Socio-Religious Movements within Hinduism: Ayyavazhi Muthukutty
Ayyavazhi which means in “Path of the Master” is a henotheistic belief that originated in South India in the 19th century. It is cited as an independent monistic religion by several newspapers, government reports, journals, and academic researchers. Ayyavazhi shares many ideas with Hinduism in its beliefs and practice, but differs considerably in its concepts of good and evil and dharma. Though Ayyavazhi followers are spread across India, they are primarily present in South India, especially concentrated in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The exact number of practitioners is unknown, since Ayyavazhis are reported as Hindus during censuses.
Ayya Vaikundar
Ayyavazhi is centered on the life and preachings of Ayya Vaikundar; its ideas and philosophy are based on the holy texts Akilathirattu Ammanai and Arul Nool. Ayya Vaikundar (c.1810–c.1851), also known as Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, was a 19th-century social reformer and iconoclast who worked for the upliftment of downtrodden people in the Kingdom of Travancore. He is central to the Hindu denomination of Ayyavazhi, as per Holy Scripture. Akilattirattu Ammanai says that he was Lord Vishnu. In order to attain human form, Vishnu used the body of previous (Krishna) avatar for the incarnation of Ayya Vaikundar, kept in Parvatha Ucchi Malai (a mythical mountain believed to be in this region) after the completion of the Krishna Avatar. In order to attain natural growth of the human body, Vishnu used the soul of Sampooranathevan a deva also called Mudisoodum Perumal, he was granted moksha (liberation from the cycle of death and birth, synonymous with heaven) before the Ayya Vaikunda Avathar in the sea. The exact date of birth of Mudisoodum Perumal or Muthukutty is unknown. It is mostly placed in either 1810 or 1809, while others follow the view of Akilam.
Early Life
He was born in 1809 to Ponnu Madan and Veyilal Amma at Poovandanthope in the Kanyakumari District (part of Travancore then). They initially named the child Mudisoodum Perumal, meaning “Lord with a crown”. But the people complained to authorities about the name and they forced the parents to change his name to Muthukutty. Muthukutty was a religious boy who had special interest in Vishnu. The holy book Akilam mentions that he set a pedestal for Lord Vishnu in his house. At age seventeen, Muthukutty started to live with Thirumalammal from the nearby village of Puviyur and she lived with him only to serve him during his public activities. Thirumalammal had been married, but left her former husband to marry Muthukutty. According to quotes found in Akilam, they had a male child, who was sired by her first husband.
Muthukutty earned his living as a Palmyra palm climber and as an agricultural laborer.
Legend
Ayyavazhi scripture Akilam tells of a legend of a child who was born dead. Next, immediately the soul of Sampooranathevan was installed into the body, kept in Parvatha Ucchi Malai (a mythical mountain believed to be in this region) after the completion of the Krishna Avatar. According to the legend, the parents found the child still for a time immediately after birth, then the child began to behave normally. Thereafter, that boy grew up called Muthukutty in human history and Sampooranathevan in Ayyavazhi mythology.
Ayyavazhi followers believe that Ayya Vaikundar transformed during an encounter with a deity. In his twenty-fourth year, Muthukutty was struck by illness and suffered for a year. His mother took her sick son to the temple at Thiruchendur, during a festival there. He went into the sea and disappeared. The parents searched for his body for one day. According to legend, on the third day, Lord Vishnu appeared on the sea-shore. On seeing him, Muthukutty’s mother mistook him for her son and tried to embrace him. He told her that he was no longer her son, but the son of Supreme Lord Narayana. Then he started walking towards Detchanam. This place became a holy place for the devotees of Ayyavazhi and they erected a temple there named Avatharappathi. This event is celebrated during the festival of Ayya Vaikundar Avataram.
Ayya Vaikundar, who arose from the sea at Thiruchendur (per Akilathirattu Ammanai) on 20th of the Tamil Month of Masi (March 4, 1831 CE, Friday) is considered a unique avatar by the followers of Ayyavazhi. According to Akilam Ayya Vaikundar was not merely a human, not merely Narayana and not merely the Ultimate Soul, but all three. He had the responsibility to destroy the evil of Kali.
Tavam
Upon reaching Poovantanthoppe, (present-day Swamithope), he undertook a penance. The penance consisted of three stages, each spanning two years. A tradition describes his postures during the six-year tavam as follows: during the first two years, he stood inside a six feet deep pit; during the next two years, he squatted on the ground; and during the last two years, he sat on a raised platform. His appearance was filthy, “long and entangled plait of hair” and frayed clothes. He spoke less and subsisted on frugal meals.
Supernatural abilities
Akilattirattu speaks of his incineration of evil spirits as an important event in Ayya Vaikundar’s incarnation. It took place when he was performing his penance, which he had announced to be the means of destroying the kalimayai – the illusory evil force. He gathered the people and caused some of them, both male and female, to be possessed of the evil spirits (peyattam). The possessed ones danced in front of the crowd as if the evil spirits had come upon them. Vaikundar, then, ordered these evil spirits to make an oath, in front of the people, to surrender their powers and incinerate themselves. When he had finished his orders, the dancers fell flat on the ground and burned.
Similarly, Vaikundar performed another action to ‘seize the esoteric evil powers’. Akilam says that he took away the powers of those who knew to perform witchcraft, sorcery and other magical rituals. People living in the hills, called as Kanikkarar, were believed to be powerful shamans, having powers to contain or to provoke the demons. Vaikundar, in a trance, made some of them testify that they had surrendered their powers. People grew appreciative of Ayya’s actions. They began addressing him as Vaikuntacami. This implied an attribution of divinity to Vaikundar. Vaikundar exhorted the people as follows:
There are no demons, no devils. No ill effects of magical practices, No disease, no pain and no extortion of taxes, and, therefore, live courageously.
Five Citars
Ayya Vaikundar has five disciples (citars). It was through one of his disciples, Hari Gopalan Citar, he wrote the holy book, called Akilam. According to holy scripture Akilattirattu Ammanai the Pandavas of previous Dwapara Yukam was made to take birth in this Kali Yukam as Citars of Vaikundar. They are Dharma Citar, Bhima Citar, Arjunan Citar, Nakulan Citar and Sakatevan Citar.
Vaikundar as Pantaram
The fame of Vaikundar began to spread in the countries of Travancore and Tirunelveli and he was gradually recognised as a religious person with extraordinary powers. He was addressed as a Pantaram, a religious person hailing from and serving the ordinary folk. Akilattirattu addresses him as Narayana Pantaram.
People came to listen to his teachings and instructions, to be cured by him of different diseases, to witness, worship and serve a religious person. Vaikundar encouraged the people to come together around a well to take a ritual bath, irrespective of caste. He encouraged them to dine together in his presence.
He stressed that he had come to abolish Kali Yukam and to usher in an age of Dharma Yukam, when the now-oppressed and suffering people would be liberated and rule the land under his leadership. ‘Uplift of the lowly is dharmam’ was a constant refrain in his teachings. People were encouraged to serve as catalysts for the destruction of Kali by transforming themselves to be ‘people of Dharma Yukam’ and to acquire a new character. The new character would come upon them, he said, if they learned to live with self-respect, social dignity and fearlessness. Underscoring the importance of self-respect and social dignity, he said, ‘if one lives with dignity and self-respect, the kali would destroy itself’. He said when people grew out of kalimayai, Dharma Yukam would unfold and in that age, he would rule over the people as Dharma Raja, the king of Dharma Yukam.
Arrest and Imprisonment
Against the background of the growing popularity of Vaikundar and the convergence of people around him in multitudes, a complaint was lodged against him with the king of Travancore. The king arrested Vaikundar and tortured him. Ayya may have been arrested on 11 November 1839, but the date is not mentioned in Akilam.
Post-Imprisonment
After he returned from imprisonment, Vaikundar inspired a group of his devotees to undertake a religious exercise called Thuvayal Thavasu. He also performed miracles. He initiated festivities. The deities were made to ‘come upon’ some of the female devotees who became their human media and a marriage ceremony was performed. Ceremonial processions were held amidst singing, incantations and shouts of joy by the followers. Several rites and rituals were instituted during these occasions.
Attaining Vaikundam
Later Vaikundar was invited by his devotees to their homes and treated in a grand manner. By way of soliciting his blessings, his devotees carried him to different places. During these occasions, he laid foundations in various places for small shrine-like centres, called Nizhal Thangals.
Vaikundar died on 3 June 1851. According to Ayyavazhi followers, he is said to have attained Vaikundam. However, this date is disputed, as Samuel Mateer mentions the year as 1848. As he attained Vaikundam his body was interned in a tomb and, around that, a pati (temple) was later built. His devotees continued to visit this site and performed the rituals as they used to do when Vaikundar was bodily present. His life and works remain the foundation of the Ayyavazhi. The head temple of the Ayyavazhi religion is the Swamithoppepathi and is located in the Village of Swamithope.
Teachings and Impact
The majority of Ayyavazhi’s key teachings can be found in the book Akilattirattu Ammanai and other teachings are collated from various books written by unknown authors, whose works feature in the Arul Nool. Like Dharma, the other teachings of Ayyavazhi are twofold, sociological and mystical. The mystical teachings are devoted to revealing divine knowledge, while social teachings are primarily concerned with eliminating inequality and discrimination in society. The teachings encourage a positive relationship with God, as opposed to one based on fear. Followers are encouraged to refer to God as Ayya, “dear father”, to strengthen their intimacy and affection towards God.
Ayyavazhi clearly and explicitly condemns the caste-based inequalities in its social teachings. It heavily criticises the caste discrimination rather than the ‘Caste system’ itself. From its inception, Ayyavazhi has also served as an engine of social reform, particularly in the area of Travancore, which was previously noted for its unusually strong caste system. In this context, the mingling of castes in Ayyavazhi centers was a vital element in the transformation of society.
Ayya Vaikundar was the first to succeed as a social reformer in launching political struggle, social renaissance as well as religious reformation in the country. Vaikundar was the pioneer of the social revolutionaries of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Research scholars regard Vaikundar as a teacher, healer and also a miracle worker. He was also said to be the forerunner of all social reformers of India. Akilam displayed sympathy for the laboring classes, and opposed to the often excessive taxes they were forced to pay. From the beginning, the followers, fortified by the teachings, have also taken a strong stand against political oppression. Ayyavazhi was in the forefront of movements for Human Rights and Social Equality. Ayyavazhi also effected many social changes in southern India, resulting in the emergence of a series of social and self-respect movements such as Upper cloth agitation, Temple entry agitation and other movements including those of Narayana Guru, Chattampi Swamikal, Vallalar and Ayyankali.
Evaluation
In spite of preaching about equality and inclusiveness, the Ayyavazhi scriptures are mixed up in their acceptance of inclusiveness and exclusiveness. The inclusive theory accepts the views of different religions for a certain period of time, and from then onwards exclusively rejects all of them in its narrative. Ayyavazhi accepts different god-heads of several religions, like the concept of Allah and almost all the god-heads of Hinduism. It also says that the one and the same God incarnates in different parts of the world at different times for rescuing the people from sufferings. But due to the advent of Kaliyan and because of the cruel nature of his boons, for the first time, the supreme power Ekam incarnates in the world as Vaikundar, and so all the lesser god-heads and previous scriptures had lost their substances. So after the time of the Vaikunda Avatar, Vaikundar was said to be the only worshippable God and hence, the theology of Ayyavazhi was channeled towards exclusivism.
The manner in which Akilam treats the scriptures of different religions is complicated. For instance, while there is no direct reference to the terms ‘Christ’ or ‘Bible’ anywhere in any of the Ayyavazhi texts, there is an indirect reference in Akilam thirteen which is supposed to be an implication that Christ was an incarnation of Narayana, but it was widely thought that it did not recognise the Bible composition. It seems the view of Akilam on Bible is “it was created with the intention of man and not that of God”. In common, creation of religions and shaping individualities for them are heavily criticised. The concepts ‘God’ and ‘Religion’ are kept poles apart in Akilam, and it seems to maintain an ideology something like ‘Accept God; Reject religion’.
Ayyavazhi accepts various incarnations in Hinduism, but necessarily rejects the so-called ‘Hindu’ scriptures. It initially accepts Vedas. Later since Kaliyan had bought the Vedas as boon they too lost their substance by the advent of Kaliyan, and so had gone invalid. It also says that he (Kaliyan) had performed several additions and had hidden some of their content. And hence God incarnated as Vaikundar. So for the present age, Akilam is said to be the only ‘Book of Perfection’. By this Ayyavazhi rejects all other scriptures and follows only its own. Akilam highly condemns the creation of religions especially exclusivistic religious and theological ideas. It shows them as the foremost Kali mayai (evil of Kali).
Muthukutty seemed to be someone who was mainly preoccupied with the establishment of a worldly kingdom which he termed as Dharma Yukam, which would be a kingdom ruled by the oppressed and the depressed people and where he would reign as the king, Dharma Raja of Dharma Yukam. Although he was against the caste, it was not the system that he was so much against, but the discrimination based on caste. It seemed that in some way he accepted the caste system. But it is inevitable that if there is a system then there is bound to be discrimination.
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