The Ecologist, who received a ‘Thiruvodu’

When an employee is unexpectedly terminated from a firm, and will not have any source of income to feed his family members, his friends, in a lighter vein, would comment on him, saying that he would have no other option, but carry a ‘Thiruvodu’ (Begging bowl). The Thiruvodu is nothing but a big, dried shell of the fruit ‘Thiruvottukaai” obtained from the tree coco-de-mer. The religious mendicants used to carry this bowl and collect food. Hence, it came to be called as ‘Thiruvodu’ In contrast, the begging bowl, with its other names as ‘Atchayapaathiram’ or ‘Amuthasurabi’, is even said to have supplied inexhaustible food. Manimekalai, the main character of one of the two great Tamil epics of the same name (The two great Tamil epics are Silapathikaram and Manimekalai), used her ‘Atchayapaathiram’ to feed the poor.

“Nevertheless, the tree, which produces Thiruvottukaai, was looked down with a stigma, since its fruit shells were used by the Jain and Saiva monks as begging bowls. Hence, people disliked growing the tree in their gardens and fields” says Kovai Sadhasivam, a noted ecologist and author of the books Poochikalin Desam, Silukodu, Mayamagum Mayilu, Iraguthir Kaalam and many more. 

But what is interesting is that Sadhasivam was once presented a big ‘Thiruvottukaai’in honour of his address on ecology at Vana Ula, a school for environmental awareness at Chinnar near Udumalpet.

“I received the Thiruvottukaai as a present from the green enthusiast Meera Sai Murali. The Thiruvotukaai resembles a coconut. Its shell covering the nut is so hard. If you want to halve it immediately, you should only make an elephant trample over it. When I brought the hard fruit home and explained the role played by its shells as begging bowls of the religious mendicants, my family members initially objected to keep it at home. They were of the opinion that the fruit would bring home only poverty ” says Sadhasivam.

The ecologist notes that the Thiruvodu was also the one, which is said to have produced inexhaustible food in the epic Manimekalai. The Buddhist nun and the epic’s main character of the same name (Manimekalai) used the bowl to feed the poor. 

Meera Sai Murali, a former staff in the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), who grows the Thiruvotu Maram in her garden at Pooluvapatti on the city outskirts, points out.

“The tree in our garden is over years old now. Though I have a flair for the flora of any variety, I took special interest in growing the ‘Thiruvotu Maram’. Because the tree has a special place in Indian history with the shells of its fruits being used as begging bowls by the monks of the yore. Like the Thiruvottu Maram, several other trees like the Murungai Maram (Drumstick tree) and Puliya Maram (Tamarind tree) too carry the stigma, as people say that they are the places where vampires and devils sleep by the night. But, they are sheer superstitions.” adds Meera.