Glancing outside the window of the noisy auto in which I was travelling made me wonder a lot. Ignoring the noisy passengers beside me I looked outside to see the dry vaigai river. " Vaigai" the name which adheres along with Madurai - the Athens of south India. "Vaigai"- the river which cuts the city into half. The river which is the heart of the chitrai festival, The river which is a symbol of life and unity of the people here. Vaigai which now symbolises a dry barren land in the middle of the city.
I glanced at the small dirty pools of sewage water ornamented by plastic bags and disposed trash. Pigs and buffaloes seem to have a fun time in these manmade spas. Blessing us for this chimerical act of humanity they roll and grunt in the most disgusting fashion.Kids playing cricket in the dry grounds, horses galloping towards a patch of green grass, vehicles vroooming over the low lying bridge accross the river makes me wonder "Where is the evidence that this river is still alive?"
The vague memory of the flooded river came into my mind ironically
followed by many such photographs which I have seen in newspapers and
magazines. As I cogitate on this problem the huge Kalmandapam comes into my view. The ruins speak about the by gone era of the pillars. Once upon a time the majestic building which stood in the centre of the flooded river, now lies devastated.During the time of flood survivors swam ashore to this pavillion and saved themself from drowning.Thus it also acted as a life saver through ages. People say ages ago the Kings and Queens used to view the chitirai festival from this stone pillared pavillion. Such a magnificent architecture now shelters the goats in madurai. Time is the weiredest magician indeed.Ocassionally during the month of chithirai this pavillaion is given attention. It gets cleaned and decorated only to shelter the idol of Lord Kalazhagar during the main event of the festival. After which it again fades off from peoples mind.
The huge buildings lining the river bank instead of trees slowly wipes out the evidence of the existence of a lively river. With these thoughts I reached my destination and got off from the auto-rickshaw. Turning back to look at the Kalmandapam which stands meditating to the open skies, awaiting a downpour and silently hoping for a drizzle ...
The story behind the birth of Vaigai:
Meenakshi, the daughter of a Pandyan king, was an incarnation of Parvathi. From a very young age, she made up her mind to marry Lord Shiva and none else. Her family was initially against this but eventually consented to her wish and arranged the wedding. Sundareswara (Siva), being an ascetic, came to the wedding without any family or relatives accompanying him. Disappointed at this, the Pandyan king angrily showed Siva the huge amount of food prepared for the bridegroom's relatives. Siva pointed to a friend he had brought with him saying 'He will consume all the food that you've made'. This friend was a Rakshasa named Kundodhara. After Kundodhara finished all the food that was prepared, He became very thirsty and started asking for water. All the wells and canals in Madurai were not sufficient to quench his thirst. Then, Siva asked Kundodhara to put his hand out and opened a small part of his hair lock and Ganga began to flow into his hand. After quenching his thirst, The rest of the waters began flowing in Madurai as the Vaigai river. Vaigai means 'put your hand out' in Tamil.
I glanced at the small dirty pools of sewage water ornamented by plastic bags and disposed trash. Pigs and buffaloes seem to have a fun time in these manmade spas. Blessing us for this chimerical act of humanity they roll and grunt in the most disgusting fashion.Kids playing cricket in the dry grounds, horses galloping towards a patch of green grass, vehicles vroooming over the low lying bridge accross the river makes me wonder "Where is the evidence that this river is still alive?"
 |
| An age old photograph of the Kalmandapam in Vaigai |
The huge buildings lining the river bank instead of trees slowly wipes out the evidence of the existence of a lively river. With these thoughts I reached my destination and got off from the auto-rickshaw. Turning back to look at the Kalmandapam which stands meditating to the open skies, awaiting a downpour and silently hoping for a drizzle ...
The story behind the birth of Vaigai:
Meenakshi, the daughter of a Pandyan king, was an incarnation of Parvathi. From a very young age, she made up her mind to marry Lord Shiva and none else. Her family was initially against this but eventually consented to her wish and arranged the wedding. Sundareswara (Siva), being an ascetic, came to the wedding without any family or relatives accompanying him. Disappointed at this, the Pandyan king angrily showed Siva the huge amount of food prepared for the bridegroom's relatives. Siva pointed to a friend he had brought with him saying 'He will consume all the food that you've made'. This friend was a Rakshasa named Kundodhara. After Kundodhara finished all the food that was prepared, He became very thirsty and started asking for water. All the wells and canals in Madurai were not sufficient to quench his thirst. Then, Siva asked Kundodhara to put his hand out and opened a small part of his hair lock and Ganga began to flow into his hand. After quenching his thirst, The rest of the waters began flowing in Madurai as the Vaigai river. Vaigai means 'put your hand out' in Tamil.
No comments:
Post a Comment