KETTU (കെട്ടു) PART1 Dear friends,
Sabarimala pilgrimagewith “Irumuti Kettu” over the head is just over a fortnight back. Whoever bethe person, one can climb the eighteen steps only with IRUMUTIKETTU over thehead. The filling of offerings and personal items before pilgrimage is called Kettu nira. The saranams startingwith Kettu are - Kettum ketti- Sabarimalaikku. AArae kkanan- Swamiyae kkanan.Swamiyae Kandaal- Moksham kittum and again repeating with Pallikettu-Sabarimalaikku. The irumuti has twokettu- The front kettu is for the deity and the back one for keeping personalthings. The front Kettu is described as PUNNIAM and back kettu as PAPAM. Thebeautiful devotional lyric goes like this:- Punniapapa chumatukalam Irumuti Kettumenthi Ponnambalanatayiletthan Varunnu jnagal.. Update- This year due to covid 19there have been limitation to the number of pilgrims permitted in a day. I have found someexceptions of pilgrims having drums tied to waist and playing and climbing withoutirumuti on the holy steps. Their irumuti is carried by someone else. The word kettu eitherin Malayalam or Tamil (We know language Malayalam has its origin from Tamil)has other meanings also. One is a bundled itemor packed items kept together as a bundle. In sari shops to avoid dusting sarisare bundled in white cloths and when customers go the sales men open the bundleand show the items. Recently I have been Mysore and the silk sari shop on roadside was found following the procedure. If we purchase angadimarunnu from shops, it would be packed separately for each day/time and thenthe packets are bundled and given sothat quantity does not vary. On those days onecould see the dhobi carryingwashed and old cloths in a bundle. Ironed cloths will be neatly keptover a big cloth, covered with it and ends tied and coming keeping it on thehead. He will collect old clothes after giving newly washed and ironed clothesto different houses. Alternatively there would be one more with him to collect oldclothes. Street merchants oftextiles now too carry them in bundle. Only thing they come in motorbikes orsmall vans, but things are brought in bundles. Now after ironing dhobis?) takescloth in bundles in mini vehicles. Kettu means to tietogether two lengthy pieces or to tie any lengthy piece of wire for clotheslineto two fixers. I am told on those days of telegraph service alone beingavailable with Morse code working, if wire was broken, and immediate new wirewas not there, turban was made wet and tied the two metal wires to restorecommunication by telegraph line men. Wetted turban becomes a conductor. Tying together of two elastic strings manynot become rigid. Kettu in Tamil means also wearing a cloth like dhothi orsaree in the middle area. Ketticchu vituka (tying and send) inMalayalam to send a girl in marriage. The same in Tamil is told as – kalkettu pottu vidu. On those days onecould see a person of lower income invariably carry things in a bundle. This wecan see more in old Tamil films. It is called Bhanda kettu. Sanyasis carry bhandam. However it was apractice for many bundling the cloths together for washing in a bigger clothand tie and carries it holding on the knot area. On those days while officers in tour duringoffice times, it was apractice to bundle the files in a special blue cloth and taken by staff toresidence for going through. Now too files requiring moreconcentrated study are taken to residencesome times in briefcase. I am not sure kettu poyi (spoiled) has itsorigin from Kettu. Kettu – poyi. Nalu kettu, ettukettu and kettilamma are all having origin with kettu. The English word for kettu is Knot which alsomeans a unit of measurement. O amcontinuing some more thoughts on kettu. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 25-10-2013. Reposted on 28-1-2021 after editing and updatinginformation. R. Gopala Krishnan 1. Yanjopaveetham paramam Pavitram… For wearing the newyanjopaveetham it is hold over a panchapathram with water with left palm andthe right palm below the knot of the yanjopaveetham, knot should be in themiddle of the palm. The knot in the Yangopaveetham has many meanings,more than those meanings the knot is sacred. 2. Manglayam Tahthuthathena.. Talikettu. Tali is adorned in manycommunities during wedding designatedas Talikettu. Brahmins, Gold smiths etc. tie a Tali ofturmeric thread during the muhurtham. The twisting or loose of thread has variationwith communities. Whether talikettu istold in Vedas or only sapthapathi is only told, it is a must a thali has to be tied with three knots atthe back. If Talikettu is anacharam came later on before centuries similar many other acharam are also to be approved intotal…. Recently I read after oonchal where the girl hold the handof boy, panigrhanam has no value. 3. Deepasthambam Mahacharyam- Kizhi kettu Kizhikettu isprepared on two occasions. One is to keep a coin on a yellow cloth after prayerfor some auspicious purposes and tie and keep it. It will be given to the deityin a suitable occasion. I am told before themarried girl is sent to her house for delivery or even to hospital as the casemay be, a coin is tiled in yellow cloth and prayed for SADAVUDAYAR for safedelivery and kept by those having Sadavudayar as Kuladeivam. After delivery on a suitable occasionit is taken to temple. For applying kizhi in ayurvedic treatment,the specified items are heated on specified oil for a time in a pan andtransferred to thick cloth, tied and applied on the person withwarmness/hotness. When the warmness reduce, again it is warmed on the pan withoutthe cloth getting burned etc. It is a tactic by those applying kizhi. On those days rewards were given as Kizhi,the gold coins placed in a red bag, and tied and given to the rewarded holdingon the knot by the king etc. 4. Raksha kettal Raksha is a divinemanthra inscribed on palm leaf and rolled in a silver/ gold cover. It is tiedto the body or attached to thali or chain. I recollect at one time wecould not see a woman without a raksha tiled in a golden cover in chain/ tali. Charatu japichhukettal is tying a stringwith knots made by reciting divine manthras on the body in wrist or shoulder orin the loin area for kids. 5. Tali noyambu On the occasion ofTali noyambu all married women as well as girl children wear the thread tyingon the neck. Only widows do not wear. I am told small girls wear to safe guard their forthcoming husband.This thread is called Nombu charatu, thin and smaller in size. Those Brahminladies wearing tali in gold chain wear this yellow charatu. Many time thiscould identify the lady belonging to Brahmin community or not if we had somedoubt while seeing in Offices. 6. Kotiketti parakkuka A person having afortunate time in all respects is told Ayal koti ketti parukkukallae… 7. Kettu kettikkuka It is a term used todefeat a person and making him move away- Kettu- Kettikkum. I will continue in 2nd part with some important but notmuch technical matters about knot. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/611677083.824315.1611819963500%40mail.yahoo.com.
