Mailapur

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Mailarilingayya Mallayya

Mouneshwar Sonnad TNN, January 17, 2024: The Times of India

Mailapur’s mystique: No chickens, no cots

Kalaburagi : Mailapur in North Karnataka’s Yadgir district is a textbook village with snaking roads, hut-like structures standing cheek by jowl, and villagers engaged in primarily agricultural activities growing cotton, tur, chilli and sugarcane. The only standout features in this dryland village are the visible absence of chickens and poultry farming, and that no family in this village of about 3,000 people sleeps on cots. Both voluntary abstentions stem from villagers’ deeply held religious beliefs.


Mailarilingayya Mallayya — said to bean avatar of Lord Shiva — is the presiding deity who brooks no disturbance, especially during sleep, and is averse to being awoken by the short-pitched clucks of chicken. Otherwise, it’s believed that Mallayya will unleash his curse on the village, 520km from Bengaluru and 20km from Yadgir district headquarters.


Now, on to the cot ban. For centuries, Mailapur villagers refrain from sleeping on cots because it’s widely held that Mallayya and his wife, Goddess Turanga Devi, sit on a cot and shower benedictions on the devotees. To honor this, villagers — even the invalid and mothers with their newborns — prefer sleeping on the floor than incurring the wrath of the goddess.


Mallappa Pujari, aged around 64, said this practice of “no cot, no chicken” has been observed for centuries with no exceptions or violations. However, villagers are allowed to cook any kind of meat, including chicken, and buy meat from neighbouring villages, which are at least 3km away. Mailapur doesn’t have meat shops.


The temple dedicated to Lord Mallayya is ensconced in a cluster of boulders atop a hillock in the village. His two wives have a temple each. While Turanga Devi is depicted sitting on a cot, the other wife, Mhalsa Devi, is shown in a sitting posture. Sundays are observed as “the day that belongs to Mallayya”, when threetemple cluster attracts thousands of devotees who come to fulfil their vows or for the first ceremonial haircut of children.


Lord Mallayya holds religious importance for the people of Kalyana-Karnataka and Telangana regions. The village hosts an annual fair on Sankranti, attracting thousands of devotees who gather to celebrate this auspicious occasion.