With Painguni festival going on at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple, a colourful festivity fills the air around the ancient shrine.
A major attraction of the festival, organised by the Sri Chitra Thirunal Memorial Samskarika Samiti, is the five staggering figures of the legendary Pandavas, all in red, that have come up along the road leading to the East Fort on the street towards the temple’s east.
The imposing figures bear the labels of the mythological heroes —Yuddhishtira, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva. They tell a gripping tale from the Mahabharatha.
“Thiruvananthapuram had been once ‘Ananthankadu,’ which was the abode of the Pandavas during their exile. The Kauravas knew this and came for a battle, but were forced to retreat by the might of Bhima,” says Rajaraja Varma, administrator of the temple trust.
Kept at the store
“The figures that have been stored at Bheemanpura in the temple trust compound are brought out every year for the festival. The figure of Bhima is erected last, accompanied by distribution of kanji to the devotees,” he says.
To depict the Pandava-Kaurava war, ‘Velakali’ is enacted, which is a special performance by 101 people dressed in tribal costumes, a red bandana, and carrying shields and swords. “The 101 Velakali players signify the 101 Kauravas. It is symbolic of the battle that took place in the forest,” says Sreepadam R. Sukumaran Nair, a souvenir shop owner and author of ‘A guide to the Divine Feet’.
Velakali
‘Velakali’ is set to be performed at 4.15 p.m. on April 18 this year. It was stopped in 1941, but was revived in 2011. “There had earlier been similar figures of ‘garuda’ and ‘gopasthreekal’. They were made out of wood and Bheema, in particular, had appeared frighteningly majestic,” Mr. Sukumaran Nair says.
The earlier wooden Pandavas had been crafted by ‘Thottakathu Asarimar’ who had made all the woodworks for the temple, according to historian M.G. Shashibhooshan. The wood was later replaced by weightless fibre. “The Pandavas, today, look relatively smaller,” Mr. Sukumaran Nair adds. “The ceremony was established by Anizham Thirunal Marthandavarma in 18{+t}{+h}century around 1740,” Mr. Shashibhooshan says.
“It is believed that the event’s mythology is to remind people that tough choices are a part of warfare just as it was for the Pandavas who had to defeat their own brothers.” “A lot of tourists come here to see the installations. They enquire about them and in particular, the mythology,” says Venkiteshan, secretary of the Navarathri Temple Trust.
