TTD (TIRUMALA TIRUPATI DEVASTHANAMS)
is the most popular and the most prosperous temple in Hinduism. Every year it celebrates a nine-day festival called BRAHMOTSAVAM (Festival by Creator).
Utsavam = festival; Brahma = Creator, a four-headed God.
The deity at TTD is Shri Venkateswara, also called Balaji, Srinivasa. The Creator is the son of God Vishn`u (Shri Venkateswara is a form of Vishnu). The Creator celebrates the "Festival by Creator" in reverance to his father, the Supreme Spirit (Vishnu).
VENKATESWARA HUNTS!
On the nineth day of the Celebration, the processional deity (called Utsava Murty - Malayappa Swami) is taken in a procession to hunting. This is called "Paaru Veta (pr: Paaru Veet`a)" , a hunting expedition to the forest.
The Priests lead the procession, one priest carrying a spear. Horns and drums are also used to create sounds.
INTERPRETATION, DEDUCTIONS
The evolution of this deity might have taken place when the devotees were hunters. It is also a practice for kings to go on hunting rounds occasionally. The king ruling the area might have introduced the hunting expedition in the God's agenda. Normally, man attributes whatever he does to the God also.
A God is said to be compassionate. Being Creator, he must be equal to father/mother of all the creatures in the Universe. Then how can he hunt his own children?
The priests and the temple administration blindly follow the rituals without application of any reason, in the name of "aagamas" (traditional texts which prescribe the manner of worshipping rituals in temples).
2 comments:
hey, is this you, multisubj yb? This is me, Bob, the Vleeptron Dude.
Come back to Vleeptron! We need you and your answers! We're Dumb As Rocks about Hinduism, the Baghavad Gita, Sanskrit, India politics ..... the catalog of our ignorance is vast and embarrassing.
You're Vleeptron's first Commenter from India! Keep commenting!
To start with ... who was this Panini guy? Is he still regarded as a Big Intellectual Noise? Is he still studied in uni?
r u in Hyderabad? Well, I just have tons of questions. I'm nosy and curious. What are your favorite Graham Greene books?
Break your own habit and go to the movies ... soon they're going to release 2 movies about your neighbor Ramanujan! (Which is how I ended up posting Vleeptron's first quote from the Baghavad Gita.)
Any steam locomotives still running in your part of India?
Bob the Vleeptron Dude
Massachusetts USA
Thank you. I shall reply to all your questions shortly.
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