When Srivilliputhur wakes up to the sounds of the Thiruppavai from its many temples, the frail S Raman, 65, walks from his house on West Car Street to the Andal Temple. He spends at least two hours in the the temple garden in the southern prakaram , picking flowers and leaves. He carries them back home to make his precious parrot.
What he creates with his deft fingers is no ordinary parrot. It adorns goddess Andal every evening. “She holds it in her left hand for almost the same duration it takes to make it,” says Raman, who’s the lone parrot maker of the town in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu.
“It is like meditation,” he says, “I take an average of four to five hours to make one parrot.” Earlier, he could do the same job in two hours but with advancing age and weak eyesight, he requires multiple breaks.
“It is by God’s grace that I have been making this offering for 26 years, uninterrupted,” he says. “Not everyone gets such an opportunity,” he says, swelling with pride.
Raman is the seventh generation descendant of Sathada Srivaishnava family making Andal’s parrots. He says before that, parrots were made for every ritual in the temple for more than 200 years.
Raman was a typist with Southern Railways, but lost his job post-Emergency in 1978 and returned to his home-town. Then, his uncle made the parrot for Andal and Raman would simply watch him in between his odd jobs. When his uncle’s health started deteriorating, Raman trained under him for a year to learn the craft and stepped into his shoes after the former passed away in 1993.
“Andal will find somebody else to do this when I am gone,” he smiles. Both his sons and his many nephews live elsewhere doing different jobs and none of them has shown interest in learning the craft. This makes Raman the sole carrier of the age-old tradition.
“I feel blessed and this is the only work I do,” he says. Earlier, he got ₹750 per month; but now, he gets ₹125 a day for the kili that he unfailingly hands over to the chief priest of the temple at 3.30 pm every day. The goddess, who holds a gems-studded golden parrot during the day, is seen with the green parrot when the temple reopens at 4 pm.
Even as he talks to us, Raman is a picture of concentration. Since he lacks stamina to complete the bird in one sitting, he makes the different body parts at intervals. The flowers and leaves he collects in the morning, he says, do not wilt as he keeps them covered in a shade and sprinkles water on them before using them.
As his fingers move with expertise, he says, the demand for the parrot goes up by the time the evening rituals are over. There is a long wait-list of devotees every evening, who wish to take the parrot home as a blessing. Raman recalls when R Venkataraman was the President of India, the kili was sent to him to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi on his request.
Raman makes additional parrots only on two other occasions. These are sent to the Azhagar Temple in Madurai during the Chithrai Thiruvizha in April and to Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati during Brahmotsavam in September. “It is part of rituals to send Andal’s special garland, a nine-yard gorgeous silk sari and the parrot in a cane basket to these two places,” he says.
It saddens Raman that look-alike parrots are now available for sale in shops around the temple. “I do not indulge in such businesses; I see this as pure service,” he adds.
Published - May 02, 2019 05:15 pm IST
