BHOOTHATTHANMUTHALANA… 

Dearfriends, 


RecentlyI had a mail from our Group member Sri Saikrishnan, during Thai velli, 
afterpooja persons are not allowed to go till early morning since, Sadayudayar 
issastha and his BHOOTHAGANMS WILL BE IN THE OUT SIDE OF THE TEMPLE at 
Sadavudayar kovil.

SadavudayarKevil is near Kalidaikuruchi in the Tirunelveli District – Taminadu. 

I wasthinking it might be due to two or three munian temples on the way to 
thetemple from the main road. Mr SaiKrishnan is very correct. This made me 
tothink about the very original worship of sastha by Brahmins and about 
Boothaganas. 


Sastha has taken five incarnations andone is Poorna Pushkala Sametha, in 
Grihasthasram. 

 Thesame is also with respect to Vinayaka and Muruga. I have read Vinayaka 
isconsidered as married and not as brahmachari in the North India. Similarly 
LordMuruga is worshipped as Bachelor there.

 Inthe southern side Muruga is considered as married though he is worshipped 
inother forms also. In Tiruttani, he is worshipped as family man with two 
wives-Devayanai and Valli. The two wives told for Vinayaga are Buddi and Siddi. 

 Letme further write about sastha and Bhoothathan. On the way to Sabarimalai 
onecan observe the sign board with an arrow indicating way to Bhoothathan Dam

 Sincerely,     

GopalaKrishnan 2-1-2011

 Reposted after editing and updating informationon 24-10-2021. R. Gopalakrishnan

 1. Sastha worship.

 TheGeneral concept is migration of Tamil Brahmins to Kerala  was either via 
Chengottai or via Palaghat passbefore a few centuries. 


Invariablythey established Brahmana samoohams in Kerala. In Most places with 
ownpremises, land acquiring from local people. Many samooha matams have / had 
vastproperties also. In some samoohams members are few now.   


RecentlyI had been to Cherthala Samooha matam and a casual discussion about 
theproperties they are having, though members are very less. My co brother is 
amember of the samooham. 


Inmy boy hood days I have learnt the Brahmana samooham at Vadakkadathu kavu 
hadlarge paddy fields and cultivation areas, with a meagre members.  


Irrespectiveof the member strength, sastha preethi is  conducted   in all 
samooha matams once a year according to their custom from thebeginning. 


Some samoohams in very large scale and somein medium  scale. 


I haveread from  member postings that atParavur in Ernakulam district, conduct 
sastha preethi in very large scale inKerala. Similarly Noorni in Palakkadu 
also. 


Sasthaworship is performed by the Brahmins settled in Kerala from the beginning 
of theirsettlement. Though so much prominence for sastha preethi is there in 
Kerala ,Maharashtra,Delhi Andhra, I have not seen such prominence for 
conducting sastha preethi inTamilnadu. Learnt members from Tamilnadu may 
correct me if my statement iswrong. 


2. Sastha preethi- worship of sasthaas Grihastha

 Ihave heard the divine songs  recitedduring sastha preethi in my home, where 
sastha is worshipped along with Poornaand  Pushkala(Poorna Pushkala sametha). 


3. Sastha preethi- Dhyanam 


Thedhyana slokam recited in our samooha madam from my recollection is given 
blow:-

 

Yanaimukhathoan thampi

Arulkumaranukku Ilayon, 

Vanavarpottum vani

VanthenukkuArulavendum

 

Munthiasivanar Pooti,    

MookhanamAsuran Patti

Indiravaravum Eatti,

Easanarvesham thotti,

 

Panthadikamalam vetti

Vanthathorviraham matti

Santhathiyanamoorthy

Dharmasastha

Namasthaenamasthe.

  


Heresastha is told as the younger brother of Maha Ganapathi and Muruga . 


4. Sastha varavu 

 TheSastha varavu recited in our samooha madam from my recollection is  as 
follows:-

 

Vaararitho

Ayyanvaararitho (ThenkulthurAyyan vararitho)

BhoothatthanMuthalana

Bhoothangalkootiyae,

 

Pulikalkuttikalai 

Pidithuvilayadiayae

Vaararitho,Ayyan vaararitho…..

 

Thetone, pitch and rhythm are such that, in boyhood we all used to fear seeing 
theface of the person singing. 


Mylate father used to go to nearby temple  duringthe time, otherwise he may go 
to trance and he may not be able to control withall offerings given and after a 
few minutes  fall down. He himself had to come out from trance  and then made 
to perform namaskaram. 


Wekeep sabari malai /Sadavudayr kovil bhasmam in our pooja room and consider 
forany problem, applying the   holy ash  and a sincere prayer for a few minutes 
is thebest solution. 


I have later learnt from a memberresponse , Brahmins  from Thenkulathur first 
performed sasthapreethi

 4a. Bhoothathan

 Sasthain any form is followed by Bhootha ganas and head of the gana is 
Bhoothatthan. 


5. Bhootha natha sadanada

 Thedhyana manthram recited after deeparadhana till the lighted camphor flame 
goingoff is as follows-

  During the period it is believed the presenceof sastha in the flame. 


Bhoothanatha sathananda,

SarvaBhootha daya para

RakshaRaksha Maha bhago

SasthraeDhabyam Namo Nama

 Againall the bhoothas are referred and Sastha is told as showing mercy to 
allbhoothas and ruler of Bhoothas (including Pancha bhoothas)

 6. The saranam recited after offeringpooja to Irumudi and deepradhana before 
starting for pilgrimage.

 

Arinjumaryamalum

TherinjumTheriyamalum

ChatihaEalla thettum 

KshamichhuKathu rakshikkanam

PonnuPathettam padi mel vazhum,

Hariahrasuthan, 

Ayyan Ayyappa swamiyae

Saranam Ayyappa.

 

Thelast but one line AyyanAyyappa swamiyae is some times recited as Sree Dharma 
Sasthavae saranamAyyappa.

 

7. Bhoothathan Anaikeetu(Dam)

 TheBhoothatthan kettu or anaikkattu is above Pamba river close to  Sabari 
malai. 


Theanaikattu is called as Bhoothathankettu. Large blocks of unshaped stones are 
placed on both sides ofthe Periyar River to form the dam, making it look like a 
natural dam built by super humans. Thename Bhoothathan Kettu, means "monster 
fort"; past generations believedit was built by a Bhootham (monster). 


The myth told in Wikipedia is asfollows.

Thereason behind the dam's name is that monsters(Malayalam: Bhootham) planned 
tosubmerge the Trikkariyoor temple, whose presiding deity is Lord Shiva by 
makinga dam in the Periyar river and flooding the area. 


Suspectingtrickery the omnipotent Lord Shiva, came up with a plan to deter 
them. He fakedthe approaching dawn by a rooster's sound. 


Thedemons fearing the arrival of light fled the place. To this day there is 
avisible proof of their effort where you can see the boulders which the 
demonswere supposed to have rolled onto the riverbed, the Old Bhothathankettu. 


ThePeriyar flows on through the narrow space which the demons did not quite 
manageto dam up.

 8. Bhootha ganas of Lord Siva.

 Inmy native there is a Lord Siva temple, called Thazhatthu mahadevar. The 
templeis very big, the sanctum is very close to Achhankovil river r on the 
north side .

  During festivals  deity is taken on hand and circumambulationis completed. 
Elephantscannot come through the narrow area of about three-four feet .

  It is told on that side the wall with granite builtby maesons was falling 
down repeatedly . One  day morning it was found constructed in crude mannerand 
then on wards thewall has not fallen. 

 Iam told while I was a boy that the wall was constructed by Bhootha ganas. 
Thegranite wall is very crude, which everyone can see now also. 

 SUMMING UP

 

1.Sastha has taken many avatharas 


2.Grihastha sastha is worshipped during sastha preethi in our area. 


3.In all avatharas he is accompanied by Bhootha ganas 


 

The writer- R. Gopala Krishnan, 78, home Pandalam, retired as Asst General 
Manager (FormerITS), Kerala Telecommunications, Trivandrum and now settled in 
Chennai.

 

 

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