The Forbidden Rituals
There is nothing out of the ordinary in Cheppidi Kochapu’s existence at Varapetty other than a long-ago stabbing incident in which his pregnant wife was murdered. He swore that it started out as an argument and things got out of control. When everything was said and done, there she was lying dead. When the law enforcement people arrived, there was a contrite man sitting in one corner, a pregnant woman with a dagger like knife struck in her abdomen, and a pool of blood splattered all over. Kochapu was taken into custody, transported to the local precinct, and presented in front of the magistrate who, in turn, denied him bail and left him police custody. As is common practice in that part of the world, the savages in the law enforcement took turns beating him up so badly that he hoped he could end his life then and there!
He served many years in the slammer for that unfortunate event. Elderly and peaceful now, he runs a little “Curry Kada” (a little shop selling cooked food) in which he prepares sumptuous spicy Malayale delicacies perfectly complimenting the alcoholic beverages, known as Toddy, sold next door. His bus boys will happily fetch that precious liquid from next door for the customers. His patrons are the semi-gentry who will not be caught with the daily laborers at the main toddy shop. They pay a little extra for that privilege as well as for the inconspicuous ingress and egress opportunity the Curry Kada renders. At the end of the day, after closing up the shop, Cheppidi sleeps alone in the same store, a lifestyle he has maintained for over two decades since he was released from jail.
Underneath all that serenity and calm lies a formidable history of violence and intimidation; demonic worship and appeasement rituals for the souls of the ancestors who lead violent lifestyles; generations of struggle for supremacy with “no holds barred” practices of the “Adharva Vedum”, the bizarre rituals that is practiced for controlling forces of the Adholokam. No, the struggle in this case was not against his fellow human but against the vile and ferocious members of the serpendum, in particular the omnipotent and omnipresent King Cobra of the “Kizhaken Mala”, the Eastern Ranges to people in Kerala, but Western Ghats to the outside world. In the end, the Cheppidies lost the battle and met the same fate that befall the looser of all duals, they were forced to flee from their majestic existence in their native Idikki enclave to a lowly small Curry Kada in Varapetty, an outlying and distinctly backward village near Kothamangalam.
It all started after a casual encounter with a King Cobra who was sunbathing in the morning “Chinga Vail”, the soothing sun light that appears in the Chinga Masam (late August) after the torrential rains of Kala Varsham, the North-East Monsoon. Kochapu’s uncle inadvertently stepped on the serpent’s tail causing a fracture on that proud crawler’s lower anatomy. With the hood spread out, measuring close to a foot across, and raising the head almost three feet into the air, the serpent lurched, launching itself at the offender but his uncle’s quick reaction and timely evasive maneuver saved him his life, at least for the time being. Months went by with no significant encounter with the snake but there were persistent rumors of its sighting; a giant and agitated snake, with about a foot of its tail being dragged behind, irrationally and most unexpectedly chasing people and animals. The Cheppidies sensing trouble, conducted many a ritual both to appease the serpent god as well as to nullify the effectivity of its venom but all that effort was to no avail. One fateful evening, on a dark new moon day, his uncle was coming down the Thondu, a narrow pathway, that leads to his house. Thondu is the most unfriendly and unforgiving part of the thoroughfare in that part of the world. It is a very narrow passage with a bumpy surface contour resulting from the three months of torrential rains. They are cut in an almost “V” shape with side walls built by stones and mud. His uncle, being a practitioner of the Vedas, was well aware of the dominance of evil spirits and nefarious creatures in these dark and musty environments. To make matters worse, the overgrown vegetation coming out of the stone walls on both sides of the Thondu made his journey all the more treacherous. As could have been predicted, the snake lay waiting for him.
In the ensuing struggle, his uncle did not stand a chance; he tried to kick the snake away, tried to break its back, cut its head off with a penknife, but it was a losing battle. The snake had grabbed him by the ankle, coiled itself around both legs, and forced him to the ground. Intermittent tightening of its jaws on the ankle had the effect of injecting large quantities of venom into its victim. The early morning sun saw a disfigured corpse in the Thondu; the body had a purple tinge all over especially around the ankles; the left ankle had swollen to the size of the trunk of a planton tree. Local Vishvaidyan (the guy who specializes on snake bites and any related Vishum Thedul) observed that this was not just a snake bite; there were signs of rage, of vengefulness. He observed that, in his entire practice, he never encountered this much venom being pumped into one solitary victim!
The entire town of Idikki was shocked; parents refused to let children out into the yard. People stopped venturing out after darkness. Aound the Cheppidies, there were tell-tale signs of battle preparation. Several snake catchers from Thirunelvelli were immediately engaged on a frontal assault on the serpendom, a search-and-destroy mission reminiscent of the British engagement against the dacoits of central India. This was a catastrophic event for the Cheppidies for until that day, their authority was never challenged by an earthly living being. They maintained absolute control over every form of life in Idikki through their formidable mastery of the rituals and techniques derived from the Adharva Vedam, the codification of law and order that govern the nether world. The event was a shocker for the snake world; every crawler went into deep hiding; many traveled far and wide to escape the ferocity of the Cheppidies. Some crawled all through the night to safe havens at the higher elevation; some floated down stream in the still swollen rivers. Many of the harmless and sick were summarily executed by the snake catchers. Thus Idikki became a very hostile habitat for anything that crawled with the exception of the cobras. They were not about ready to relent and retreat; this extremely virile, agile, conniving serpent controlled and dictated the night life under the vegetation. And the war was on, an epic struggle for dominance, in a way for the very existence; there will only be one winner in this struggle; the looser will almost certainly be annihilated or forced to flee to faraway places.
A few weeks went by and things appeared to moderate even though underneath all that calm one could sense a heightened level of anxiety. Kochappu was employing a duplicitous strategy: on one side he sought the help of revered Namboodiries from Thanjavoor who performed Nagapuja (snake worship) to appease the serpentry; but on the other side, his henchmen from Thirunevelli continued their merciless assault on the entire reptilian world. No one could have foreseen or predicted the events that changed the direction of the battle. On that fateful day, as the Dhanu (Februay - March) sun was setting in the west and the chill of Sarathkaalam (what little winter embraces that part of the world) was beginning to embrace Idikki, an infant was going through the last few minutes of his late afternoon nap at the Cheppidi residence. Suddenly out of newhere, an intense scream emanated from the thottil (a swing-like contraption used as crib) and Kochappu’s wife instantaneously knew that the serpents have gotten to her baby!
With a few leaps, she was in Kishakemury (a room on the east side of the house designated as play room for kids. She was stunned and rendered dizzy by the sight she encountered in Kizhakemury, there was blood dripping from the thottil; the snake had managed to penetrate its tail through the infant’s left year; there appeared to be multiple bite marks that seemed to have turned the infant’s entire body into light purple. The comatose appearance of the child was too much for her to handle; there was an unsuccessful attempt by her to grab on to something to steady herself, but the thud resulting from her fall resonated throughout the house. The snake dropped itself on to the floor, crawled a short distance to the “Nalukettu”, went over the half wall to “Nadumittom” (court yard), went through the drain pipe, and was in the safety of the thick slush shrubberies and undergrowth on the east side of the house.
It did not take much time for new to spread to the Toddy shop. Kochappu sprinted the distance from the shop to his house. Having lost his “randamundu” on the way, his kaili tied crookedly around his waist, sweating profusely he arrived at the house. From his vedic training, he could sense an air of death or near death in his house. A quick look at his son convinced him that he was working against time; the boy’s dazed, unfocussed eyes told him that the venom had taken full control of his body. He remembered what the apothecary in town had said about how the venom debilitates the muscles and how the victim dies with a whimper. Kochappu was not about to go for the unproven English medicines, he summoned the Melsanthi and started the elaborate preparation for “Vishamirakkal”, an ancient ritual, if properly conducted (it is believed), forces the offending snake to come to its victim, suck the entire venom out of its body, resulting in the snake being subjected to an agonizing and excruciatingly painful death. Yes, he is in fact demanding that the cobra commit suicide, that too in a very very painful way. Oh, what pain and discomfort does the serpent has to be in order for it decide that taking its own life is a preferred alternative?
Servants scoured the depth and breadth of Idikki and rounded up the herbs required for the Homum. Five Idangizhi (close to a gallon) of milk and two bottles of Naruneyyu (butter extracted out of mik) were brought in from Pala and by early evening a penchant aroma emanating from a combination of steam and smoke filled the air around Kochappu’s house. The Melsanthi continuously recited from the Vedas and tension started to build up. “Vishamirakkal” has always been a struggle for dominance, a traumatic experience for both the serpent and the practitioner for whoever loses will invariably face an agonizing death. As the evening progressed, the tempo began to pick up; the chanting got louder; larger quantities of steam and smoke started emanating from the Agni-kundom (fire pit). The poojari started pouring large quantities of ghee into the fire as part of the ritual. Kochappu, as being the sponsor of this offering, reached a state of extreme agitation with his entire body shaking involuntarily and uncontrollably. A rustling sound under the coffee plants on the west side of the house indicated they were not alone. This is a tense time, it is not meant for amateurs, in here, life and death hangs on the balance. As final preparation, the boy in a comatose state was laid near the pyre and the chanting reached a crescendo.
Without much warning, a very large cobra, may be a king cobra, probably more than twenty feet long, started approaching the stricken child. The periodic beating of its head on the ground and the intermittent rolling of its entire body indicated that the serpent is under immense pain and agony. The occasional raising of its fully spread out hood was a warning sign. To an experienced practitioner this is an indication that the serpent had not been sufficiently subordinated to the gods for its final approach to the stricken boy. This makes the encounter much more dangerous. As usual, the snake started circling its victim in preparation for sucking out the venom. Depending on the prowess, the snake will circle its victim three or four times in preparation for its own demise. What happened during the next few seconds was beyond belief; the people around the poojari were in a state of shock, transfixed and incapable of motion. The serpent pulled itself into a tight coil, anchoring the far end of its tail on the ground, and launched itself almost thirty feet across the makeshift platform over the comatose body of the infant, wrapping itself around the poojari’s neck. With an immense ferocity, it bit the poojari’s wrist burying its formidable fang almost an inch into his flesh. It did not take much before his body became nimble and powerless. He collapsed with a thud against the back wall of the veranda. As though nothing unusual had happened and before anybody could act, the snake vanished expeditiously into the lush undergrowth beyond the coffee plants.
The early morning sun saw a convoy of bullock carts going down the winding roads of Idikki, the direction indicated the destination could be Thodupuzha and beyond. The kerosene lamp under the cart was still glowing; the drivers seemed to be half asleep, knowing well that these bullocks needed little guidance in these familiar terrain. Kochappu stared straight at the mist-covered hills; there was as much uncertainty in his life as in the woods; his life appeared as a flashback, a replay of sort, in his mind. He did not know how many more snakes hid in those woods, he hoped that they are not following him into the valley. Rumors had it that these serpents had long memory of people that hurt them. He turned and glanced at his pregnant wife Theratha. He hoped to go to Varappetty and open a small coffee shop or something to provide for his wife and child when it arrives.
The promising life he hoped to establish in Varappetty was short-lived, his own violent temperament got the best of him. What started out as a simple argument led him to commit this atrocious, unforgivable crime, he felt life was slipping away from him. After serving time for the heinous crime, he is back in Varapetty running the Curry Kada. He is at peace with himself, leading a lonely but content life. He was sure of one thing, there will not be another violent outburst on his part; and more importantly, there will not be any more of these past occult practices and forbidden rituals of the “Adholokum” with him ever again!
