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A 12-day ritual is about to come to a grand, majestic end in a little village in Kerala as we speak. Athirathram, or Atiratra Agnicayana, a 3000-year-old (some say 4000) Vedic ritual to cleanse the earth and ring in global peace is reaching its culmination in Panjal, a sleepy hamlet home to Namboodiri Brahmins in Trichur, Kerala, the sect that earns the right to perform this ritual by birth.
Modern day Hinduism has its spiritual origins in the Vedic religion; this particular ritual is said to be the oldest and perhaps the greatest of all Vedic rituals that still continue to be performed today. A bird-shaped altar is built with 10,800 bricks for the ritual, which is an offering to Agni or the God of Fire. As you'd know, the number 108 has special significance in Hindu faith. This ritual, never witnessed by outsiders till 1956, caught the attention of a Sanskrit professor/philosopher of European origin, Frits Staal, who is credited with bringing global awareness to Athirathram, which was facing extinction. The 1975 Athirathram was then made open to the public, filmed and recorded at Staal's behest, who's studied the rituals and written a book about it.
Panjal was the venue this year (reportedly for the fourth time), and over 2 lakh people have had the chance to witness this year's Athirathram, some parts of which are not open to women. One particular part of the ritual is said to give rise to a tall column of fire which is said to be harmful to women. This fire ritual is said to harmonise the elements and purify the atmosphere, as Fire, known as the Destroyer, is also worshipped as the Origin.
It is not really a baptism by fire nor is it playing with fire. In fact, it is a homage paid to the lord of fire. Athirathram, the world's 'oldest Vedic ritual', which means constructing a fireplace and performing yagna or yajna (an oblation conducted overnight) returns to a quaint village called Panjal in Thrissur district in Kerala after 35 years.
The 12-day ritual was officially discontinued in the late Vedic period at a time when Jainism and Buddhism was on the rise in India. Nevertheless, a few Namboodiri Brahmin families in Kerala kept up an unbroken 3,000-year tradition and this edition of the ritual begins today. It is not a myth if you think so. It is just that a few individuals have come together to form a trust to put the clock back 5000 years to perform rituals that many scholars regard as inseparable from the myth surrounding athirathram.
There are many including the one called Putrakameshti (blessing the childless couples). But that isn't first on the priority list of the members of the Varthathe Trust, formed by a group of individuals from India and abroad who think alike. The yagna has more universal ideas to implement in its wish list.
Says Dr Sivakaran Namboothiri, an Ayurvedic doctor and a participant of this large-scale Somayagna: "The yagam hopes to achieve two goals, propitiate world peace, and energise and protect the environment by destroying undesirable elements. Fire is believed to cleanse, and that is what this ritual is all about."
It involves the chanting of selected mantras from three Vedas, the ancient sacred texts of Hinduism, Rig, Yajur and Sama. Beginning today, the yagna will be conducted by the best in the business, where 'best' means the only ones who can recite the mantras impeccably.
At the time this correspondent visited the village the Yajaman or the main conductor, Puthillathu Ramanajan Somayaji, a frail 77 year-old who seldom betrays the fact that he is graduate and has worked in a bank, was training a group of Vedic scholars to chant the Sama Vedas with the right intonation for maximum positive impact on the environment. When the world is being ravaged by repeated disasters from earthquakes to tsunamis, from civil wars to nuclear leaks Somayaji will invoke the forces of fire to preserve the flora and fauna of the earth.
And what better time than this warm month of spring to conduct this mammoth feat that stands on the thin line that divides myth from reality. About 5000 years ag, sometime after our ancestors had controlled fire and accepted it as a deity, but long before they were telling ghost stories, mankind in these parts of the world huddled around a fireplace to meditate and partake in spiritualistic rituals.
Today, when we slow down for a yellow light on the road, relish the glow of the metal gold or do anything, really, that involves working memories about gold, we have these ancient brainstorming sessions to thank. And it is the yellow of a fire that will exude a mystical smoke that will ward off all evils. Psychologists like Matt J. Rossano have often argued that ritualistic gatherings sharpened mental focus.
Over time, this focus strengthened the mind's ability to connect symbols and meanings, eventually causing gene mutations that favored the enhanced memory we now possess, which is why the group of priests to conduct athirathram have been painstakingly pruned. They are masters of the rites and can recite the mantras mellifluously and without any blemish. After all, athirathram is not an everyday affair.
The athirathram, which will cost an estimated Rs 1 crore, is likely to draw more than 15,000 people from all over the world including not just devotees and believers but also scientists , scholars and critics. The star attendee of the event will be Indologist and heritage crusader Johan Frederik 'Frits' Staal, a driving force behind the preservation of the world's oldest surviving Vedic ritual athirathram.
Staal, emeritus professor of Philosophy and South & Southeast Asian studies at the University of Berkeley in California, announced the existence of this ritual to the world by documenting it in his seminal treatise Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar. A team of scientists led by VPN Namboodiri, former director, International School of Photonics, CUSAT, will monitor and analyse the beneficial impact of the historic fire ritual to the environment and people.
Dr Sivakaran explains, "The exact spot where the yagam is held has to be uniquely positioned to imbibe the sun's energy. Panjal has that geographical advantage". Interestingly, only Namboodiri families have been traditionally engaged in performing this ritual, and only someone who had led a Somayagam (a six-day ritual) earlier, can lead the chanting for this unique event. Whether it is the shape of the main fireplace or the kind of utensils and ingredients used, every aspect of athirathram stands apart.
For example, the main fireplace is in the shape of a bird. Says Dr. Sivakaran, "Every aspect has to be in exact concurrence with what the Vedas have prescribed. So, 1,000 specially designed bricks are made, special pottery and vessels are designed, darba grass is acquired and so on. The most important offering is somarasa, extracted from somalatha, a herbal plant (Sarcostemma acidum) believed to be the nectar of life. The fire itself is created by rubbing two pieces of wood."
Each day will commence with Vedic chanting and homam. On the last four days, the rituals will be held throughout the day and night without a break. In 1975 as soon as the ritual was over, "a heavy downpour fell over the area which the sponsors claimed was true to tradition and marked the 'success of the ritual", says Krishna Kumar Namboodiri of the Varthathe Trust.
For those who insist that a myth cannot be separated from the rituals that embodied it, the chants at athirathram will voice a common anthropological idea about how religious beliefs work. Very much to the dismay of rationalists. For naysayers and doubters the days between April 4 to 12 is an opportunity to scrape into the fact that reading a myth without the transforming ritual that goes with it is as incomplete an experience as simply reading the lyrics of a song without the music?
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