THE LUNATIC OF NARANATH
There is a book titled ‘THE LEGENDS OF KERALA’. In one story a wandering Brahmin called Vararuchi takes a tribal woman with him and she bore twelve children by him. As soon as a child is born, she is told to leave it by the wayside and they proceed on. To the question: how it will survive, the Brahmin would say: if it has a mouth ,it would be fed; do not look back.
The first baby was brought up by a Namboodiri family (Mezhathol Agnihotry-the family is still there) and he became a Namboodiri. Another was a famous carpenter – Perunthachan. Among the rest was the lunatic of Naranath who captivated me as a singular personality.
Like his father, he was a wanderer. At night he would rest in a smashan, where dead bodies are burnt. Not to waste the fire, he cooked rice there. In a cool night, enjoying the warmth of the fire, he slept soundly after a day of continuous wandering.
That night, Bhadrakali, during her nocturnal trip, was surprised to find a human being and was naturally curious. In spite of her fierce shouts, she failed to rouse the stranger. Somehow he woke up and shouted back, Who is this mad woman? The Goddess was immensely pleased with the sheer daring of the man and wanted to bestow a boon; but the man refused, saying he would accept no favours either from man or God. For both it became a prestige issue. At last, the man relented. He said: I have elephant-foot on my left side; you may transfer it to my right side!
It was his pastime to roll a stone up the hill and throw it down. Watching it tumble down, he claps his hands and laughs. The hill, supposed to be his favourite haunt, is near Shoranur. On the first day of the Malayalam month of Thulam, thousands of pilgrims go up the hill. `I had been there a couple of times. It rains and the path is dangerously slippery. Yet, I enjoyed it.
I am mad. How else can I dare to write such fantastic nonsense? A lunatic is free of all inhibitions. He sees Nature as God made it. He does not worry about what is written in the text book. The greatest book is Nature. READ IT CAREFULLY without missing the punctuation. Accurate observation and logical thinking are the two pillars of knowledge. Science is nothing but the search for TRUTH.
I welcome criticism-merciless and incisive analysis.
Note: Shoranur is in Palghat (Palakkad) dist., Kerala State
There is a book titled ‘THE LEGENDS OF KERALA’. In one story a wandering Brahmin called Vararuchi takes a tribal woman with him and she bore twelve children by him. As soon as a child is born, she is told to leave it by the wayside and they proceed on. To the question: how it will survive, the Brahmin would say: if it has a mouth ,it would be fed; do not look back.
The first baby was brought up by a Namboodiri family (Mezhathol Agnihotry-the family is still there) and he became a Namboodiri. Another was a famous carpenter – Perunthachan. Among the rest was the lunatic of Naranath who captivated me as a singular personality.
Like his father, he was a wanderer. At night he would rest in a smashan, where dead bodies are burnt. Not to waste the fire, he cooked rice there. In a cool night, enjoying the warmth of the fire, he slept soundly after a day of continuous wandering.
That night, Bhadrakali, during her nocturnal trip, was surprised to find a human being and was naturally curious. In spite of her fierce shouts, she failed to rouse the stranger. Somehow he woke up and shouted back, Who is this mad woman? The Goddess was immensely pleased with the sheer daring of the man and wanted to bestow a boon; but the man refused, saying he would accept no favours either from man or God. For both it became a prestige issue. At last, the man relented. He said: I have elephant-foot on my left side; you may transfer it to my right side!
It was his pastime to roll a stone up the hill and throw it down. Watching it tumble down, he claps his hands and laughs. The hill, supposed to be his favourite haunt, is near Shoranur. On the first day of the Malayalam month of Thulam, thousands of pilgrims go up the hill. `I had been there a couple of times. It rains and the path is dangerously slippery. Yet, I enjoyed it.
I am mad. How else can I dare to write such fantastic nonsense? A lunatic is free of all inhibitions. He sees Nature as God made it. He does not worry about what is written in the text book. The greatest book is Nature. READ IT CAREFULLY without missing the punctuation. Accurate observation and logical thinking are the two pillars of knowledge. Science is nothing but the search for TRUTH.
I welcome criticism-merciless and incisive analysis.
Note: Shoranur is in Palghat (Palakkad) dist., Kerala State
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