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| Sunday, 22 August 2004 |
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Divine interlude in Batticaloa by Rohan Canagasabey
Silent tears fell down her dark cheeks in two rivulets as the woman prayed at the main shrine inside the Sri Vigneswara Mamangeswaram Kovil in Batticaloa last week. Tears for departed friends or family, either during the long years of the ethnic conflict or even perhaps victims of the recent internecine LTTE conflict. I did not wish to intrude and ask her for whom she was shedding tears, but it was symbolic of the pain and suffering of the Tamil people in the Batticaloa region. However the internecine killings continued unabated, mostly in towns just outside of Batticaloa. Echoing this fact, Kumaran (not his real name), at the end of a brief conversation said, "it is dangerous now" with a smile, as he headed inside the temple to worship. But the religious festivities at Batticaloa's main temple offered a ten-day respite from the troubles around them for the Tamil people. And most of the hundreds of people that flocked to the temple and to the nearby stalls selling varied items and to also enjoy attractions like a mini circus and a motorbike display team, appeared to want to take this opportunity to forget their woes. A confidential source within St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in town, said "people are just living day-to-day and are uncertain of what the future holds for them". He added that, "the people feel uncertain about who is actually responsible for all the killings, as some people think that elements outside of the LTTE-Karuna split are using it for their own ends". Reality
Whatever the reality of the situation surrounding the consequences of the LTTE split in the East, most of the Hindu Tamil people of the Batticaloa region headed towards this temple, known in shortened form as Mamangam, between the 6th to the 15th of this month. The modern temple was first built in 1888, whilst the peace process has enabled a grander gopuram, fronting it, to be under construction. The steady stream of Hindu worshippers gathered pace in the evening as the circling of the temple by the priests with images of the Hindu Gods occurred in the cool night temperature. Devotees, including groups of children, after worshipping in the temple, sat on the ground in front or amused themselves in each others' company, whilst buying snacks, drinks or other items. On the last day of celebrations last Sunday, large pots of food had been prepared by devotees to give to others, whilst some gave uncooked rice and other foodstuff to the less fortunate seated in rows nearby. The ten days of worship culminated with the bathing of the Nandi (bull) last Sunday. The Nandi is closely identified with the main deity here, which is Pillayar, son of Shiva. The Nandi was brought from the temple in a procession and placed on an altar on the far side of the large pond beside the temple, where hundreds of people had lined its perimeter.
The pond is reputed to have been created when Rawana set Hanuman's tail on fire when the latter freed Sita from Rawana's clutches. According to this legend, Hanuman then struck the ground to enable water to gush out and quench the fire and thus was formed this large pond beside the temple. The end of celebratory worship saw the priests who had escorted the Nandi step into the waters of the pond, which was the cue for a few hundred worshippers gathered nearby to step into the now holy water and be blessed by bathing in it. A watery end to a brief ten-day holy respite for most Tamil people here, whose collective troubles seem never-ending. |
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