Preserved Age old Tradition of pangalayi

Pardon me for writing after a long gap !!! . The region that extends from the foothills of shiradi ghat till bantwal is very significant when it comes to the spirit worship.Many Princely spirits are said to have passed through these regions and their worships are also very unique . The kind of worship some daivas get in these areas must be seen at that particular area it self. Nowhere else in the tulu region we will get such strict rules or do we get to see such beautiful worship or do we hear the mythological folklores(pardhanas) .

I had marked this place as  must visit, three years ago when Shree Nagaraj bhat had uploaded the video of  Shree mundyanthaya daiva nema . The main flavour of nema is the pardhana that is sung for the beat of the drum. In this modern world, it is very rare to listen to an authentic pardhana or to see some one singing it in enthusiasm .

I was excited for  two reasons. Out of which one was the new camera that had come on the same day and one more being the nema that was to be held on the same night . I managed to reach the place at quarter to eight in the night. The place was sparkling out of celebration and festivity . There i saw the evercharming madhyastha Shree Shashank nellithaya who was preparing the place and guiding people in their work , Rarely you see a madhyastha doing this. He welcomed me with a very warm heart and he took me inside shree mundyanthaya temple. I could see the performer getting ready for the act and then was the music that was going on in the background.

This daiva had the same makeup like that of the other superior daivas with the yellow color as the primary color and the attire of the daiva was very traditional . I could see the ixora flowers that were weaved uniformly and kept very neatly between the headgear.

The nema of shree mundyanthaya started with the beat of the drum and the echo of the pardhana .The posession slowly began and when completely posessed the artist started staring with his eyes wide open and by singing the pardhana in the shaky voice . Suddenly he stepped forward telling that he will start the nema and the loud music started in the background . I was surprised to see a 65 year old doing that !! As if it was a energy boost out of no where he started pulling the anklet and taking blessings from everyone and suddenly he started asking the permission of everyone gathered there . It was a very silent audience filled with the faith . The voice echoed in the whole place. Then he said that he will tie the holy anklet for the daiva mundyanthaya. With the loud music he started running all over the place with posession and tied the gaggara . For once i felt the vibrations on the ground.

Shree Mundyanthaya daiva 

The helpers started to tie the palm strands and the daiva started dancing for the beautiful tone without missing out any steps and this went on for some more time till he started dancing very fiercely .
Posessing a daiva is a talent and a this will not come very easily without the almighty's blessing. There he was , Standing tall praising the daiva mundyathayas heroics and welcoming the daiva to this place called pangalayi . It was none other than the Engineer madyastha Shree shashank nellithaya . His words brought the daiva in full form into the performer and the loud music began again . Then the daiva ran all over the place taking the torch all around and paying respects to everyone .

After that they tied the ani and then again there was  the pardhana that went on with the daiva putting steps for the beat of the drum and again the posession started and with posession the daiva grabbed the mask and that mask was tied on to the face and the final part of the nema began . Then the daiva sat to listen to the problems of the people gathered there .

This nema was followed by the potta,kallurti-panjurli nema and guliga nema. This is the graama daiva and the superior daiva of all . I am very thankful to Shree Shashanka nellithaya for inviting me there and giving me an opportunity to see the different nema and get to know the ruleset of that place.

video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OAQJHFg9q0

The Spine chilling moments of the Hekala jumadi nema

Sagara Ratna(ocean pearl) The whole mangalore drools for the quality food they serve!!!. But we kind of got very surprised to know that they also were worshipping the sacred spirits in their family house at the village called nakre in karkala called as kinyarkatte house and we got an information from our friend which made us to mark that place as a must visit place .

I got a call from my close friend Mr Nagaraj bhat, who asked me for the proper landmark of the place. I too had never heard about the daiva and that place even after staying in karkala for 6 consecutive years.I somehow managed to get the route of the place . But still i didn't have an idea of how the nema would be!!! I thought it would be a simple nema with little fierce in it .

Nema was very much nearing and the season for the semester exam had started .As usual I was in a dilemma about whether to go or not! I left the time to decide it . 9th was the nema . and 11th was my Optical fibers exam. I woke up early on the morning of 10th and inbox was filled with some unattended messages which I knew was the updates of the nema. This was enough for me to get excited . I completed my portions as quickly as possible and left to the place at 5:30 am. keeping the strict warnings from my mom in my mind ;) .   

When i reached the place, i could here the sound of the drum(thembare) and was hearing the pardhana(folk song) , For once my heart skipped a beat thinking i missed the oil ceremony of the main daiva hekala jumadi . Then i saw this daiva with a black color makeup and was having this palm strands tied around the waist on the black pant . That was a peace of mind to me because the nema had not yet started . I managed to find my friends who were busy recording the neecha-babbarya nema. My tummy got cramps laughing hard for the jokes and the fun the neecha daiva was making of all the audience . 

Neecha daiva cracking jokes 

Things got too serious after the nema and the fear was intense among the family members and i could see a man seated on the chair and was getting possessed !!! He was loosing the control !!! .I was surprised because i had never seen an oil ceremony of daiva jumadi in possession and that too i never had thought it would be to this extent .

 Amidst the people came the performer vibrating and he had the palm shell in the hand to take the oil. He was breathing fiercely and he was staring at the priest and he started asking the permission of all the people gathered there and  traditional music that had a mixture of single sided drums,nagaswaram,tune,dol began with full intensity  and he started jumping as soon as he took the oil and in spite of his family members holding him tight , he was in the full trance state and the people who held him also fell on the ground along with performer .The scene was horrendous .

 The people gripped him very tightly . He  threw the people away and loosened the grip and ran . while occasionally biting his thumb finger and the people catching him  were struggling to take it out of his mouth and indeed were  successful.

 It was the difficult task to control the untamed !!!. The mediator was also finding it difficult to tame the fierce daiva,that was trying to run and usually was falling on the ground and rolling . But later they dragged him near the well and poured two copper-pots full of water and he was taken to the dressing place.we were  completely spellbound. we thought it was over for now , like how it happens usually in the other nema , where the performer would get up and does all the makeup.

For our surprise !!! here the performer was still in the trance! and the family members were coloring his face !! In the dripping sweat , the family members were still gripping the performer and he was still shouting loudly and was still jumping there. This made the task still more difficult for the family members , mediator sprinkled the holy water on him , which was still not doing any good. so he used his words to control the daiva and threw the holy water on his face which somewhat cooled the situation.

Once he was fully ready, he came out to the anklets, The dressing was very simple with the decoration of Ixora flower(guddedha kepula) which was woven uniformly and was tied to his head along with the silver ear ornaments and one more silver  ornament was hanging down his neck which was definitely a specialty of that place!! He later picked up the anklets that were kept on the banana leaf and took the flowers and showered the petals all over the place and took the permission again , His family members were behind him to not let the situations go out of control. 

Hekala jumadi holding the anklet  

He slowly started pulling the anklet for the very slow beat of the drums and the high pitch tune of the traditional nagaswaram and the slow beat of the single faced drum, and he tied the anklets after asking the permission and the strands made of tender coconut were tied around his waist and the longer strands were finely cut off.

After this the daiva went around without torch!! In all the jumadi nema the fire torch is held but here there was no fire torch that adds on to the many specialties of the nema. The trance followed and in between the family members again caught the performer to tie a square shaped ani to the back . They were already tired , yet they struggled to tie the ani as the performer was still possessed!!

Daiva in it's full form with the ani tied to the back

 I heard the loud voice from behind which was of an old performer who started singing the pardhana which was with the beat of the drum , he sang the legends of the daiva jumadi and the possession again began ! occasionally performer fell down in trance with the ani on!!! The scene was horrific ! I felt really pity on the performer who was not in his senses!

Possession !!

  Then the pardhana finished and all gathered to pray to the jumadi and everyone again welcomed the jumadi for the last stage of nema ! Now there was the huge torch of the dried coconut leaves which the daiva was holding in his hands , After this the daiva sat to listen to the people and give the judgement and fix all the problems . 

Daiva singing the pardhana

All of us prayed to the jumadi and left to home with the memories of the nema that was to be cherished .  

All the photos are taken from the nagaraj bhat's archives and the link of the video is also shared here . Watch the fury .

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVpW6Kq7M2M

NADVAAL AALADE (Nema of lekkesiree)

Daiva  Lekkesiree(Rakteshwaree)

That night we visited this place in the foothills of the western ghats situated in eastern side of tulunadu so it is called as moodayi ghatta and on the bank of river netravati  to watch this unique custom of KUKKYA-KUDUMA. As stated in all the pardhanas(folklores of tulu) "Moodayi kukkya - paddayi payyolige" is a very significant place for the AGE OLD RITUAL called DAIVARADANE. We had one more reason for the excitement . That is this place was SIRI-ALADE and it is the place of origin for Daiva SEMIKALLA PANJURLI. Then the excitement reached to the peak for yet another reason .  The speciaity was two families in the same region were conducting this ritual on the same night !!! so we were happy because we would get to watch 6 different nemas in total . The first nema was for the mysandaya daiva followed by  lekkesiree and then semikalla panjurli. This nema had a speciality in it .. Costume was different with a very different head gear (chapparakombu)(This daiva has only  this krama in very less regions(kukkya,kuduma,elnaadu seeme,bangera seeme,arwa seeme and some more places )  and a very beautiful way of telling pardhana(folklore/story regarding the daiva lekkesiree) and getting posessed for 16 times . In order to add some fun , comes bhavana. who is supposed to be a spirit making fun . who will add some fun into this very scary ritual ..

Daiva Lekkesiree getting posessed

Daiva Lekkesiree has a very special katt(nemadha niyama/rule of the nema) of padinaaji osaaya(16 posessions). As the tulu proverb says "enada onji bootha undu lekkesiree yaan manthi baduku poora aike saree" which means " I have this daiva called lekkesiree with me and my living will be spent totally in it " . Yes , this daiva has a strict set of rules that must be followed during its nema . The daiva hails from Anga desha konganaadu piriya-badakayi gange . Daiva was given a very first nema/seve by Banusenava fondly called as baale madimaaye ori baanusenaber. Then daiva is beleived to proceed to many different seeme(region) and different places . Daiva MAHAKALI ABBE at Ubaar. Daiva enters three houses following Shankara baaloli, shanthanna bannaye, kottaaaree baloli, kottyanna bannaye  and was called as daiva moojilnaaye. Moojilnaya daiva gets worshipped in PERNAMANJA. and is PATTADHA DAIVA for the ARWA SEEME, and RAAJYAN DAIVA for EEDHU.

when lekkesiree enters bannadka , It was called as BANNADKATTHAYA(daiva of bannadka/banndkadaaaye) . As the nudikattu says "Puncha padinaaji aandala mahasheshe yaan orye". It seems daiva is the same but forms are many... The nema ends with the nudikattu . Mr Nagaraj bhat bantwal has a very good collection of the lekkesiree nema and other nemas . I have been always inspired by him and i dedicate this very first writing  to him as this daiva is his favourite daiva and i will fail in my deeds  if i forget to mention Shree Shashank nellithaya balnadu, who has done a selfless service to daivaaradane and from whom i got all the information about this daiva , I am grateful to him as well and all the credits goes to him ,  

video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFPNj9W-yhY

Mahakali daiva ubaar PC: Sandeep kumar bollooru