Sir
This article researched and written by an army man is tremendous and
shows what we are from Kashmir to Kerala. Pl go thro K R IRS 161120
Namboodri Rawals of Badrinath: A Case of National Integration
November 16, 2020
<http://www.risingkashmir.com/home/news/0/0/2020-11-16/2020-11-16>| Byline: COL
SATISH SINGH LALOTRA
<http://www.risingkashmir.com/home/reporter_description/333/COL-SATISH-SINGH-LALOTRA>
[image: Zoom In] [image: Zoom Out] [image: Read Later] [image: Print]
Tucked away in the towering heights of Himalayas ,the natural frontier of
our subcontinent for centuries lie mysteries related to our art ,culture
and history some raveled ,others waiting to be unraveled. No other mountain
range in this world has within its recesses hidden an entire anthology as
Himalayas relating to Hindu religion. Nestling in these high Himalayas is
one of the famous “Char Dhams” the Badrinath temple of Hindus.
My fascination with this ancient Hindu temple deity began in the early
1990s while in service at Pithoragarh. Exigencies of service off course
didn’t let me delve deep into its rich past and of having such an
encompassing effect on our civilization as such. But the summer of 2019
afforded me a fleeting opportunity to cast my attention and gaze once again
in the direction of this world famous Hindu temple from close quarters ,
when my sojourn with it coincided with the visit of our PM Narinder Modi in
May 2019.
Having kick started my journey from Pithoragarh on 18 th May 2019 early
morning, I turned up a tad tired on reaching Joshimath after a bone racking
travel of more than 300 kms of mountainous route, but never the less
enthusiastic to pay my obeisance at one of the holiest shrines of
India.Badrinath or Badrinarayan temple is a temple dedicated to lord Vishnu
and is one of the Dhams as recognized by Hindu religion. The temple is also
one of the 108 Divya Deshams dedicated to lord Vishnu and located in
Garhwal mountains of Chamoli district along river Alaknanda at an altitude
of 3133 Mts/10279 Ft above mean sea level.
Now what connection can a northerly uttrakhand have with a southerly state
like Kerala? Look at the map the distance is so great, the cultures so
different that it defies logic for any social or emotional integration
between the two farthest ends of India at that point of time and even now.
But there is surprisingly an interesting connection actually which is
astounding to say the least, and many of us may not be even aware of it. I
came to know about it when during my visit to the temple deity last year I
had a brief tete-a tete with the current Rawal (head priest ) also known as
Melshanti in Malayalam language while he was a bit relaxed after the hectic
visit of our PM .
Though Easwara Prasad Namboodri (present head priest) was a bit sketchy
about the Kerala connection, what little I could gather mesmerized me to no
end. Determined to mine more through the maze of information, after my
interactions with the pilgrims, locals, priests etc at the Badrinath and
Shankracharya mutt at Joshimath what I stumbled upon was an eye opener for
me and would be the same to the readers of this article. The legacy of
Joshimath as well as Badrinath goes back to almost 1200 years when around
9th century AD most of India was under the sway of Jainism or Buddhism
practices be it Uttrakhand or Kerala.
A lad all of 11 years of age a Namboodri Brahmin from Kaladi (near cochin)
in Kerala set out on an arduous journey crisscrossing most of India
propounding his principles of unique Hinduism i.e non-dualistic monastic
order (your true self is Brahamn- ahamBrahamsmi). Sankar, the lad along
with his fellow disciples/Dandisanyasis arrived at Badrinath in 814 AD.As
per the legend, he reached there early morning and the fresh breeze from
Gandhmandhna mountain got him going and he started spontaneously reciting
Ashtapadi.
After diving into river Alkananda he found a Saligram idol of Vishnu on his
third attempt and this was consecrated as Badrinath. The rituals and
procedure as lay out by Adi Shankrachyra some 1200 years ago since the
consecration are practiced at Badrinath even today.
Coming to the moot question of identifying the reason for choosing the head
priest of Badrinath from Kerala only and why not from any other part of
India? Most commonly heard reason is that since Badrinath was established
by Adi Shankrachyra, hence he brought Kerala Brahmins to do the honours.
But that is not the truth, as AdiS hankrachyra had established many temples
in India and there is nothing unique about Badrinath to bring Namboodri
priests all the way from Kerala to do the worship. Then what could be the
reason? Popular writings from of many cite that such an arrangement was
made by Adi Shankrachyra for national integration.
Many such viewpoints particularly from some noted historians of India quote
that AdiShankrachyra wanted Joshis from Kashi, Kashmir, Nepal and
Maharashtra should be Pujaris at Rameshwaram , the Choubeys from Orrisa
should be Pujaris at Dwarka and so on. But this is only one side of the
story, since some very learned scholars from Kerala state that this could
be due to adherence to Agamic rituals. If you look Adi Shankrachyra was
from Kerala who at a tender age of 11 years left his home state and was
excommunicated by his own Namoodri community for not adhering to rituals
which a Namoodri boy of his age should have done, compels one to think for
other plausible reasons.
In such a case it is hard to believe that he would insist upon
Namboodri/Kerala style rituals in this Himalayan temple. What could be more
likely as per scholars is that these temples might be having a stricter
form of Tantric ritual since its inception, since they were located in one
of the biggest hubs of Tantric and ancient India.
The biggest Tantric cult in India was Kashmir Tantra and heavily followed
in the Himalayan regions .The other cult being the Tibetan Tantra and south
of Himalayas the VangaTantra. So in short these temples are located in the
midst of 3 Tantric hubs and it could be possible that they follow much
stricter code of rituals. As per the temple records of Pashupatinath at
Nepal and Kedarnath in Garhwal the original rituals were performed by the
Dandhisanyasis commonly known as the Dandhi Samprayda. They essentially
carried out the legacy of Adi Shankrachyra both in Nepal and India. They
were ascetics but skilled in the Tantric practices as recorded in the Nepal
records. Tantra over the years got eroded from north India, but in south
India /Kerala even today older traditions continue which still retains the
old vedic era concepts.
Probably these Himalayan temples or its rulers did not want to lose their
ritualistic traditions and once the clan of Dandhisanyasis eroded these
rulers started looking for the same from down south with good Tantric
knowledge. Another similar record exists in Kochi which says that in 1865
when Alvencherry Thampukrral (spiritual head of Namboodri clan) approached
the king of Kochi with an invitation received from the king of Garhwal for
appointment as the head priest at Badrinath temple.
It seems that Alvencherry refused the invitation of sending a Namboodri
priest from Kerala since as per him the temple was established by Adi
Shankrachyra who was excommunicated by them and hence they never deemed to
have anything associated with him. It is believed that later on the king of
Garhwal approached the king of Travancore for the same issue and hence an
off shoot of Namboodri caste the Embranthiri community took upon themselves
to perform the rituals at Badrinathand till date for the last 1200 years it
is this Embranthiri community who are doing the honours.
The chief priest or the Rawal as he is known as at Badrinath is a celibate
Keralite well versed in Sanskrit and Tantric rituals for which normally a
Namboodri priest would be an anathema . The Badrinath temple off late has
got a Nayab Rawal too (Kheezshanti in malayalam) who too is from Kerala.
The current Nayab Rawal is Shankra Namboodri who is all of 22 years.
Whatever may be the ultimate aim of placing these Keralite Namboodri
priests at Badrinath from times of yore one thing which comes out very
clear is the all encompassing nature of Hindu culture which was at the root
of such an action. More surprisingly for me was to see the current
RawalEaswara Prasad Namboodri converse in fluent Garhwali to his fellow
beings. What an epitome of national integration woven thousands of years
ago in the remote mountains of Himalayas by Adi guru shankrachyra which is
simply unthinkable in present turbulent times.
I came back from my brief sojourn a much wizened but humbled man to witness
the grandiose plans laid out by our predecessors to weave this country in
one colour. The need of the hour is for the present religious community to
put their heads together and revive once again the lost glory of our Hindu
culture riding above the waves of expediency.
[email protected]
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Thatha_Patty" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorBj%3DVALz2BWyybYtyEUtPtBaMbscZf%3DqG1ynDbM%3DWKMg%40mail.gmail.com.
