Viennese Waltz revisited

One of the most glorious sights and my all time favorite in the Kabali temple utsavam is the way the gods dance into the temple, just before sunrise on the Rishabam (White or Silver bull, Rishabam is the sign Taurus). They time it just right and the way they rock the god to 3 beats per bar is amazing!

The last time I saw this was almost two decades ago. At that time the strange draw to this dance was not understood. During my foray into ballroom dancing in the mid nineties, the Viennese waltz was a favorite and I never realized why. This year standing there listening to the drum beats and the band as the god started dancing, I closed my eyes to savor the music for a second and there was this sudden urge to do a viennese waltz in the middle of the Rishabam watching crowd.

My mind said "cut cut cut.. we are in the middle of a very eastern ritual here and you suddently want to waltz with the videocamera in hand?", but the body was swaying to what was definitely, ballroom music of the highest quality.

Lord Kapali was indeed doing his dance to waltz timing and the note they played was a very western note too(you can hear it in the video). Finally after so many years, it felt like a giant jigsaw puzzle clicked into place!

Will always cherish this memory for a long long time to come. Lore has it that watching the god enter the temple just prior to sunrise is equivalent to watching him ascend Mount Kailas or heaven.

This time I got goosebumps watching the dance. (Probably got goosebumps watching it 20 years ago as well, but do not remember it)

Now for the photos...

The silver Rishabam

The golden Rishabam for Karpagambaal

The golden peacock for Subramanya (still remember how my brother and me were always scared of the peacock because of the snake in its mouth)

The morning started so perfectly that day, as we (my mum and me) walked slowly in search of an autorickshaw. The large crowd has dispersed within a few minutes after the procession ended and there was a silence all round the temple tank. Decided to take stitch photos from the tank. This is the best stitch I could get of the 3 mada veedhis (3 sides of the temple tank)

The old Rishabam was a hand painted bull that resembled the tigers and lions. Looks like the Taurus has received a massive upgrade. This one is just awesome! You take one look into its eyes and it transports you to a magical realm.

What more can I say?

Kapali rocks!

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Comments

[Sundar Narayanan]

for the exact waltz tune go to 1:36 on the youtube video..

this is fantastic music that just wants you to get up and dance

:)

[Kavi]

To draw up the connections needs super natural powers. But considering that this is about the Kabli himself...its no surprise !!

Brought awe and almost tears.. to my eye to see this...in a very happy sort of way !

[Deepa]

Oh Sundar, what a wonderful depiction of the festival...although I did not go to the temple for the festival, I feel that I have lived it, through your pics and words.....loved the videos!!!

Hope your father is keeping well.

Deepa