MUNDUR, KERALA, INDIA, January 25, 2011: In this rapidly modernizing country, new money is also reviving old traditions. A group of mostly urban professionals has teamed up to help conduct the fire ritual this spring in a village that last witnessed it 35 years ago. ‘We want to do our bit to ensure that Indian culture survives,’ said Neelakantan Pillai, a banker and member of the newly formed Varthathe Trust, which is organizing the event. ‘In the new, emerging India, people are ready to open their wallets, write checks for such efforts.’
The village last witnessed the ritual in 1975 when an American professor raised money around the world to revive it. Frits Staal, a professor of south and southeast Asian studies at the University of California at Berkeley, filmed the event and wrote a book about it. But this year, the funds – more than $200,000 – will be raised in India. Staal and a team of students from Harvard are expected to attend.
Only two old men in the lush-green southern state of Kerala still know how to perfom athiratram, perhaps the world’s oldest and longest religious fire ritual. The elders say that each time athiratram is performed, an unseasonal rain occurs and an eagle glides over the site.
Priests say that athiratram is difficult to perform. The chief conductor must survive on milk, fruit and wheat during the 12 days. He cannot scratch himself, or shave or speak to anybody. He must keep his fists closed tightly for the entire period; they are pried open with hot water and clarified butter after the ritual. The fire must be lit by rubbing two pieces of wood from a special tree against each other.
On the 11th day, priests believe that all the Gods and Goddesses come down from heaven to listen to the chanting of a special hymn.