The Lord who resettled

Talk about Hinduism and the Trimurti appears by its side like the inseparable climate of a season. Distinct personalities yet connected through their actions. Hindus, who are devotees of Lord Vishnu are known as Vaishnavites. Those who revere Shiva as the supreme being are called Shaivites. But what do you call people who follow Brahma? Answer: he’s least worshipped and hence no nomenclature.

So why this anomaly? Reason: According to one of the legends Brahma was always lenient. He granted boons to the Devaas but also to the Asuraas. Because of which many times Lord Vishnu or Shiva had to intervene to save the world from the inhuman acts of Asuras. When people realised his leniency and discovered greatness in the other two lords they stopped revering the four-headed Brahma.

Nonetheless, there are other legends that underpin the thought of not worshipping the creator of the universe.

Irrespective of these fables, some Kings in the past encouraged local artisans to depict Brahma through sculptures, while a few constructed temples exclusively for him. Today, there are less than 10 temples across India out of which the one at Pushkar in Rajasthan is well-known.

Anyway, the fact remains, in a land of over a hundred billion people only a few visit Lord Brahma’s temples to seek blessings. But in those few, you can add me now. Well, I didn’t travel over a thousand kilometre to Pushkar but to a land where the Lord is living a susegaad life. The place is Brahmakarmali - a small hamlet tucked amidst the wooded region near Valpoi in Goa.

Yes, you read it right. It’s in the then Rome of the east.

If the Portuguese ruled Goa for 450 years, the Kadamba dynasty claimed the territory for approximately 400 years. Since the Kadambas were a great admirer of art and sculptures, it was in the 12th Century they gifted the region with a temple of Lord Brahma, which was originally constructed at Carambolim a.k.a. Karmali was then known as Kadambahalli near Old Goa. But when the Portuguese occupied Tiswadi (one of the districts in Goa) and launched a campaign of religious conversion on a mass scale, they started-off by raising down temples and desecration of deities. Which is why in the 16th Century, it was prudent for the followers to shift the deity elsewhere.

I took exactly 1 and ½ hour to reach the present location of the temple from Mapusa. There were streams, areca-nut plantations, mango orchards and a dense forest on the way that made my journey incredible. At one point, the route passed through huge tree canopies that didn’t allow the sunlight to reach the bottom. The scene made me feel like I’m out on a jungle safari. As I was living the moment, a pair of arboreal Malabar Giant Squirrel in their early morning playful mood jumped from the edge of the highway to a nearby tree. Apparently, heightened my exhilarating experience.

Brahmakarmali is only 7km away from Valpoi - the district headquarter. It’s an archetypal hinterland where the road that leads to the temple is adorned by rubber plantations, fruit-bearing trees and wild vegetation. Its etymology is quite interesting – Brahma (the Lord) plus Karmali (Original location).

When I reached the temple there was a splendour in the silence around. The mango & coconut trees were swaying with the air whereas the gurgling sound of a stream running in front of the temple’s site kept teasing the silence.

The entry for the temple is not from the front but behind where a huge sacred Fig tree naturally merged with Ashoka tree provides shade to the temple’s dome that is painted in charming yellow and red. Even the external part of a long Sabhamandap connected with sanctum sanctorum is embellished with the same combination.

A villager had come just before us to offer flowers at Lord Brahma’s feet. There was no poojari, only this local man in the whole temple. He opened the temple’s main door which is on the left side of the sanctorum. Inside, the sanctum was shut with a wooden door that had aluminium rod panels. The closed-door made my mind to get curious to have a glimpse of the idol. As I stood in front of the door, bowed down my head in reverence and slightly touched the temple’s bell, the bell roared. The sound penetrated the silence without disturbing it.

I ducked to look through the rod panels and my eyes met an original piece of sculpture that is chiselled out of black stone. Made around 12th Century, Lord Brahma is shown in its famous trinity form and wears a beard. There are two goddesses on two sides near his legs. He’s shown wearing a lot of jewellery with an akshamala (Chanting beads) in his lower right hand, a sruka (Sacrificial ladle) in his upper right hand, an ajya-sthali (ghee pot) in his lower left hand and a Vedas pustika (book of Vedas) in upper left hand. One can experience a tranquil look on his graceful face.

I stepped out and started wondering if this idol was made so intricately, how the lord’s home must be designed before it was raised down to rubble. And also thought of Goa’s famous temples that share a similar fate due to conquest by different rulers. They are today situated at their new locations where the devotees felt their deities would be safe and secure.

I looked around and took a small video of the temple’s inviting and positive ambience. While capturing I instantly realised that the followers must have had a similar energetic experience. Which is why they brought the idol near Valpoi that was the last on the list of Portuguese Conquistas; as late as 1781. It was then a dense forest region where only bullock carts could pass through, which really helped them bring the deity clandestinely. Certainly, they bet on their own lives to save the lord and helped him resettle to live a susegaad life.