| Temples & Legends Of Kerala |
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| Temples & Legends Of
India |
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THE TEMPLES OF PADMANABHA |
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Here a pile of
shrubbery stands for the forest and ai coconut represents the hiding demon. The hunt takes
place at night. The approach of flickering high-held torches tells of the coming of Deity
on his redemptive mission. There is no music, no conversation, anything that would raise
the suspicion of the demon whose hiding place has been discovered. Then the Maharaja, the
executing of the Divine Will, emerges and fires the arrow into the hiding place of the
demon. Instantly the silo is broken. Evil has been destroyed. Music breaks out and the
procession returns in triumph to the temple.
But the image of Vishnu cannot yet be returned to the sanctum and must remain outside the
sanctuary until it is given a purificatory bath the next day. ' God, overcoming evil, has
to descend to the plane of evil, and in doing so suffers defilement. The image has thus
suffered symbolical pollution by the hunt and cannot resume its deific position until it
is purified. Thus, to quote Cousins again - "In this universal psychological law, so
applicable to human action, particularly in peace following war, a law theologized and
dramatized in the vetta procession at the level of Deity, rests the necessity of arattu
procession the day following the vetta."55 The Art of Procession, J. H. Cousins, The Arts and Crafts of Kerala, Palco,
COCHIN. |
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