Ayya Vaikundar The Spiritual light

About a hundred and fifty years ago Ayya Vaikundar arose for the upliftment of the poor and down trodden people of the erstwhile South Travancore. He was rather a great social revolutionary than a preacher. He revolutionized Hindu religion. He foretold a variety of events many of which have been realized. He established the cult of Ayyavazhi.

Thousands of people from far and near and from every walk of life irrespective of caste, creed and language, visit Swamythoppu to worship Ayya Vaikundar. There was a long felt need for an online site about Ayya Vaikundar in English and we hope this will satisfy the need to a certain extent. This will be the first step to take Ayya Vaikundar to the nonTamil speaking world.

Many people have helped in the presentation. Thiru. Bala prajapathi Adikalar not only guided us in every aspect but has also gone through and offered useful comments. We thank Thiru. Balaprajapathi Adikalar for rendering us all the help we needed. We are solely responsible for the factual error, spelling or usage.
We are very grateful to Anbuvanam for publishing this.

Our Sincere thanks to Sri.N.Muthiah Nadar(Eachenvilai) and Miss. Thanam(Kottaram) for their co-ordination to help us publish this online.

Ayya undu.
N. Elango
A. Vijaya Shanthi Elango
Chottapanickan Therivilai

Ayya Thunai

Greetings!

Ayya Vaikundar is the light of the world. His principles dispell darkness from the minds of people. The tenets of Akilathirattu and Arulnool are applicable to any period of time. It is necessary to bring out his principles in all languages of he world so as to reach wider audience. By rendering the principles in English, they are made accessible to many people.

We bless the Mr.Elango and Mrs. Vijaya Santhi Elango and others who helped to bring out this. We bless for the success of their efforts and expect that the principles of Ayya Vaikuntar reach out to people across the world.

Ayya undu.
Balaprajapathi Adikal
Anbuvanam
Swamithoppu P.O.
Pin : 629 704
Ph : 04652 – 258999

Historical Background

In the beginning of the 19th century the Princely State of Travancore was ruled by Kings with the help of the English, i.e., the East Indian Company. The Diwans who were the executive heads of get state tried their share of income from the states. The king had to play a large sum to help the English Indian Company towards the maintained of the Residential English Force at Travancore. Therefore, the rulers had to levy heavy taxes even on the lower castes. The rulers were mere puppets in the hands of the caste Hindus and they tried their best to exploit the lower castes.

The foreign religions slowly spread their tentacles into the lower caste people and the underprivileged during this time. The converts were given many concessions. During this period Colonel Mantro who was the Resident introduced many reforms. He wanted to save the lower castes from the clutches of the rulers and the privileged castes. On 3rd December, 1811, he proclaimed that slave trade was banned in Travancore state. He also abolished the poll tax as well as the tax levied on the fishing nets. Due to this, many people from the fishing community embraced Christianity and were relieved from the clutches of the upper caste.

In the year 1817, all the lower castes were permitted to construct tile-roofed houses. In 1818 the lower castes, Nadars, Shanars, Ezhavas were permitted to wear jewels made of gold and silver. But they were not allowed to enter the temples. Even after these reforms, life in this Princely State was a hell for the lower caste people.


Casteism

Casteism was rigidly followed in those days. The lower castes were called as avarnas and were treated as untouchables. The rulers were so favourable to the upper castes that if a hardworking lower caste man came in the way of the caste Hindus, they had every right to kill him. This act was not considered an offence in Travancore in those days.

The Brahmins were considered the descendants of Lord Bramha and whatever they uttered was the rule of the state. Brahmins were given the first place in the then Travancore society. Oottupurahs (feeding sheds) were established and maintained throughout the state by the Kings to feed the Brahmins daily. The lower caste ladies were not permitted to enter the Brahmins’ house. If they were to enter, they were permitted only through the back door with bare breasts. The Brahmins of this state were called as Nambudris and were respected as next to God.

Nairs were the second ranking citizens of the State. The Vellalas were next only to Nairs. The Nairs were mostly Government servants. More than sixty percent of the posts in the Government were occupied by Nairs. They were the landlords and they controlled and supervised the lower castes through their trusts. The lower castes should stand at least twelve feet away from the Nambudris and this rule was strictly followed in those days. Both men and women of Nadar caste were no exception to this rule. They were neither permitted to cover the upper part of the body nor to wear turban. By and large, the lower caste people lived a very hard life and were praying to God for their salvation. Yes, their prayers were heard and Lord Vaikuntar came to the rescue of the downtrodden people from the grip of feudalism, age – old superstitions, caste prejudice and religious disregard.