Uma Devi Antharjanam’s day starts in the wee hours of the morning with a puja. Through the day, the 86-year-old performs 18 of them. Arguably the only woman priest in Kerala, she is the valia amma, the head priest in the Nagaraja (god of snakes) temple of Mannarsala. For devotees and members of the Mannarsala illam (old Brahmin houses in Kerala) that traditionally inherits and runs the temple, valia amma is not a priest, but god. After performing the pujas, she gives darshan to devotees.
The temple, 3 km from Haripad town in Alappuzha district, is the abode of serpent gods (nagarajas). It has more than 30,000 images of snakes and is the largest snake temple in the state. Only valia amma can perform pujas in the temple. When she is unwell, no prayers are performed.
“Age has not affected her. On some special days it takes her hours to complete pujas while fasting. It is a rarity that a woman is given utmost respect in a temple which is not run by godmen,” says Maniyan, an employee of the temple.
No records are available to state how many valia ammas have preceded Antharjanam and how old is the temple. Legend has it that the origin of the temple is related with Parasurama, the mythical creator of Kerala. The temple is spread over acres lined with hundreds of trees and glades. It is believed that the nagaraja lives in a cellar in the main illam, where the valia amma stays.
During the annual Ayilyam Mahotsavam festival at the temple in the Malayalam month of Thulam (October), a large number of devotees attend the Ayilyam ezhunnallathu (procession) that marks the culmination of the celebrations. The procession carries idols of serpents in the grove, spread around 16 acres.
Uma Devi Antharjanam was consecrated as the valia amma in October 1993, when she was 64 years old. A member of Chembakanallur illam of Manganath in Kottayam, she is the wife of the late M G Narayanan Namboothiri of the Mannarsala illam.
“Before the elevation as valia amma, a one-year training was given to her on performing pujas and other rituals by elders of the family. After becoming the valia amma, her life is like a sanyasam (spiritual life) and deviates completely from grihasthasrham (homely life),” says M S Syamsundar of the Mannarsala family. Antharjanam is Syamsundar’s paternal great grandmother.
The valia amma is the only member who will be allowed to die at the main illam, while when others are ill, they are moved to houses in the nearby compounds. Daily pujas will be stopped on her death and the funeral will be held in the illam compound near the temple, which is also not done for others. Her death will be called samadhi.
Myths have it that Nagaraja was born as the son of a couple of the Mannarsala illam, who were childless and stayed in the illam. Nagaraja had told his mother that only she should perform pujas for him. After the mother’s death, the senior-most Brahmin woman, the elder daughter-in-law of the family, became her descendant.
The previous valia amma, Savithri Antharjanam, was consecrated when she was 14 years old and continued till her death in 1993 when she was 91.