KASI YATRA
KASI YATRA
When we hear the word Kasi Yathirai, we remember a bridegroom with his brother-in-law holding an umbrella over his head and the father-in-law, holding two coconuts in his hand, requesting him to come and marry his daughter. The explanation given to this ritual is a man cannot perform the rituals for his ancestors in Kashi unless his wife accompanies him and that is why symbolically he is requested to get married well before the necessity arises for him to go to Kashi for performing those rituals. The process of Kashi yatra begins with collection of sand from the seashore of Rameswaram, next, dissolving the sand at Thriveni sangamam in Prayagraj, culminates with performing the Abishekam of Sri Ramantha Swamy in Rameswaram with the Ganga water brought from Kasi and performance of Ganga Samardhanai after you return home.
First Stop -- Rameswaram.
Rameswaram is a small town with the people living there mainly depending on the temple and the sea for their livelihood. As the first part of the Kasi Yatra, the rituals one should perform here are as follows (Of course, these are for men who have lost at least one of the parents)
1. Sankalpam - Sankalpam is performed for commencing the journey by drawing a bow like structure on the sand with turmeric powder and do the pooja and praying that the journey and the rituals should be performed without any hitches.
2. Samudra Snanam- Husband and wife should take holy dip in the sea water and collect the sand .
3. Hiranya Srardam -After taking bath in the sea, hiranya srardham is performed with 5 brahmin pandits. But instead of cooked rice "Pindams" are made with wet raw rice.
4. Madhava Pooja - The sand collected from the sea bed is divided into three portions and named a) Sri. Veni Madhava b) Shri Bindhu Madhava c) Shri Sethu Madhava. Pooja is done for all the Madhavas . Sethu madhavar is immersed in the sea in Rameshwaram. Other 2 Madhavas accompany us on our journey to Prayag and Kashi.
5. Theertha Snanam - Ramanatha Swamy Koil prakaram has 33 wells, which are considered auspicious for taking shower. In each of the wells, there are one or two persons waiting to take out water from the wells and pour it on you. need to pay only a small amount for this service.
6. Sightseeing- Since we have a train to Chennai only in the evening and if you have time, an auto can be hired to go sightseeing. Kodanda Ramaswamy temple in Dhanushkodi, Rama theertham ,Seetha Theertham, Lakshmana Theertham, a temple with stones that are supposed to be used for" Sethu Bhandanma"(Here the stones are seen floating in water and there are pictures of the arial view of the Sethu or bridge built by Lord Ram taken by NASA on display) are places worth seeing.
Second Stop-- Prayagraj or Allahabad
There is a saying " Prayagai mundanam,Kasi Dhandanam, Gaya Pindanam".It means hair cutting in Prayag, getting beaten by the Dhandam in Dhandapani Bairav temple in Kasi and offering the pindams in Gaya are must-do rituals. So those who go to Prayag are required to cut at least a strand of their hair. In Prayag Shiv Mutt pandits make all the arrangements for the rituals to be performed. The rituals to be performed here as follows:
1. Sangalpam - First of all you have to perform a sangalpam.Then the ladies have to seek permission from their husbands and the Sumagalis to cut their hair. Then a pooja has to be performed for the sand brought from Rameswaram. (A request from the pandit in the Shiv Mutt " Don't address this as sand, you have named it Veni Madhav and brought him all the way from Rameswaram. Refer to him as Veni Madhav.) He also requests not to bring Veni Madhav in plastic bags as plastic is banned in Ganges. Another suggestion. If you are not going to Prayag immediately after visiting Rameswaram open the bag and dry the sand, sorry, Veni Madhav in the sun. Otherwise, it will start emitting a bad smell.
2. Veni Dhanam - We have to carry a blouse piece, comb, mirror, kumkum pack in a muram or winnow and go to Thriveni sangamam by boat. Local Pandas come to the boat and recite some Mantras and the husband has to comb and plait his wife's hair and cut a small bit from the end. After arriving at thriveni sangamam, wife puts the hair along with turmeric powder and kumkum in the river. It is surprising to see that both haldi and kumkum floats, whereas the hair sinks. Then the husband and wife bathe in the sangam and immerses Veni Madhav in the water. Pure water from Ganga should be collected in a can before it merges with Yamuna.
3. Tharpanam -After coming back to Shiv Mutt a tharpanam must be performed. Cook in the kitchen keeps the cooked rice ready and 17 pindams or rice balls are to be made out of this rice. Before that the water brought from the Ganges can be given to a shop opposite Shiv Mutt so that they pack the water in small copper sombus .One thing to remember. The water for Abishekam to Ramanathaswamy should be in a copper sombu which can hold at least half a liter. If we order in advance Shiv Mutt provides food for a cost.
After finishing the day's rituals an auto can be hired to go around the temples in Varanasi. One word of advice. Cameras, cell phones and big handbags are not allowed inside the Viswanathar temple. So better leave them in the place where you stay .Viswanathar temple, Visalakshi temple and Annapoorani temple are all in small by lanes close to each other. Other than these 3 main temples, Kalabhairav temple (here Black threads called Kasi Kairu are placed in the deity's feet and given to us) Dhandapani Bhairav temple (here the pandit strokes our back 3 times with a stick implying that the deity is pardoning all our sins after giving a punishment) Sozhi matha temple (This goddess is considered to be the sister of Lord Viswanath and seems to have come from South India. Her main meal is Sozhis or cowries. We can buy them and give them as an offering) Sankat mochan Hanumar temple, the place where Thulasidas first read out his creation"Ramcharita Manas" are places worth seeing. Saranath, the place where Lord Buddha gave out his first sermon is also a place not to be missed.
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Even in the beginning of this narrative the importance of Pindams in Gaya was mentioned. Even if we just think that we can plan to go to Kasi and Gaya it is believed that our ancestors come and wait for our arrival. We started from Varanasi around 3 AM and reached Karnataka Bhavan in Gaya by 7.30 AM. A cook accompanied us with all the required things for feeding the Gaya Brahmins after performing the Srardham. All arrangements were made by Karnataka Bhavan. First, we were taken to the Phalguni River. We cannot say it is a river because we don't see even a drop of water on the surface, only heaps of sand. There is a tale behind this. Lord Ram came with Sita to Gaya to perform "Pindadhanam "for his father. He went into the forest for collecting all the stuff needed for this. Meanwhile Dhasharatha appeared in front of Sita and told her that as he is very hungry, he needs to be served food immediately. At that time Sita was sitting on the banks of the Phalguni River and immediately she made pindams out of the sand in the riverbed and fed her Father-in-Law. With his hunger gone, Dhasharatha blesses Sita and leaves. Lord Rama after returning from the forest prepares for the ritual and invokes his father. Dhasharatha appears in front of him and says Sita has already fed him and he is not hungry. Lord Ram is puzzled and asks Sita to produce some witnesses for having given pindams to his father. Sita first calls the river as a witness but Phalguni thinking that her statement may cause a rift between Ram and Sita says she has not seen anything. Next Sita calls a cow, a Thulasi plant ,and a brahmin as witnesses. But all of them reply in the negative. Finally Sita calls the "Aala maram or the banyan tree " and the tree vouches for Sita offering Pindams for her father-in law. Sita curses all the four false witnesses that that water will never flow in Phalguni , Thulasi plant may grow even in dirt, cows who were talking in those times will lose their tongue and finally the Gaya Brahmin will never be satisfied with the food he gets. She was very happy that the Aalamaram spoke the truth and gives a boon that it will continue to flourish eternally.So it is called" Akshaya vatam" here.
We are asked to fetch water from the pit dug in the river and with that water asked to cook two bowls of rice. The pandit recites the mantras for Tharpanam . Out of the two bowls of cooked rice 17 and 64 rice ballas are made respectively (One who has his mother alive need to make only 48 pindams)and out of the 17 pindams we keep 12 on bed of "Dharbai" for our direct ancestors for 3 generations both on father's and mother's side,one for " karunika Pithrus" and four for those who have died without children, water and food. Then we proceed to the "Vishnu Padam temple .There out of the remaining 64 pindams, 16 are exclusively for one's mother remembering what all hardships she underwent for the child's birth and the rest are for all those who have died among relatives, in-laws, friends etc. Even the servants and pet animals we had are remembered and given " pindams" All the pindams are submitted in " The Vishnu Padam" . VishnuPadams made of copper are available for sale in shops near this temple. We can buy them and those who have the practice of " Vishnu llai" while performing Srardham can keep these "Padams" in front of the Banana leaf.
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Then we returned to Karnataka Bhavan and did full-fledged "Srardham" The menu for the Brahmins is Puri, vegetables sambar, rasam, buttermilk, payasam and vadai. After performing the "Srardham" we have to prepare 17 and 64 /48 pindams again and take them to "Akshaya vatam" or the Aalamaram which got the boon of eternity from Sita. There after "Pinda pradanam"we have to take a vow to forego a vegetable, a fruit and a leaf (By default this leaf is always "Aalilai) Vegetable and fruit are as per one's wish. Finally, a Gaya brahmin is called and asked whether he is satisfied by the rituals we have done. When he replies in the affirmative all the pindams are put at the base of the banyan tree. It is better to keep sufficient coins and currency as the beggars keep chasing us. It was around 8 PM when we returned to Kashi.
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Fifth Stop- - Again Kashi
Morning we got up and went to the river to take bath. Then we got into the boat in which a furnace is kept ready. The wife is to cook a small amount of rice to be made into 17 pindams. After making them she has to cook the rice again and kept ready before reaching the next ghat. The husband performs tharpanam and submits the pindams to his ancestors and puts them in the river. By this time the boat arrives in the next ghat. Here both husband and wife take bath, get into the boat and repeat the rituals. In this way all the 5 ghats (Assi Ghat, Dasaswametha Ghat, ManiKarnika Ghat, Pancha Ganaga Ghat, Thrilochan Ghat) are covered and it takes roughly about 3 hours. Then we return with a brass pot of Ganga water. After return we perform "Dampathi Pooja" wherein an elderly couple is worshipped as Lord Viswanath and Visalakshi. Dhoti set, 9 yards saree, blouse piece, mirror, comb, manjal kungumam and a Thirumangalyam are given to them. After performing the pooja, we have to seek their blessings. Next comes Ganga Samaradhanai. The water brought from the river is worshiped and with feeding 4 pundits in "Kala Bhairva Samaradhanai" the rituals in Kashi come to an end.
Performing Abishekam for Ramanathswamy in Rameswaram with Ganga jalam is the next step. After returning home, performing a Ganga Samaradhanai is a must. With that, the yatra comes to an end.
Subham
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