THE YOUNG SWAMIJI Nemarra High School photo. Circled: <strong>The</strong> young Swamiji aged about twelve. Swamiji had to walk three miles and sometimes swim across the Gayatri River to reach school 14 YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015
THE YOUNG SWAMIJI <strong>The</strong> Young Swamiji By Kamala Devi What was he like, the young Swamiji? He was, his mother said, ‘a very adamant fellow’. By all accounts, the striking personality <strong>of</strong> the young Swamiji was clear to all from his very earliest years. It had three distinct strands: a resolute and fearless determination, a capacity to discriminate between genuine religious observance and superstition, and a deep and abiding compassion for all living beings. What was the background to this striking personality? Background Swami Vishnudevananda was born Swami Kuttan Nair in Kaninmangalam, near Nemmara, in the Native State <strong>of</strong> Cochin (now Kerala) in 1927, a son <strong>of</strong> the famous warrior caste <strong>of</strong> Kerala, the Nairs. <strong>The</strong> Nairs are an ancient and extraordinary caste. Although customs and traditions differ within various Nair communities, they had their own marital customs (sambandham), their own form <strong>of</strong> matrilineal inheritance (marumakkathayam), their own art <strong>of</strong> warfare (kalarippayattu), their own war goddess (Bhadrakali), their own cult <strong>of</strong> ancestor worship, and their own art form, kathakali (dance drama). In swordsmanship and suicide squads (chavers) they were similar to the Samurai <strong>of</strong> Japan. In feudal times the Nairs formed the chief militia in Kerala, and travellers were as struck by their valour and military prowess as they were fascinated by the customs and traditions which distinguished them from other Keralites. Early writers described them as ‘exceedingly haughty, proud and bold’. <strong>The</strong> Nairs lived in matrilineal joint families known as tarawads. <strong>The</strong>y generally lived away from the towns in detached houses with large compounds and good gardens. <strong>The</strong> plan and other details <strong>of</strong> the structure <strong>of</strong> Nair houses were determined in strict conformity with the principles <strong>of</strong> the ancient Hindu science <strong>of</strong> architecture based on astrology (vastu). <strong>The</strong> tarawad or marumakkathayam family consisted in theory <strong>of</strong> all persons who could trace their descent in the female line from a single ancestress, and a single house could sometimes contain a hundred people, spanning three or four generations. Swamiji’s tarawad, or traditional family home, was known as Valia Peechankurichy Veedu: ‘Peechankurichy’ being the name <strong>of</strong> the house, ‘valia’ meaning ‘big’ and ‘veedu’ meaning ‘house’. It had five rooms on the ground floor, six rooms on the first floor and open space on the third floor for storing grain. <strong>The</strong>re were also two halls on the first floor and two halls on the ground floor. All four sides had long sit-outs which were approx - imately one hundred feet by fifteen feet to accommodate any number <strong>of</strong> people during feasts and festivities. Guests coming from far <strong>of</strong>f villages slept in these courtyards on mats and pillows provided by the family. <strong>The</strong> family had three parcels <strong>of</strong> land totalling five hundred acres (five thousand paras) as well as two plantations (‘gardens’) adjacent to some rivers. Here they grew coconuts, mangoes and other fruits. “As a child Swamiji loved bhakti stories like Kabirdas. He also loved to go for Temple celebrations.” Swamiji’s father, Sri Chatthu Panicker, was said to have been a first class farmer and one <strong>of</strong> the important agriculturists in the area. <strong>The</strong> local people <strong>of</strong>ten spoke <strong>of</strong> the effort he put into his farming. He would take the bullocks to the field at 3am and immediately begin ploughing. As the bullocks had to come from far away they would have started out at midnight or one am. A great deal <strong>of</strong> effort was put into the land and it was universally admired as being very beautiful. It was from his father that Swamiji first acquired his highlydeveloped sense <strong>of</strong> discipline. Swamiji’s mother was Srimati Devaki Amma (later Swami Sivasarananda), the daughter Swami Vishnudevananda’s <strong>of</strong> Srimati Cheechu Amma mother, Devaki Amma, who later <strong>of</strong> Valia Peechankurichy Veedu became Swami Sivasharanananda and Sri Padmanabha Shastry, a revered Sanskrit scholar and Veda pandit attached to the Palace <strong>of</strong> the Maharaja <strong>of</strong> Cochin. Swamiji’s mother was very pious. All felt that Devaki Amma had the full characteristics <strong>of</strong> her father and that Swami must have had his blessings as well. <strong>The</strong>re was a pond near the house and a Subramania Shestram nearby. <strong>The</strong> land near the Temple belonged to Swamiji’s father and Devaki Amma would go there and pray every day for at least one or two hours. Everyone in the family thought that that was why no one had any diseases among their near and dear ones. YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015 15
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