In memory of Sakthan Thampuran
G.S. Paul
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Heritage Bharathan Thampuran explains the facts behind some of the traditions of the 200-year-old Thrissur Pooram.
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Pomp and pageantry: A view of the Thrissur Pooram that draws spectators from all over the world. PHOTO: K.K. MUSTAFAH.
April 20 saw another edition of the Thrissur Pooram. A brainchild of Sakthan Thampuran, ruler of the erstwhile Cochin State during 1751-1805, the 200-year-old festival attracted lakhs of spectators across the globe this year too.
"However, few people realised that 2005 is also the bi-centenary of the death anniversary of the mighty ruler," said Bharathan Thampuran. Discussing the festival, the octogenarian Bharathan Thampuran, who is a scion of the erstwhile royal family, claimed that most of the facts on the Pooram, which was reported every year, were flawed on account of "either ignorance or exaggeration."
Irattachira Palace
According to him, Sakthan Thampuran stayed in the Irattachira Palace situated on the eastern side of the present Sakthan Thampuran market. The palace, presently in the name of Sakthan Thampuran, had never been his abode.
Moreover, it was built by Tipu Sultan. Six months after the first Pooram, organised by him in 1805, he fell ill and passed away while staying in the same palace. It was at the foot of a jack tree in `Palli Thevara Kettu' that his mortal remains after cremation were buried.
"I remember how my mother would take me to that spot to light the lamp every evening," recalled Bharathan Thampuran who was a resident of the Sakthan Thampuran Palace for 33 years, until it was handed over to the Archaeology Department in 1944.
Bharathan Thampuran underscored the importance of the Irattachira Palace in the history of Thrissur.
This palace was the destination of a solitary elephant that takes a detour before the `kudamattam' every year. This was the practice until 1914, the year in which the king had to abdicate.
But, later, the elephant was taken only up to the statue in front of the Corporation office, as it was assumed to be the statue of Sakthan Thampuran. "Strangely enough, this case of mistaken identity is popularised by both the organisers of the Pooram and the media every year," Thampuran said.
According to him, no statue or even a portrait of Sakthan Thampuran exists. He added that it was in the business establishment of a Christian merchant, near the Irattachira Palace, that Sakthan Thampuran hid himself when Tipu's army surrounded the palace. The merchant was presented with invaluable gifts, including land at Aranattukara as a gesture of gratitude, by Thampuran. Later, Thampuran disguised himself as a vegetable merchant and escaped in a country boat that carried vegetables from Kokkalai to Ernakulam.
Progressive measures
According to Bharathan Thampuran, the Thrissur Pooram was one of the many progressive measures adopted by Sakthan Thampuran to make the town more habitable.
He explained how the area to the south of the Vadakkunnathan Temple was a dense forest.
The Thekke Gopuram used to be opened only for the execution of criminals whose body was pushed to the ravine below. It was as part of Sakthan Thampuran's effort to develop the southern part of the temple that all the major events of the Pooram were organised there, he pointed out.
Even the ramp through which the caparisoned elephants emerged from the Thekke Gopuram for kudamattam was his creation. Further, the name `Thekkin Kaadu' (Forest of teak) was a misnomer. He said that it meant only forest (kaadu) on the south (thekku).
The only temple in Kerala where Pandi melam is performed within the walls of the temple is Vadakkunnathan Temple, and that too for the Pooram.
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