The warmth and hospitality that the local community has shown in accepting people of different races, cultures and countries, and in allowing the Auroville experiment to take place in their “backyard”, is truly remarkable. This ancient legend, which we are going to unfold before your eyes this evening, perhaps explains why the villagers have shown such tolerance to Aurovillians.
Irumbai is a small village on the western edge of Auroville. The village temple is extremely old, according to the inscriptions, it belonged to and was under the control of the Kulothunga Chola III. (1178 – 1218)
This temple is particularly associated with the legend of Kaduveli Siddhar, a famous yogi who lived in the area some four to five hundred years ago.
The story goes, that the land around the temple was facing a severe drought. The local king was at his wits end about how to solve the problem. In his desperation, he seeks the help of Magaleesar, the presiding deity at Irumbai temple.
A celestial voice reverberating through the sky finally answers the king’s prayer:
It announces that the cause of the drought is the severe penance of Kaduveli Siddhar. If his penance can be disturbed, says the voice, then the rains will return. But, it cautions, the interruption to his meditation has to be done very carefully for if he is disturbed abruptly, his anger could be devastating.
The king thinks long and hard and hits upon a brilliant idea: why not delegate this work to the most beautiful, intelligent of the four temple dancers- Sundaravalli? He calls Sundaravalli and assigns her to the task.
Now Sundaravalli is troubled; for she knows what consequences there can be if a Siddhar gets angry. She, too, seeks the help of Lord Magaleesar of the Irumbai temple, pleading to him for help. The Lord appears once again as a voice and provides a solution to her dilemma.
“ Just feed this old starved man with dry roasted appalam,” it says. “Drop small pieces of it daily into the termite hill which has grown around him. Unknowingly he will gain wait, and one day the termite hill will start cracking, and he will open his eyes. If you stand before him at that time, his penance will be broken.”
Sundaravalli follows the instructions, and one day the unbelievable happens. The anthill starts to crack, and sunlight falls on the Siddhar’s body awakening all his senses. The old Siddhar opens his eyes and lo behold-there is an exquisite female figure standing like a statue just before him. He falls madly in love with this statuesque beauty, and his delight reaches no bounds when he realizes that it is indeed a beautiful young woman, who invites him openly to come with her to her house. As soon as both enter Sundaravalli’s house, rains pour down abundantly for days.
Everybody is happy, and the king arranges for a thanksgiving ceremony at the Irumbai temple, where Sundaravalli is dancing. Everyone is there, including the happy and love—struck Siddhar. As Sundaravalli dances, one of her anklets come off and the Siddhar forgetting everything around him, uses all his yogic power to tie back the dancing bells to her feet within the blink of an eye.
Seeing this strange sight, the entire audience, including the king, burst out in laughter, mocking at the strange sight of the love-struck old sage and this beautiful young dancer.
The Siddhar becomes aware of the situation and his anger mounts into a terrible rage. In his fury, he orders Magaleesar to break open out of the Lingam in the main altar to prove who he really is – a realized Yogi. The Shiva lingam breaks open, and the Lord emerges out in a tandava dance.
”Because of the small-mindedness and ignorance of the king and this people, and because of your anger, my dear Siddhar, this land will become dry again for hundreds of years. But, “ says the divine appearance, “this curse will be over when people from far-off places come and make this desert green and fertile again.
Today there are villagers who feel that the Aurovillians are the people from far off places mentioned by the Siddhar, and that the curse is now leaving them, as the land indeed is turning into a green oasis once again.
Whatever one’s interpretation of the legend might be, the next time one visits the temple one might see the colourful paintings on the newly restored temple walls, depicting this story about the Siddhar and the temple dancer with much better eyes.
