BRONZE ITEMS PART 2 Continuing from part1
8 LAMPS Different types of Lamps are made of Bronze. Mainlytemple Lamps are of bronze ranging from Nilavilakku to Kedavilakku. Lamps arealso lighted at Tulasi thara and kavu in homes. It is a practice for all Hindusto light lamps invariably in the evening. In Tamilnadu lighting Lamps in themorning is also followed. No samskara can be performed without Lamps. All areperformed with Agnisakshi. For deepavali and Karthika special decoration is done with Lampsmaking it to call Deepavali. During Karthikai women folk light two bronze gheeLamps for the wellbeing of her brothers. It is a must to send karthigai panamby the brother to honour her act. In olden days sisters used to quarrel overit. Increase or decrease of amount to different sisters further worsened thequarrels. Now karthigai panam ranges from 500-00 to 10000-00 rupees amongBrahmins depend on the financial position of brothers. Update-Now we have brass lamps also made of brass sheet. Many bronze items have lessertin content. Because of this present day moulded lamps are more shining. 9 IDOLS Many idols are made of bronze. Mostly in new Devitemples, idols are made ofbronze only. Many granite idols are covered with Bronze ankies. Sometimesinstead of bronze Panchaloham is used. Sabarimala sastha idol is Panchloham. Decades back it was graniteidol. 10 PADA NAZHI(Korika) Even today we can see the ambalavasis likeembradiries and Variers of temples taking Padachoru in Urulies from the temple.In olden days on each day a certain number of padas were allotted to allamabalavasies. Pada is made using Padanazhi. It measures a Nazhi (certainquantity) of raw rice more than sufficient for two people to consume. The wagesof the ambalavasies included the padachoru value. Padanazhi or called Korika is made of bronze. Korika is a semi sphericalbronze vessel with a top handle. Normally Padachoru is very tasty and with simplebuttermilk and salt we can consume it. Asmall chilly would further add to its taste. I am a fortunate one to eatPadachoru from nearby Thekkae variam. Now a days Padachoru is very much limited in temples. In many of thetemples nowadays only onepada is made. But still in north and middle Kerala the practice is continueda little bit liberal. 11 BELLS One of the most important items made from bronze isthe bell. In all temples we have bronze bells. Bells can be big, medium andsmall in size. They are normally hangedfrom roof to the hands level. It is conical in size and a tongue is looselyfitted inside. They have ring at top for suspending from height. The tonguetouching the body produces resonancesound of OM. The strength of touching and size of bell increases sound.There are also small bells with handle and just shaking the hand would createsound. Systematic shaking would produce systematic sounds. Again there is a humour “ Kaimani adikkuka” It means to get something done from a person do everything the personrequires and agree to whatever he does. Bells are provided near sanctums, and in theMandapams also. Mandapam before the Sreekovil is used to sit and make prayers.Normally it is used by Nampoothiries and Iyers and by royal family members inKerala who too wear Upaveetham and chant Gayathri and sandhya etc. During deeparadhana initial bell will be given byMel santhi from sreekovil following all devotees makes the prayer while bellsoutside are continuously strike till theertham and prasadam are served. Melsanthi bell is normally small or mediumbell. Bell is used with left Hand. But in some temples separate priest strikesthe bell. Normally very big bell is hang from height and astring is tied to its tong/tongue. The string is moved to strike the bell withtong. Normally big bell sound is heard at least half a KM distance. If the bellis broken it is removed and it is considered bad to strike a damaged bell. When I talk of bell sound and deeparadhana many ofus may be recollecting the deeparadhana at Sabarimala on Makarajyothi day. People from Trivandrum may be recollecting thedeeparadhana at Pazhavangadi temple. Everyday evening 200-300 devotees will beanxiously waiting for Pazhavangadi Ganapathi deeparadhana. Pazhavangadideepradhana bell striking one can hear even from a KM distance. There is a caution. We should not strike the Bellunnecessarily. This means we should not give bell for childrenplaying. Also when Sreekovil is closed for pooja or any other purpose, oneshould not strike the bell. Not only Hindus but Christians also use the bells.We may now be recollecting the Church bells. Church bells are strike stick to the times ofprayer. In olden days during calamity or danger church bell was strike tointimate the people of the same. All people used to get warned by it. It still strikes in my ear the musical sounds ofBells during the deeparadhanaat Sadapedayar kovil, my Kula deivam when I visit. All the bells inthe temple are strike when deeparadhana is done. The outside bell in the templeis used to be strike by the Pulaya community people who invariably assembleduring pooja time out side. Having paddy fields all side it is said thedeeparadhana bell could be heard from Kilo meters away. After deeparadhana, one should not strike bell for any reason atSadavudayar kovil. Another important use of medium bell was in thegames during my school days was for the musical chair. Now a day’s bell has been replacedwith recorded music. Update-Present day bells have reduced tin content and one can see the shining bellsfrom a distance of about 100 metres. As part of heritage in new homes built in oldfashion for calling from outside a medium bell is suspended to strike in placeof a calling bell. Some times in addition to a calling bell. 11a.SCHOOLBELLS-CHENGALA The school bells use to be either medium bells orthe Chengala. In my primary school therewas medium bell. It was the duty of school peon to strike it as per theperiods. In his absence the head master had to do it since all teachers wouldbe taking class. Chengala is circular in shapeand slightly oval in shape. It has about 9inches diameter and having a hook.It was suspended and sound is produced by striking it with a wooden stick. Foreach period the bell strike was added so that teachers are guided by the bellcounts. On those days teachers had no watches. The prayer mostly sung fromstudents from a class and students use to stand in the class itself. Later came the assembly in themorning, prayer, reading world news etc. Chengala isplayed during Kathakali by the person singing the kathakali song. 11b MINIBELLS Mini bells have profound application withdomesticated animals. It is tied to the necks of animals like oxen, goats,dogs, cats and calves. The sound produced by them will be identifying even thepet animals themselves. There is a saying “Poochaikku aru Mani kettum?”(Whowill tie the bells to the cat- say the rats). This is also used as an idiom.Nowadays you cannot find a single elephant without a medium bell along itsneck. 11c. POOJAROOM BELLS My write up about bells will not be completed if Ido not mention the bells in all iyer houses in the pooja room as well as in thedoors. The practice of fixing the bells in the pooja room door is actuallycopied from temples. Before the melsanthi enters the sreekovil he strike thedoorbell awakening the god and then only enter the sreekovil. I willcontinue in next posting. -- 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/1731839491.2834707.1608685558485%40mail.yahoo.com.
