Built in the Dravidian style, the Padmanabhaswamy Temple is reputed to be thousands of years old and to hold more secrets than most people could possibly imagine. In addition to being a house of worship, it is a secret vault with hidden doors and antiquated treasures that have never been unlocked. You experience amazement as you move through the temple's hallways. As though the walls themselves were defending the secrets of former rulers, priests, and devotees, you can practically hear echoes of the past.

In our younger days - and that was some sixty years ago - poor Brahmins who could not subsist themselves went to Trivandrum, the capital of the princely state of Travancore. Children who became orphans, women who became widows and destitute, all resorted to the temple of Lord Padmanabha, where thousands of Brahmins re ceived two free meals a day. Indeed, thanks to the munificence of then Maharajas of Travancore, dozens of uttupuras, free feeding houses for Brahmins, were opened throughout the state. But the foremost among them was in the Padmanabhaswami temple which enabled many Brahmins to live free when they were getting an education or conducting a petty trade. There are many who have prospered in life and come to occupy high positions in many walks of life after feeding themselves in uttupuras and reading by street lights. However, the system of free feeding gave rise to a class of Brahmins who were idlers and parasites.

The Tamil brahmins were called “back-tufted intruders” since most of them immigrated from neighboring Tamil districts. The humorous Malayalam poet, Kunchan Nambiar, who satirized most communities in Kerala singled them out for ‘a more vigorous and unrelieved trouncing’ than the rest. Of their gastronomical displays in the free feeding houses,

he wrote: "He pulverizes two whole baskets of pappadams and mixes it well with two whole baskets of bananas and kneads it to paste like the country cement eats all he can leaves all he can’t The way he gorges Will make any one’s gorge rise..."

Then there is the sexennial murajapam ceremony which is a major public appearance of the Malayali Brahmins - Nambudiris - who came to Trivandrum from all parts of Kerala to chant prayers for the state and be feasted for 56 days. There is a history behind it and the provision of free feeding houses for Tamil Brahmins.

Marthanda Varma, a great warrior and statesman, became ruler of Travancore in 1729 A.D. He launched a campaign of territorial expansion by waging war against recalcitrant and petulant local chiefs. He annexed territory after territory, liquidating even the most powerful, “ettuveettil pillamars” and “madampimars” and, by 1750, the state extended from a tiny area near Nagercoil in the south to the backwaters of Cochin in the north.

The same year, in atonement of the ‘Sins of war’, he made over all his rights and possessions, the sceptre and the orb, the pada and the praja (army and people) to Lord Padmanabha. In token of abject surrender he symbolically placed the royal sword on the steps of the sanctum sanctorum and, receiving it back, he re turned to the palace. Thereafter, he ruled the state as ‘Padma nabha dasa’ or servant of Lord Padmanabha and ordained that his successors also would do likewise. It is to retain the goodwill of numerous Tamil Brahmins who were brought to sirkar service to help him in furthering the consoli dation of his kingdom that Marthanda Varma opened dozens of uttupuras. At the same time he also made attempts to conciliate the Malayali Brahmins - Nambudiris and Pottis - who had been roughly handled during the course of the consolidation. The six-yearly murajapam (literally, recitation of the vedas), a political “At home” to the disaffected Nambudiris, the original landowners of Kerala, was started in this context. The ceremony has a religious as well as political aspect. The religious side was the expiation of sins and for the welfare of the kingdom, by propitiating the deities, especially, Sri Padmanabha. The prayers were indeed on a large-scale. The Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Sama Veda were recited eight times over and the whole cere monial took eight weeks. The political side meant keeping the Nambudiris as also the barons and the landlords of the subdued kingdoms in good humour. The festival turned out to be a veritable extravaganza. Hundreds of Brahmins were given ‘Sadya’ or feast on such a grand style which could do proud to any king. The plantain leaves in which food was served were four to five feet long and the items served a score and half and as many helpings as a man could take. And above all the Brahmins were lavished with gifts.

Lakshadeepam Festival

The 56-day murajapam culminated in Laksha deepam - the festival of a hundred-thousand lights - on the auspicious day of Makara Sankranti (mid January). There are two half-yearly “Bhadradeepam” ceremonies and when twelve such had been performed, a murajapam and Lakshadeepam are conducted.

The entire gopuram and other parts of the temple lit up in myriad lamps presented a spectacular sight. Time was when all the hundred-thousand were oil lamps which surged with life and weaved endless patterns in the waters of the temple tank - Padmathirtha. But today, thanks to the straitened circumstances, oil lamps are substituted by the lifeless multicoloured electric bulbs. But, all the same, the old charm is there - the gaiety, the fun, the festive colours and the jostling crowds.

Still, old-timers who know the past glory of Travancore say the present-day murajapams are not even a shadow of the very first one held in 1750 or the last full-scale one held in 1960. While murajapam is still held every six years, uttupuras have become a thing of the past. The giant bellmetal cauldrons, which require elephants to keep them in position over the 5 to 6 feet high ovens are still seen in the temple courtyard - several of them, we are told, have been sold. What remains are relics of a bygone era. They remind the visitors of the pomp and grandeur in which the rituals, ceremonies and festivals were once conducted.

Today, though the Maharajas are no longer the rulers, the temple continues to be owned by the erstwhile princely family. Due to the changed circumstances, drastic economy in expenditure and changes in external paraphernalia and trappings and in the hereditary duties and functions of temple staff had to be effect ed. Care is, however, taken to ensure that the daily rites, rituals and festivals are not affected - these are still conduct ed strictly according to the agamas and shastras.

Members of the princely family have been traditionally devotees of the Lord Padmanabha. Umayamma Rani, the grandmother of Marthanda Varma during her reign (1677-84) saw to it that the daily rites and festivals of the temple were properly conducted. While she stayed at the capital she would go every day to the shrine to make her obeisance and never took her food before the noonday worship. And it is on record that once she had to forgo it altogether as, for some reasons, the noonday worship could not be performed. The tradition continues even today.

Jai Shree Padmanabhaswamy...

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