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Up and Close with Sudalai Madan: The Encounter

Night of 13th April all the preparations for the rituals were done in the temple, Sudalaimadan swamy was decorated with flowers, fruits and coconuts; the dedications reached above his chest. My cousin Sudalai Muthu, senior priest of the shrine reached home by late-night got blessings of his father Late Shanmugam Sundaram also previous head priest and blessed the family members in room dedicated for God, then started towards the temple. People have already gathered in huge numbers and were waiting for the Sudalaimada Swamy's arrival at Temple. Different rituals were offered by people to the Lord in order to get the blessings. As it is believed Sudaimada Swamy, the son of Lord Siva used to consume meat in Kailash for this reason he is sent to earth, where he can satisfy his earthy hunger thereby not polluting Kailash.

Sree Aaladi Padmanabha Sudalaimada Swamy Temple, Kumarapuram

Offering meat to Sudalaimadan is the most important and watchful event of the festival. Many devotees offer their goat & pig so as to please the lord and get his blessings. That midnight Sudalaimada Swamy was ready to accept the offerings as the signals were passed to the person responsible for cutting the flesh out, blood started to flow all around. <Spoiler alert: Don't read any further if you are an animal activist or light-hearted, roll to the last paragraph 👻>. The First goat to be butchered was from the same village where Sudalaimadan himself resides, Kumarapuram. In one smooth motion the goat must be beheaded, it is considered ill omen if not done so, also it is believed the person swinging the sickle will not be alive till next Kodai. Sharp sickle passed through the skin cutting out the heart of the calf sized goat. That sacred heart of the first goat was placed carefully in the first step of the temple.

I was shocked to see as many were pleased to see this, some even had enough will to stand there till the 120th goat was butchered. I don't consider myself weak-hearted still I was not ready to see them die. One goat after another, no goat was taken away sickle passes through it dies and it will be placed next to the previously killed one. I can't find a perfect word to describe calf-sized goat, in Tamil we call it 'Kada' whereas small ones are called 'Aadu'. Soon the rituals of killing goats were over. Our family always had the privilege in the temple I enter the temple via side entrance because if you are going to go in by the main entrance then we have to step over a pile of 120 goats.

Settled inside I looked at Sudalaimadan to see if he is pleased with offerings can't get any clue. I don't want to get killed asking stupid questions to any serious devotee 😳 Then a long squeal in a low pitch shaking the floor, it was a pig, or is it a warthog, never have I ever seen a pig of this size in my life. Roughly after 15 such squeals, the meat offerings came to an end. My cousin currently in Sudalaimadan mode danced around for a minute climbed over the 2ft pile of flesh then rushed to burial ground 15 feet away.

And it is time for Mayana kollai : The God of cemetery enters the cemetery to quench is earthly thirst. OMG!!! I was shit scared to see because many people warned me about the intensity. I saw my cousin Mr. Sudalai as THE Sudalai returning from the cemetery with bones and sat in front of Veera Sangali Madan shrine calmed down then distributed prasad to devotees. Now the Sun has come up and has lit the temple with his rays, Chitapa and I returned to home rested there for some time started back to Chennai. On the way back we again visited temple only to see dark bloodstains all over the temple, meat was auctioned off.

Sudalai madan
Sudalaimadan
We came back so that we can worship lord when there are not many people around. Padmanabha Sudalaimada Swamy is the main God of temple other gods were Veera Sangalimadan, Kattai erum perumal, Sappani madan, Karupaswamy, Mundan, Sangali Poothaththaan. I didn't spot any goddess I could have missed but as per lore Sudalaimada companion is Madathy amman and there is also another woman in Sudalaimadans life, Maavushakty, daughter of a wicked sorcerer; and I saw them both as Sothai bomai (representational figurine) atop temple entrance.

Updated all photos and references to specifically highlight my experience in my ancestral village at the temple close to my family.

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Location: Kumarapuram, Tamil Nadu 627657, India

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