to greed of becoming GREAT. U know what happened next!!!
MADRAS PRESIDENCY... They brought every kingdom under their rule. Some resisted and were sent to the gallows (Veera Pandya Katta Bhomman, for eg. Watch Sivaji act the part of the great hero in the thamizh movie of the same name).

FREEDOM came after nearly 100 years of unwanted bondage. I don't even want to go into that. (U can expect any Indian's blood to boil at the thought of this.)

U know the rest of the story. Well, there is definitely more to come.. Lots of areas i never covered. Keep reading.

VAZHGA THAMIZH !!! (or Jai Thamizh!!!, as my roomies describe my frequent outbursts about the majesty of our language).

Thamizh Blood :)

Mercy droppeth as snow

Ladies and Gentlemen, Someone u've been waiting for all ur life arrives.... SNOW IN ARIZONA!!!

How it began??
Sunday evening, raining hard!! As always, we had to do grocery shopping. Returning in the rain with bags laden with stuff is absolutely the last thing on earth that u want to do. Obviously we took a taxi, but carrying the bags upstairs in the freezing downpour was torture itself. Then, as we settled in chairs with a bowl of hot soup and music filling our ears, it happened.... The phenomenon of white flakes falling down from the skies. Misquoting Shakespere,

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle "white" rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest:

Mercy from THE ONE above, that was what it was. The parched throat of the desert had just been quenched with water and HE sends dessert along with it.

(if u didn't understand that, i am comparing snow to ice cream. That probably spoilt the whole fun of it, but i want to make myself clear!! To be known as the essence of lucid writing.)

First snow and the thrill in ur heart that comes with it.... The beautiful laughter that it brings with it. Out of this world!!! The whole neighbourhood was engulfed in a Christmasy aura... the carols and a Santa shaking his belly like a bowl full of jelly with his characteristic laughter were the only missing pieces.

We played in the snow until our finger tips started to prick with pain. Scraped snow off the carpet which had just formed and threw it on each other. None of the pics we took came out well but hey, who cares??

Changed me totally. If u r in India, especially TN which is starved for rain even, u must take a trip to HEAVEN ON EARTH, Kashmir to wonder at this God-sent miracle. If afraid of mere mortals, I would strongly recommend Himachal Pradesh or Darjeeling (in winter please).

Arcindya

Way to GC

For the being that is said to be human who hasn’t set his sight on the Grand Canyon YET

Where do I begin.. to talk about a natural wonder which has no parallel. So I’ll start at the very beginning. We were 7 and since I’ve already been there once, I became the person to ask about what “this” is, where do we get that and all that. I played it down and didn’t hype thing up as they did it for me. It really is good to go see a beautiful place without any preconceptions. No expectations.. no big disappointments even if the day is cloudy and u cannot see half the canyon. Therefore half nods and mono-syllables were my replies to all their queries.

Being a student at the UofA, Tucson, people would laugh at u if after 5 years, u are talking to friends and u said u never set ur eyes on this marvel. What’s wrong with u, u lived in the GC state and u never saw it…. So it began.

Saturday morning, Veteran’s day… 11 a.m. The car arrives just as planned and space in it is just right for 7 gals. Awesome legroom and luggage space (chevy something… not one to remember car names and all). Loaded in and set off to Phoenix, capital of the state about 2 hours away. Anthakshari and regular gossip made the drive very smooth and quick.

Lunch at a Andhra restaurant in the capital, Priya’s. U will not believe it. I have never in my life in USA (by this I mean Tucson, only Tucson and no other place) eaten such good South Indian food. Mark my words and repeat, I will never eat at any other place if I am in Phoenix. The Buffet cost $10 but it was worth every penny and more. Being my veggie day (my friends call it my “dry” day), I couldn’t eat chicken. But still, I devoured every morsel of veggie food that I could lay my hands on. The owners are a friendly lot and since they were friends with our team leader, Miss Music, we got lots of inside info about some recipes (trade secrets!!). Had a photo session and then loaded into the car once more.

Drive to Flagstaff lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes. Some more gossip and photo sessions later, we arrived at this beautiful little town which looked as if it were rooted out of sleepy Europe and placed on the typical American Inter State Highway. Slopy streets, and beautiful stone houses with gardens, lawns and pets on them with a climate to match. Could one ask for more. But there is more, a university in this town, NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY. Blessed are those who get to study there. No need for a European vacation. Just camp outside ur dorm and save tons.

Then came Williams in another 45 minutes. This is another town known just for being the closest, cheapest place to stay in when u wish to go to GC. Our destination was 50 miles away.

One hour later came Tusayan (sorry if I got the spelling wrong) which is one mile from GC village. We were going to put up in the Red Feather Lodge. There was lots of merriment and dancing and games that night. The food was the American usual, pizza. 11.30 at night, I went to bed, tired out and slept like a log. For the next morning, we had to catch the sunrise.

Woke up with a jolt in the morning, got ready really early and stepped out. There was the usual smoker’s mouth gimmick to do and make others laugh. Stepped on the road and did some disco (there was ice on the tar road and being Indians who have never seen that, took pics of that too). The car was covered with a thin layer of ice which both Music and B scrapped up. Loading and going on.. The pass costed $25 for 7 people. I think a pass for one year costs $20 and if u are going to other national parks later in the year, u can get the pass here for $50.

Then the grandeur that is the GC rose before us. We were mesmerized. No one talks, no giggles.. just plain awe. We stood transfixed by the sight before us. The sun was playfully touching the mountain tops at one corner of the scenery while the other parts were still shrouded in darkness and then slowly she blushes like a newly wed. The pink changes to red as the sun rises and a gasp escaped from everyone’s lips. Time stood frozen as each eye vied with another to take in more of that …. what do I call it, FIRST LOVE…

Arcindya

Have u a sibling??

Before beginning, I would like to apologize to everyone who reads this and doesn't have a sibling (this might make u want one) and to those who have one (nostalgia might kick in) since this is going to speak ur mind. The things u never think about and never care to either.

HISTORY: I have a younger brother (by 2 years). This is my experience with him. No generalisation.

A SIBLING... is a strange relationship. Strange and beautiful at the same time. Together from the very beginning and even before u r a life in a womb, the sibling stays with u until the end. He knows u inside out and upside down and can say how u reacted to a particular emotion with his eyes closed.

At first, u are jealous of him, what with him getting all the attention that u commanded before this "cute little thing" (that's how mothers call the younger sibling, however old he gets)came out. U plot complex plans about how u will make life miserable for this new being and make him dissappear altogether. Then, suddenly one day, u come home from school and peek through the window before knocking. He is already jumping in his crib excitement written all over his tiny face. He knows u are home. Pointing to the door, he demands mom's attention. He chuckles (that's all he can say) and u fall head over heels in love with the SMALL VILLAIN. U never look back again.

He grows up and u keep track of him in school. BIG SISTERS become half mothers by the age of 7.

Umpteen doubts about lessons,

Infinite queries about the teachers (eg. B:Y does she hit me? S:I disproved her theory about something 2 years ago. It is only natural that she takes revenge with the weak one. B: Y me? I hate u. (But secretly is proud of u)),

How do I mug this? (brothers usually believe that the sister's grades are solely because of her mugging skills)

Endless nights on one on one talking about life (pretending to be asleep when mom comes to check on u as if she cannot see through ur brain)

Teaching him to write (he still blames me for his bad handwriting)

Telling him which teacher to mess with and which one to act cute with

and my favorite of all time, calling him SHORTY. But alas, Newton's third law (for non physics majors: every action has an equal and opposite reaction) came to his rescue and now it is the other way round.

Moving forward into college, he becomes a vent to ur feelings. Ur triumphs, ur failures and all the near-misses and vice versa. U progress into the role of a very old friend with a patient ear. (He doesn't need u to mother him any more) U have such a bond that u r telepathic when it comes to him.

Having a sibling of the opposite sex helps u in the most confusing stage of life (adolescence). Since u are with him all the time, u understand the working of the mind of the other sex and u don't make assumptions.

Clearly, (there is no debate) I place the fact that a sibling is a life long bond of pure love except for the fights (which are physical most of the time).

Dedicated to my sweet villain,

Arcindya