Religion and prayer are matters of faith and conscience. While religion purportedly teaches one how to lead one’s life with the sole purpose of attaining god or salvation, prayer is a form of communication which the believers believe would help them pay obeisance to god.
The archanas in temples, mass in churches and namaz at mosques are all forms of prayers and the mode of prayer has always been dictated by tradition and accepted by devotees for several generations. The passage of time and several other historical developments have no doubt brought about changes in the mode of prayer like for instance the use of native or vernacular languages.
Latin has been replaced by local tongues in most Catholic churches, while Protestants have almost always used their mother tongue for church prayers. Many savants in many temples have composed archanas in Tamil. They are either literal translations of the Sanskrit original or names culled from Tamil religious works like Thevaram and Thiruvasagam. The emphasis on correct diction in prayer language is due to the belief that their correct delivery opens up dormant cells of the brain and thus improves understanding and the sense of the mystical of the devotees whose hearts are close to the gods they worship.
Anyway these are ideas which the irreligious may not concede. That is their business. But one thing which even they have to concede is the fact that world over prayers have only been in praise of ‘the god’, depending on the religion. At least, prayers and paeans sung inside the sanctum sanctorum of places of worship are always directed at the god. Even the Anglican church prayers have a few lines which prays for the Queen and the Royal family and not to them.
But the self-styled rationalists and self- appointed reformers of our land are a class apart. Their present obsession, Tamil everywhere, a laudable one from the standpoint of one of the most ancient and beautiful languages, has now taken things to a ridiculous level. The allusion is to a Tamil archana in the famous Kapali temple of Mylapore in Chennai which is a virtual assault on rationalism and decency. Neither does it do the language or its protagonists proud. A poet has constructed a Tamil archana which is not only devoid of the requisite cadences but goes to the extreme. If the devotees are forced to use this archana, it is a crime against religion as well as secularism.
The most blasphemous detail about the Tamil archana is that there are namavalis praising the ruler of the day the ‘Champion of Tamil’ and the Kazhagam to which they belong. Lord Kapali has been insulted by this misconceived zeal to please the ‘master’. Here are a few examples.
One nama speaks about Kadambur mevia Kalaignar, another makes obeisance to the Tamil champion saying Tamizh Kudimagane potri, a third sees Lords Kapali as having emerged out of the core of the Kazhagam. Another line says kadamai, kanniyam, kattuppadu potri.
Well, it does not need paguththarivu to understand to whom and what these references are to. And to cap all this outrage, comes the government order from the Hindu Charitable and Religious Endowment Board that it would come down with a heavy hand on priests who do not use this monstrosity of archana.
These champions of rationalism would shun theism, but would still insist on Tamil if the same god has to be addressed. They detest sycophancy, if it is directed at the opponent. For them, it is music to their ears. it is of concern, if temples become thieves dent but would not mind if they become ego-tickling camps.
Hypocrisy potri. Sychophancy potri potri.
e-mail the writer at [email protected]