Үнді фестивалі: Мамамкам тарихы

Indian festival

Māmānkam or Māmāngam was a duodecennial medieval fair held on the bank, and on the dry river bed, of Pērār (River Nil̥a, River Ponnani, or Bhārathappuzha) at Tirunāvāya, southern India. The temple associated with the festival was Nava Mukunda Temple in Tirunavaya. It seems to have begun as a temple festival, analogous to the Kumbha Melas at Ujjaini, Prayaga, Haridwar and Kumbakonam. Tirunāvāya, is known for its ancient Hindu temples. The festival was most flamboyantly celebrated under the auspices and at the expenses of the Hindu chiefs of Kōzhikōde (Calicut), the Samutiris (the Zamorins). The fair was not only a religious festival for the Samutiris, but also an occasion for the display of all their pomp and power as the most powerful chiefs of Kerala. During the Mamankam it was believed that the goddess Ganga descended into the Perar and by her miraculous advent made the river as holy as the Ganges itself. Much like the famous Kumbha Mēḷas, the fair is held once in every 12 years and carried huge economic, social and political significance. Apart from the brisk trading, attested by travelers from Arabia, Greece and China, various forms of martial art and intellectual contests, cultural festivals, Hindu ritual ceremonies and folk art performances were held at Tirunāvāya. Hindu pilgrims from distant places, trading groups and travelers also leave colorful accounts of Māmānkam. Duarte Barbosa mentions "scaffoldings erected in the field with silken hangings spread over it". Kozhikode Granthavari, Mamakam Kilippattu and Kandaru Menon Patappattu, along with Keralolpatti and Keralamahatmya, are the major native chronicles mentioning the Mamankam festival. The innate nature of the festival, dateable at least to the era before the Cheras of Cranganore (c. 800 1124 CE), muddled in myths and legends, is still disputed. As per some sources, the nature of the fair underwent tragic changes after the capture of Tirunāvāya by the chief of Kōzhikōde from the Veḷḷāṭṭiri chief. From that day forth, the Vaḷḷuvanāṭu chiefs started to send warriors to kill the Sāmūtiri (who was personally present at the fair with all his kith and kin) and regain the honor of conducting the festival. This led to a long drawn rivalry and bloodshed between these two clans. As per K. V. Krishna Iyer, the last Māmānkam fair was held in 1755 CE. The Māmānkam came to an end with the conquest of Kōzhikōde by the Sultān of Mysōre, Ḥaidar ʿAlī (1766 CE) and the subsequent Treaty of Seringapatam (1792) with the English East India Company. Canganpaḷḷi Kaḷari, Paḻukkāmandapam, Nilapāṭu Tara, Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunāvāya are protected (Protected Monuments) by the State Archaeology Department, Kēral̥a.

Year Source 1743 William Logan, K. P. Padmanabha Menon and P. K. S. Raja 1755 K. V. Krishna Ayyar 1766 Another view by K. V. Krishna Ayyar, N. M. Nampoothiri

Changampally Kalari, Pazhukkamandapam, Nilapadu Thara, Marunnara and Manikkiṇar at Tirunavaya are protected (Protected Monuments) by the State Archaeology Department, Kerala. All of them are situated on private land, which means the Kerala Tourism Department is not able to get involved in preserving the monuments. The Marunnara is situated on around 4.5 acre land owned by Kerala State Electricity Board and the Nilapatu Tara is inside the land of the Kodakkal Tile Factory. In August 2010, the renovation of Mamankam ruins was inaugurated up by the authorities, which came under the Nila Tourism Project with the support of State Archaeology Department, Kerala. Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation was appointed as the implementing agency of the project. Changampally Kalari, Nilapadu Thara, Manikkinar, Pazhukkamandapam, and Marunnara were renovated during this period. Assistance from the Kerala state government, around Rs. 90 lakhs, funded this renovation. Nilapadu Thara (Vakayur platform): This raised platform is situated on the premises of the Kodakkal Tile Factory. During the Mamankam festival, the Samutiri of Kozhikode used to stand on this raised platform) seems to be a very sacred place for the Hindus of Kerala from time immemorial. Perar at Tirunavaya is considered to assume a special sanctity, because it flows between the temple of god Vishnu (Nava Mukunda) on its right bank and temples of Brahma and Siva on its left. The fair was initially conducted by the landlords, led by an executive officer styled the Rakshapurusha ("the Great Protector of the Four Kalakas"). Each Rakshapurusha was to continue in office only for three years. Once some dispute arose as to the selection of the next Great Protector, in the assembly at Tirunavaya, and principle four section (which then composed the assembly) having failed to agree as to the selection of their executive officer resolved at last to select one to rule over them, and for this purpose they traveled, and chose one prince from a kingdom on the east of the Western Ghats. The Brahmins brought a prince to Tirunavaya, placed him on a seat of honor on the banks of Perar, and proclaimed him "Perumal of Kerala". According to the original engagement with the prince, he was to continue as ruler only for a term of 12 years, at end of which he was to retire into private life or to leave the country altogether. So it seems, at first conducted by the Brahmins, the fair came to be celebrated the aegis of the Chera rulers of Cranganore. Even in latter Samutiri times, the first invitation letter to participate in the Mamankam was addressed to the Pandyas, a reminiscence of the Chera days. Sir James Frazer also supports this view in his extensive studies.

Jonathan Duncan, in his "Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society", mentions at each recurring Mamankam festival all feudal ties were broken, and the parties, assembled in public conclave at Tirunavaya, readjusted at such times all existing relations among themselves. By ancient customs, even in Travancore, all tenures were to continue for a maximum period of twelve years to be renewed thereafter. But it is known that this idealistic proposition did not work satisfactorily in Kerala.

Account of a Valluvanatu attack at the Mamankam held in 1683 is given by William Logan in his district manual (1887). This account was based on the Kozhikode Granthavaris –

Amid much din and firing of guns the Samutiri, the warriors, the elect of the four Nair houses in Valluvanatu, step forth from the crowd and receive the last blessings and farewells of their friends and relatives. They have just partaken of the last meal they are to eat on earth at the house of the temple representative of their chieftain Vellattiri; they are decked with garlands and smeared with ashes. On this particular occasion it is one of the houses of Putumanna Panikkar who heads the fray. He is joined with seventeen of his friends – for all who so wish may fall in with sword and shields in support of the men who have elected to die. Armed with swords and shields alone they rush at the spearmen thronging the palisades; they wind and turn their bodies, as if they had no bones, casting them forward and backward, high and low, even to the astonishment of the beholders, as worthy Master Johnson describes them in a passage already quoted. But notwithstanding the suppleness of their limbs, notwithstanding their delight and skill and dexterity in weapons, the result is inevitable, and is prosaically recorded in the chronicle thus: The number of warriors who came and died in the early morning the next day after the elephant began to be adorned with gold trappings – being Putumana Kantar Menon and followers – was eighteen. At various times during the ten last days of the festival the same thing is repeated. Whenever the Samutiri of Kozhikode takes his stand on the terrace, assumes the sword (the Sword of the Chera king) and shakes it, men rush forth from the crowd on the west temple gate only to be impaled on the spears of the guardsmen who relieve each other from day to day.

Many festivals with the name "Mamankam" are conducted in Hindu temples across Kerala. To disambiguate them from the Mamankam conducted at Tirunavaya, they are usually denoted by the name of the place along with the title. For example, 'Machad Mamankam'.