Remembering ancestors of 200 years

I was vacationing over the past 10 days, and this involved a series of trips around my hometown attending a marriage in the family and a couple of functions around my native place, near Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu. This was hectic in its own way, with chauffeuring the family around, connecting with friends, baby-sitting two hyper-active kids, apart from routinely trashing my diet-watching with a daily feast thrown on each occasion.

A memorable function that I got an opportunity to participate in was an offering to ancestors,  called 'Padaipu' in local parlance. This was my first-time to such a ritual and it was fascinating to learn about how this was done. Paying homage to ancestors is something that's practiced in several cultures world over and is considered very significant in India as well. However, the ritual and specific customs vary across the country.

I've learnt that the offerings are generally paid to one's parents and in several cases also to ancestors who could be from 3 to 5 generations back, or earlier. This ritual was on my maternal grandfather's side in a village called Nachandupatti, near Trichy in Tamil Nadu. The offering was to 4 ancestors from 4 generations back. The preparations were elaborate, starting with buying new clothes for each of the ancestors, and to their taste. Then, jewels and ornaments, some of which were ancestral and rest from the descendents were collated. Meanwhile, a feast was prepared with customised menu based on culinary preferences of each of the ancestors, while also accounting preference for vegetarian food versus meat. 

Offerings in place for our ancestors

Finally, against the pictures of ancestors or earmarked places (for those who lived in the pre-photography age), the clothes, ornaments and banana leaves were neatly laid out. People took turns to serve the complete menu, with all hospitality accorded to a special guest of the home. Dessert was a rich assortment of fruits including some exotic and imported ones. Unlike the formality of a temple worship, the air was light and cordial with relatives joking about things like moderating the sugar intake in the food to factor in the possibility of diabetic ailments for any of the ancestors!

With the offering consummating in a prayer, the 30 odd members gathered from an approx family count of a few hundred, concluded the ritual and enjoyed the feast. It was interesting to learn about how the ritual and specific steps have been passed down over the generations, including documented manuscripts and drawings of the procedure.

Adaikkammai appathal

While I was in awe of this practice, I heard of another popular offering ritual in the same village for an ancestor, Adaikkammai appathal who lived 4 centuries earlier. With about 10 to 12 generations spanning the 400 years, the total family size can be approximated to roughly over 10,000 members, which would be the size of a large village. This is a once-in-2-years affair, where thousands of descendants and relatives participate in the offering and its celebrated like a mini-festival. Interestingly, this ritual has its own website that documents the history and proceedings, while also having its active social channels!