Immortal Love- Saintly Devotees of Guruvayur

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Thronged by lakhs of devotees every month, Kerala's Guruvayur temple rose to prominence through the lore surrounding five saintly devotees - Poonthanam Nambootiri, Melputhur Narayana Bhattathiri, Manavedan Raja, Vilwamangalam Swamiyar, and Kururamma - who are still part of the temple legends and devotional folklore of Kerala. All of them, except for Kururamma, the lone woman devotee, have composed exquisite works in Sanskrit and Malayalam. These personages stand tall in the hearts of ordinary devotees through the strength and sweetness of their devotion to Guruvayurappan. This book presents their devotionally rich and inspiring lives bringing them together in a single volume in English for the first time.

Sulini V. Nair is a Mohiniyattam practitioner, writer, and translator. She has worked extensively in dance researching, teaching, writing, and performing. She is the founder-director of "Svarva", a centre for women to work with movement, dance, healing, and self-empowerment. Deeply interested in art, culture, and spirituality, she has also written articles and worked in television and radio scripting and presenting programmes in these areas.

In many ways, this book does something extraordinary since it tells the stories of five devotees whose lives revolve around the same central theme. The common factor is that all of them four men and one woman are known for their extraordinary devotion to one particular deity in one particular temple. As such the potential reader might expect their stories to be somewhat similar and then wonder why, since the book focuses on Lord Krishna, a deity known and worshipped throughout India, the different regions, temples, and aspects of Krishna weren't selected. Yet Sulini Nair knows why, as does every devotee who comes before the presiding deity of Kerala's Guruvayur Temple: Lord Krishna, locally known as Guruvayurappan, the Lord of Guruvayur Temple.

Her deep respect and knowledge gently peels back the centuries to tell us about the five individuals, telling their stories in a way that allows the reader to not only understand how deeply Guruvayurappan is revered but also how deeply these devotees are still regarded, centuries after their deaths.

Each short chapter lays out the life of a particular devotee, allowing the reader to see and understand their particular story. The five: Poothanam Nambootiri, Melputhur Narayana Bhattathiri, Manavedan Raja, Vilwamangalam Swamiyar, and the one woman, Kururamma are deftly sketched and brought to life, revealing their failings, pains and, ultimately always their deep faith.

It is this aspect of the book, the uniting of the remarkable devotees, that we come to realise how extraordinary it is that, despite their differences and stories, they are all unknowingly 'united' by the divine persona of an extraordinary deity, one depicted and worshipped as a small boy.

One of the facets of India's spiritual tradition is the apotheosis of devotion as a hallmark of divinity. The story of mortals becoming immortal through the choicest and most self- effacing effort has glorified the story of many a mahatma and mahima sthali across the length and breadth of the country.

A few centuries ago, in the idyllic shrine of Sri Krishna at Guruvayur in Kerala too, such stories of aspiration and devotion played out to reverberate through time. The entrancing glory of Sri Krishna at Guruvayur became part of the lore, lyric, literature, and life of generations through the lives of a handful of saintly devotees.

The Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple in the Thrissur district of Kerala is one of the holiest shrines in this region. Thronged by millions of devotees, Sri Krishna is worshipped here as a naughty little child.

A Sanskrit work named Guruvayu-pura-mahatmyam supposed to embody a dialogue between Sage Atreya and King Janamejaya, is the source of the temple's sthala purana or traditional account of origin. Though much of it might be legendary, it is significant from a devotional viewpoint.

The idol is not said to be of earthly origin. Made of a material called the "patalasila", Sri Mahavishnu is said to have given it to Brahma who gave it to a rishi named Sutapas. He gave it to Kasyapa-Prajapati who gave it to Vasudeva, Sri Krishna's father. Sri Krishna installed and worshipped it at Dwarka, His capital. Before His ascent to heaven, Sri Krishna told His devotee and minister Uddhava that the idol would come floating after Dwarka was engulfed by the ocean. He was asked to communicate this to Brihaspati, the Guru of devas, and request him to install it in a suitable place for the spiritual uplift of mankind in the Kali Yuga.