MUTTU(KNEE) Dear friends,
While I joined as DivisionalEngineer at Calicut in 1996, my colleagues told me to make use of holidays tovisit temples at Mookambika,Kadampuzha, Tirunelli, Tirunavaya etc. They told me the specialty atKadampuzha- Muttarukkal-removing difficulties. Except Tirunavaya I could visit all othertemples. A few days back there was adocumentary about Kadampuzha Devi temple in Doordarshan channel. This made me to make “MUTTUARUKKAL” offering at Kadampuzha temple (Malappuram District of Kerala) as firstitem in this posting. Muttarukkal is performed in some other temples also in Kerala. Muttarukkalis performed in Angadippuram temple (close to Perinthalmanna) and Mammiyur Bhagavathi templenear Guruvayoor. The word “MUTTU” in Malayalam hasmany meanings. MUTTUmost commonly is told for the organ KNEE. In Malayalam the elbow iscalled kaimuttu andknee is called Kalmuttu. MUTTU is also used to express difficulty. Muttu is alsoused for giving support toplants like plantain which may slant on appearance of Kula or while growingdue to weight of Kula. MUTTU is also used to mean slightly push or knock. In bamboo plant species the periodic repetition of hard area (clumps)is called MUTTU. This area the hollowness is not continued. Eatta also has MUTTU withhollowness discontinued similar to bamboo. Same type of hard area is alsothere with cane and sugarcane stems. MUTTU In the humans is a flexible areawith darker colour than normal skin. A human can sit in floor folding knees fortaking meals. While standing his body weight is balanced in knees. Knees may become weak in course of time, mostly by about55 years, because of loss of bone marrow. There can be exemptions. Knees are weak pointsfor all beings. In course of growth from infant tokid, knees becomes strong with growing of knee cap. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 7-5-2021. 1. Muttu arukkal at kadampuzha temple In brief the offering is performedas follows: - The devotees have to bring coconuts to the temple eitherprocuring locally from shops near to temple or from their residences. Thedevotees have to express the difficulty with the details of the name and birth starto the temple officials in the counters. A receipt is given from the officenoting difficulty, name, and star. The devotee has to give the receipt andcoconut to the priest sitting before deity. The priest READS THE DETAILS TO THE DEITYthen he breaks the coconut on the granite flooring before the deity. If thecoconut breaks in to two equal halves and there is no decay, the problem wouldbe solved soon. Normally devotees takes two or threecoconuts more due to their apprehension. If the first coconut is not perfectthe 2nd one is given. Even after breaking 2-3 coconuts, still they allappear decay or not breaking properly, devotees are told to come after a FORTNIGHTor so again after sincere prayer. There are people who make 5-7visits to the temple, still the problem being complicated, coconut does notbreak properly or appear decayed. Normally if the first coconut breakesproperly and there is no decay, the other coconuts are offered to the temple ina place provided. Thepriest will not break them beforedeity. Muttu arukkal meant sawing thedifficulties by Devi pleased on the devotee. Most coconuts breaks in to two exactly two halves. I performed the offering in 1996’s and1997’s - first time I visited alone, and 2nd time with my wife. Ourcoconuts given for different problems broke perfectly without decay in thefirst instance itself by the grace of the Devi. A person can also perform muttarukkalfor family well beingcalled KSHEMA MUTTU. My note- There would be long queue for the offering. Mostly a devotee has towait for one hour or more in the queue because of temple sanctum closing fordifferent poojas and the queue. 2. Buddhimuttu. (Difficulty for living) In general the word meansdifficulty to keep a satisfactory standard of living even WITH BEST EFFORTS. A daily worker does not get jobs.He is ready to work. But job is not there due to Covid 19. A temple priest in a village makingout a living from devotees offerings, not able to meet both ends meet since temple is closed due to Covid 19. There could be other reasons alsofor difficulties. Income is there, but diseases and their curing carves most ofthe income. Excess Engineering/Medical collegefees take out a good part of income of even well earning. All these comes under general Buddhimuttu. 2a. Learning difficulty. Some children have difficulty forlearning in general subjects of school. Here also muttu is used as anadjective- “Buddhi muttu aanu patikkan”(Learning difficulty). Even elders have this difficulty. Many people cannotride cycle, scooter or drive car. While many learn easily some have difficulty.Some do not get concentration, some have fear complex, less courage etc. Butthey might be efficient in many other things. 2b. Working difficulty. There is a free will, but some physicallychallenged persons having polio or partial paralysis cannot move like others. Herethe constraint is not money.They might be very intelligent or having many other skills. 2c. Aged and difficulty. The buddhimuttu of the aged cannotbe told in one or two sentences. The problems caused due to less or pooreyesight and poor hearing, tiredness, diseases, loss of teeth and eatingproblem etc. etc. Many aged areaffluent, assistants canbe for physical helps, but not for all problems. There is a Malayalam saying- Ethra karanjalum aval thannae vedanuchhuprasavikkanam. (The pregnant lady may cry, but she only has to deliverthe child- no other lady can share her labor pain). The suffering due to physical ailments can becured ONLY TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. 3. Muttu (clumps) in sugarcane and bamboos In these, the muttu (clump) ishardened. We can break a sugar cane before or after a muttu easily. In Bamboos,the muttu is harder, while making bamboo ladders, the steps are providedpiercing sides and inserting steps ABOVE THE MUTTU (Clumps). The bamboos arecut above/below a muttu for different works. 5. Muttaae Pani (Fever in Knee) Children use to say they have feverjust like that. It was customary to ask- whether it is in knee or elbow? Temperaturecan be felt more in the neck or forehead. 6. Muttu as a measurement The level from feet to knee isconsidered as a measurement. Normally children and elders are advised never go above knee level inseawater. The lengthy hair of women ofearlier days were told calculating the length towards the knee level. Muttattam muti (Hair to kneelevel) is told for very lengthy hair. The workers wear dhoti to kneelevel folding it for convenience. Even for most, folding dhoti to knee level isvery convenient. In most of the films of one decade back in Malayalam, onecould see the male characters folding and wearing dhoti to knee level. Before eldersto be respected, they might lover dhoti below knee. On those days it was commonto see workers in the fields, climbing coconut etc. used to wear thick cottontowel (Thorthu) fromwaist to knee level. The old Kerala police half pant waswell above knee level. In police department there is a rule - they should notbeat a suspect /thief aboveknee to reveal truth. Scout uniform in schools is to kneelevel irrespective of male or female students. Skirt uniform is up to knee levelin middle school classes for girl students. Many men wear half pants to kneelevel now at home and evenwhile going to institutions like banks. Whatever the convenience with elders it looks odd to me. Young women never raise their clothesabove knee level while walking in rainy water or standing on sea beach etc. Exceptioncould be in Adult films. 7, Muttu kodukkal (Supporting) It is very commonly used. For preparingRCC structure support is given to planks laid by strengthy bamboos or metallic pipessupport and tree cuttings tillthe RCC gets strengthened. Many plants are given support tostem while growing, most important is the plantains while the kula(Fruitsbunch) is growing so that plantain must not fall due to kula weight. Forslanting trees muttu is given so that it would not slant more and straighten. In my garden pomegranate plantis given a bamboo support to grow up straight, since its stem is thin andgrowing to sides and flowering started. 8. Muttukutthikkal (Defeating) For defeating a person the wordmuttukutthikkal is used. Mostly it is used during personal rivalries. 9. Muttu to compound walls Some compound walls erected on theslanting side can slip off due to earth pressure. To avoid this these compound walls are given muttu withbrick works. In my home twopalaces have such structures. 9a. Uttharam muttuka This is used to mean not knowingthe answer to a question by another. 9b. Muttukodukkal Beam supporters Support to beamcalled uttharam at weak locations. In course of years due to white ant eating,not balancing weight etc., beams may bent. Support is given providing additionalwooden pillar. This is also called Muttukodukkal 10 Muttu in tapioca stem. The propagation of tapioca is doneby cutting above 4-5 muttu in the stem as pieces and planting. 11. Knocking and pushing. For opening the doors in the housethe normal ethic is slightly knocking/pressing calling bell for a moment. If aperson in the home is not opening the door on repeated calling, pushing usingknee is done on the door. 12. Mulanazhi Mualanazhi is a wooden vessel usedby tribal people to collect honey etc. The bamboo with good width is cut below aMuttu (clump) and the length to next muttu is used as the vessel. This is toldas Mulanazhi. The muttu is the bottom for thenazhi. For keeping arrows avanazhi was alsomade in a similar manner using wide bamboo piece on those days. 13. Human knee. Humans have knee in legs and elbowsin hands. The skin is slightly harder in elbow with changed dark colour. Wecannot see with bare eyes any hair growth either at elbow or knee. In the kneeand elbow, the bones have lever type joint. A liquid called marrow in the bones make the knee flexiblefacilitating movements. The knees and elbows are maximumused. But wear and tear during old age is more felt in knees. Fractures occurmore with knee comparing to elbow. As age increase marrow become lesser andbones become harder but fragile. More weight of the body is another reason for knee ailments. 14. Muttu kootti idikkal (Touching of knees) Some people tall by nature, mayfeel the touching of knees even in the normal course. Many others due to fearand shiver may feel the knees jointing and releasing. 15. Muttu thalli odikkum (I will break your knee) During quarrels, it is common thepersons to state, I would break your knees. Though say, no body do so. Without proper working of knee no person canstand or walk. Thisis a posting totally rewritten with additions and updating of an older oneposted on 8-1-2013 -- 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/1108627435.1266743.1620404694913%40mail.yahoo.com.
