Tens of thousands of tiny tots in Kerala were initiated into the world of letters through the ritual of Vidyarambham (start of education) on the auspicious Vijayadashami day, on Friday. The children were made to write the first letters of their lives in rice and sand by the initiating Gurus (Acharyas) at dozens of temples and other centres in the State.
Vijayadashami in Kerala is dedicated to Saraswati, goddess of letters, knowledge and wisdom, and is considered as the auspicious day for Vidyarambham, or Ezhuthiniruthu in common Malayalam. The Acharyas lead the kids to enter the world by making them write Harishree Ganapathaye Nama, Avighnamastu.
As per the ritual, the initiating Acharya would write these letters with a golden pen (known as Narayam in the olden days) or a gold finger-ring on the tongue of the child who would be sitting in the lap of his/her parent or uncle. Then the Guru would make the child write the letters in rice kept in a plate and/or sand in the courtyard or kept in a plate.
The most important centre for Vidyarambham for Keralites is outside the State —the Mookambika temple at Kollur near Mangalore in Karnataka. Thousands of children from Kerala took part in the Vidyarambham festival there on Friday. “I was firm that my son should scribble his first letters here,” Premanandan, a father from Kannur, said over the phone.
The Panachikkadu Devi temple in Kottayam district, known as the Dakshina Mookambika temple, the Thiruvullakkavu temple near Thrissur, Thunchan Parambu in Tirur, Malappuram, the memorial of Thunchath Ezhuthachchan revered as the father of Malayalam language, saw the biggest rush on Friday for the initiation ritual.
Writer MT Vasudevan Nair, a Jnanpith winner, led the initiation ceremony at Thunchan Parambu in Tirur where dozens of other Acharyas also took part in the ritual. “I consider this as a double blessing for me and my child. “MT doing the initiation for my child and that too at Thunchan Parambu…” said Narayanan Potti, a temple priest from Kozhikode.
The Thunchan Memorial at Airanimuttom in Thiruvananthapuram district saw long queues of parents waiting with their children for the ceremony even at 4.00 AM Friday. As many as 50 Acharyas took part in the ritual there. Vidyarambham was also celebrated at the Kalakkathu Bhavanam, home of poet Kunchan Nambiar at lakkidi in Palakkad district.
Ezhuthiniruthu was performed also at several cultural centres, media offices and even at some churches and mosques as the ritual had of late become a symbol of social harmony. “I don’t consider this as a ritual exclusively for the Hindus. This is part of our culture,” said Joseph George who had taken his daughter to a church in Thiruvananthapuram for the ritual.
Despite being a materialist to the core, nonagenarian Marxist and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan also participated in the festival of letters by initiating two children into the world of knowledge at Cantonment House, his official residence in Thiruvananthapuram. He had participated in the festival last year in Palakkad.