By Shobha Rao Smilemaker

Dec 16: In these days of small nuclear families living routine lives in cities, it was such a welcome contrast to witness a unique large celebration of the extended family members at the ancestral home of the Pandramajalu family at the Ashwatapura village near Moodbidri. (This is one of the eight Smartha Brahmin families that were given land to settle down here by the ancient Jain rulers of the region).

Recently a male member of the family had got married, and It is truly noteworthy that the family has been religiously following many celebratory rituals, customs and traditions since over the last five generations to appease their family deity call Goddess Kamakshi Mahalaxmi.

The day long celebrations included many events called Vanabhojana in the day time where the family idol was taken from their home to the forest for worship under a tree, but I was not present for many of the day time festivities.

However I was privileged to attend the Gondhala Seve, the nritya Seve and Bhutha Kola events which started only after sunset with the recitals of Bhajan’s and Keerthanes.

Following it was the Gondhala Seve – I keenly observed a short man called the Darshana Patri who is a person who would invoke the Goddess spirit. He was ceremoniously given coconut oil for a ritual bath to make his body physically purified and mentally calm as he recited the valour of the goddess.

Then the Panchadeevatige (5 joint flaming torches) was lit up by the family head and an aarathi to the goddess was performed. Later five male members of the family or male guests held a deevatige ( flaming torch) each and started dancing while singing bhajans around the lamp in an open place under the moonlight.

Family members, guests, including ladies joined in performing a kind of dance service called nritya seve for the goddess. It was an amazing experience to dance with devotion under the trees and open skies along with family members of four generations… truly a memorable moment to cherish for life!

The nritya seve ended after the recital of five chapters of holy sayings by the darshana patri. I saw that he was slowly preparing himself through self-hypnotism for imposing the spirit on himself.

The final part of gondhala seve was to see the darshana patri prance around with full energy and bang the flaming torches on his head and bare body!!! The burning embers on his body or under his bare feet seem to inflict absolutely no pain on him as he got possessed by the spirit.

He spoke as if he was in a trance as he called upon the goddess onto him. The family head performed the maha aarathi to the goddess, with the help of rapid beats of drums and wind instruments in the background.

When the final beats stopped it was time for the ‘Nudi’ – a dialogue between the priest called tantri and the patri asking the reason for this seve and the purpose to seek the blessings.

The last part of Gondhala Seve was when the tantri and the patri performed the thotillu pooje for the newly married couple in front of the diety. ( a cradling ceremony in anticipation of the continuation of the family lineage).

It was time for the ending part of the Vanabhojna called Ranga pooje, which was a ritual of worshipping the family deity with special colourful flowers too.

During the finale called the the maha mangla aarthi, I felt the high spiritual energy present along with the look of devotion on the faces of all the family members.

The family deity was then taken back to the ancestral home in a procession by the family head.

A sumptuous dinner was served to the huge crowds that had joined the family from all the nearby villages.
It was ‘a back to roots again moment’ to see all the members of the family partaking in spiritual activities, or reliving old memories by sharing their stories and tales of childhood days.

Other than worship of Gods in temples or homes, there is another unique expression of devotion in Tulu Nadu that that is popularly known as worshipping of spirits or Daiva’s also known as Bhutas or Demi -Gods. These are localized deities with fixed spheres of influence who are generally associated with a family or village or region. This family home was associated with a pair of bhutas – a sister and a brother, called Varthe and Panjurli.

The family members offer them periodic oblation for the protection of the family members, the villagers and their livestock from danger.
This worship of certain forces or supernatural spirits is an all night affair.

I saw the artiste carefully applying indigenously prepared bright colors on his well-oiled face and body, and dressing up with traditional jewelry and clothes. His family member sing the ballad or paad-danaas which narrates the birth of that spirit, its descent into the land, heroic deeds, its travels and sphere of influence etc. The large head gear and the skirt like garment is made from coconut leaves and is called Siri.

Suddenly the bewitching music of drums and the wind instruments started alternating between slow paced and rapid beats. The pair addressed everyone with a respectful namaskar according to rank in the family and community. Varthe, being a female spirit seemed mild, while her brother Panjurli (like a boar) seemed aggressive with louder cries. The dance was a display of emotions too ranging from anger to happiness.

The well synchronized dance was energetic and enchanting, as they circled around each other, calling out each others' names. It was shocking to see them put burning camphor on the tongue.

Recent Kannada movie like Kantara also showcased this spirit possession experience in the human body, the trance like state and the dialogue of the possessed impersonator with the devotees.

After the first session, the Bhuta behaved like an incarnation of a concerned spirit healer, listening, solving problems, settling disputes, warning, comforting the devotees at the time of the ‘Nudi’,

The people returned to their homes, in immense satisfaction after receiving this kind of special extraordinary blessings during the Bhoota Kola.

It was surely an extraordinary night to remember with smiles!!!

Shobha Rao Smilemaker has a vision of living in a world where people use their ability to find and make smiles in any situation. She is a lawyer by qualification, a soft skills trainer by passion, a motivational speaker, a freelance journalist, a bestselling author, an avid traveler and founder of 'Smilemakers Trainings'. She can be contacted at www.shobhasmilemaker.com.