Happy Temple Day!

Yesterday was Poohper’s Second Birthday!  As soon as she woke up we sang her “Happy Birthday” to which she replied “NO!”

We of course had no gifts for her.  Being ever practical we decided a trip to see Ajima was enough for a two year old.  To be honest, I broke down at a toy sale and got her a small toy and some books, but we left it at home so there would be room in the suitcases for me to buy myself more souvenirs.   

 Anyways, my parents had a small gift for her, but she opened it the day they left.  Luckily for Poohpers Bai brought a beautiful gift of a gold (like REAL gold) pendent of baby Krishna sitting on a beetle leaf.

Ajima and Bai (pronounced “By” means sister or in this case Auntie) planned a celebratory day for all of us by arranging a full day of Temple visiting.  We would spend the entire day driving around the countryside through small villages to reach the four desired temples, all temples to the god Shiva and his apparitions, and end the day by visiting some relatives at Ajima’s Ajima’s house (Hub’s maternal great grandmother’s house).

I have very few pictures from our Temple day as Hubs felt it would be disrespectful to take photos at and of the temple.  Here in India, I just go with the flow, often I don’t even really know what we are doing until we are doing it, then ask for an explanation.

The first Temple was “Sid-esh-war-ar” and it is the temple that houses the god that Hub’s family/ancestors worship.  We left our shoes in the car (so they weren’t stolen) and made our way over the rough ground to the temple.  You purchase tickets (to help fund the temple and priests – like most churches) depending on the degree of puja or blessing you wished to receive.

Ajima brought a coconut(with juice inside), some flowers, beetle leaves, beetle nut, two bananas and two sweets she had made that morning.  The sweets were special because she added a cotton wick and ghee to the top so she could light them like a lamp for the blessing.  Everything was blessed, the coconut broken open, the priest prayed for each one of us, a flame was brought out so patrons could waft the smoke over them to purify them and sacred ash was put into everyone’s right hand, then each person (or for a confused white girl, Ajima) would put ash on their forehead.  Then the gifts that were blessed (coconut, etc) was given back so you could consume the blessings.  We ate the sweets which were very good, but extremely sweet.  I later found out that they are made from equal parts white sugar and rice flour with some ghee to keep it together.

One of the other patrons brought the customary gifts and their car keys to be blessed so their new car would be blessed.  Hubs says there are usually lemons in this kind of bundle so all the “bad” can be driven into the lime and it can be smashed on the ground or run over by the car and the next person to step on the lime gets the evil instead.  So consequently we also had to make sure not to step on any smashed limes/lemons.

After the temple events we had to genuflect by the entrance (something Poohper is apparently a natural at), then Bai took Hubs, Poohpers and myself behind the temple and down these wet sketchy steps to a pool were we left some hair from Poohper’s first haircut.  The priests were filling large pop bottle from this pool I think for patrons to take home like Catholics with holy water?

Being raised a Christian, I had no idea what to do so I just pantomimed everyone else and enjoyed the funny little monkeys with the monk haircuts eating their bananas and teasing the puppy.

 The day continued with three other temples to visit.  The pujas at these temples did not involve the food items from the first temple.  We would just visit the statues, receive any fire and ash that the priest were giving and enjoy the temple architecture. 

The second temple was Taramangalam and actually had a living elephant.  The elephant was trained to bless you with its trunk when given coins.  I loved it, Poohpers of course screamed and cried when the elephant touched her.

The third temple was Arthanarishwarar Temple.  This representation of the god was half lady, half man.  It also had some monkeys, but they were less social then the first temple.  At this temple a young priest befriended Poohpers and was quiet taken with the fact that her name is derived from a book of scriptures.

We stopped for lunch after the third temple at a hotel in a small village.  The sign advertised “Finest Food and Hygiene” Hubs told me not to drink from the cups, they were too dirty to risk it.  We of course had some spicy yummy food.  Hubs and I both got tandoori paratas and ate them with “ginger cauliflower” (super spicy slightly gingery cauliflower) “Chicken 65” (questionable name as there were only about 12 chicken pieces, but still yummy), “Manchurian Chicken” (Hakka style) and some super yummy “mixed vegetable” curry that Bai ordered.

Lastly was Beluar Tanthonri (Kovil) Temple.  This means something about self-generating because the idol stature is said to have appeared on its own, then the temple was built up around it.  I am interpreting this to be something like the miracle Virgin Mary statue suddenly crying.  I enjoyed the architecture here the best as it was less grandiose, but had nicer detailed carvings.

After the Temple we stopped on the side of the road in the village while our driver got us tea/coffee.  I commented that I liked the fact that even the poorest villages all had a sweet/tea/coffee shop and clearly Indians had their priories straight.

The last stop of the day was Ajima’s Ajima’s house to visit her Auntie and Uncle that were actually both younger than her.  Ajima’s Ajima had six sons and six daughters and Ajima’s mother was one of the older siblings.  Ajima grew up in a shared family house living with her grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, cousins, parents and siblings.  Now only one of Ajima’s uncles inhabits the house so it is becoming dilapidated and the original plantation grounds have been separated, sold and developed into houses.  It was very interesting to imagine how it once was, and also to note how instantly Poohpers felt at home in this dwelling. 

By this time night had begun to fall and we had been out over eight hours, so we headed home to wash our filthy feet and have the delicious Birthday cake Bai had made for Poohpers and of course one more round of “Happy Birthday”.

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