An important festival connected with Arunachala occurs during the time of Pongal and is known as the Thiruvoodal Festival. This Festival is celebrated on January 16th and is ennacted inside the compound of Arunachaleswarar Temple, on the streets delineating the perimeter of the Temple, and on the girivalam pathway itself, by iconic representations of Shiva/Parvati in order to convey moral and social truths to their devotees.
The word 'Voodal,' means 'petty quarrel' or 'tiff' and emissaries are employed by both of the Divine Couple to convey messages between the deities and participate in ‘brokering a deal’ between them.
A variety of sagas (all listed below) concerning the Gods are used to create the scenario of the 'petty quarrel' that needs resolution.
And at the end of their quarrels, finally:
Returning to his residence at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Shiva knocks at the door but it has been bolted by Parvati. As if he didn’t know, Lord Shiva asks,
‘Oh my darling why have you locked the door?’
‘Sir after we came to an understanding still you went without me. And see now look you have lost everything there is no ornament or clothes. Not, only that but you went and gave darshan to all kinds of people. So, I am now requesting you must establish your manliness to me and retrieve everything that is lost and give the special one-legged dance.’
Shiva starts the dance, Parvati forgets everything and opens the door.******************************
Thiruvoodal Sagas
Story of Ganga
Goddess Parvati is happy watching the one-legged dance of Lord Shiva, but on noticing Goddess Ganga in the matted locks of her Lord, Parvati becomes recalcitrant and withdrawn. Shiva asks his emissary Sundarar to;
‘Please go and tell her the reason. My dear friend Sundaram, I do not do anything for my own self-interest; Bhagavati did intense tapas to bring down the river of the Gods, the Ganga, in order to pacify the souls of the 1,000 ancestors that had been burnt by the look of Kapala Rishi. Because Bhagavati did tapas, the Ganga was brought down, I had nothing to do with it and when the water came down it was so forceful, everyone said it had to be stopped or it would destroy the earth. So, what was meant to be the medicine is turning out to be another story. So they asked me to do this thing, so please explain this to Parvati. Tell her that all the creatures of the world, her creatures would have been destroyed unless I had helped negate the power of the water cascading unto the Earth.’
Mohini and the Sages
Because the Rishis of Dwaraka got too proud in that they had technology that could yield anything and attain all fruits, they started to believe that there was no need for any divine person as they had the use of; ‘yagna’ technology. In addition they had wives of unquestionable chastity.
Shiva informs Sundarar to convey to Parvati that;
‘To show the Rishis, that they are born of you (i.e. Parvati) and me and are our progeny and shouldn’t think that power is coming to them on its own. If their activities bear fruits it is because we have laid down the laws for it.
To show this, I ordained that the enchantingly beautiful Mohini (a manifestation of Lord Vishnu) appeared to the Rishis, who were completely ensared by her, as too were the rishis’ wives to my own Form as an mouna ascetic. I did this to the reduce the ego of these rishis and also grace their wives by affording them darshan of my mouna ascetic manifestation.
Shiva’s ascetic manifestation
Shiva says in the course of the Thiruvoodal;
‘Don’t put your trust into anything, everything is reduced to bone – all is reduced to ashes. So this is the symbol of the final residue. So, that is the reason I am found with this skull, no other reason.’
Sage Bringi
In order to give darshan and blessings to the Sage Bringi, Shiva sets off to perform circumbulation of Arunachala, and thus enrages Parvati who is angry with the sage for his refusal to worship her.** Parvati’s anger, creates maya (Maya Swarupa), and from that maya emerge thieves who strip Shiva of his ornaments and clothes, whilst he is performing pradakshina. This stripping of Shiva is actually yearly enacted at the same spot (during Voodal Festival) upon the idol that is being carried around the Hill.
Shiva explains to Parvati (through his emissary Sundarar) that, to satisfy the desire of devotees, he has taken a vow to appear in the form in which he is worshipped. In accordance with that vow he has given darshan to Bringi. He further tells his emissary Sundarar to convey to Parvati;
‘My darling you know Sakti can never be separated from Shiva in just the way the mud pot can never be separated from the mud. You can’t say, “Give the pot without all that other stuff!” You cannot have the form just like that. You know it my dear that Shiva-Sakti can never be separated, so in accordance with the understanding of devotees, I am appearing in this form.’
‘Sundarar please explain to Parvati so that she will reduce this tiff.’
Returning to his residence at the Arunachaleswarar Temple, Shiva knocks at the door but it has been bolted by Parvati. As if he didn’t know, Lord Shiva asks,
‘Oh my darling why have you locked the door?’
‘Sir after we came to an understanding still you went without me. And see now look you have lost everything there is no ornament or clothes. Not, only that but you went and gave darshan to all kinds of people. So, I am now requesting you must establish your manliness to me and retrieve everything that is lost and give the special one-legged dance.’
Shiva starts the dance, Parvati forgets everything and opens the door.
Story of Bringi’s maya**
“Sage Bringi considered that Shiva’s Grace the ultimate source for existence. He was an ardent votary of Lord Shiva to the exclusion of any deity in the worship including Parvati! He refused to worship Shakti, a woman. Even during his daily worship, he would circumbulate only the Lord ignoring Mother Shakti, with a flashing spark of arrogance.
The divine couple wanted to enlighten the sage and hence assumed a unique form sharing his body with Parvati. The couple took the form of Ardhanareshwara and stood unified inseparable to every atom. Even then the egoistic sage took the form of a bee (Bringa is a Sanskrit for Bee and the sage came to be called Bringi because he once became a bee) and tried to pierce through the body of the Lord so that he could go around only the Shiva part.
In every human body the static force of Shiva constitutes the bone and the skin and the dynamic force of Shakti triggers the blood and flesh. Goddess Shakti, being the power as the name indicates, pulled out her energy from Bringi's body. Now he was a mere skeleton and was even unable to stand. The Lord pacified Parvati and gave the sage one more leg to stand. The sage soon realized his folly and understood that life becomes dynamic only by the blending of both grace and force which are not contradictory but complementary to each other.”
[Sage Bringi story with thanks to Aravind Venkatraman]
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In this month's Arunachala Grace News the 'Thiruvoodal' is examined in greater depth. So if you are not yet a subscriber to the Newsletter, please check out the subscribe facility at the left hand column of this page, under Newsletter.
