Vedic rain ritual

[urmila]

MUNDUR, KERALA, INDIA, January 25, 2011: In this rapidly modernizing
country, new money is also reviving old traditions. A group of mostly
urban professionals has teamed up to help conduct the fire ritual this
spring in a village that last witnessed it 35 years ago. 'We want to
do our bit to ensure that Indian culture survives,' said Neelakantan
Pillai, a banker and member of the newly formed Varthathe Trust, which
is organizing the event. 'In the new, emerging India, people are ready
to open their wallets, write checks for such efforts.'

The village last witnessed the ritual in 1975 when an American
professor raised money around the world to revive it. Frits Staal, a
professor of south and southeast Asian studies at the University of
California at Berkeley, filmed the event and wrote a book about it.
But this year, the funds - more than $200,000 - will be raised in
India. Staal and a team of students from Harvard are expected to
attend.

Only two old men in the lush-green southern state of Kerala still know
how to perfom athiratram, perhaps the world's oldest and longest
religious fire ritual. The elders say that each time athiratram is
performed, an unseasonal rain occurs and an eagle glides over the
site.

Priests say that athiratram is difficult to perform. The chief
conductor must survive on milk, fruit and wheat during the 12 days. He
cannot scratch himself, or shave or speak to anybody. He must keep his
fists closed tightly for the entire period; they are pried open with
hot water and clarified butter after the ritual. The fire must be lit
by rubbing two pieces of wood from a special tree against each other.

On the 11th day, priests believe that all the Gods and Goddesses come
down from heaven to listen to the chanting of a special hymn.