Bali tharpanam at Thirunavaya.Every Malayali Hindu family observe the Karkkidaka Vavu. This year, 2011 it falls on the 30th of July. Pithru tharpanam is the most noble ritual all Hindus must do. It is the remembrance of one’s ancestors. One should observe the bali to the past 7 generations of his family.
Yearly Pithru bali for each of the deceased family members is observed without fail, by their children, in our family. The rituals have slight changes in different regions, but we follow what our ancestors did.
Karkkidaka vavu falls on the New moon day of Karkkidakam, the first Amavasi of Dakshinayanam. Hindus believe that paying respect to Pithru devatas during this time is a noble ritual.
We observe a semi-fasting on the previous day of Pithru tharpanam. We observe “Orikkal”, which means having “annam” only once a day. For the people of Kerala, their “Annam” is rice. So we take a meal only once that day. We take food only after the bali tharpanam is over the next day.
Throughout Kerala, the river sides will be crowded with people. The rituals start and end with a dip in the river. Pithru tharpanam is done only wearing wet clothes. The dip in the river is to observe ‘shudham’, no one should touch each other after the bath, till the ‘bali’ is over. The rituals are done with the help of a Brahmin.
In the evening “ada” a sweet rice preparation is made on plantain leaves and offered to God. Though I don’t know the significance of it, we still follow the ritual of making ‘ada’ compulsorily. Idli and vada and ada as prasadam is dinner menu after the karkkidaka bali tharpanam.
Eating certain foods, or not eating certain foods on auspicious days is a custom in our family, still followed by many of the elder generation. We hope the younger generation watch and follow the family heritage of religious rituals. Even though some feel they are superstitions, we elders have faith in them and we are sure they too adopt the values of life taught through the rituals if not now, but at some time in their life.
iam in bangalore how can i perform such tarpanam
ReplyDeleteYou can observe the orikkal, then the next day, you can do it at home, on the terrace or anywhere possible. Or just remember your ancestors and give rice & black ellu [til], a handful to the crow. Say "samasthaparadham' too. If we do anything with faith, that is enough.
ReplyDeleteI am at Delhi. Are you aware if vavu bali rites are performed in North India - may be at Ganges, which is some 80 km away.
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't know that...But you can just go to Ganges and do the rites with the help of a priest there....What else one need, if we can do it at the holy river Ganges....Though I haven't seen, I have heard that we can do the tharpan any day there..Go ahead and do it..you will be blessed....
ReplyDeleteiam currently out of state and i did not perform vavubali for a long time. now i want to do that for my father and grandmother they left 15 and 10 years back. Can i do anything for them by next month. I don't remember their dates.
ReplyDeleteyou can do that any day at Thirunavaya, Thirunelli, Thiruvallam....even if you don't remember the dates, it is ok....if u go to thiruvallam, in Trivandrum, there is special samarpanam of silver aalroopam in parent's memory..it is parasurama temple....after that, it is believed that you can even discontinue bali without any guilty conscience....
ReplyDeleteThanks Ganga,
ReplyDeleteThirunavaya is near to me and i prefer too. As i did all my early doings there. Is there any booking for this? And whom should i contact for this? Is this within the temple or management?
Please reply.
You can just go to the temple counter & they will help you..no previous booking needed..any day you can do bali..
ReplyDeleteHi Ganaga,
ReplyDeleteAfter doing the rituals at tirunelli( samarpanam) do we have to continue the " Annudu bali" . Some says it should be done some says it shouldnt.Any
suggestions?
http://thirunavayatemple.org/vazhipaadukal/
ReplyDeletedear ganga i am in bangalore and i wanna to do the "balitharppanam" on the coming saturday for my father who passed away .... Is it possible to make it done here in bangalore? kindly let me know if any..!!
ReplyDeleteBaliBalithsrpan.....all who believe in the sanadana dharma should compulsory do it.....What we see today is the efforts of our forefathers ........so what we r going to see in the next seven generation would be our today's effort...so the abundancy of natural resources of our rivers like the famous aluva river in Kerala then one at varkala etc are considered auspicious places where we have to dip the tharpanan consisting of annam and ellu.....here comes the beauty...the elements in Ellu such as copper magnesium etc would recharge the rivers ...so the annannam the best food for fish...finally we r inducing something into the food chain so that our coming generation can reap the fruit.....so without any questions keep following these rituals which have strong scientific base.....
ReplyDeletethanks for the information .
ReplyDeletethough i am not a keralite but i have special interest in kerala culture n language .. guess i might have born there in my prev birth.
Hi I am muthukumar from kochi I tell my fasting process morning no food lunch meals rice and 6pm dhosha night no food is it OK sir pls tell me
ReplyDeleteHi I am muthukumar from kochi I tell my fasting process morning no food lunch meals rice and 6pm dhosha night no food is it OK sir pls tell me
ReplyDeleteHi I am muthukumar from kochi I tell my fasting process morning no food lunch meals rice and 6pm dhosha night no food is it OK sir pls tell me
ReplyDelete