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RR
26th September 2006, 03:46 PM
Navarathri Mandapam

- Padmanabha


Navarathri is a festival of supreme sanctity. This nine-day festival commences on Pratipada, in bright half of the month of Aswina. It is sacred to Durga in whom the three active principles of the Hindu Trinity, creation, preservation and destruction are seen in the respective manifestations of Mahasaraswati, Mahalekshmi and Mahakalai in harmonious combination.

Navarathri and Literature

Many ancient Sanskrit works describe Navarathri. Devibhagavatham, Devipuranam, Skanadapuranam, contains exhaustive description of Navarathri. Devibhagavatam describes the story of King Sudarsana who instituted the function in Ayodhya. Sree Rama slayed Ravana, only after observing this nine-day ceremony. Inclusive of Vijayadasami the festival lasts for ten days. It is popularly known as Dusserah-which is the corrupted form of dasa hara that means remover of tem sins.

Celebration in Thiruvananthapuram

The celebration of Navarathri is as old as the royal family. There is a small shrine at Padmanabhapuram Palace consecrated to Saraswati with marvelous granite Navarathri Mandapam in front of this shrine. The shrine of Saraswati was brought from Valliyur, (Valliyur was ruled by one of the branches of Travancore ruling family then) and installed here in 1266. Thiruvananthapuram became the capital and permanent residence of the royal family since 1810. However, the festival was celebrated at the Padmanabhapuram Palace. In 1830, Maharaja Swati Tirunal shifted the venue to Thiruvananthapuram.

There is another story regarding the idol of Saraswati. Poet Kambar in his last days handed over his favorite idol of Saraswati to the then Chera Ruler. The ruler promised that he would arrange for the daily puja and Navarathri. The descendants of the royal family still keep the word.

How is it celebrated?

Annually, on the eve of Navarathri, the idol of Saraswati is brought from Padmanabhapuram Palace on elephant top! However, it is not the ulsava vigraham to be taken out. Hence, an oil lamp is lit in the sanctum sanctorum and the daily puja is offered to it, until the idol is re installed. The idol of Saraswati escorted by an image of Kumaraswami--the Divine Generalissimo-- atop a silver horse and Munnutinanga Amman on of her chief attendants, reaches Thiruvananthapuram.

The procession of the images starts from the Padmanabhapuram Palace four days before and reaches Navarathri Mandapam on the eve of Navarathri. The Head of the Travancore Royal Family, H H Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma and other members, receive the idol of Saraswati. The image of Kumaraswami is taken to the subramaniam swami temple in Aryasalai and Munnuttu Nanga to the Chenthitta Devi Temple. At the sanctum sanctorum, are placed old palm leaf scrolls and the time-honored sword of Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma.

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Navarathri Mandapam is located near the eastern entrance of the Temple of Padmanabha. It is opened only during the time of Navarathri. The magnificent structure and the ambience that prevails have to be experienced. The entire chamber is lit only with oil lit lamps. The Mandapam is decorated with fresh colorful flowers. Its fragrance, in addition to that of incense sticks, camphor, fresh kumkum, freshly bathed devotees, create a rare ambience. The pillars of the Mandapam are decorated with strings of lemon and areca nuts made from wood.
The concerts begin by 5.30pm. Until 6.00pm, Mullamudu bhagavathar render thodayamangalam. This tradition dates back to the days of Maharaja Swati Tirunal. Mullamudu bagahvathars are the descendants of these musicians who adorned his court.
At 6.00 pm, the main concert begins. In fact, until 1935, mullamudu bhagavathars rendered daily for three hours in chorus. Since then famous musicians like Semangudi Sreenivasa Iyer, Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar, Vidwan K S Narayana Swami, M D Ramanathan, Palani Subramania Pillai, Mussiri Subramania Iyer, Alathur Brothers, G N Balasubramania Iyer, and Palakkad T S Mani Iyer, had rendered many times. Semmangudi has rendered here continuously for 59 years!!

Specialty

Only the compositions of H H Maharaja Swathi Tirunal are sung. He had specially composed nine soul-stirring hymns for Navarathri valled Navarathri keertanam. The musicians render ragam thanam amd keerthanam. They are,
Devijagajjanani in Sankarabharanam,
Paahimam sree vageeswari in Kalyani,
Devi Paavane in Saveri,
Bahrathi mamava kripaya in Thodi,
Janani mamava in Bhairavi,
Saroruhasana jaayae in Panthuvarali,
Janani Paahi in Suddha saveri,
Ppaahi janani in Nattakurinji and
Paahi parvatha nandini in Arabhi. These songs form the main piece on each day.

The musicians position themselves in front of the sanctum sanctorum. The concerts are more in the form of offerings to the Goddess. Hence, the listener should not applaud.

The concert concludes at 8.30 pm when a bell is rung. On the ninth day, Managalam is rendered as the Mangalam for the festival of the year. The musicians and the listeners should be in the traditional temple attire. The listeners who wish to enjoy the concert in the Mandapam should reach the venue before 6.00 pm and should not leave before 8.30 PM. For those who find this arrangement inconvenient speaker boxes are placed at different places where music lovers gather. The program is broadcast by AIR the same day at 9.30 pm.

On dwadesi day, the idols are taken back to Padmanabhapuram.

Earthen Amplifiers

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Where else can you see those cute earthen pots?

With the invention potters wheel, he made similar structures, and used them as storage containers. His rich aesthetic sensibilities lead to the invention of many musical instruments, which are so devised as to serve the needs of Indian melodic system of music. He developed the clay pot into a percussion instrument.

But the 18th century ‘engineers’ of Travancore discovered yet another use with this poor, humble, little clay pots. That is they are capable of amplifying sound! Wonderful! Therefore, they installed them at a Royal court [no less] where the monarch musician Maharaja Swati Tirunal and his court musicians assembled during Navarathri.

On the ceiling of the concert hall you can see bamboo frames, held in position by coir. In each frame earthen pots of varying sizes are kept with its mouth downwards in different angles. They act as sound reflectors, ensuring even distribution of sound, when there was no sound system. Today most modern systems are available and still these pots are preserved as such and they continue amplifying sound. Hats off to those unknown acoustic technicians, who developed this technique 17 decades ago.
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