Although many Malayalis are familiar with this fascinating character from folklore, and quite a few probably know of Naranathu Branthan (who is similar to the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus), his brother, the lunatic from Palghat, I haven't come across any thorough studies on Pakkanar. Kottarathil Sankunni introduced him in his Aithihyamala. Kundur Narayana Menon published parts of Pakkanar Pattu many years ago, and recently Rajan Chungath wrote about the entire clan.
Few realize that Jacome Fenicio (Giacomo Fenizio), the
Portuguese/Italian friar who served at Arthunkal and Calicut, introduced him to
the wider world for the first time early in the 17th century. Although Fenicio
claims to have documented about 300 of the 900 verses attributed to Pakkanar
and used them in his religious debates with Brahmin priests at Calicut and
possibly Arthunkal in Alleppey, we haven't found many of these in his existing
written records. They may be stored in a European archive, as we currently only
have an edited version that covers early myths about Hindu gods. Still, let's
try to get a clear picture of this legendary figure, Pakkanar, explore some of
his stories, and then wrap it all up with Fenicio's role.
As we discussed earlier, a myth is a symbolic, sacred story
usually involving gods or supernatural beings, believed to be true in the past.
A legend is a traditional story regarded as historical but lacking strong
evidence, often linked to a real person or event and usually exaggerated over
time. Lore, on the other hand, encompasses a wide range of myths, legends, and
various kinds of folklore. This story can, in theory, be all of those.
There are a few versions often cited by writers. The myth
told by Kundur slightly differs from that of Kottarathil Sankunni, especially
regarding the angels or Devatas on the tree. Still, they share many
similarities.
Govindapadar, Sankaracharya's guru, had sons from each of
his four wives, who belonged to different castes (There are other versions
about the origin of Varuchi). From the Brahmin wife, he had Varuchi; from the
Kshatriya wife, he had Vikramaditya; from the Vysya wife, it was Bhatti; and
through the Sudra wife, it was Bhartruhari. One might wonder how he managed to
marry women from different castes at that time, or why, but let's follow the
story.
Vikramaditya became a king, and Varuchi ended up working in
his palace. One day, it seems Vikramaditya asked Varuchi to recite the most
important verse from the Ramayana. Unable to come up with a clear answer,
Varuchi was lost in thought, and the king gave him 41 days to find one. The
wise Varuchi was upset that he couldn't answer and wandered around the country
searching for one. Forty days passed, and finally, a tired Varuchi sat down to
rest under a large banyan tree in a forest, drifting off to sleep. Some angels
or devatas hanging out in the tree started talking among themselves that the
sleeping Varuchi would soon marry the daughter of a Paraya woman, and that the
answer to the question bothering Varuchi was actually the verse which went like
this - 'Ramam Dasharatham Viddhi.. maam, Viddhi janakatmajam, Ayodhyam atavim
Viddhi, Gacha tatha yadhaa sukham'.
Varuchi, who had just dozed, heard all of this and, filled
with joy, hurried to the palace, recounting the verse along with ten different
interpretations. He also stressed that the most crucial part of the verse was 'maam,
viddhi janakatmajam' – that is, consider Sita (janakatmaja) as myself, Sumitra.
The explanation goes like this: After saying goodbye to
Dasaratha, Kausalya, and Kaikeyi, the exiled trio of Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita
went to meet Sumitra, the third queen and Lakshmana's mother. She tells
Lakshmana, "Think of Rama as Dasaratha, your father, and Sita as me. Look
upon the forest (Atavi—where you are now going to live) as Ayodhya. Farewell to
you, and may your journey be a blessed one!" In simple terms, it
summarizes to 'be happy where you are'.
However, the prophecy that he would have to marry a Paraya
girl upset Varuchi. After obtaining permission from the king and tracking down
the newborn girl he was supposed to marry, his henchmen sent her floating on a
banana stem raft with a 'kol vilakku' (a lamp strung on a brass pole) embedded
in her skull. As you might have guessed, the girl did not die and was rescued
from the riverbank by a Brahmin woman from the Naripetta mana at Paruthur on
the Nila bank. The woman took care of the girl, who was then named Panchami.
She grew up to be a beautiful, intelligent girl. Again, as you might have
guessed, some years later, Varuchi, passing by (again, the story is charmingly
different in Sankunni's telling), becomes enamored with the lovely girl (due to
her intelligence, says Sankunni) and marries her, as fate had dictated.
Some days after a life of marital bliss, Varuchi notices a
strange scar on the skull of his newlywed wife. As he listened to her story, he
realized that this was the very girl he had cast off and exactly what the
angels had foretold! Ashamed of his previous actions, he excommunicated
himself, left his home, and after a long journey, settled with his wife on the
banks of the Nila (Bharatapuzha) River in Malabar.
Along the way, they had many children. As each child was
born, Varuchi would ask his wife if the child had a mouth, to which his wife
would answer, "Yes." Varuchi would say, 'Well, if he has a mouth, he
will survive, leave the kid in the forest, and let's get on.' The distraught
mother did what was asked of each of their 11 children (it must have been a
long trek, perhaps lasting some 20 years!). When they had a 12th child, the
mother decided that enough was enough and lied that the kid had no mouth, and
lo and behold – the child's mouth disappeared! Varuchi consecrated the child in
stone on a nearby hillock, which over time was worshipped as the Vayilla Kunnil
Appan deity at Thiruvazhiyode (Kadampazhipuram). A distraught Panchami
committed suicide at Mannur in Palghat (the place is called Theeppattu kuzhi).
The 11 kids who were left in the forest were taken in by
foster parents from 11 different castes, and they grew up in diverse
backgrounds. These children later became known as Parachi/Parayi petta panthiru
kulam (the 12 castes born from a Parayi's womb) in the Malabar region. In
another version, after all the excitement and travel, Varuchi and his wife
settled into a life of penance and disappeared from view. The 11 surviving
children, knowing each other, got along well and would meet every year at
Melathol Agnihotri's (one of the 11 children) house in Ponnani for their
parents' annual rites.
The 11 children and their castes were - Melathol Agnihothri
(Namboothiri), Pakkanar (Parayan), Rajakan (Washerman), Naranath Bhranthan (Ambalavasi),
Karakkalamma (Kshatriya and the only girl child), Akavoor Chathan (Vaishnava), Vaduthala
Nair (Soldier), Vallon (Pulaya), Uppukottan (Muslim), Paananaar (folk musician),
Perumthachan (Carpenter, Architect).
Pakkanar was a skilled bamboo
craftsman who specialized in bamboo weaving. Just a short distance from
Mezhathol Agnihothri's home, Vemancheri Mana in Thrithala, Palakkad, is the
still-existing Paakkanar colony, also known as Eerattinkal Paraya colony,
adjoining Arikkunnu. The story goes that it was Paakkanar who actually created
a "Thampraakkal" out of "Azhvanchery Thamprakkal", who is
considered the head of the Namboothiris in the region. Over time, caste
differences became obvious, and the upper-caste brothers and their wives felt
ashamed to dine with the lower-caste brothers and their families during the
annual rites. So when they gathered, they stayed in ten different rooms of the
Mezhathol mana.
To learn about Pakkanar, one
must explore some of the myths surrounding him.
Ganga and the Stick – A Brahmin going on a pilgrimage
to Ganga asked Pakkanar if he had anything to be cast away in the holy waters
(the concept was to wash away all bondages in Ganga, and free oneself).
Pakkanar gave his walking stick to him to be cast off at the Ganga. When the
Brahmin returned, Pakkanar took him to the pond next to his home and pulled out
the stick, proving that there was no need to go to a distant Ganga for
absolution, and that all waters were equally holy.
Siva, Parvathi, and the gold – An ardent devotee of
Siva, Pakkanar's poverty evoked pity in Parvathi's heart, and she asked Shiva
to gift him some gold. Shiva told her that Pakkanar was a wise man and believed
that wealth is a destroyer of men. To test this idea, the gods filled some
bamboo stems with gold and gems. When Pakkanar's axe split them open, they
spilled out, and a shocked Pakkanar left his axe there and ran away. Some
passing robbers gathered the gold, but in their greed, they ended up killing each
other instead of sharing the loot, proving that wealth can be a deadly force.
The ten murams (winnow) tradition — Pakkanar would
always weave ten murams and set out to sell them. He would ask for an
exorbitant price for each, and when the buyer demurred, he would leave one
behind and move on to the next house, and the next, until nine were gifted. The
tenth would be sold at a nominal price, and with these modest earnings,
Pakkanar led his contented and straightforward life. The moral of this story is
that if he had made only one muram, he would have been leading a lazy life.
Doing what one should and can, without expecting significant returns, leads to
more contentment in life. So, be happy with what you get—his philosophy was,
but do what you can. Many families in the region still observe the tradition of
'returning' to Pakkanar. The Erattingal families continue the 10-winnow custom
during festive seasons.
Cows' Udders and the Kovakka Vegetable – During one
of the annual feasts with the brothers, Pakkanar brought a couple of cow udders
to be cooked, horrifying the wife of the Aginihotri. She refused to cook them
and buried the udders. When Pakkanar asked where his udder dish was, the woman
explained what had happened, and Pakkanar said that the udders would have
already sprouted into plants. Sure enough, the plant had grown and produced
udder-shaped vegetables, now known as Kovakka, which were then cooked and
served as a vegetarian dish by the lady of the house.
A few more of these fables can be found, such as the one
about a wife's faith and devotion, Azvanchery's story, and others. I will go
into more detail about them some other time, along with stories of the other
brothers of Pakkanar and their only sister, Karakkalamma.
While many believe this was a myth created during the Chera
era, there is a substantial historical connection in the lands around the Nila
where these 11 children lived. The Erattingal families at Arikkunninode in
Thrittala still claim lineage to Pakkanar and are situated near the Mexhathol
Agnihotri homestead (it seems he did not want to stray far from his brother).
These Paraya families share a relationship with the Namboothiri family through
(pula) pollution. It is also believed that the Paraya caste is named after the
drum they played—seemingly, they were royal drummers who beat large 'para'
drums. Later, they took up bamboo weaving. Other legends mention that he was
the elephant doctor of the Chera army, that he belonged to the same family, and
was actually a Nambuthiri who had been downgraded to Mussad because he was
responsible for the flesh sacrifices practiced in ancient times.
It's also notable that a Christian missionary claims to have
encountered about 800-900 verses related to Pakkanar, but only 4-5 are listed
in all 20th- and 21st-century publications.
Let's now examine the conclusions reached after a genetic
study was conducted to determine if any real facts are hidden in the stories.
More details about this can be read in my article "The
Wandering Y".
Why mention this? Since all the descendants of these
children lived in Shornur, Pattambi, and Thrithala of the Palakkad district in
Kerala, and despite differences in their caste and social status, these
families are connected through various rituals and religious customs. These
families were the focus of a study. Still, when the group led by Suresh
collected genetic samples to examine the patterns, they actually found that the
results contradicted the folktale. Common haplotypes were not found across the
tested families, making it impossible to establish co-ancestry.
This suggests that genetic sampling and studies are not
always conclusive over many generations, and therefore, hype about genetic
studies is unwarranted. The authors concluded that considering the survival of
a lineage from a single founder over 20 generations (roughly 700 years) is only
9.6%, the chance of survival for Vararuchi's lineage, which is believed to have
started about 1600 years ago (approximately 45 generations), is very low. On
the other hand, it's also possible that the haplogroups of the different
families who adopted Vararuchi's children were different and that multiple men
from their own families were involved at the time of adoption. The true
descendants of Vararuchi's sons may have become extinct over time due to
various genetic or social reasons, or they may have greatly declined compared
to the descendants of their own family line. Alternatively, the Vararuchi story
might be just a myth.
Now, let's see how the Italian Jesuit Jacome Finicio, who
arrived in Malabar in 1583, initially worked at Arthungal and later spent
several years in Calicut, became involved with the Pakkanar legend. In Calicut,
he was involved in numerous intrigues, sometimes acting as a diplomat for
Portuguese Goa, and was close to the Zamorin. He discovered that convincing the
people of Calicut that his religion, Christianity, was quite challenging. The
Brahmin and Nair aristocracy scoffed at his preachings, and that was when he
found the teachings of Pakkanar useful.
Let's examine what he concluded based on the translation
provided by Charpentier, The Livro de Seita, p. 185, note 8.
For in times past there was a great poet in Malabar, who,
though not a Christian, as far as we know, yet left some written books, showing
therein the great knowledge he had of things divine. In fact, he composed some
800 octaves against the idols and false gods of those lands, where he
pleasantly laughs at their fables, and in the same manner, he treats of Divine
Providence, Heaven, Hell, and other matters of our faith, according to what we
believe, at least in many points. He says of the Providence of God that he gives
to each one what is necessary according to his quality and that he assists us
always with his presence and protection, in the same manner as he does who
holds the rope for those who are fishing pearls. Of Heaven, he says that it
consists in the vision of God; of Hell, that the damned will remain there 400
million years, plunged in fire, and yet always alive. As to the idols, he
constantly sneers at them and calls the Brahmins fools.
The Father (Fenicio), having come across this book,
copied more than 300 octaves in 1609, though many more are lost; and cleverly
used them and read them in the presence of the Gentiles, both privately and
publicly, so that they were confused and did not know what to answer."
However, the edition by Jarl Charpentier, Livro da seita dos Indios orientais
(Uppsala, 1913), although useful, is unfortunately not complete and lacks
proper interpretation overall.
In the following article, I will share the stories of other
children and provide a conclusion detailing the impact the story had on the
history of Malabar.
References
Paraiyipetta Panthiru
Kulam – Aithihyavum, Chatritravum – Rajan Chungath
Pakkanar – Kundur Narayana Menon
Aithihyamala – Kottarathil Sankunni
A Treatise on Hindu Cosmography from the Seventeenth Century
- Jarl Charpentier
Preliminary Report on the "Livro da Seita dos Indios
Orientais" - Jarl Charpentier
The Jesuits in Malabar – D Ferroli
The Intach Palghat 2025 calendar – Some lucky people would
have come across a lovely calendar produced by Sanusha & Arun at Intach
Palghat, which covers the entire Parayi petta story, through top-notch
illustrations. The illustration of Pakkanar included here is a result of their
hard work, and is duly acknowledged with thanks and reproduced with permission.
Please do not copy without Intach's approval.
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