When Sree Narayana Guru, the social reformer saint consecrated a Shiva idol at Aruvippuram in 1888, it was a revolution and a break of tradition. The Nambudiri brahmins questioned the legitimacy of a lower caste Ezhava, installing an idol in a temple, and termed it blasphemy. Guru remarked sarcastically, "I have installed an Ezhava Shiva."
Guru, well-learned in the Hindu scriptures, wrote after the consecration: "This is the model abode where everyone will live in brotherhood, without animosity due to differences of caste and religion".
In Travancore, the lower castes got entry into the temples only after November 12, 1936. The Temple Entry Proclamation was issued by Maharaja Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma on that day.
It was during his wandering life that Narayana Guru came upon Aruvippuram. He decided to build a place of worship open to all castes. He picked up a stone from the nearby Neyyar River and used it as an idol for the temple and consecrated it. He set up other temples at Aluva, Vypin, Cherai and Moothakunnam.
But the first Ezhava to consecrate a temple was Arattupuzha Velayudha Panikkar. Panikkar, an Ezhava noble, had consecrated a Shiva temple, the Njaneswara temple in 1852, at Karthikappally. The installation of the idol was done by a non-Brahmin Tantri, Viswanathan Gurukkal, of Kandiyur, Mavelikkara. Panikkar had also selected a non-Brahmin to do the daily pujas. The next year, Panikkar built a Shiva temple at Cheruvaranamkara, Thanneermukkam, near Cherthala. Panikkar had learned the temple rituals by impersonating himself as a Brahmin and staying at the Vaikam Mahadeva temple. He was also the first non-caste Hindu to learn Kathakali. He established a Kathakali troupe of Ezhavas in 1862.
Omal enters
Between these two Shiva installations, a Dalit revolution took place at Kuriyannoor, near Kozhencherry in today's Pathanamthitta district. In 1875, Omal, belonging to the Pulaya community, built a temple and installed a Shiva idol. The reformation in Kerala has unsung heroes like Omal. He consecrated the Mahadeva temple on top of Mayiladumpara, and it still exists.
The renewed interest in Omal has been ignited by the notes on him, unearthed from the archives of the Karipalli Nair family of Kuriyannoor. These notes were authored by K K Sankaranarayana Pillai, in 1952. In his foreword to the notes, Pillai says that he got the details on Omal from his grandma, Nangeli. Thuruthipallil Narayanan Vaidyan's collection of poems, Ganamanjari, contains a poem on Omal, Omal Keerthanam.
The life story of Tapaswi Omal began to trickle down in bits and pieces, from the 1980s onwards. Two Malayalam dailies were reported in 1988 and 1989 on Omal's spiritual journey. Now, Orna Krishnankutti, a Dalit activist, has written a booklet on Omal which is available on Amazon Kindle.
The dailies towards the end of the 1980s had based their reports on Omal, on the accounts of fourth-generation members of his family, M K Kesavan, Kuravankuzhichira Omal and Vidwan K K Sankaranarayana Pillai.
Omal was born in Kuttanad in 1825. His family were the slaves of Idanat Idathil Thampuran and he was bought along with his family as slaves by the wealthy Karipalli Nair family of Kuriyannur, in 1845. Omal's family belonged to a gotra called Thachanillom among the Pulayas.
Slavery had been abolished in Travancore by a royal proclamation on December 5, 1812, by Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi. But the proclamation stipulated that the slaves attached to the soil and agriculture would remain slaves.
Omal was the elder son of Karumban Koran and Maikkuzhiyil Thevi. He had five siblings: Kannan, Palan, Azhakan, Daivathan and Kuliri.
It is said that Omal was spiritually inclined from early in life. Like Narayana Guru, he also got married, and his wife was Thaliri. They had five children: Mathura, Kuruka, Kuliri, Kochomal and Kannan.
Omal listened secretly to the rendering of the Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita, by the Karipalli family head, Narayanan Nair. Nair, in turn, encouraged Omal in his spiritual pursuits. He sent Omal for studies in the nearby Thuruthipallil house, where Ezhava scholar Narayanan Vaidyan taught Bhagavatha. Omal assisted Nair in his pujas. On a Shivaratri day, when Nair's family members objected to a dalit assisting in pujas, Nair extolled Omal's dedication. On that day, Nair gifted a Rudraksha chain to him. After Nair's death, Omal had been a shadow to his nephews.
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Mayiladumpara Mahadeva Temple
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The author of Omal Keerthanam, Narayanan Vaidyan (1903-1984), belonged to the third generation. Narayanan Vaidyan had heard stories about Omal from his father, Unnan Vaidyan. Omal Keerthanam describes Omal wearing ochre, rudraksha and soolam. He had untended hair.Omal’s family members remember that he was enamoured by an encounter in the Sambari Mahatmya episode of Shiva Purana. One day, Chandaka the hunter sees the remains of a Shiva temple. Prince Simhakethu met Chandaka who was wielding a Shivalinga, on his hand. The lower caste, Chandaka, asked the prince whether he had the right to do pujas. The prince told him that anyone is free to offer pujas to a Shivalinga, chanting the Panchakshari.
While continuing as an agricultural labourer, Omal used to visit Aranmula, to pray to Parthasarathy. Since entry for him was banned, he prayed to the god from the opposite bank of the river Pampa. There was a hundi established on this bank for the lower-caste devotees to make offerings.
After one such visit to Aranmula, during the consecration of the new flag mast in 1873, Omal didn't go back with his colleagues. He submerged himself in the Infinity, praying intensively, eyes shut. He had crossed the border that was earmarked for the Dalits. When he opened his eyes, he saw that people had poured cow dung water over his entire body. He realised once and for all that the temples are for the elite and will always be closed for the Dalits. He left the noble's home to seek his Lord- he began a deep penance on top of Mayiladumpara. He sustained himself for 41 days, on water and basil leaves. The basil water was provided by the Nair family.
At the end of it, Omal drowned in the river and came atop with a rock. He carved out his Shiva, the dalit Shiva, out of the rock, using his axe, and installed it atop Mayiladumpara. It was Maha Shivaratri, March 6, 1875 (1050 Kumbham 24). The temple, a hut, also had Kali, looking to the West. When the Aranmula temple authorities protested, he quoted Shiva Purana. Then, according to his family members, an absolute utterance emanated from him: "നാലു കടങ്ങൾ ഇല്ലാത്ത ഒരാൾക്കേ എന്നെ തടയാനാവൂ - മുൻ കടം, തൻ കടം, സങ്കടം, അപകടം." (Only a person free of four debts will be able to prevent me- previous debts, self-debts, distress and danger.) It means one who is free from the cycle of birth and death alone is competent to prevent him from the consecration.
After Kuriyannoor, he consecrated another Shiva temple at Valiyakulam, Ranni, in 1888. While the Ranni temple is in the hands of the SNDP today, Kuriyannoor temple is administered by Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabha (KPMS).
Omal attained samadhi on August 2, 1908 (1083 Karkatakam 18). His year of death is recorded in Omal Keerthanam. After his death, the temple was renovated by Dalit leader Azhakananda Swamikal, who was in the vanguard of the Vaikam and Chengannur temple entry struggles. He had also two Dalit leaders, Kurumban Daivathan and Vellikkara Chothi, with him to fight at Vaikam.
The temple created by Omal has grown into a great temple today. It has a well 750 feet above the river water level. The area of the single rock on which the temple stands comes to almost one acre. And the soul of Omal is sure to reverberate through Kerala history in the coming decades.
© Ramachandran
