ABSTRACT
Travancore had a tradition of its own in respect of Royal ceremonies, festivals and fairs. The reign of Travancore rulers was not only one of conquests and administrative achievements but also of progress in the fields of many royal ceremonies and festivals. Some of these festivals have become defunct and survive as mere memories. The ancient ceremonies were full of meaning and interest to the people of the present generation, especially to those who are sympathetically inclined towards ancient institutions, who not only look upon them with approbation but even with veneration in the formation of different stages in the political history of the state. It is evident from this research article that Travancore has a tradition of its own in the matter of Royal ceremonies.
Travancore had a tradition of its own in respect of Royal ceremonies, festivals and fairs. The reign of Travancore rulers was not only one of conquests and administrative achievements but also of progress in the fields of many royal ceremonies and festivals. Some of these festivals have become defunct and survive as mere memories. The ancient ceremonies were full of meaning and interest to the people of the present generation, especially to those who are sympathetically inclined towards ancient institutions, who not only look upon them with approbation but even with veneration in the formation of different stages in the political history of the state.
It is evident that Travancore has a tradition of its own in the matter of Royal ceremonies. There is no religious or social ceremony in the palace without making an appropriate offering to Lord Padmanabha. Every year the Maharaja makes offerings to the Lord, on different occasions. It will be an unvarnished statement of fact that no function personal to the Maharaja or any member of the family, be it however small or insignificant, ever takes place without getting the Lord’s grace and blessings.
According to Samuel Mateer, the ceremony called ‘Hiranya Garbham’, “is an extraordinary and vain attempt to invent ‘a royal rod’ to regeneration”. The Tulabharam, or balance weighing was not in general performed immediately on the accession of a sovereign. Scholars affirmed that the delay is to allow his highness to grow stout, and weigh as heavy as possible, for the profit of the priests. The delay of nine years since the accession of the Maharaja arose principally from his natural hesitation to extend such a vast sum of public money solely for the benefit of the small population of Brahmins, in the face of the expostulations and moral dissuasion brought to bear upon such an observance in the present age. A decision was Bathing Festival, the Murajapam, the weighing ceremony, followed one another in quick succession; over a three months being thus occupied in costly and idolatrous festivities.
Gold bars, to the value of over Rs, 120,000 ( 12,000), having been procured from Calcutta, the greater portion was stuck into coins in preparation for the great ceremony of Hiranya Garbham. Preparatory religious ceremonies, including repeated bathings and purifications, anointings and sprinkling of holy water, the worship of golden impages and of the sacred scales, the feeidng of Brahmins, gifts to them, and offerings of flowers, jewels, silks, and an elephant, were performed for eight days. The total expense of the weighing ceremony amounted to about 160,000 rupees; but the ‘Hiranya Garbha’ ceremony, which would probably cost at least 140,000 rupees more, was still to be performed before the maharajah’s coronoation.
The whole ascertained expenses for Thulapuram amounts to R. 155.427, and a few more unaudited items will probably swell the total to 160,000 Rupees in round numbers. The Hiranyagarbham ceremony, which must be performed likewise before the Maharaja’s coronation may cost about Rs. 140.000. Three lakhs of rupees was undoubtedly a large sum in a small state like Travancore, which had yet to undertake many important public works and extend the benefits of education; but it was not too large to be spent once in the lifetime of a Hindu ruler, who has seldom been misguided in the use of public money, in religious ceremonies the performance of which by the head of the state undoubtedly had the exultant sanction of the whole Hindu population in it”.
Though one eating pell-mell with the noisy Paradesa Brahmins to whom the last eight days of the feeding were specially dediated, the number daily fed during the last eight days was from ten to twelve thousand. Some idea of the feeding in connection with the Murajapam ceremony may be formed form the fact that about six hundred extra Brahmin servants were employed for the kitchen and in the serving of food besides the Gramakars or villagrs who come to work for the last week. Much evil erises from the gluttony, disorder, and vice incidental upon the attendance of these crowds of sensual idolaters.
The belief in Travancore was that all other classes were created for the service of the Brahmins, and that the highest possible virtue consists in obedience and homage being rendered to them. The influence and authority are supposed to extend over all the acts and relationships of life, and everything enjoyed or possessed by others comes, they affirm, by the favour of the Brahmins, behave in accordance with these and other principles the Brahmins were treated well by the rulers of Travancore. No less than one-fifth of the whole annual revenue of the state was expended on the support of the Brahmins and the priets and the influential classes were united in the support and defence of this formidable system of imposture and superstition.
The feeding of Brahmins or Nambudris, was not, a rare or difficult business with the Highness the Maharaja. It was a matter of course with him; he made it a rule of his life to treat the hungry Brahmin; the traditions of his family were full of the proudest feasts of charity and hospitality and the number which he daily fed is limited only by the measure of his affluence.
Multitudes of Brahmins visited the capital to witness the performances; whole boat-loads of vegetables, rice, butter, and condiments for th guests were daily landed form the interior, and great boat-shaped wooden vessels, scooped out the large trees, served as rice and curry containers. The prices of all the necessaries of life rose up fearfully; and extra precautions against accident and crime were taken. Police were stationed, in different localities, in sheds erected for their accommodation by the road-side, to prevent low-caste people from entering or approaching the fort.
Aluvanchery Samrattu, now vaguely called Thamprakal, the supreme authority among the Namboodri Brahmin Community, in regard to Vedic functions, is the chief preceptor to the Travancore royal family. The Namboodri community was held in great reverence and high regard in Kerala, and none would venture to offend a Namboodri, who was supposed to possess the power of imprecton and cursing.
The moral discussion which the outlay of large sums of public money in ceremonies, the benefit of which would not be admitted by any except those who are within the pale of the most orthodox Hinduism must naturally met both from the British authorities and from enlightened public opinion, necessitated its postponement. It had been considered a matter of duty in his family, and whiat was looked upon by far the great majority of his subjects as calculated to promote the dignity and glory of their sovereign.
Thus the ancient Royal ceremonies were full of meaning and interest to the people of the present generation, specially to those who are sympathetically inclined towards ancient institutions, who not only look upon them with approbation but even veneration as marking the different stages in the political history of the state, but who never the less fear that as time goes on, these old-world symbols of a by-gone civilization showing the earliest supremacy of the Eastern Aryan races in the land, will all fade away. In this view, universal assent is, of course, not to be expected. The future historians whose life will be cast under entrirely different environments will therefore be less in touch with these existing conditions and may look down upon them with a sneer at any rate, not with respect or sympathy.
– Dr. P. Ramalakshmi
Assistant Professor of History, Arignar Anna College, Aralvoimozhi, Kanyakumari District.
References
1. A. Sreedhara Menon, Kerala History and its Makers, Cochin, 1927.
2. Samule Mateer, Land of Charity, London, 1871.
3. Samuel Mateer, Native Life in Travancore, London, 1883.
4. Shungoonny Menon, A History of Travancore, Madras, 1878.
5. V. Nagam Aiya, Travancore State Manuel, Vo. III., Trivandrum, 1906.