The Village called Tirubuvanam
The village with idyllic surroundings on the banks of the river Veera chozan, a tributary of the river Cauvery in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu in Southern India is called Tirubuvanam. Originally according to the legend it was here that a Chola king got rid of his sins of having killed a Brahmin and was relentlessly being chased by a brahma rakshas! (A demon), the king felt relieved when he reached the abode of Lord Siva here who is called Kamphahareswar, the one who removed the tremble! The king was supposed to have looked back from here hence the village came to be known as Tirumbu vanam! The village has four streets lined with houses and two temples of prominence, one dedicated to Siva known as Kampahareswara temple and the other dedicated to Lord Rama known as Kodandaramar temple.
The imposing Siva Temple is of Chola period, thronged by people of the neighborhood is famous. It is also an abode of Lord Siva’s incarnation as a bird, as well as mythological animal form rolled into one! Called Sarabeswara!
It is a weaver’s village dominated by folks whose dialect is popularly known as “Sourashtra”. Though the majority of the village population belonged to this community others too shared the livelihood. Other places where the people belonging to this community have settled are Kumbakonam and Madurai. Just like any other typical village of India and its deep-rooted cultural ethos, it has well laid out streets predominantly occupied by people of same occupation. For instance the Agraharam was known as Sannadhi Street people living there were engaged in Temple ritual and its maintenance reside.
The temple is the center of activity with its retinue of smaller temples for lesser deities and the temple tank with its own small temples housing Lord Muruga and Vinayaga on its bund surrounded by huge many trees of reverence such as Peepal, Neem etc.
The Economy
The village is predominantly weaver’s heaven! The Sannadhi Street is lined with a number of shops selling silk sarees and has come to command their own brand loyalty namely “Tirubuvanam Pattu”. You will not miss the captivating sight of multi coloured silk and gleaming gold threads spread across with village folks attending on them and preparing them for weaving into sarees. These sarees that capture the imagination of our women in rapturous designs! The designs of yester years are simply legendary. For instance a design called Vanasingaram that depicts a scene in a forest is so intricate with detail of trees their leaves, the birds and monkeys perched on trees and the wild animals roaming in leisure and the flora that surrounds them!
Yet another design called “Rudraksha” resembles the adornment of Lord Siva and lends a graceful addition to the saree! The sheer imagination of these weavers has brought sculptural marvels of the temple to life by capturing some of the sculptures as a design; an example of this is the design that depicts the bull and an elephant in one figurine! A Kooraipudavai is a specially coloured (Arakku) with diamond border designed saree is a “must buy” of any bridegroom for his bride! The shops here cater to the requirements of the entire state and favorite of people of Chetti Nadu because the sarees called Kandangis are made to order for them here.
These innovations coupled with their craftsmanship have carved a niche for these sarees in the country and abroad! Every house sports a few looms and the entire family is engaged in weaving and other related activities. Commerce in this little village is tailor made to the people. There is one Bazar Street fondly called as “Kadaitheru” where you would find all that you need in a dwelling! A Post office, doctor’s clinic, a hotel with a pet name “Iyer club”, provision stores, vegetable shop, medical shop manned by a self styled physician! Few saree shops, a bank, a saloon, paan betel leaves and cigarette shop and last but not the least the Mutt that doubles up as a bus stop!
People of the village generally lead a relaxed life and the hectic pace that you find in a metropolis is conspicuously absent. Early in the mornings you would wake up to the sound of brass bell of the milk vendor who comes by his bicycle, he stops at the doorstep of every household and delivers milk from his can.
It is a spectacle to watch, the members of the household waiting for him to turn up before their house and collect the milk, some times surrounded by their children. He always has a word or two with his customers and exchanges pleasantries, if you are guest or a member who had been long away from the village, he is sure to recognize it immediately and make a friendly inquiry.
Majority of the villagers go to the river to take bath and fetch water for cooking even though municipal water is supplied in the taps located at street ends. Herds of people loudly talking about the goings on in the village wend their way to the river and quietly return home after bath!
Next on the Scene are a vegetable vendor and butter and butter- milk vendor. These ladies from the nearby villages are quite old and popular among the populace! They bring vegetables that are grown in the villages nearby such as greens, sundaikai, manathakkalikai, avaraikai (Bean), vazaipoo and vazhaikai(plantain flower and fruit- unripe), podalai(snake gourd), murungai(drumstick),karisalanganni, paavkkai(bitter gourd) etc. They make sure that they spend at least five minutes at house of their regular customers. They are good at bargaining with the ladies at home who would always want that extra few grams of butter and additional ladle of butter- milk for free! They also collect dresses of children who have outgrown their clothes and barter their products.
At around noon, it is time for the postman to ring the cycle bell in his own innovative way, so that everyone would immediately recognize that it is he, who is on his rounds. He is like the character in the R K Narayan’s novel and is part of every household and shares their joys and sorrows too! Even those who do not get any letters by post would wait to talk to him and share their thoughts! For those senior citizens he doubles up as a utility bill collector! Most of these village folks patronize the Iyer Club for his hot Iddli Sambar and Degree coffee! It is a morning routine to get it from the hotel and after breakfast the job at the loom occupies their time. Cooking invariably starts in the afternoon and the men folk retire for their lunch at late noon. You cannot miss noticing the used plantain leaves left in front of the house after the lunch has been partaken! A lot of roaming goats feast on them, which is a regular feature. After the sumptuous meal the men and the women folk munch the fresh betel leaves with a host of paraphernalia such as tobacco, calcium etc. and later retire for a Mexican siesta!
Every forecourt of the houses, both in the morning and in the evening is sprinkled with cow dung and swept clean and an artistic Kolam a pattern that is drawn with rice flour, in the front of them that are captivating.
Late afternoon it is time again at the looms and women prepare themselves for the evening! You would find the women and their girl children sitting on the raised platform called Thinnai in front of their house and grooming their hair. Awhile later they are ready fully dressed up to visit the temples.
As the night descends the village falls quiet of the entire din and noise and the voices of the villagers stretching themselves on the wooden cot brought to the forecourt are clearly audible in the stillness of the night. The conversations some times continue into the long hours of night, since that is the time they could get to calmly analyze their mundane issues on hand! A bull-laden cart breaks some times their silence with a shrill bell ringing. It is the edible oil vendor who arrives at the scene. If you happen to be a night bird you would not miss the sudden activity on the streets that witness a brief spell of traffic and accompanied noise! It is the cinemagoers that are returning from the night show discussing the interesting episodes of the movie.
The social life at the village
The society is a close knitted one. Amity among the villagers is a foregone conclusion. Happy and sorrow occasions are shared by all. For any occasion the whole village is invited, marriages are celebrated over a few days to the accompaniment of feasts! Similarly bereavements are solemn occasions when the whole village gathers to share the sorrow and offer succor to the family in bereavement. Festivals like Pongal, Deepavali, Karthigai are celebrated with gaiety. Navarathri is yet another festival that is famous. Few families here organize the dolls on wooden steps called Kolupadi and various dolls of gods and goddesses are kept on them. Every day pooja is offered for nine days and special puddings of boiled beans and pulses known as sundal are prepared and offered to the deities and then distributed among the visitors to these spectacles. You would be surprised to know that during these days they attract hundreds of visitors who are received and honoured with Tamboolam and offered sundal by the women folk at the house. Temples also organize these kolus on a grand scale and attract many visitors, even from nearby villages. The temple festivals are an important part of the villager’s life and there is no dearth of these festivals here. The two prominent temples the Siva and Rama temple celebrate these festivities every year with pomp and show. The lord Siva is carried on palanquins in the mornings and during the night various celestial vehicles are used.
The Vishnu temple has Garuda the Celestial bird and Hanuman as special vehicles.
Apart from the common ones of birds and animals like parrot, swan, elephant, serpent, ram, peacock, bandicoot, bull etc there are specific vehicles that are peculiar to the Siva Temple such as Bootha vahanam the demon and demo ness! The Purushamirugam half man and half horse! Gandharva and Gandharvi. These festivals begin with flag hoisting at the temple that takes place at the flag post found in the front of the sanctum sanctorum and every day a parivara devata (attendant god) is taken on procession before the main deity proceeds forth. Of the ten-day festivities the chariot festival marks an important occasion wherein the deity is taken in procession around the village streets. You could notice the dedication piety with which the villagers celebrate these festivals as they meticulously sweep the road and sprinkle cow dung mixture and adorn the floor with intricate patterns drawn with rice flour both in the morning and evenings. The festivities culminate with the ceremonial bath given to the deities on the penultimate day of the ten-day affair at the river. Apart from these temple festivals other smaller temples for guardian deities such as Mariamman, kaliamman are also celebrated and they include interesting items like fire walking, drawing of the chariot by strings tied to the needles that pierce the skin of those who drag them!
During the Kaliamman festival the motif of Badra kali is worn by a devotee and is escorted around the streets of the village. He(she) sits in front of the house that offers prayers, in a chair that is brought out from the house for this purpose! He is given a soda or a soft drink occasionally to drink! After which camphor is lit And he offers holy ashes to the devotees. Invariably every village has two Kalis namely Pacchai kali and Pavazha kali the green and red coloured deities.
Apart from these festivals there are a number of other celebrations that are peculiar to the village namely Narasimha Natakam, the drama of Narasimha Avatara or incarnation of Vishnu enacted by village folks! The drama starts around ten at night and goes on and gets over by early morning. These dramas are enacted after meticulous preparation of many days and are accompanied by songs that are appropriate for the scene composed by the villagers. Tiruthondar natakam is yet another drama that is staged. Uriadi and Sarukkumaram festivals too add colour to the kaleidoscopic life of the village. In between all these, there will be religious discourses on ramayana and Maha bharata by scholars that will attract the pious ones!
Witnessing these one is left wonder struck at the fullness of throbbing life at the village in contrast to the fast paced life bereft of any of the activities that rejuvenate our lives! It is a sordid fact that these are gradually being encroached by relentless urban lifestyle and are withering away!
How to get there?
This is about 5 Kms from Kumbakonam town in Tanjore District and can be reached by train or by bus. Frequent train and bus services are available from Chennai and other important cities and towns of Tamil Nadu. Other places of interest nearby are:
Kumbakonam famous for Aravamudhan (reclining Vishnu),Ramar, Chakrapani(the holy discuss at the hands of Vishnu) temples and Kumbeswar (Siva) temple.
Tirunageswaram famous for Naganatha swamy, and Rahu one of the nine planet Gods!
Uppiliappan Koil famous temple for Lord Venkateswara.
Nachiyar Koil famous for granite Garuda upon which lord is taken around the village during the festival!
Navagraha sthalas the temples of all the nine planets!
Tirumeyachchur the temple of Goddess Lalitha Tripurasundari where Lalitha sahasranamam was first recited.
Pattiswaram the temple of Vishnu Durga.
Darasuram Shiva temple famous for its sculptures.
Garbharakhambika temple known for its efficacy in granting the boon of expecting mothers!
Therazhandur the famous temple of Lord Vishnu appears as a cowherd boy where Goddess Parvati in the form of a cow stands next to Him!
There are a number of small and big towns spiritually famous such as Govindapuram, Tiruvidaimarudur, Veppattur, Tirukadaiyur etc.near this place, making it really an interesting destination to visit.
