KalyANOtsawam
From the Bhakti List Archives
• July 25, 1998
Dear BhAgawatas, Though I grew up in a rather traditional ambience, I had never witnessed until recently, leave alone taken part in, the KalyANOtsawam form of worship of the deities Venkatesha and PadmAwathI. It seemed to me to be an indulgence of sorts, in keeping with the elaborate, time-consuming (and expensive) events that weddings often become in south India, wherein the sacred incantations and vows are drowned out completely by the cacophony of gossip and drums. I used to feel much the same way about the re-enactments of SrIrAma PattAbhisEkam at the end of the RAma Nawami Utsawams each spring. The latter, though, seemed to me at that time (thirty odd years ago) to have a redeeming value as the climax of a festival of harikathA and music which was very uplifting and enjoyable. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law, my wife and I took part in the KalyANOtsawam some time ago at the ChaluwarAya Swamy temple just beyond the southern outskirts of Bangalore. No one seems to be sure, but the temple which is on top of a hill is probably several hundred years old, and has a beautiful, quiet, and rustic ambience. A rather elderly couple also joined us in the Utsawam. The experience of this celebratory worship was new to me and extraordinary. As bhakthas trickled in to form a large gathering, and as they joined in the chorus of some of the hymns, I was transported into a world I had regrettably avoided hitherto. It was wonderful. I do not mean to be self-indulgent in writing about this experience to this erudite audience. I would like to know about the "origins" of this form of worship which, besides celebrating the Divine Couple, seems to have a very "secular" content and intent to it. To wit, the declaration of the sanctity of marital life by invoking the wedding of Lord NArAyaNa Himself. I also thought that the Christian practice of taking wedding vows again (after many years of marriage) is analogous to the KalyANOtsawam performed by married couples. I wonder too whether, in this wonderful tradition, there is the intent that large numbers of people would naturally join this Pooja with "UtsAham", the same way that they would attend weddings of kith and kin. That is, not all of these worshippers might perform a "regular" Pooja but they, too, would partake of the blessings of Lord NArAyaNa this way. I imagine that there are many layers of meaning to this form of worship, as well as to the RAma Nawami festival culminating in the PattAbhishEka MahOtsawam. I would be grateful to you if you enlighten me about this tradition. Is it, for example, a tradition "built" by the Sri VaishNawa AchAryas ? If these questions have been elaborated upon earlier in this forum (or elsewhere), please direct me to the appropriate archives/sources. Many thanks.......///shivashankar _____________________________________________________________________________ S.A. Shivashankar Materials Research Centre Indian Institute of Science Bangalore 560 012, INDIA
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