Udayor Blog

A plot of land with a Kavu, Sacred Grove, belonging to the Nalappat tharavadu in Punnayoorkulam is in the news. Presumably belonging to one individual, Kamala Suraiya alias Madhvaikutty of the family, what is not normally possible in Nair tharavadus where this remains common property of the family. Kamala, now a Muslim, donated this to the state Sahitya Academy. The plethora of beliefs associated with the Kavu must have forced Kamala cleverly pass it on to the government body. And she, now converted and a Muslim, seemingly lied and maintained that it is only a plot of land. She had earlier demolished the ancestral house and sold the land in the area. The 'Sahitya Academy' as the name itself suggests is another decadent outfit, as the part English and part Malayalam name suggests, set up by the state. Many other properties handed over to them remains uncared for but that did not prevent them from taking over the new ‘plot of land’ measuring 17 cents.

Kamala despite her change of faith is insisting that a tree there be protected. This is not to find fault with her on why she acts in certain ways, there must have been reasons. Those who know the inner family history of Kamala Suraiya, also several Nair families in similar circumstances, must know the turmoil of the oppressive faith that the Nairs are carrying. More so the oppressed women which need changes. So there is no point in finding fault with her, she has taken what she found to be the best alternative. Whether breaking the fake morality of an earlier era as a writer or changing faith she did what many others may not dare to do. One gets hurt only because she took flight, she could well have remained a Nair and fought the problems. Now about the Sacred Grove in question it does not seem to be a miniature forest anyway. Her own father, as she writes, having destroyed it long back, leaving couple of trees and idols. If the faithful attribute all her travails to that they cannot be faulted. But the family continues to worship there, so also some of the local people. Now what business has the Sahitya Academy in all this is a curious issue. What are they going to do with this is another question.

Sacred Groves, patches of rain forests preserved in human habitations, form part of the native culture in Kerala. It is beyond what is called religion, the stand taken by the Academy Chairman is a graceful aceptance of that. It is rooted in nature worship and also as prakriti as woman, ‘Kavu’ word also means woman. Though several Hindu communities maintain Sacred Groves this way of worship is predominantly found in Nair tharavadus. This practice is found in many other states in India and also in some other countries. It is a hoary history that these concepts have and the Groves are attributed to various deities. Main among them is the serpent principle, with mystical meanings of divine energy only known to Sidhas. These are popularly called Naga Raja and Naga Yakshi. The Yakshan Yakshi concepts as deities perhaps predates modern Hinduism and this is widely reported from the Jain period. Later Yakshis depicted as evil forces. Jainism was prevalent in Kerala, so also Budhism, where the Groves were places of worship and meditation. Perhaps it was during the caste Brahmin phase that the rigourous practices of idol worship got enforced. Status of ascetics on one hand and women on the other goes down here. Soon, more than faith it became a source of fear, without which it would have been a beautiful faith.

This was how many Nair tharavadus in the immediate past have given up these. The safest means of abandoning these came to be facilitated by some Nampoothiri families themselves, who also maintain Sacred Groves, like Pampummekattu Mana. The concept here is to take out the deities and take them to these Manas and transform the land to other purposes. Building concrete temples became rampant. Large number of Nair families have done this, which costs an amount of money as priestly fee and rituals. There are various views about the Sacred Groves but these patches of rain forests were and are at the head end of paddy fields and were ecologically significant cannot be denied. It remains a traesure house of pristine local biodiversity as well. The Nairs, the old Dravidian nobility, came to protect this is possible. Some say that these are places where spiritually enlightened ancestors and Sidhas, sanyasis, must have been laid to rest. But of late these became sources of fear is certain. Where in most Nair families only the caste Brahmin priest is permitted to enter. Even though these are owned by the Nairs.

That the clever stratagems of priestly slavery played a role is possible, what is visible in many other areas of Hindu life. But the fact that these are pristine forests, wherever these are well protected, point to a great wisdom about the processes of nature. In this sense these need to be protected is beyond debate. Now, regarding the beliefs associated with the Sacred Groves there have been efforts by many saints, like Sree Narayana Gurudevan, who removed the feared idols perhaps because they reinforced a wrong model of spirituality and deep rooted fear. Idol worship as the end in Hinduism is a deviation in the near past where the priestly dictum became supreme. Hinduism is primarily a belief aimed at self-realization. Kundalini sakti, serpent power, is goddess worship here. The saintly orders, like Sidha paramparas, are as important as the idol worship, meant for beginners. But when it is riveted on to idol worship alone the community suffers. Where the reformers were instrumental in changing this. While many others could accept such saintly teachings the Nairs remained glued to the old model.

That the Sacred Groves present a model of nature worship, communion with nature, is very important. Which worships the sacred life giving nature. What is lost in this era of all round eco-degradation. In that sense the Sacred Grove in mention, that of Kamala Suraiya, may not mean much. For the trees were cut down long back as she writes, by her ‘progressive’ father. With only few idols and couple of trees remaining. This is not a Kavu in the conventional sense. But if the family members are worshipping there still it assumes significance. What the same family members ought to have done was to purchase it from the daughter of the family who converted and left. In normal Nair families this remains common property but here it became private is curious. But this did not seem to have happened how the local Hindu youth, fearing that the converted Muslim lady will damage it, took over it and it became a conflict in the area. Kamala Suraiya, with out telling that it is a controversial Kavu, donating it to the Academy. With her womanly intelligence she wanted to win the game. But Nalappattu is not just a family but an old feudal household, local ruling house. Why others too have a stake in it.

That Kamala, a good writer, was brought up outside Kerala and failed to imbibe the nuances of local belief and culture is her tragedy. It is a kind of arrogance that reflects in her writings and postures, not humility as to the limitations of the human intelligence. Even her conversion to Islam did not seem to have saved her. By lofty Hindu values she is a victim of ‘ajnana’, darkness, and may need many births to redeem herself as the Hindu belief goes. Unfortunately for her she could not access the great traditions of Kerala and India and had to face the travails. Perhaps a simple meeting with a great soul would have changed her but she was not humble to receive that benevolence. Caught up as she is in the consumerist values of the day. Where even an ordinary woman may be better off than her. Now looking at the problem as a common issue facing a huge population in Kerala, for she represents a community owning large number of groves, what are the options. One is to go for the path of the native saintly orders, where the fear psychosis will vanish. That of the native Sidhas, who seldom abhor woman or sex, neither family life. They don’t wear uniforms and are happy in being invisible to others.

Regarding the future course of action, there are two major options available. One is for the family members of Nalappattu tharavadu to purchase and maintain it, if necessary with their own modifications. The other is for the Academy to maintain it as a better Sacred Grove, they can purchase some more land and make it a live museum of Kerala culture. Allowing a sprouting of trees rather than the idols. What has to be accepted is that these are beliefs that cannot be bracketed within the definitions of modern religions and form the root culture of Kerala. Islam itself has similar root beliefs at many places, though with different approaches. Regarding the responses from ‘wage writers’, and ‘wage speakers’ in Kerala, what they try to do is to get some money and name in this name and they can be looked at with due sympathy. The over populated periodical sector also needs some hot stories to sell. Their illeducated views can be ignored as noise pollution. But for the people to whom this is no newspaper story, who have been protecting this nature endowed land, these are their guardian gods and the matter is thus very important to them.

There are thousands of Kavus spread over Kerala which support the natural balance and micro-climate of the regions where they are located. People with alien minds, trapped in alien beliefs may not understand the inner meanings of the local beliefs and they can be ignored. Without government subsidies few communities are struggling to maintain the natural balance of the Kerala ecosystem, the Kavu at Nalappattu is one. These are relics from an old era where there were no forest departments and environmentalists. Each ‘thara’, unit of administration, was looked after by a Tharavadu. Kavu was the abode of their guardian deity. Later with the priestly and British colonization these little rulers, who once had their own armies and Kalaris, were neutralized. The multiple layers of colonization are difficult to decipher here and the revolt by Kamala is at another level a weak woman’s struggle for liberation. It is a dilemma of a huge population and what is needed is preserving the network of Sacred Groves all over Kerala but without so much of fear. God cannot be taken as a terrorist, let the miniature forests remain as places of greenery and peace, where Mother Nature is left alone.