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The Light that is God

© Meenakshi Subramaniam

In Hindu mythology, the God of Fire is Agni. He is a fiery god with a blazing crown, numerous heads and even more feet. He is invoked in all sacrificial fires and he is the messenger who takes man’s offerings to the gods. But the Mother Goddess too is sometimes invoked through fire.

This is done by women of the household everyday at twilight by lighting the family lamp, which is usually called the KuthuvilakkuThe Father of Creation, Brahma has decreed and laid down the ways in which light should be placed and worshipped in the household. There should be 27 lamps corresponding to 27 constellations or stars lit in a home: 4 in the courtyard, 1 in the kitchen, 2 in the corridor, 4 in the backyard, 4 in the patio, 2 in the designated lamp holders, 2 on the front steps, 2 in the worship room, 5 placed on the Kolam and 1Lamp of Death called the Yama Lamp outside.

A bride when she enters her husband’s home, brings along with her the Kuthuvilakku or the Family Lamp, that is believed to bring light and joy into her life. She lights the lamp every day at trwilight, thus inviting the Goddess of Wealth into their homes. The tradition is the lamp should be lit and worshipped by placing it on a copper plate that is spread with fresh, white rice. Sometimes, a lamp made of powdered rice flour and jaggery is lit to ward off the anger of the family deity.

There are nearly more than 50 kinds of lamps and each is associated with a quaint tradition or belief. In South Indian temples, we usually see offerings of earthern lamps or lime lamps (the juice of one half of a lemon is squeezed out and the half is turned inside out- a few spoons of oil is placed inside the depression and a cotton wick is used to light it- and voila! You have a very cute little lamp!!) Some believe that a lamp with five flames placed on red silk please Kubera, the Lord of wealth.

Though often, cotton is used for making the wicks, articles like cotton thread, the fibre obtained from the lotus stalk etc., are also used to make the wick. In Haridwar ladies do poojas to mother Ganges and float small lamps on the water, the sight of which during the night is breathtaking.

In the southern state of Kerala, Goodess Baghavathy is worshipped in the form of a brass Kurthu vilakku and the ritual known, as Baghavathy Seva is quite famous there.

Kuthuvilakku

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