Recently I had been to my village to attend the annual Pooram of the local deity. This festival is nothing but the Ooraba in Karnataka. These deities are Bhagavathis – the goddess who usually have about twenty villages as their Thattakams (jurisdiction). Our local deity is the Koyam Kavil shrine.

The Poorams, in the past, used to be low-key and muted celebrations. But in recent times, they enjoy greater fan-fare such as Panchavadyam (the ensemble of five drums called celestial music), coupled with caparisoned elephants, fire works etc. The grandeur can be attributed to the newly discovered cultural bonding and better economic conditions.

Elephants paraded in the festival would number 50 or 60, unlike one, three or five in the past. The larger the Tattakams (such as Ariyan Kavu and Ama-Kavu), the greater and grandiose would be the celebrations. In places like all these the Velichappadu – oracle – is important. The person would mouth prophesies which are heard in rapt attention and reverence.

Actually his orders were so powerful even kings would abide by it. Once upon a time such an oracle ordered the king of Cochin, the well known Sakthan Thamburan to desist from cleaning the forest (believed to be the divine hair of Paramekkavu Bhagavathi) to make an open ground around the great Trichur Shiva Temple. It is said he warned the oracle to desist from the prophecy and, annoyed by his indifference, beheaded him! Despite all this, the system continues to this day.

Considering the oracles to be personification of the goddess herself, people would accord them the highest respect.

On one occasion, at a Pooram, in the nada of the temple (aisle) where the elephants were standing erect to the rhythms of Panchavadyam, people were witnessing the semi-dancing of the oracles with divine swords. I noticed one oracle walking close to a line of the standing public and instructing a woman to close the head of her child with a towel in a hushed voice.

At first, the woman couldn't understand him, but got it through his repeated gestures. She closed a towel over the child's head, protecting him from the blazing afternoon sun. Actually, the woman and the child were none other than the oracle's own wife and kid!