Thaipooyam or Thaipoosam in Tamil is a festival associated with Lord Subrahmania (Lord Murugan). Although this festival is originated from Tamil Nadu, it is being celebrated widely in Kerala, especially in Temples dedicated to Lord Subramanya.
The name “Thaipooyam” is derived by blending two words. “Thai” is a Tamil month (Jan- Feb) and Pooyam is the star (It is called Poosam in Tamil). Although some people believe that this is the birthday of Lord Subrahmania, this is not true according to Skanda Purana.
The most popular legend behind this festival is as follows.
Gods and Demons were engaged in continuous fights and on many occasions, Demons won the war. This worried Gods and they all approached Lord Shiva. When Lord Shiva appeared in front of them, gods told him about their plight and requested to help them in winning the war against demons.
Lord Shiva created Skanda out of his own divine power. Skanda grew younger soon and take the commandership of the army of gods. Under his leadership, Gods won many wars against demons but still, there was a demon called Soorapadman whom they cannot defeat. Worried about the fate of the war, Skanda (Lord Subrahmania) approached Goddess Parvati to find out a solution.
Goddess sat for a while with her eyes closed. She was aggregating all her power to a single point. Suddenly when she opened her eyes, a spear appeared there. She handed it over to Lord Subrahmania and told him that he will be known as “Velayudha”. (Vel means Spear and “ayudha” means weapon. The name Velayudha means, the person who’s a weapon is a spear).
That spear has immense power as it is created with the divine power of Goddess Parvati. Lord Subrahmania went with that spear to fight the war. This time he could defeat the Demon and kill him. According to the common belief, it was the Pooyam star of Thai month that Parvati presented the divine spear to Lord Subrahmania.
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| Kavadi Attam |
As mentioned earlier, Thaipooyam is celebrated in temples dedicated to Lord Subramanya. The main attraction of this festival is a form of dance called “Kavadi Attam”. There are two different myths about kavadiyattam. One tells that this is the dance of Lord’s servants encouraging him to start the war with the demon as he had the divine spear with him. According to this, the word “Kavu” means a temple or divine place, and “Adi” means servants.
In kavadiattam, the dancers will bear an arch-shaped structure decorated with flowers. Dancers will keep this heavy structure on their shoulders and will dance to the rhythm of drums. According to some other version, kavadi denotes burden and the dancers are taking all their burdens on their shoulders and dance to appease Lord Subrahmania. The dancers will have to follow certain rituals before participating in kavadi attam. They should observe penance for 41 days by avoiding alcoholic liquor, non-vegetarian food, etc. According to this belief, the Lord will enjoy their dance and remove the burdens from their shoulders.
Famous Subrahmania Temples in Kerala
Harippad Subrahmania Temple Aleppy district
Kuzhur Subrahmania Temple Thrissur
Vytila Subrahmania Temple Ernakulam
Perallassery Subrahmania Temple Kannur
