Chinnalapatti still honours Cupid during annual festival

Madurai :

Chinnalapatti in Dindigul district is one of the few places where the ancient festival for the god love , known as Kamayasamy (cupid), is celebrated with splendour for over 140 years and this year’s festival is currently underway with people from all communities joining the celebrations.

According to M Sivamurugesan, president of the festival committee, the festival coincides with Holi in North India. “Chinnalapatti is among the very few places where the festival is still celebrated. We have palm leaf manuscripts to prove that our forefathers have been celebrating it for 140 years,” he said.

The twelve-day festival begins at the end of Masi and continues till the fullmoon day on Panguni. A small shrine for Kamayan exists inside the ancient Muniappasamy temple at Chinnalapatti. A zamindar family, now headed by S Muthukumar, is the traditional trustees of the temple.

The festival commences with the temple priest, Palandi, carrying the deity’s replica made from sticks of peepal, mango and wildcane in a procession through the village streets. Then it is installed on a temporary pedestal and villagers take turns to decorate the deity with flowers of their choice, with each community vying with each other to deck up the deity the best possible way.

Each day, the villagers make offerings of a variety of food prepared at home. It is offered as ‘prasad’ to the other villages. Kamatchi, a villager, says that the important part of the festival is the recitations about the life of Kamayasamy. “According to mythology, Lord Shiva took a long penance and refused to even look at Goddess Sakthi, following which birth came to a standstill in the world. Worried, cupid sent his son-in-law to bring him out of that state. When Shiva opened his third eye, Cupid was burnt to death, though he was later resurrected,” she said.

This story is the base of this festival also. On the penultimate day of the festival, the deity is set on fire with people throwing salt and pepper into the fire. It is said that doing so keeps skin ailments that usually erupt in summer at bay. Dry field beans are boiled and offered to villagers. Then the most important ritual of getting a transsexual to mourn for the dead deity is held. Interestingly, the transsexual who has been performing the ritual for the villagers for the past 12 years is Xavier, a Christian from Mettupatti in Dindigul.

The festival helps to strengthen bonds between communities as communal barriers are given a go-by by the vilagers.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / March 23rd, 2013