WHEN is it celebrated?
- Hindus celebrate Thaipusam on the tenth month of their calendar.
- It coincides with the full moon at the end of January and beginning of February.
- 'Thai' is the Hindu month which falls between January 15 to February 15 &
'Pusam' refers to a star which is at its brightest during the period of this festival.
WHY is it celebrated?
- Thaipusam celebrates the day Goddess Parvati bestowed upon her son the “vel” or lance to vanquish the evil demon, Soorapadam.
The Story Behind
The devas and asuras were rivals and each had recourse to the subtle powers of the planets as personified in mythology.
Thus Jupiter and Venue quarreled by taking sides with these rivals, and so we have reference to Jupiter being the king of the devas while Venus was the kind of the asuras.
There were three asura brothers--Soorapadman, Tarakasuran and Simhasuran--who were the sons of a great rishi named Kashyapa.
Their mother Maya was an asura lady who by her womanly wiles had won the heart of Kashyapa and begot these sons by him.
When Kashyapa preferred to teach them the principles of dharma, ahimsa and ethics, his wife Maya countered and taught them the mantras or incantation for obtaining powers to conquer the devas and become rulers of the world.
Thus the asuras fought and subdued the devas and became the rulers of the world with the power of the planet Venus.
Their tyranny over the conquered devas was such that the devas, with Vishnu and Indra at their head, went to appeal to God Siva.
Siva who had already promised eternal life to Soorapadman, would not intervene but entered yogic trance (samadhi) instead.
However, when the cruelties of the asuras became unbearable, the devas again appealed to Siva.
This time Siva opened his third eye and out of it came six rays of light.
These were received by Agni and diverted into a marshy lake called Saravana or 'forest of reeds', where each ray turned out to be a child.
Hence, we hear of the six syllables Saravana- bhava, 'born in the forest of reeds'.
This extraordinary event happened in the month of Karttika or November, and hence the child Murugan is called Karttikeya after the six Krittika maidens who found and nursed the six divine infants.
Later, it is said, the mother-goddess Uma Devi gathered the six together as one so that their six heads shared one body.
Because he has six faces, he is also called
Shan-mukha, 'the six-faced one'.
The six faces have their own significance, for each has its own purpose.
Being a god, the child Murugan could take up any form and do anything he pleased, anywhere and anytime.
He happens to be a god of the afflicted; hence everyone looks up to Him.
The Sapta Rishi or Seven Seers called him Kali Yuga Varada, the granter of boons in the present Dark Age of Quarrel.
Approach to Him may done through prayers and supplication by those afflicted by disease, sorrow, or discontents.
Siva intended for His son Karttikeya to go South to put down the asuras.
But first He sent His ambassador to advise Soorapadman to avoid war and release the devas.
However, Soorapadman, who had already obtained the boon of eternal life from Siva through his very arduous penance, refused all advice. So war was declared.
As mythology has it, at that time many of the stars and planets in the common were populated by titanic races of asuras.
All of these powerful beings were destroyed and yet Soorapadman couldn't be killed or captured.
Murugan then prayed to the Cosmic Mother, Shakti, and She sent Him the holy Vel or lance, the most advanced weapon that could track Soorapadman and flush him our of from wherever he hid. This lance denotes spiritual insight, ability to differentiate right from wrong, righteousness and steadfastness.
Soorapadman had fled the battlefield and was hiding in the deep sea in the form of an enchanted mango tree in order to escape his relentless pursuer.
Lord Murugan finally hurled the vel which split the tree and broke the enchantment. Soorapadman surrendered to Murugan, acknowledged His Divine Majesty, and begged Him for His limitless mercy.
Accordingly, the Lord transformed the asura's one half into a peacock to serve as His vahana or vehicle, and his other half into the ensign of a cock as his vetri-kodi or victory pennant.
Lord Murugan, as Subrahmanya the Radiator of Brilliance, hence granted such a wonderful boon even to His sworn enemy.
However, for many Hindus, Thaipusam has come to mean the birthday of Lord Subramaniam, also known as lord Muruga, the younger son of Lord Shiva.
HOW is it celebrated?
- Kavadi (offering) carriers are devotees who have: requested favours, have had the favour granted or wish to atone for past misdeeds.
- Usually, a vow is made to carry the kavadi for one, three, five or even seven years in succession.
- Common requests are recovery from illness, success in examinations or business or to beget progeny.
- Only a small number of women devotees pierce their bodies.
Most of them carry pots of milk or a pair of coconuts slung across their shoulders instead.
- Some devotees carry kavadis made of wooden frames in the shape of an ark and it is beautifully decorated with flowers, peacock feathers and colorful streamers.
- Traditional musical instruments are played, and chants of "Vel, Vel" fill the air.
- These forms of offerings though, are overshadowed by more elaborate ones with huge metal frames and bedecked with decorations in the belief that the larger the kavadi the more resolute is one’s devotion. Skewers protruding through cheeks and metal hooks and spikes are also to be seen.
- This is a quaint evolution of the celebrations not found in Hindu Scriptures and its origins are lost in antiquity.
- Hinduism advocates that the body should not be harmed as the body is akin to a temple that the soul resides in.
- Some devotees however, choose to believe that the only way to salvation is to endure a penance of pain and hardship.
- However, they are able to tolerate this ordeal of pain as they are in a trance-like state. There is no blood and they prepare themselves for this by undergoing specific rites during the preceding month.
- Austerities are followed and the body and soul disciplined to refrain from all forms of worldly activities.
The devotees overcome any form of pain as their minds are attuned to only one thing – spirituality and liberation from worldly desires.
- On the morning of Thaipusam, the devotees bathe in the temple, after which they go into trance and have the kavadi placed on their shoulders or their body pierced.
- Devotees and on-sekers alike, walk 3 kilometers from Sri to Chettiar Hindu Temple or the , carrying offerings to Lord Muruga.
- On reaching, they lay down their kavadi and the milk or honey offering is poured on the statue of the deity as an act of thanksgiving.
- Those with hooks and skewers have a priest chant over them as the metal implements are removed and the wounds treated with hot ash.
There is not a drop of blood, no pain and even more amazing, no scarring at all.
"The belief in Lord Murugan is what prevents the pain and the bleeding," says Krishna Vadyar, a priest at the temple who conducts the annual rituals.
- Of course, not all Hindus find it necessary to go to these extremes.
Many are content with a simple offering from the heart.
Everyone has their own way to pray.