“What was the Kadamattathu Kathanaru famous for?” I asked Ammachi
“He was famous for a lot of things, he could exorcise ghosts and he could do magic as well.”
“What do you mean by exorcism Ammachi?”
“Kathanaru could control the ghost, especially Yakshi’s( female vampires). He had learned the tricks from the mountain people, who used the Yakshi’s(female vampires) to search for hidden treassures underground.
“Do you believe there are ghosts Ammachi?”
“Ofcourse I do.”
“have you seen any ghost?”
“No I haven’t.”
“Then how do you know there are ghosts?”
“have you seen Jesus Christ, Nina?”
“No”. I shook my head
“then how do you know he is your God?”
I knew Ammachi always knew the right answer to each of my queries. if she said she believed there are ghosts, then in all probability there would be.
I looked around the kitchen, trying to see if there is any Yakshi(female vampire) hiding anywhere listening to our stories. The shadows of all the pots and pans appeared longer under the hurricane lamp light. From the distance I could hear Upadeshi appachan has started his evening lecture and I was really scared.
“Do you know the Bhattathiri story Nina?”
“No” I shook my head and I really didn’t want to hear the ghost story, Unfortunately I was too shy to tell my grandmother that I am scared and don’t want to hear anymore stories.
“One day a Bhattathiri wanted to go to Thrissur to watch the pooram(festival). In those days there were no cars, so he and his friend Namboodiri, decided to walk all the way to Thrissur. It was a long walk and in the evening they were walking through a deserted place and suddenly two beautiful women came infront of them and asked
‘Oh learned men, where are you going in the middle of the night?’
‘We are going to Thrissur to watch the pooram’, they replied
‘Oh, learned men, don’t go at this time of the day, this place isn’t safe, there are Yakshis(female vampire) around here,’
“Hearing this, both men got scared, but they didn’t know what to do, they had no friends or families in that area.”
“Seeing the troubled faces of the 2 friends, the women offered to take them to their house and the friends happily agreed”
“Their house was the most beautiful house the friends have ever been to, there were good food and clean clothes, the men retired to the bedroom,each following a woman”
“Bhattathiri layed down on the bed and in an instant the beautiful woman turned in to a vampire and started to attack him”
“mean while the namboodiri went to sleep as well, but he kept his ‘upanishad'(holy book) under his pillow. Yakshi’s are powerless infront of the holy book. The beautiful woman tried her level best to make the Namboodiri to keep the book away. Namboodiri refused, meanwhile the namboodiri heard the sounds of bones being crushed from the next room and he called his friend’s name. There was no response, and he knew what happend. he started holding the holy book close to him and pray. In the morning the villagers found him sitting on top of a palm tree and the hair and nails of the Bhattathiri at the bottom of the tree.”
“How did he get on top of the palm tree?” I asked Ammachi
“The Yakshis(female vampires) live on palm trees, they used their magic and created the palace”
We have atleast 4 palm trees in Chengannur and that means there could be minimum 4 Yakshi’s in our house. I was even more scared.
“Can we go to bed now?, we will wash the dishes tomorrow!” I told Ammachi.
“Ok” She agreed
I took the bible from the table and kept it under my pillow, so the Yakshi(female vampire) won’t come near me and went to sleep.
Suddenly in the middle of the night, I heard sounds in the room and woke up to see what is all the noise about and that is when it happend.
Thrissur pooram
http://www.mykerala.net/pooram.html
he was famous for using banana leaf to cross the river instead of using boat…
wow.. and then what happend!!.. not good to stop at the suspence about ghost stories!!.. ghost stories are always scary.. although we act we aren’t but they create panic later ..hehe
When I used to visit Kerela, the creaking sound of fan would always scare me.
madam! this is not like manorama or mangalam aazhcapathippu okay where you leave the readers in suspense like this!!!
Q8techdrive: I didn’t know tht one..
sujit:hmmmmm u will know tomorrow
Thanu: I could take the fan sound, infact when I came here I couldn’t sleep for a few days.. aa kara kara sound illenkil urakkom varaathilla!!! I can’t stand the cheeveedu!
Lg.. that was a good one.. I remember waiting for those magazines and reading without amma seeing us!
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2004080100490200.htm&date=2004/08/01/&prd=thlf&
read the last portion….ofcourse you can find more in sankunny’s books…
banana leaf…my pooor english!
I used to be terribly afraid of ghosts when i was little. Cant wait to hear the end of the story..
u know wht…after reading this i remember i have a very old copy of the aithihyamala somewhere in this house…i am going to unearth it and read all those fascinating tales once more!!!
I happened to come to your blog in the weekend, and I could not get my eyes off from your blog till I read all of it.
Very narrative and captivating style. You really should think of writing a book..
You also remind me of Eknath Easwaran. He started Blue Mountain Meditation Center. He also talks of his grandmother who was his spiritual teacher. He too grew up in Kerala. http://www.nilgiri.org.
Good Luck!!
Rita
Q8techdrive:link not working..
Starry nights: after tht day i am not scred of the ghost!
Jiby: wow.. I always wanted to read the ithyhyamala..was waiting for an english translation.I know I know..I am a malayalee.. and unfortunately the written malayalam is too highfunda for an average dunku like me.. Who is the publisher for the ithyhyamala you have?
Rita: thank you for visiting my blog..and am glad you enjoyed it
Kadamattathu Church
try this
WOW …then what??? am coming here after such a long time…miss all your stories dear…
want to know next what happened Sarah
cheers
i have heard of this stroy.
i am eagerly waiting for ur next post to know if the yakshi came hunting for u that nite 😉
Brilliant post. And yes, I think it’s very unfair to keep us in suspense like this! 🙂
Did that Yakshi faint down while seeing you with Bible?
“Aana ivale kandu pedichu Odi kaanum” ; Jagathi in the movie Kilukkam. Just kidding
what happened next 😉
-yasj
Wow, that was a riveting read. I have always been facinated by the legend of the ‘Yakshi’s’.And I have heard so many stories about them. Dunno if they exists, but some folks in my place swear having seen one.
c’mon! whats next????? i love it!
Q8 techdrive: Thanks
Dawn: glad to have you back.. hope you won’t disappear again
Dew drops: yep the yakshi in white dress came to my bedroom
Cynthia:patience dear!!!
Joju: I miss those witty malayalam movies.. maruthi kathu kathu irunnu oru mathiri ayi type!!!
Silverine: I am pretty confused about all these.. like Joju said, may be the yakshi was scared of me
M.Reza: I just posted the rest..hope you liked the yakshi in our bedroom
*biting my nails*…waiting for what happened next…yikes I hope yakshis don’t eat me up..!!!!
hey what’s ithyhyamala?if there is an english version please let me know.I am eager to read.
lovely 😀 as always.
isn’t it pala maram / pala tree (Alsteria scholaris), sarah?
Rakhaseeeeeeeeee !
Maya: Kottarathil Sankunni wrote the ithyhyamala in the early 1900’s.. he compiled 8 volumes of all those oral history abt kerala. He has written abt kathanaru and many believe it is a proof of the authenticity of the story.. DC books has published his ithihyamala..not sure if it is in english
Rock sea: the yakshi’s could only be tied down to a pala tree and they lived on the plam tree( tht is what i remember ammchi telling me)
Jac: maramakreeeeeee!!!
yes yes, i missed that, pana/palm esp on top of karimpanas are where they make home 😉
A very good article.
Mind is very restless, forceful and strong, O Krishna, it is more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind ~ Arjuna to Sri Krishna