Thrissur

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[[Category: India |T]]
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=Thrissur=

''' For Whom The Bells Toll '''

By Dr. Vinita Kaul Gardner

'' India Harmony '' Volume - 2 : Issue - 1, 2013

Thrissur :
Guruvayur – Cheramun Juma Masjid – St. Thomas Church
From across the seas, through the mists of
time, there flowed rich cultural influences that shaped our destiny on earth, where
teeming humanity mulled – over the tenets of
munificent faiths!

They came from distant lands – these saviors of
mankind – cloaked in the guise of merchants
wanting to indulge in trade with the abundance of
aromatic spices off verdant Kerala's coast. While
they carried away abundant harvests of spices
culled from the soil of the earth, destined to flavor
exotic dishes around the world, they left an
abundant slice – of their fascinating culture – here
to enrich our part of the earth. And sow the seeds
of a fulsome faith which flourished to nurture a
thousand lives…..and then some more….

[[File: Ancient Brahmins offering prayers.png|Ancient Brahmins offering prayers|frame|500px]]

[[File: St. Thomas performing his miracle.png|St. Thomas performing his miracle|frame|left|500px]]

The earth that received their munificent beliefs
was none other than the town of Thrissur, standing
stoic sentinel at the junction of a tremendous triad
of faiths – Islamic, Christian and Hindu - brought
by the apostles of peace and the unifiers of
mankind, for the realization of an impossible
dream……that men of all faiths should live in
complete harmony as God decreed…..and that
their women should nourish such a creed!

[[File: Annual Pilgrimage at Thrissur.png|Annual Pilgrimage at Thrissur|frame|500px]]

An intrinsic part of picturesque Kerala, the
sobriquet of “God's Own Country” acquires an
additional meaning here contextually! For
Thrissur, which has been dubbed as the Cultural
Capital of Kerala, because of its cultural, spiritual
and religious leanings throughout history, is
located approximately two and a half dozen km
from both the famous Guruvayur Temple, a
Mecca for devout followers of the Hindu faith and
St Thomas's Church, perpetrating the Christian
faith. In addition, it plays sacred host to the
oldest mosque outside of Arabia – the Cheraman
Juma Masjid – located just a few minutes' drive
from the town of Thrissur and dating in antiquity
to 629 AD. Built by Malik lbn Dinar, it is
believed to be the very first mosque constructed in
India and is located in Methala, Kodungallur
Taluk in the state of Kerala.

But that was later....much later in time...almost six
centuries earlier, in 52 A.D. to be precise, another
apostle of a devout faith – Christianity – built the
famous St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic
Church at Payalur, in Thrissur district. St.
Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
Christ, travelled by boat, as was customary in
those days, from Kottakavu or Crangannur, now
called Kodungallur (Mussiris) and landed at
Palayur on the picturesque west coast of India.

[[File: The old port of Cranganoor.png|The old port of Cranganoor|frame|500px]]

At that time, Palayur was a stronghold of the
Brahmins and also of Jews. He came to visit the
Jewish merchants at Palayur at "Judankunnu"
(meaning the hill of Jews) and to preach the
Christian gospel.

An unusual sight met his bemused gaze upon
landing at Palayur! Historical legends record that
St. Thomas witnessed the sight of Hindu
Brahmins- after their ritualistic morning ablutions
in the local tank – offering prayers by chanting
mantras and hymns to god in the form of Argyam
or Thapanam (water held in the palms) in aINDIA HARMONY VOLUME - 2 : ISSUE - 1, 2013
reverential offering to the Sun God! This unique
practice was also believed to have been followed
in the ancient Harappan and Persian cultures!

[[File: The elegant Palayur Church.png|The elegant Palayur Church|frame|500px]]

Amused by the sight of water being thrown up by
the Brahmins from the palms of their hands and
then falling back into the tank, he challenged them
that he would imitate their practice, with one
significant difference! Reiterating that his God
would accept the water thus offered by him,
without letting it fall back, he exhorted them to
then promise to convert to his superior faith –
Christianity!.

He then proceeded, in all seriousness, to perform
this miracle (summoned the Holy Trinity,
completed the sign of the Cross and threw water
held in his palms up into the air, which remained
still in the air at a height) and with this miracle he
converted a number of Brahmins and Jews in
Palayur to Christianity. Thereafter he baptized the
converts in a nearby water tank. The disbelievers
migrated to Vembanad to purify themselves!

Following the migration of the Hindu Brahmins
from Palayur, the Church was built incorporating
the old Hindu temple, which was deserted. An
aesthetic fusion of an intrinsically Hindu
architectural style in respect of ornamentation,
combined with a Persian Church plan, the roof of
the church raises like a tower above the nave.
The approach or entrance is like a Hindu style
mandapa (in Indian architecture it is a pillared
outdoor hall or pavilion for public rituals).

[[File: The masjid before renovation.png|The masjid before renovation|frame|500px]]

An Italian missionary built the new church
around the small old teak wood church after
taking due permission from the locals who were
not only superstitious but also sentimental about
retaining the old Church! However, after the
church was fully completed and duly sanctified
through sermon and ceremony, the old wooden
structure was abolished. The original altar
lovingly consecrated by St. Thomas however, is
still retained!

Which comes to life when thousands of devotees
every year, during the Lenten season, without any
caste distinction, joyously participate in the
Palayur Mahatheerthadanam or Great Pilgrimage
– a major festival held every year at the venue of
the church - under the auspices of the Syro-
Malabar Archdiocese of Thrissur.

[[File: The masjid after renovation.png|The masjid after renovation|frame|500px]]

This important festival, which lasts for two days
and is held during the Lenten season, bears a
striking similarity to the Hindu festival held at
Trichhur district town, 28 km away, on the same
days, with a colorful fanfare of pageants,
orchestra and pyrotechnics! An ambience of
great revelry prevails, with entire families dressed
in their Sunday best, enjoying the festivities
wholeheartedly!

[[File: Ancient oil lamp inside the masjid.png|Ancient oil lamp inside the masjid|frame|500px]]

The elegant Palayoor church, the oldest (Romo-
Syrian) Church in India and called an Apostolic
Church credited to the Apostolate of St. Thomas,
who commenced his conversions here, was part of
the seven churches that he established in India. Of
the other six, only Parur in the Syro-Malabar
Archdiocese of Ernakulam and Niranam under
the Orthodox Syrian Church (Devalokam
Aramana) can claim continuity, along with
Palayoor Church, the others having gone through
several locational changes subsequently!

[[File: The oil lamps in the Guruvayoor temple.png|The oil lamps in the Guruvayoor temple|frame|500px]]

In a strange irony of fate, a valuable document
called 'Grandavariola' kept by a local Brahmin
family (who had moved out from Palayur during
the preaching), is the one that unequivocally
testifies to the date of the gospel work of St.
Thomas! The document states:

Kali year 3153 (52 AD) the foreigner Thomas
Sanyasi came to our village (gramam) preached
there and therby causing…

[[File: The Guruvayoor temple complex.png|The Guruvayoor temple complex|frame|500px]]

St. Thomas, who was proclaimed 'The Apostle of
India' by the Holy See, stayed in India for 17
years, 4 years in Sindh (now in Pakistan), about 6
years in Malabar and 7 years at Mylapuram in
Tamil Nadu! According to tradition, St. Thomas
attained martyrdom at St. Thomas Mount in
Chennai and is buried on the site of San Thome
Cathedral. His skeletal remains were brought to
India in 1953 by Cardinal Tisserant.

[[File: Elephants and pilgrims at Guruvayoor.png|Elephants and pilgrims at Guruvayoor|frame|500px]]

This year, 2013, will commemorate 60 years of
this sacred and historic event, and the devout will
once again flock in joyous veneration, in
thousands from various parts of the world, to this
famous Mount
in Chennai,
cutting smoothly
across barriers
of countries,
caste and creed!
Following the
famous H.G.
Wells
phenomena of
moving
backwards in
time,
propounded in
The Time
Machine, let us
now back-track swiftly to another time, another
place, where the seeds of another creed were
swiftly and surely scattered in the fertile Kerala
soil and germinated to grant the genesis of another
faith……

[[File: The dress code at the temple.png|The dress code at the temple|frame|500px]]

Kerala Vyasan Kunhikuttan Thampuran firmly
believes that an old Buddha temple was gifted to
the Muslims to establish a mosque! Since ancient
times, trade relations between Arabia and the
Indian subcontinent were active. Even before
Islam had been established in Arabia, Arab traders
visited the Malabar region, which was a major
link between the ports of South and Southeast
Asia, and rich in the abundant production of
aromatic spices!

[[File: The temple priests in procession.png|The temple priests in procession|frame|500px]]

With the advent of Islam, the Arab merchants
became carriers of the new religion and they
propagated it wherever they went. Numerous
Indians living in the coastal areas of Kerala
accepted the principles of this religion and
converted to Islam. The Brahmin King Cheraman
Perumal was the first Indian who converted to
Islam based on a popular historical event.

When a group of Prophet Muhammad's Sahaba
(companions) visited Kodungallur, the Chera ruler
witnessed a miraculous happening — the sudden
splitting of the moon, the celebrated miracle of
Muhammad — and learned on inquiry that this
was a symbol of the coming of a Messenger of
God from Arabia!

[[File: Inside Guruvayoor temple.png|Inside Guruvayoor temple|frame|500px]]

Soon after, Perumal traveled to Makkah, where he
embraced Islam and accepted the name
Thajudeen. On his way back to India, however,
after a supposedly arduous journey, he
unfortunately died at Salalah in the Sultanate of
Oman! On his deathbed, in a dramatic gesture, he is
said to have authorized some of his Arab companions
to go back to his kingdom to spread Islam!
Accordingly, a group of Arabs led by Malik Bin
Deenar and Malik bin Habib, arrived in north Kerala
and constructed a Masjid at Kodungalloor.

[[File: Rituals at Guruvayoor.png|Rituals at Guruvayoor|frame|500px]]

The construction of the Masjid thus sponsored by
King Cheraman was, fittingly enough, named the
Cheraman Juma Masjid. The mosque, which is built
in the traditional Hindu architectural style using brass
oil lamps, symbolizes communal harmony!

While the rosewood pulpit, from where the imam
recites the Friday Jumu'ah, is covered with carvings
and a block of white marble in the mosque is believed
to have been brought from Makkah, the Kodungalloor
mosque is believed to have an ancient oil lamp
which always burns and which is believed to be
over a thousand years old! People of all religions
bring oil for the lamp as offering. This is one of
the few mosques in Kerala which allows entry for
people of other religions, thereby reaffirming the
spirit of communal harmony that prevails in this
picturesque land.

The three sacrosanct abodes of the Gods –
Church, Mosque and Temple, symbolic of the
tenets of three major faiths – stand magnificent
and mute testimony to the spirit of enlightenment
and the homogenous existence of the communities
of three diverse faiths. Completing this triad of
religious virtuosity is the renowned Guruvayoor
Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to God
Krishna, located in the town of Guruvayur in
Kerala, India.

[[File: Kathakali Dancer.png|Kathakali Dancer|frame|500px]]

One of the most important places of worship for
Hindus of Kerala and often referred to as
"Bhuloka Vaikunta" which translates to the "Holy
Abode of Vishnu on Earth", the idol installed at
Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple represents a form
of Krishna with its four arms carrying the conch
Pancajanya, the magical discus with serrated
edges Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki
and a lotus with a Holy basil garland. This idol
represents the majestic form of god Vishnu as
revealed to Vasudeva and Devaki around the time
of Krishna; hence Guruvayur is also known as
"Dwaraka of South India”!!

Heavily loaded with religiosity, with myth and
legend bolstering it further so that it assumes the
impressive proportions of a formidable faith, a
pilgrimage to the South is not complete unless one
pays obeisance here! And so it was that on a
whirlwind cultural odyssey of this divine region
some 25 years ago, my husband and I landed up
Ancient oil lamp inside the masjid The oil lamps in the Guruvayoor temple
The Guruvayoor temple complex
here, loaded with enthusiasm, dressed as carefree
tourists are wont to be, in colorful (but modest)
western attire!

Unaware that an extremely strict dress code
prevailed, for both men and women, for entry into
this sacred temple, the emphatic injunction of the
solemn-eyed priest that my husband would have
to wear a “mundu” around his waist and go in
bare-chested, drew a horrified response from him!
“Not on your life”, he declared stubbornly, “I
haven't bared my chest in front of my father, I'm
not going to do it in front of a bunch of
strangers”! All my cajoling proved to be of no
avail and finally, shrugging my shoulders in a
gesture of defeat, I deftly wound a turmeric
yellow half-sari round my waist and entered the
temple with a new-found respect!

Bowing my head in reverence before the deity of
the Guruvayur Temple, which is believed to be
5,000 years old and considered to be unique as it
is carved out of Patalanjana stone and considered
to be extremely sacred by the Hindus, I duly
exited the holy precincts. Much to the amused
gaze of my husband and the highly approving
looks of the young priests,relieved that at least
one of us had redeemed the honor of their
religious faith!

The "presiding" deity in the Sri Kovil of the
Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple, is Vishnu. He is
currently worshipped according to routines laid
down by Adi Shankara and later written formally
in the tantric way, the inter-religious spiritual
movement that arose in medieval India, by Cennas
Narayanan Nambudiri (born in 1427 A.D.). The
Cennas Nambudiris are the hereditary tantris of
the Guruvayur Temple.

The Krishna temple in the town of Guruvayoor in
Kerala is one of the five famous Krishna\Vishnu
temples in India, the other four being Jagannath
Puri in Orissa, Venkatachalapati in Andhra Pradesh,
Nathdwara in Rajasthan and Dwaraka in Gujarat.
Of course there are many other famous ones of
Vishnu as well as of Krishna but these are
considered to be the most popular.

The life of the people in this town literally revolves
around this temple! So much so, in fact, that they
wend their way there at the unearthly hour of 3
a.m. to witness the ritual anointing of their
Guruvayoorappan or “God of Guruvayoor” with til
oil, then rubbed with special herbal
powder, known as “vaka” for that extra
shine, before he is reverently bathed!
Then water from the temple, consecrated
with mantras, is poured over the idol for
his ritual bath. This holy water is then
eagerly drunk by the devotees since it is
said to contain a little of the miraculous
properties of the black antimony stone of
which the idol is made. Seeking
salvation for our sins and our souls, what
won't we mere mortals do!

Whatever be your particular propensity
of faith, many avenues lead to its
munificent and multiple manifestations
here on earth – in myth, legend and reality – the
muezzin calling the faithful to prayer, the priest
from the pulpit intoning injunctions of morality or
the sonorous chant of Vedic mantras from within
the precincts of the implacable Guruvayoor God
pushing you to priestly purity even as you
circumambulate its sacred pond in wonder!

The sacred Guruvayoor tank or pond, known for
its ever blooming magical lotus flowers, was
where Lord Siva emerged out of the sacred tank
and revealed to the Pracetas (the ten sons of the
mythical King Prajinabarhis and his wife, Queen
Suvarna), the “Rudragitam” – a hymn in praise of
Vishnu! Advising them to chant the hymn with
all their heart to get their wishes fulfilled – of
becoming “the king of all kings” - the princes won
the favour of Vishnu after rigorous tapasya for
10,000 years under the tank by chanting this
beautiful hymn!

The fulfillment of a wish,
the answer to a prayer, the
tangible translation of a
“tamanna” into reality -
these are some of the
benevolent blessings of
BELIEF that are bestowed
upon the trusting and the
true, the devout and the
dutiful, the blessed and the
benign –weaving the warp
and weft of the tapestry of
India's communal
conviviality with
consummate finesse, with
the tensile cords of
compassion, caring and the cadences of a cosmic
faith!

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