In praise of Lord Vitthobha

Tangamani Suresh is the only woman teacher of abhangs (Marathi holy songs) in Kochi. She is preparing singers who are participating in the annual Akhand Saptaham (July 6-13) at the Shri Vitthoba Devasthan in Mattancherry

Pics: Tangamani Suresh; the black granite idol of Lord Vitthobha; founder Ambu Baliga

By Shevlin Sebastian 

At 4 p.m. on a recent Saturday, at entrepreneur Mahesh Joshi’s house at Mattancherry, his wife Sonal and daughter-in-law Sandhya are laying out a multi-coloured sheet over the carpet. Then Sonal brings in two idols of Lord Vitthobha and his consort Rukmini, which had been specifically bought from Pandharpur in Maharashtra 15 years ago, and places it on a low table. On the wall above it, there is already a large framed photograph of Vitthobha. 

Soon, Tangamani Suresh, 73, comes in. She is the veteran singer/teacher of abhangs (holy songs sung in praise of Lord Vitthobha (who is Krishna in Marathi). Thereafter, several women -- Shyla Bhatt, Maya Giriraya, Geeta S Pai, and Vasumati Iyer, among others -- come in. They are all Konkanis and Tamilians except for Sonal who is a Gujarati. Some sit on the floor while the elderly sit on the sofa. 

At precisely 4.30 p.m., Tangamani starts playing the harmonium. Soon, the women start singing: “Shree Rama Krishna Hari/Ek Tatva Naam/Dradha Dhari Mana/Hari Si Karuna Yeila Tuji (Hold on with single pointed devotion to the chanting of the name of the Lord, which is the easiest and sure way to be the recipient of divine blessings and grace).

Apart from the harmonium, cymbals are also used. Soon, the singing is loud-throated and powerful. Not many know that Tangamani is the only woman teacher of abhangs in Kochi. She has been doing it for the past 50 years. And has trained generations of women. 

Tangamani herself learnt it from her grandmother at an early age. “I feel happiest when I am singing,” she says. 

The group meets at Sonal’s house twice a week. They are training to give a performance at the nearby Shri Vitthoba Devasthan. The annual Akhand Saptaham is taking place. “At 7.30 a.m., on July 6, the diya was lit,” says Sonal’s husband Mahesh. “It will remain lit till 7.30 a.m. on Saturday, July 13.” 

And abhangs will be sung non-stop throughout the day and the night, till Saturday. Groups of singers called mandalis will come and sing for one hour. Then another group will come and take their place. They are coming from different places. On Monday, groups came from North Parur, Kodungaloor, Kovai, Kalady, Vazhapuzha and Tripunithara, apart from local groups. “Every year, so many people are disappointed that they did not get a chance to sing,” says Naresh V Pai, who is a trustee of the Devasthan. 

Sonal’s group, coached by Tangamani, will be singing on Tuesday. As the training session continues, at the temple, at the same time, a group is singing the abhang in Kannada. Inside, there are numerous marigold garlands hanging on wires just below the ceiling. 

The black granite idol of Lord Vitthobha, about two feet high, has numerous garlands, as well as necklaces and a crown. He holds a conch in his left hand and a chipady, a musical instrument on the right hand. There are anklets on both feet. 

The idol was brought to Kochi from Pandharpur in 1909 (see next story). 

At the back of the temple, there is a canteen. After a performance, singers sit and enjoy dosa, idli or upma along with hot cups of tea. “This event has been going on for 68 years now, thanks to the cooperation of all the devotees,” says Mahesh.  

The miracle of the granite idol 

In 1909, there was a big businessman in Kerala called Ambu Baliga. He was an ardent Krishna devotee. Ambu had a companion called Laxmibhai. She was an ardent devotee of Vitthobha. She used to sing abhangs. But the businessman was not interested. But one day, at her insistence, they went to the main temple of Vitthobha at Pandharpur, Maharashtra. 

While there, one night Ambu had a dream. In it, there was a shilpi (craftsman) who said, “At 9 a.m., near the main door of the temple, you come to me and I will hand over an idol to you. Which you have to carry to your hometown.” 

But when Ambu got up he thought it was just a dream and did not give it any importance. But when he mentioned this to Laxmibhai, she told him she had the same dream. 

But by then, the time had passed. The next morning, Ambu had another dream where the same man said, “Why you did not come? I waited for you.” 

Now he took it seriously. At the right time, on the third day, both Ambu and Laxmibhai went to the gate where a man stood holding an idol. He handed it over. 

The moment they took the idol and turned, the man vanished. “They understood that God himself had handed over the idol,” says Mahesh Joshi, a trustee of the Shri Vithoba Devasthan.   

At Mattancherry, Ambu built a small temple and installed the idol. Since the Pandharpur temple allowed all castes and creeds to enter the premises, Ambu did the same thing in Mattancherry, even allowing non-Hindus. But there was an immediate repercussion.  

The orthodox Brahmins took offence. The pujari left the temple. “So Ambu did the puja himself but all the Brahmins stopped coming to the temple and ostracised him,” says Mahesh. “People started avoiding him. He got mentally disturbed. The  Brahmins immediately told the Travancore Maharajah if this practice spreads to other temples, there would be chaos.” 

The king agreed. One day a jeep came and Ambu was taken away on the pretext that he was a lunatic. “Nobody knew what happened to him after that,” says Mahesh. 

For many years the temple remained closed. There was no owner. Grass grew. Snakes were crawling everywhere. One day, in 1952, the neighbours, a few Gujaratis and Konkanis, felt that they should do something and reopened the temple. They performed an Akhand Bhajan Saptaham for the first time. “And the temple has been functioning ever since,” says Prem Kumar Bhatt, the present president of the Sree Rama Bhajana Mandali. 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)