Kuladeivam- People’s Champion

Myth?

“Kulam” & “Kohtram” may sound like a taboo now, many of us would go out and protest, saying: “We are in 2020 now, stop this casteism! Everyone should be allowed to marry who they like and so on.”
Today, we are not going to debate about this age-long MAMA (Marriage @ Matrimonial) matter. 

How many of you are aware of the term, “kula deivam”? How many of you are aware of the term but not aware of who is your “kula deivam”? And how many of you are aware but just too ignorant to even bother about the practice? 

To those who are aware and practising the act of gratitude, excellent, good for you! But, how many of you are fully aware of the reason behind the practice?

“Kula deivam”?

Ennada intha “kula deivam” (what is this “kula deivam”), you may ask?
“Kulam” means people, in ancient India, all our relatives were living in the same village for many many years. There weren’t any IT hub for the kids to migrate to the cities or abroad and all they did was mainly agriculture. So the sons will marry a girl from the same village or neighbouring village and bring her into that village to live in within the community and the female will become a part of that “kulam” now.
Now, what is “kula deivam”? Deivam means god, so “kula deivam” means your people (village) ‘s, god.

Who is “kula deivam”?

In ancient days where medical technology was not as advance as now, every village used to have a shaman or traditional medicine practitioner (ayurvedic). They were seen as the god on earth because they save lives, be a midwife to deliver a child, a nanny to nurse the newborn and the mother and etcetera. So when such treatment or healing process are being performed, the medicine person (usually are an elderly lady) will be escorted by a male, can be the husband, son or the brother as a guard. And during any plague outbreak, that shaman will be the one in charge of finding medicines to heal and curb the situation. Such a person will be respected and has high regards. And when they are gone (passed away), to commemorate their selflessness, they build a shrine or place a rock or metal like a trident to pay respect and remember them as an act of attitude of gratitude. Human has never seen god, but the mental image & behaviour that we have is that gods are always the saviours when we earthlings are in trouble. So the one who has saved the entire village and lived an exemplary life will be looked like the god.

Hence that is how most “kula deivam” originated. Now, remember the guardian I mentioned earlier? They will be regarded as “kaaval deivam” (guardian god) or “yellai deivam” (border guardian god) as they guarded the saviour who blessed and saved the entire village. That was just one of the example, but the point to note here is, they were human just like us and worshipping them is an act of gratitude, just like how we do tarpanam for our ancestors.

That is why you will notice there will be a guardian at the entrance of the village or the temple with a long machete with names like ayyaanar, muniswaran, madurai veeran, ayya, sanggali karuppar and etcetera. These names are of the warriors of the land, and the guardians are respected as the same as the descended warriors. 
So, that is the brief history of “kula deivam” & “kaaval deivam”. But why are they so special? I am sure some of you may ask, weren’t there any other exemplary human lived on the land that should also be accepted as “kaaval & kula deivam”? The answer from me will be, there may have, but this is not about the hierarchy of who is more prominent and who deserve the throne.

“Kula deivam” vs Spiritual Science

It is energy-related! In 5 elements, our core belief is base on the energy of the universe, precisely the five elements available to all humanity. Like mentioned earlier, it was the kindness that made the ancestors, worshipped as a god. They lived and shared only goodness to the people of the land.
Science says energy cannot be created nor destroyed; hence the positive energy of the ancestors absorbed by the earth element will always bless the land of the people (“kulam”), that is why Indians family members pay particular respect and worship in the land of their “kula deivam” during important occasions like marriage or childbirth, marriage anniversary, buying of a house, agricultural lands or starting of new ventures and like any other important event that involves the family members’ peace and prosperity. This act is nothing but to absorb the positive energy from the land of the ancestors and be blessed by the great ancestors. Anyway, we are them, genetically, so I see that as an act of gratitude!

How to find out who is your “Kula deivam”?

The obvious way is to find out from your grandparents or look for their native village address from their travel documents when they were brought to Malaysia or any other part of the world.
If that fails, there are few other ways, but it all takes a bit of faith to believe in such methods. You can either get it checked with olaichuvadi (ancient palm leaf) reading, some well experienced astrologers (naadi jothidar) or another method that many are not aware which is Akashic Record.

Want to know more?

I can go on to write about this, but I guess this info is sufficient for now. If you like this post and would like me to share further, drop your comments, and I may consider making a video on this topic.