V. P. KASHIN

Candidate of Historical Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

India Keywords:. Kerala, Kanyakumari. Kanyakumari Amman

One of the most beautiful places in India is considered to be Cape Kanyakumari, crowning the southern tip of the Hindustan peninsula. It got its name from the eponymous Hindu temple dedicated to the virgin goddess.

I got to the famous cape by taxi from the administrative center of the South Indian state of Kerala - the city of Thiruvananthapuram. We covered a distance of 89 km in 2.5 hours. The road wound through beautiful hills and valleys covered with emerald greenery. It was dominated by palm trees, which were dominated by the pointed spires of churches, the wings of windmills, and the billboards of nearby hotels. There was a brisk trade along the highway. The most exotic item was life-size plastic replicas of tropical animals. Giraffes were especially good.

Closer to the cape, banana plantations and rice fields became more common. Soft pink lotuses swayed on the mirrored surface of the pools. The fresh air and breath of the ocean whetted one's imagination and appetite. Suddenly, a disheveled man in a Kerala skirt-a single piece of cloth mundu-jumped out from under the wheels. He demanded to pay for parking, and I realized that I had achieved my goal.

ALEXANDRIA OF THE EAST

The extreme point of Hindustan, Cape Kanyakumari, is washed by the Arabian Sea-from the west, the Bay of Bengal - from the east and the Indian Ocean - from the south. At this point, sea routes connecting the countries of the Near and Middle East and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, intersect. In ancient times, it was a center of pearl mining and trade and earned a reputation as the Alexandria of the East. The British colonial authorities called it Cape Comorin after a rock located 29 km to the north and mistaken by sailors for the tip of the peninsula.

In the medieval period, the cape was owned by the South Indian states of the Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas and Nayaks. The main political and military force was the Tamil Chola dynasty, which created a strong navy, captured Sri Lanka and extended its influence to Indonesia. In the 13th century, the Chola empire weakened and broke up into numerous small principalities. At the beginning of the 16th century, Kanyakumari and the surrounding areas were annexed to the Venad State, of which Padmanabhapuram was the capital. His Maharaja, Marthanda Varma (1729 - 1759), founded the principality of Travancore, which stretches along the Malabar coast. In 1741, at Kolachel, he defeated the Dutch East India Company and thus put an end to its claims to Kerala. In 1949. Travancore became part of the Union of India and in 1950 was transformed into the state of Travancore-Cochin. In a linguistic reorganization in 1956, Travancore-Cochin was renamed Kerala, and Kanyakumari and Cape districts were transferred to Madras State, which was renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.

Cape Kanyakumari is the only place in India where you can see both sunset and moonrise on a full moon in April. Celestial bodies meet on the horizon line face to face. The best place to observe is a spiral tower on the shore.

Perhaps this circumstance was the reason why the Kanyakumari Amman temple was built on a promontory 300 meters from the ocean in ancient times, which is very popular in the country, despite its remote location. It is one of the main pilgrimage centers of Hindus along with Varanasi and Prayag (Uttar Pradesh) and Haridwar (Uttarkhand), etc. A whole city grew up near the temple. 20 thousand rubles. its residents are engaged in serving-

pilgrims, hotel maintenance, and the production and sale of souvenirs.

From here, the northern point in Kashmir is about 3,300 km away and 3 days by train (the pink-painted railway station building is 3 km from the cape). From Bangalore, Kodaikanal, Madurai, Rameswaram, Thiru Vanantapuram, Chennai and Ernakulam, you can also get here by bus.

KANYAKUMARI TEMPLE AMMAN

Kanyakumari Amman Temple ^* is dedicated to Goddess Kumari. This is one of the oldest Hindu temples. It is mentioned in the Yad Jurveda, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana and other sacred books of Hinduism. The temple that we see today was built in the 7th century AD by the rulers of the Pandya dynasty. In the future, it was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded ¹.

Kumari is one of the incarnations of Parvati, the devoted consort of the supreme destroyer god Shiva. The legend tells of a Kumari maiden who, seeking to win the heart of her master, made a vow of loyalty to him on a rock by the ocean. The wedding was scheduled to take place at midnight. But the gods, led by Vishnu, decided to prevent this event. They knew that only the virgin goddess had the powerful energy power to resist the coming demonic invasion. At the request of the gods, sage Narada took the form of a rooster and crowed at the top of his voice. Hurrying to his beloved Shiva thought that the dawn was near and he was late for the wedding, and turned back. Kumari remained unmarried. The wedding treats were thrown into the ocean and turned into Kerala rocks and sand.

Soon Kumari was wooed by the mighty demon Bana, who could destroy the world. Kumari refused Bana and dealt him a fatal blow in a fierce duel, meeting the expectations of the treacherous gods ².

The image of Kumari in her temple is said to have been carved from dark blue stone by the warrior brahmana Parasurama, the sixth avatar of the supreme guardian god Vishnu. He also made a wooden throne, on which the goddess sat waiting for a date with Shiva. Kumari appears as a young girl. She is wearing a green sari embroidered with gold. The head is crowned with a high tiara with a crescent moon. The same crescent moon adorns the head of Shiva. The goddess stands on a golden platform symbolizing the lotus-the flower of purity, prosperity and fertility, surrounded by 15 lamps. In her right hand, she holds a necklace. The large diamond in Kumari's nose ring radiates such radiance that it is mistaken for a lighthouse beam. In order not to mislead ships passing by the cape, the eastern entrance to the temple is almost always closed. It is opened only 5 times a year during the New moon holidays according to the Malayalam calendar common in Kerala.

There is a curious legend about the origin of Kerala, which is reflected in the ancient Indian epic "Ramayana". According to it, Kerala is a part of a mountain that fell into the coastal waters from the hands of Hanuman, the leader of the monkey army and a companion of Prince Rama. In the Battle of Lanka, Rama's brother Lakshmana was severely wounded. Only a medicinal herb growing on a mountain in the Himalayas could save him. Hanuman was sent for her. He failed to find the right grass and brought Mount ³ to Lanka.

Kanyakumari Amman Temple is rectangular in shape. It is surrounded by a three-meter-high white wall around the perimeter. It is decorated with bas-reliefs-arches. Above the western entrance rises the gate tower-gopuram with brightly painted sculptures of gods and heroes.

Small shops selling religious items, costume jewelry, bags, books, and sweets are crowded on the sides. Obsessive peddlers offer rosaries, postcards, handkerchiefs.

Male pilgrims huddled in small groups are naked to the waist. They prepared for a meeting with Kumari, which requires compliance with such a peculiar dress code. At the entrance to the sanctuary, security asked me to hand over my camera and take off my T-shirt. These are the rules here.

Inside, the temple resembles catacombs. It has a mysterious semi-darkness. Natural lighting is provided through the entrance and side openings. The pillars supporting the vault seem to have sagged under its weight. All interior details are painted dark purple. The walls were covered with a thick layer of brown dust.

Pilgrims walk in a line along the wall, holding on to the chrome handrails. It is forbidden to marry them. In the niches there are altars to the goddess of the sacred river Ganga and the god of good luck Ganesha and friends of Kumari's children's games-Vijay Sundari and Balasundari.

The next room is noticeably brighter. A man is sitting on the left. The table in front of him is littered with 10-and 20-rupee notes. There was a crash. It was the priests who slammed the massive door leading to the altar section of the temple. The pilgrims huddled together. They're worried. I asked when the door would open. In response, I heard:"Wait!"

I stand and wait with everyone else. The Hindus stare at me in surprise. I am the only foreigner in our company. A white-toothed guy in his twenties wants to know where I'm from. When he heard that he was from Russia and had already visited such sacred places in Northern India as Varanasi, Ayodhya and Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), he began to talk animatedly about the temples of Southern India. Most of my interviewees were Kerala natives. Someone asked why Russia wanted to ban the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important texts of Hinduism,

* Kanya-literally, virgin, kumari girl, amma or amman - mother.

part of the Mahabharata. I explain the circumstances of the case.

The essence of the case is that in 2011 the Tomsk city court considered a claim about the presence of extremist statements in the book of the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Swami Prabhupada "Bhagavad Gita. As it is." Russian Hare Krishnas informed the Indian government about this, describing the situation as an encroachment on the Bhagavad Gita. Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna made a sharp criticism in Parliament. A public burning of the Russian flag took place in Delhi. The Hindu community treats ISKCON members with tolerance, but does not recognize them as Hindus. ISKCON Temple in Vrindavan, where the divine Krishna spent his youth, is being raided and looted from the neighboring state of Rajasthan.⁴

My explanation was interrupted by the thunder of a drum. The door swung open, and the crowd surged forward, oblivious. There was a stampede. Fortunately, no one was injured. I don't know what prompted me to intervene, but I began to call people to order: "The temple is not a market! Let the women go first!" To my surprise, the Indians obeyed and even left a free space in the queue in front of me.

I paused at the altar and looked inside. The lights were off. Someone was moving on the floor. Perhaps it was a wandering ascetic sadhu. The priest placed a red tilak sign on my forehead with the thumb of his right hand and handed me two bags of organic paint. Each package had a picture of the goddess Kumari on it.

GHATS AND MEMORIALS

From the temple, pilgrims go to the mantapam, an open pavilion with 16 columns built on the shore. Behind it are 11 descents-ghats for ritual ablution. People cautiously enter the water. A high ocean wave at any second can overturn the daredevils and throw them on sharp rocks. The most dangerous places are marked with ropes with large floats of white foam strung on them.

The temple is visited daily by 5-6 thousand Hindus. On public holidays, there are significantly more of them. The main festivals are Vaishakh (May), Kalabham (July-August) and Navaratri (September-October). On the Vaishakh festival, a stone statue of the goddess is mounted on a horse and solemnly driven around the city accompanied by a large procession. Kalabham lasts for 13 days. The Kumari sculpture is covered from head to toe in sandalwood paste. Many flowers are brought to the feet of the goddess. The flower mountain grows until the Kumari crown is hidden behind it. During the Navaratri festival, the image of the goddess is displayed in mantapam. On the ninth day, he is taken to the village of Mahadanapuram, three kilometers from the cape. There is a scene of a duel between Kumari and the demon Bana ⁵.

On the cape there is a memorial to the "father of the nation" Mahatma Gandhi and a memorial to a prominent politician and statesman of the Republic of India, the Chief Minister of Madras State in 1954 - 1963, Coomaraswamy Kamaraj. The Mahatma Gandhi memorial is designed in such a way that the sun's rays at noon on October 2, his birthday, fell on the place where the urn with his ashes was located before diving into the ocean. Other attractions include the Shaivite Guhapadiswara Temple (1000 AD), the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Atonement (1600 AD), the Tsunami Memorial, the lighthouse and the fishing harbour.

A kilometer from the mainland rise two rocky islands. One of them is a memorial to Swami Vivekananda, a prominent thinker and public figure. He visited these places in 1892, reached the island, and spent the night of December 26-27 in deep meditation. It was here that he decided to devote himself to serving the motherland and spreading the revelation of the Vedas. The memorial is built of red and brown granite. On another island stands a grand statue of the famous Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, who lived in the first century BC. The statue is 133 feet (40 m) high, which coincides with the number of chapters of Thiruvalluvar's work "Thirukural", which is considered a code of conduct and ethics. There is a regular ferry service to the monuments from Kanyakumari Bay.

I left Kanyakumari with a mixture of joy at having fulfilled my long-held dream of visiting the southernmost tip of the Hindustan Peninsula and regret that it had already been realized...

¹ Kanyakumari. Exclusive Temples and Beaches. Madurai, 2012, p. 9.

^{Das R.K.} 2 Temples of Tamilnad. Bombay, 1964, p. 1 - 4.

³ Discover India. February, 2009.

⁴ Nezavisimaya gazeta. 18.01.2012.

⁵ Census of India. 1961. Vol. IX. Part XI-D. Temples of Madras State. Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli. New Delhi, 1968, p. 119.

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