Ayyavazhi அய்யாவழி (Tamil: "path of the father"), officially a Tamil Hindu sect, is a monistic religion that originated in South India in the mid-19th century. The 'zhi' (ழி) in the word, 'Ayyavazhi', is a retroflex, ri.
Though Ayyavazhi has not received official recognition, it has transformed itself into a distinctive religious phenomenon, making its presence felt in India's southern districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. As one of the fastest growing religions of southern India, its rapid growth has been noted in the Christian missionary reports of the mid-19th century.
Ayyavazhi focuses on Ayya Vaikundar and according to Akilattirattu Ammanai the holy book of the religion, he was the Manu avatar of Trimurthi.
Scriptures and holy places
The holy books of Ayyavazhi are the Akilattirattu Ammanai and the Arul Nool, and they are the source of the religion's mythology. To the Ayyavazhi devotees, there are five holy places, called Pathis, with "Panchappathis" being the greatest. The temple of Swamithoppepathi is the headquarters of the Ayyavazhi religion.
Symbol
The symbol of the Ayyavazhi religion is a lotus carrying a flame. The lotus represents the 1,008-petalled Sahasrara (in Tamil, Ladam ) and the flame represents the Aanma Jyothi or atman, sometimes translated as "soul" or "self".
Beliefs
Ayyavazhi believes in both reincarnation and the Dharma Yukam but condemns the caste system advocated by many followers of Hinduism. It also rejects the use of murti in worship, but Ayya Vaikundar recognized the human need for an image to focus on and introduced a non-anthropomorphic symbol (see Nizhal Thangal).
This practice is similar to that of other Hindu sects that use non-anthropomorphic symbols. Shaivism, for example, uses the linga as the symbol of God, while Vaishnavism uses the saligrama. Similarly in Ayyavazhi, the Elunetru which is placed in the Palliyarai, is considered a seat of God rather than God himself. The same is true of the Elunetru's alternative name, Asanam, which means "seat" (see also Ayyavazhi and Hinduism).
Ayyavazhi beliefs are closely related to those of Smartism and Advaita Vedanta. Hence, Ayyavazhi's followers believe that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are different aspects of the same God. While some claimed that the beliefs of Akilattirattu are related to Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita, backing this up with quotations, Ayyavazhi endorses the concept of Ultimate Oneness.
Followers of Ayyavazhi differ from other Hindus in that they recognize a Satan-like figure, Kroni, who is the primordial manifestation of evil and who manifests in various forms (for example, Ravana and Duryodhana) in different ages or yugas. God, as Vishnu, becomes incarnate in his avatars, including Rama, Krishna and eventually Ayya Vaikundar, to destroy the foremost evil.
Kroni, the spirit of Kali Yuga, is said to be omnipresent in this age and this is one of the reasons why the followers of Ayyavazhi, like other Hindus, believe that the current yuga, Kali Yuga, is so degraded.
Charity is Ayyavazhi's main mission. One can see Anna Dharmam (offerings of food) in Ayyavazhi centres of worship at least once a month.
New religious phenomenon
It may be concluded that Ayyavazhi emerged as a 'new and singular' religious phenomenon in that context. Amidst the various traditions — the sanskritic Hinduism, the newly-introduced Christianity, the not-so-prominent Islam, and the ubiquitous folk forms of worship — Ayyavazhi was developing as a distinctively alternative religio-cultural form in South India, its place of origin.
This fact had been recognised by the followers of Ayyavazhi. They addressed their religion with a new nomenclature, "Ayya Vazhi" ("the path or way of Ayya") and thereby confirmed its new identity. They considered it, on the one hand, as ghee churned out of the existing religious traditions, and on the other, as a new phenomenon that had come to replace the old traditions. They believed, on the one hand, that Vaikundar had 'unified' all the existing deities unto himself, and, on the other, that the essence of the old traditions had gone awry with the advent of Vaikundar. They placed their religion within the existing traditions and yet perceived it to be different from them.
The distinguishing aspect of Ayyavazhi needs to be seen against the background of the sanskritic tradition whose pre-eminence was upheld by the State. That Ayyavazhi had emerged differently against this religious tradition is a pointer to its distinct singularity.
The emergence of Ayyavazhi needs to be seen also against the presence of the British in the country. From a sociological perspective, reform movements in general were patronised by the British in the nineteenth century Thiruvithankur. But Ayyavazhi was never patronised by the British; it arose and stabilised without their support. In one sense, it was anti-establishment, presenting itself to be new, both in terms of a difference and in terms of a synthetic character. It called itself new, as well as a medley of the extant traditions.
See also
