HISTORY OF TIRUPATI

CHAPTER IV
Festivals and Calendar Days
or
Tirunals, Visesha Divasams and Tingal Divasam

The greatness or importance of a temple is generally estimated by the grandeur of the festivals celebrated in it and by the character and culture of the congregation which they attract. There are no inscriptions which give us any useful information about the festivals held in the Tirumalai Temple in its early days, that is from the 8th to the end of the 14th century A.D. Therefore before an attempt is made to enumerate and describe the festivals of our temple, it is desirable and even necessary to have a proper idea of a festival in a Sri Vaishnava temple. The three most important Sri Vaishnava temples in South India are those which are popularly known as Koyil (Srirangam), Tirumalai and Perumalkoyil (Kancipuram). In the grandeur of its festivals Perumalkoyil takes the lead although the residents of Srirangam, Srivilliputtur and other important places may dispute this. It is not merely the solemnity and the grandeur of the religious portion of the festival that decides the importance of a festival. A festival is also a grand annual fair where business and social transactions take place on a large scale. First and foremost a festival is expected to attract the most learned and religiously minded men of the country who will conduct discourses on religious and philosophical subjects. Men learned in the Vedas are expected to congregate in large numbers and form a goshti or group, recite the Vedas when the Deity is taken in procession both by day and by night. There must similarly be a large gathering of Srivaishnavas learned in the Prabandham of the Alvars to form another goshti for the recital of the Prabandham. The very best and famous pipers are expected to display their skill during the street processions and also in sabhas held in the temple. A choir of Tiruvidhi sanis or dancing girls should also form an essential part of the procession and they should display their skill in dancing and abhinayam. Special display of their attainments should also be made in the evenings when the Deity is taken round the pradakshinam (Prakaram enclosures) in the temple compound. There would also be private gathering of connoisseurs in Vedic recitation to witness the dance recital of Jatai and Ganam, to the accompaniment of dancing and talam. The reciter would keep on his head while dancing, a number of copper vessels filled with water one over the other and he should not allow even a drop to spill in the course of the performance. He should also be able to recite the proper text when its commencement is indicated by movements of the eye and the eyebrows. The great congregation during a festival gave occasion for such feats of artistic skill in Vedic recitation. In a place like Kanchipuram even the lifting and holding of the huge 16 span umbrella on the Vahanam is an art to witness. The expert would with one smart move bring the bottom end of the pole of the umbrella right into the pouch formed in the cloth band round his waist. Many would watch this with wonder. Even the religious part of the festival has thus its own attractions for many people.

The festival days afford great scope for business and social transactions as well. All varieties of cloths and sarees from the cheapest to the most costly are brought to the place by merchants as well as by craftsmen. All kinds of brass and silver ware for daily use in houses as well as for presents on marriage occasions are exhibited in plenty for the purchaser to make his selection from. Persons in search of brides or bride-grooms repair to the festival so that the girl and the boy may see each other unobserved in the temple or near the great car before the marriage broker's services are requisitioned to open negotiations. Agriculturists from the outlying villages gather to witness the festival and purchase the implements they need.

In an extensive town like Kanchipuram many philanthropists have constructed spacious choultries and made elaborate arrangements to provide free food and lodgings. There are also regional arrangements made by the co-operative effort of a number of villages pooling their contributions for feeding sumptuously twice a day the members of their own group. The very orthodox and the very unorthodox are provided for separately so as to suit their habits and temperament.

During the Deity's procession through the main thoroughfares, the reciters of the Prabhandam form one group in rows and proceed first. Next come the pipers with their music and the dancing girls. Behind the Deity are the reciters of the Vedas formed in rows. Their number in Kanchipuram used to be anything above 300. Numerous Bhajana parties bring up the rear. The morning procession has to face the rigour of the summer sun. But some of the residents of the place keep pots of water in profusion to wash and cool the feet of the reciters of Praban-dham and Veda. Each member is presented with palmyrah fan, strand of jasmine flower round the neck and scented sandal paste to rub over the body. The more well-to do invite the group into their house, or in Srivai-shnava parlance, sanctify the hut with the golden feet of the reciters (Ponnadi Sattavenum). As the group approaches the house, the house-holder prostrates himself on the road before them and makes a humble request to grace his poor hut. They enter and seat themselves, the recitation continuing all the time. The sandal paste is served and flowers, betel leaves and nuts (adaikkayi) and handfuls of sugarcandy or a mixture of sugar, copra shavings, badam nuts, dried grapes, cashew nuts, poppy seeds and Elakkai. The host and hostess who prostrate again are blessed before the party moves on. The heterodox tendencies of modern civilisation have not yet succeeded in depriving the grand festival in Vaikasi month of its charming scenes.

Perched on the top, rather in a hollow of the hill, the space available for festival activities is too small. The Mahapradakshinam or the four streets round the temple circumscribe the course of the procession. Unlike the practice in other temples, in Tirumalai, the Dvajarohanam (or the flag hoisting) takes place only in the evening. This already commented upon in the chapter on Daily Worship, is necessitated by the unbreakable rule that the Tiruvaradhanam or Daily worship of the Periya Perumal including the first and the second bell, should first be gone through without any abridgement or haste, before a festival function can take place. The decoration of the festival Deity (Malayappan and the two Nachchimars) in the traditional style, takes time.

Then comes the dattam or the votive offerings made by several devotees for celebrating a Brahmotsavam, each conducted in due solemnity accompanied by recitation of appropriate mantrams and the tying of Kankanam. Then there is the investiture of each with a silver wand. There is also the solemn ceremony to be gone through in front of the Periya Perumal for taking His permission and inviting the guardian Deities each to his appointed place in the eight quarters of the town and so on and so forth. A few alone can witness this portion of the recital owing to the very limited space in the sanctum. This is the most impressive function in Tirumalai, and it is claimed that there is no other temple which can equal Tirumalai in this matter. But the actual procession of the festival Deity round the sanctum and the other pradakshinams and the streets has always been a poor show, although in recent years great piper vidwans have been engaged to attract and enthuse the devotees. The rituals or the hoisting of the flag of Garuda on the golden flag-staff is also a grand function which all present witness.

There is no room available in the streets round the temple for a decent congregation of Prabandham or Veda reciters. Inter-sectarian animosities also estrange those who would otherwise add to he eligible numbers. The rhythmic, resounding and soul elevating recitation of the Vedas does not seen to have been witnessed in Tirumalai till very recently. Further the picturesqure practice of hundreds and hundreds of these reciters adorned with flower garlands round their neck and scented sandal paste on their body going in procession has from time immemorial been prohibited in Tirumalai. There are no adequate and satisfactory arrangements for feeding and housing such as are imported on payment for the occasion. How poor the show became may be gauged from the fact that according to the Tastik patti of the year 1819 A.D. framed by the East India company after the temple administration was taken over by the British, the Tolappachars who have the mirasi right of forming the Vedaparayanam goshti were declared to be under obligation to supply only four persons to recite the Vedas during the Brahmotsavam processions. The limitation of members is observed even in the case of the Prabandham reciters. There are no dancing girls to beguile the pilgrim with dance and abhinayam. Achyutaraya Maharaya's attempts to plant them in Tirumala proved a miserable failure. There is very limited accommodation available in Tirumalai for satisfactory free feeding and lodging arrangements being made by philanthropic men to suit the habits and convenience of orthodox people. Not more than about fifty found it possible to live in Tirumalai for ten days at a stretch in olden days. Above all, the pilgrims who go to Tirumalai form a different class from those who go to other Sri Vaishnava places of pilgrimage. They go to Tirumalai to discharge vows. After doing this, they get back from the hill. They could not get even unpolluted water to drink, much less clean food. The place acquired a notoriety for malarial mosquitoes. There is no mention in any of the inscriptions of an assembly of pandits, poets or philosophers. Nor was there a school for the study of religion.

Householders (or griha-stas) were discouraged from living on the Hill with their womenfolk. Nobody had an attachment to the place as his place of birth. Nor were householders allowed to die on the Hill. The rule was that in case of serious illness, they should go down to Tirupati. These rules are however no longer observed. But the village has been shaped as the result of these injunctons in the centuries gone by. Excepting shop-keepers, milk-vendors, a few gardeners and servants of the Temple, all the others kept their homes in Tirupati. There were at all times some celibates and some Sanyasis maintaining mathams where pilgrims were lodged and cared for. There is one feature of the Brahmotsavam street procession which is peculiar to Tirumalai. The whole show is heralded by a small decorated wooden car which is called 'Brahma Ratham'. This perhaps is a reminiscence of the car in which the processional Deity was taken round the streets when Samavai instituted the first or Adi Brahmotsavam in 966 A.D.

But in spite of all these depressing conditions, Tirumalai continued to draw from time immemorial, at any rate from about 1000 A.D. large crowds of pilgrims on every day of the year and more so during the Brahmotsavam. The festi-val even in its most attenuated form has an uplifting influence on the pilgrim. The temple authorities and philanthropists did not overlook this aspect. We therefore find that Brahmotsavams multiplied in numbers until in due course there were eleven Brahmotsavams one every month. Margali alone was excepted. This is the outstanding feature of the Tirumalai temple. Samavai gave a start with two festivals - the main one in the month of Purattasi and the subsidiary one in the month of Margali. Then there is mention about 1254 A.D. of a Tirukkodi Tirunal in Chittrai month. There is mention of a Panguni festival by Vira Narasinga (the fourth). In 1328 A.D. a fifth festival in the month of Adi was added by Tiruvenkatanatha Yadavaraya. There is mention of a sixth one in the month of Kartigai by Bukkaraya Maharaya. But the actual date is not known. In 1388 A.D. Hari Hara Raya instituted another to be celebrated in Masi month, which makes seven. We are also told in an inscription of 1390 that there were seven Brahmotsavams in Tirumalai and two in Tirupati. Subsequently festivals in the month of Asvija, Tai, Ani, Avani and Arpisi were added. The Margali Brahmotsavam seems to have dropped out later. At any rate by 1583 A.D. there were 11 Brahmotsavams one every month. In this manner opportunity was given to pilgrims coming from different parts of India and in different seasons of the year to witness the Brahmotsavam.

BRAHMOTSAVAM

Number of days and vahanams or vehicles used on each day for processions

It is seen from the inscriptions that the number of days of the Brahmotsavam rose from two to thirteen and that the use of Vahanams - vehicular sacred mounts - on which the processional Deity is placed, was a gradual development. The first Brahmotsavam about which we find mention in the inscriptions was held in 966 A.D. and lasted for a period of ten days. The first, or, Ankurarpanam day commenced with a street procession, perhaps in the evening and the seed sowing was done in the night. On the next day the flag was hoisted on the Dhvajasthamba or staff in the evening to the accompaniment of impressive rituals and afterwards there was a street procession. Thereafter there were street processions, in the morning as well as in the evening. But it is not clear which deity was taken in procession. It could not have been the then new silver replica of the Main Deity; it should have been some other idol. The festival ended on the tenth day (counted from Ankurarpanam) and is known as the Tirthavari day.

After the lapse of nearly four centuries, we find from an inscription of the year 1392 A.D. that one more day was added to the festival after the Tirthavari day, to celebrate the Vidayaatri festival. At this time there were seven Brahmotsavams in a year. The new processional Deity called Malaikuniya-Ninra Perumal was introduced about 1339. During the year 1445-1447 some more changes and additions were made in the programme of the festival. On the Ankurarpanam or Tirumulai day a marriage festival was instituted known as Tirukkalyanam Nal. There was also a procession of Kaiyarchakram, (probably) chakrattalvar, in the streets in the evening. In an inscription of the year 1545 A.D. (or a century later) it is stated that the Tirukkalyanam was celebrated on the first day of the festival and not on the Ankurarpanam day. On the ninth festival day, there was not only the Tirthavari when the Chakrattalvar bathed in the Swami Pushkarini, but during the night there was the Adhivasan and lowering of the flag. Churnabhishekam is first mentioned in 1545 A.D. On this day accounts were read at the stores before the Deity.

In 1446 there was a new festival day instituted on the eleventh day counted from Ankurarpanam known as the Pushpayagam day. This day is described in the words. According to the inscription the guardian Deities who were on duty during the Brahmotsavam were given leave to depart. It will be seen that the result of the changes mentioned above resulted in the extension of the period of the festival from 10 to 12 days. This number was subsequently increased to 13 by having two Vidayaatri days instead of one.

In 1544 A.D. another function was introduced as a necessary preliminary to the Brahmotsavam. It was however not considered a part of the Brahmotsavam. This was called the Koyilalvar Tirumanjanam. This item has become an indispensable function thereafter, and is continued to this day. One this day after the usual daily puja is over all the Deities excepting Periya Perumal and the Silver Murti are taken to the ante-chamber. The latter are then shrouded in water proof garments and the walls and the floor of the Sanctum (or Garbhagriham) are scrubbed clean using plenty of water. A mixture of turmeric paste, camphor etc. is then rubbed on the walls and the floor and the surface washed again. This festival is thus for a purely sanitary arrangement. After the walls and the floor are thus cleaned, the water proof garments are removed and certain propitiatory rituals are performed. Large quantities of food are also offered. This is a festival which is also celebrated at the instance of devotees at all times of the year on payment of prescribed fee.

It is worth noting that the changes made in the number of the festival days commenced only after the advent of the processional Murti Malaikuniya ninra Perumal (Malaiyappan) and the two Nachchimars (about 1339 A.D.)

We shall now go to the Vahanams. In the earliest days there is no mention of any Vahanam whatever. The Tiruchchi which is used on ordinary occasions appears to have been the only vehicle which was used even on the days of the Brahmotsavam. Inscriptions of the years 1339, 1354 and 1380 A.D. mention that food offerings were made in a Tiruppu mantapa constructed by Chediyarayan, just big enough to accommodate the Tiruchchi. Inscriptions down to the year 1464 A.D. give no evidence of the use of vahanams during festivals. We however know that in the year 1235 A.D. Vira Narasinga Yadavaraya constructed a four faced car for Sri Govindaraja swami in Tirupati. We may therefore presume that there would have been at that time a similar car for Sri Venkatesa in Tirumalai. In an inscription of the year 1476 A.D. mention is made of the car processions on two Brahmotsavams (Purattasi and Panguni). These car processions have been always celebrated on the 8th festival day, the Deity used to be galloped on a horse vahanam (vehicle) according to an inscription dated 1491 A.D. The Horse vahanam is mentioned for the first time in that year. The seventh festival day was however the most popular day and there were numerous endowments for food offerings to be made on that day. On the 9th festival day which is the Tirthavari day, there was the Sesha Vahanm in the morning. This however is no longer the practice. From the year 1614 A.D. a silver Sesha Vahanam came to be used as a night vahanam on the first festival day.

From an inscription of the year 1530 A.D. we gather that on the 5th festival day, the morning function related to Sri Krishna and that no vahanam was used for the day festival. But during the night the Utsava Murti and Nachchimar were mounted on the Garudavahanam. Till 1530 A.D. however there is no mention of the use of a Garudavahanam on any day.

In an inscription of the year 1520 it is stated that Anna Unjal was celebrated on the 6th day during the Tai Brahmotsavam. This appears to have been celebrated by night. The same inscription states that the car festival was celebrated on the 7th day. This appears to be an error for the 8th day. Surya Prabha and Vaikuntha Vimanam seem to have come into use from 1564 A.D. Hamsa Vahanam and Elephant Vahanm are mentioned in an inscription of 1583 A.D. A silver Simha Vahanam was presented for the night procession of the third day in 1614 A.D. In the year 1628 A.D. Matla Kumara Ananta Raja presented a golden horse vahanam, a silver elephant vahanam and a Samara Bhupala vahanam (now called Sarva Bhupala vahanam). Although there were 11 Brahmotsavams even in 1638 A.D. the car festival was celebrated during five of these, (Purattasi, Kartikai, Tai, Panguni and Ani). It has also to be remembered that not all the eleven Brahmotsavams ended with the Tirthavari in the Sravana asterism. Devaraya Maharaya's Asvavaja Brahmotsavam commenced in Punarvasu asterism and ended in Svati. Tallapakkam Tirumalai Ayyangar's Ani Brahmotsavam commenced on Sravana Nakshatram and ended in Mrigasirsha which was the birth asterism of Sri Achyutaraja Maharaya and himself.

For the other Brahmotsavams details are wanting. Incidentally it may be stated that in 1616 A.D.Sri Govindarajaswami in Tirupati had four Brahmotsavams in a year during Vaikasi, Ani, Avani and Masi months.

From the above account we may conclude that there was no agamic authority or injunction for the use of any particular vahanam on any particular day and that the arrangement which we now find established is really the result of the initiative taken at different periods by pious devotees.

The Seshavahanam which was used in the morning of the 9th festival day is now the vahanam for the night of the first day and a smaller one is used on the morning of the second day. There were formely no vahanams on the second, the third and the fourth and the seventh days. The inscriptions thus guve us an insight into the gradual development of the festival now known as Brahmotsavam.

There is another noteworthy detail in connection with the Brahmotsavam and all other festivals of importance which has become a necessary adjunct to the celebration. It consists in the announcement of the festival by the firing of explosives in front of the temple known as Adirvedi or a noisy alerting explosive. The first mention of fireworks is in an inscription of the year 1583 A.D. which give details of an endowment made by Ettur Tirumalainambi Kumara Tatachariar (possibly of Kanchipuram) one item of which was Penali Banam at a cost of 20 Rekaipon. Adirvedi however is not therein mentioned. We may say that explosives came into use in this part of the country after the advent of the Portugese, the Dutch, the French and the British traders to this country.