The Irumbai Legend
The Villagers' acceptance of
Auroville
The warmth and hospitality that the local populace has
shown in accepting people of different races, cultures
and countries and in allowing the Auroville experiment
to take place in their 'backyard', is truly remarkable.
This ancient legend perhaps explains why the villagers
have shown such tolerance to Aurovillians. Irumbai is a
small village on the edge of Auroville. The village
temple is extremely old and is particularly associated
with the legend of Kaduveli Siddha, a famous yogi who
lived in the area some four to five hundred years ago.
According to the legend, Kaduveli Siddha was performing harsh penance sitting
under a peepal tree in yogic pose for days. The
heat
of his body was so intense that the rain gods suffered,
no rains came and the people were exposed to hardship
and drought. The situation was so bad that it finally
came to the ears of the King, who ruled from
Edyanchavadi village. No one dared disturb Kaduveli in
his penance as he chanted the mantra of Eswara, and soon
an anthill started to rise up around him. Finally a
temple dancer, named Valli, devoted to the Lord Shiva,
decided to do her best to get the attention of the yogi,
and to rescue the King and his people from the adverse
effects of his tapasya (penance). She observed that
occasionally the Siddha would, with his eyes shut, put
out his hands to catch and consume the falling, withered
peepal leaves. So she prepared some thinly fired apalam
(a flat salty wafer made out of green gram dhal), and
started placing them in the yogi's outstretched hands,
as he tried to catch the falling leaves. Soon he started
eating the apalams and getting his taste back. Slowly he
grew fatter until finally the anthill broke and he was
once more exposed to the rays of the sun. Finally he
opened his eyes. Valli was extremely happy and was able
to take him back to her house where she kept him happy,
dancing for him and learning songs for him. Meanwhile
the God of Rain was relieved from the torture he felt
from the heat of the yogi's tapasya, the rain fell in
plenty, and the people were happy once again.
In order to celebrate this event the King ordered a big
Puja to be held at Irumbai temple, which was to be
followed by a classical performance by Valli in which
she would act out the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva, in the
form of Nataraja. During the performance, however, one
of her anklets fell off, and she started to lose her
balance and rhythm. Kaduveli, who saw the Lord Shiva in
Valli, picked up the anklet and put it back on her feet.
This exposed him to the ridicule of the King and court
for having touched the feet of a dancing girl, and he
was heckled and jeered. Furious, he invoked the Lord
Shiva to come out of his temple and prove his innocence
by causing a rain of stone. Immediately the lingam in
the sanctum sanctorum of the temple exploded, and
wherever its fragments fell became desert. No greenery
will grow around these spots, including a crater at a
distance of three kilometres from the village, still to
this day known as "Kaduveli".
The King was suddenly frightened and begged the pardon
of the Siddha, bowing down to him with all his entourage
and pleading with him to quench the effects of his anger
and curse. This appeased Kaduveli, who, repenting of his
anger, said that what was done was done, but that in the
future, people from far-off lands would come and make
the desert land green and fertile again.
The ancient
little Irumbai temple in close vicinity of Auroville
Today, there are
villagers who feel that the Aurovillians are the people
from far-off lands mentioned by the Siddha and that the
curse is now beginning to leave them.
This story was put together by several Aurovillians,
based on a tape-recorded conversation with the temple
brahmin at Irumbai.
Irumbai Festival