Koovakam koothandaar
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Koovagaam is a very
small village very famous for its annual festival in which eunuchs and
transgenders participate in a very huge
way. Koovagam is a very small village without much activity. It has a very
small temple made of stone . The presiding deity is Koothandavar .Translated
in to simple English, it would mean, ”The God of dance ”. As soon as we
enter the temple there is a small hall. After that is the sanctum
sanctorum and there one swing would be hanging. On the swing is
the head wearing a crown, With Vaishnavite Namam on his forehead, prominent Moustache and gnashing teeth which are like that of a
lion .There are no other Gods in this temple. The local people offer once a day
worship to this God. Few outsiders come to this temple to get rid of their
disease. There are no monthly festivals at this temple . But there is a great
festival on Chithra Pournmi day.
Koothandavar also known as Aravan was
the son of Pandava Prince Arjuna
and a princess of Nagas(serpents) called Ooloopi. Before the start of the Mahabaharatha war , the needed to sacrifice a perfect
person so that the Pandavas would win
the battle. The general preference was to sacrifice Aravan the son of Arjuna
and it was decided that he would be sacrificed the next morning. He too agreed to this but with three conditions.
1.Since he was not married he wanted to get married and live with her for that night.
2.He wanted to see the Mahabharatha war with his own eyes.
3.He wanted to jump and dance in the battle.
Though the first condition was agreed to , no lady was
prepared to marry him and become widow next day morning. People believe that
Lord Krishna transformed in to Mohini (enchantress) and married him. Next day Aravan or Kootandavar was
sacrificed. When he was sacrificed he
cut tissues from 32 parts
of his body and offered them to the Goddess Kali. Due to
the request of Draupadhi , goddess Kali gave
one fourth of his power to Aravan and Aravan fought in the Bharatha war
for eight days, jumping and dancing. But
an Asura called Alambasura cut off his head by
deceit . Then to fulfill his
second condition , Krishna consecrated his head on a nearby and asked him to witness the war. Even the
cut head of Aravan jumped and danced and
killed several enemies
At the end of the
Mahabharatha war , the head of Aravan
was given the status of God.. God asked Garuda to put the head of Aravan in the Sarabhanga
river . It floated in the river and via Thirupathi reached Thirukovalur and
from there it started floating in the Pennai river. That country during that
time was called Chandragiri. Aravan’s head took a form of a child and was adopted by the local king. Then that
child killed Koothasura who was the enemy of Chandragiri king and gave him the
kingdom and again took the form of a head. When the king became sad that head
assured him that it would come to the kingdom on all Chithra Pournami days and
solve all their problems. He also told that Lord Krishna would take the form of
a Transgender and marry him every year on that day. He also told that all this
was made possible due to the grace of
the God who is the enchanting dancer and so he would be called as God of
dancers. He further told that since he was the son of The Naga maiden (Aravu
means serpent) , he would also be called
Aravan. The place where Koothandavar decided to saty was called Koovakam
( the home of the dancer.)
The Koothandavar
festival is celebrated for eighteen days during Chithra Pournami. Large number
of transgenders gather there and spend the first seventeen days wearing
colourful dresses in dance and song. On
the seventeenth day , They assume that they
are The Mohini form of Lord Krishna and
marry the Koothandavar wearing Mangala Suthra and bangles. On 18th
day they wear white cut off their
Mangala Sutra ans break the bangles and return to their respective homes. This
festival is repeated every year.. They believe that by participating in the festival, they can lead
one year of trouble free life.
The nearest tows to
this temple are Vizhupuram (25 km ) and Ulundurpet (15 km.)
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