Mulaipari - A technology to choose right seeds!

Carrying over the head, Mulaipari (pots growing with nine different kinds of grains) is a traditional south Indian festival popular in Tamil Nadu and takes place mostly in Tamil Month called Adi (July-August). Adi is a month celebrated all-over the Amman (goddess) Temples and carrying Mulaipari is a kind of offering to the goddess, and traditionally prevailing legacy requesting good rain and fertility of land, in order to secure a rich harvest. Most of the Amman temples still follow this tradition which is intense in villages, where farmers preserve a part of their harvested grains yearly in order to use in next season and to check the standard of the seeds the Mulaipari is conducted. 

At the villages or towns, they built a strip shed close to the Amman Temples and on the day beginning of the festival Mulaipari (nine kinds of grains) are cast at the shed and the women in the villages gather over there and throw 21 varieties of seed grains and grow them over the next nine days. During the nine days, women sing and dance around the Mulaipari praying the goddess for a good harvest and on the day ten Mulaipari is carried over by the women on the baskets as a procession towards the temple is offered to the goddess. In this process whose Mulaipari has grown well will share the seeds with others or that who’s Mulaipari doesn’t show up. This traditionally conducting festival is celebrated to bring prosperity along the way to farming and it’s supporting natural sources. 

Moreover, seeing the growth of the crops in Mulaipari, the year’s yields is calculated and so was taking Mulaipari is considered as a rite. Cultivating Mulaipari isn’t just a rite or worshiping but a technique to pick out the seeds of vigour to agriculture and cultivate quality seeds for next cultivation comfortable from their villages itself and it is a festival in name of Mulaipari celebrates technology!

The Mulaipari captured in the images above was shot at Pannaikadu; a mountain village slightly diverted from the road to Kodaikanal on the Ghats section. Pannaikadu is just about 13km from my uncle’s woodhouse and cottages in Thandikudi and we come across this Mulaipari procession during a course to Kodaikanal while staying at the woodhouse last month. Women cladded in colourful sarees carried the Mulaipari baskets on their heads and some with milk pots walking to their destined temple. Pannaikadu has many temples and people out there seems to have great devotion and faith on god and on Fridays no meat shop is opened there perhaps because Friday is consider auspicious to go on fast and most of them here worships lord Murugar.