Want to become Brahmin in this birth itself? Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, a Sudra king, shows you the way!!

 

            In the kingdom of Travancore, whenever there was coronation of a prince, it became the formality of the prince to perform Hiranya Garba dhaanam (donation after the golden womb ceremony), before and for becoming king.

Hiranya Garba Dhaanam

         Some kings, of course, did not go by that formality.  Yet, it, generally, became one of the recognised ceremonies. As per that practice, the prince (i.e., the king-designate) would  enter a golden vessel made in the shape of lotus flower, 10 feet high and 8 feet in circumference. It had been made of pure gold, with a lid also in the shape of crown. The prince would take bath in holy water and exit from the golden, duly accompanied by the chanting of Vedic hymns by the Brahmins. After the ceremony was over, the prince, was deemed to have become king, automatically. The golden vessel used for the ceremony would, then, be cut into pieces and distributed among the Brahmins. (Page 443 & 444 - Journal of Kerala Studies 1975 – Part III Vol. II). It was the tax-money of the people, siphoned off to the Brahmins, only to the Brahmins, thus, and not to all the people of that country. If the king wanted to keep a piece of that vessel as a memento, he had to pay the price of it.

                   

          Prince Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma was no different from his predecessors who were the victims of that Brahmanical subterfuge. So, he made elaborate arrangements and performed the said Hiranya Garba Dhaanam too,  at the time of his coronation, distributed the golden pieces of the vessels to the Brahmins and became king.

   Again, in March 1737 AD, eight years after ascension, he, like his predecessors, performed Tulapurushadhanam (Thulabaaram) also and distributed the gold to the Brahmins. This thula (balance) purusha (man) dhaanam (donation)  which was “a ceremony performed by weighing the body of the king against an equal weight of gold and distributing the same among Brahmins” (Page 442 – Journal of Kerala Studies – 1975 – Part III Vol II). Taking away the thulabharam gold was the monopoly of the Brahmins. Brahmins got that privilege and took away the gold from the treasury of the government, only because they had the monopolistic right over priesthood. Others could not get any share of such cushy gold, because they were not priests in the temples in which Brahmins alone officiated as priests. While the status of priest gives them their birth-related-hegemony within the temple premises, the consequent priesthood gives them the position to exploit the masses outside the temple premises too. And the Brahmins of Travancore Kingdom were effectively exploiting that opportunity to benefit them personally.

 

                          

Vechu namaskaram (வெச்சு நமஸ்காரம்)

Again, Vechu Namaskaram. It was a traditional ritual in Kerala where Brahmins are ceremonially honoured by non-Brahmin families, often as a spiritual offering to gain blessings and absolve sins.

Vechu Namaskaram literally means “prostration performed by placing” - referring to the act of placing offerings and then bowing before Brahmins to please them. It is considered a Salkarmam (good deed) and a form of Daanam (offering), akin to temple rituals before God. The belief is that pleasing Brahmins, thus, elevates the giver spiritually and washes away his sins. It is performed, usually, in ancestral home of the giver ( Illam) or in the temple, in areas like the Patinjaatti (western courtyard of the quadrange) of the Nadumittam  or Thekkini (southern part) or other convenient place. Traditionally upper-caste non-Brahmin families like Nairs and Ambalavaasis were made to perform it.

On pre-decided auspicious days, often annually, Authorized Brahmins (Karmis and Bhattathiris) arrive at the place of ceremony  without formal invitation. They are welcomed with oil baths, fresh clothes. After their daily prayers, the ritual is performed before meals. A lamp is lit and those Karmis and Bhattathiris are made to sit on a low wooden seat (Aavanappalaka) in front of the lamp. The head of the family, then,  places a small plantain leaf before it with money, betel leaf, and arecanut on the seat. Then, he circumambulates the seated Brahmins once and prostrates before them three times. Other family members also  join in the circumambulation and prostration. The seated Brahmins keep on clapping their hands all the while.

Thereafter the Brahmins stand up and the family that offered the Vechu Namaskaram is made to sit. The Brahmins then touch the money placed before them on the seat and then bless the family members by keeping them both their hands on the head of each of the family member. The offerings are shared equally among the Brahmins. A feast typically follows the ceremony. (For more, refer to the book “Ente Smaranakal” – Vol. 2 - by Kanippaiyur Sankaran Namboodhri ).    

            Anizham Varma was also doing Vechu namaskaram. He was doing so bowing before Pushpanjali Swamiyar. The irony was not lost on him—despite being the very authority who appointed the Swamiyar, he was compelled to show deference. From his privileged vantage point, he observed the elaborate rituals that routinely enabled Brahmins to siphon public funds into private coffers on an astonishing scale. The spectacle deepened his sense of alienation, feeding an inferiority complex rooted in his Sudra identity. Obsessed with transcending caste boundaries, he became consumed by the desire to attain Brahminhood within this very lifetime.

The dream born out of Inferiority complex

             While the ritual of  Hiranya Garba Dhaanam was used to extract money from the king, the rituals like Thulabaaram and Vechu Namaskaram were used for extracting money not only from the king but also from all other people who were rich. That was the social order. It was that order prevailing in the kingdom of Travancore which shaped the thoughts of that king too.

            If only there had been social thinkers and reformers then, the conspiracy behind the chaturvarna theory would have been exposed and the people got liberated, including Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Verma himself. The way the kings supported Mahavir and Buddha and demolished the chaturvarna social order, Marthanda  Verma could also have done, easily, as a mighty king, who established a vast kingdom then on his own merit and capability. But what was wanting was the atmosphere of awareness among the masses about the concept of equality and fraternity in social life. That work should have been undertaken by the thinkers among the people. But no such thinker of consequence had emerged on the Kerala soil. There was no thinker who could rise up against the evil designs of the chaturvarna system, expose the misdeeds of Namboodri priests and instil, in the minds of the people, the noble ideas on equality by birth.  That movement started, there, later – about a century later - through Ayyavazhi. But, not in the era of Marthand Varma. He could, therefore, be only a great warrior but not thinker, in that social milieu.

 

He used to have a dream; a great dream; the daydream; the dream of everyday that was born out of his anguish. He thought that he was, still, a mighty king, even after that Tiruppadi Dhaanam. But what was the use of it? He had to perform Vechu Namaskaram by falling at the feet of Brahmin guru, who did not do any useful work at all. On the other hand, he was dictated and commanded by the Brahmins, who did not pay any tax to the government but took away the money from the treasury in the form of large number of rituals. Marthanda Varma was yearning for that type of cross-thread which was worn by Brahmins. How to become a Brahmin in this birth itself, he thought and thought over that issue, and felt tired.

What did he do, then?

Marthanda Varma turned to the Namboodri priests, demanding elevation to the exalted Brahmin Varna. The Namboodris, concealing their amusement behind solemn faces, devised a grand ritualistic charade. They proposed the ancient rite of Hiranyagarbha Daanam—a symbolic rebirth into Brahminhood.

He was instructed to commission a golden cow, crafted with meticulous precision. On the appointed day, they said, he must enter through its mouth and emerge from its rear, enacting a ritual passage through the womb of purity. Once done, he was to shatter the golden cow and distribute its fragments among the Brahmins. Only then, they assured him, could he claim Brahmin status.

Anizham Tirunal Marthanda Varma, dazzled by the promise of divine legitimacy, leapt with joy. Consequently, another Hiranyagarbhadhanam ceremony was performed on 17.06.1751. A golden cow was prepared, Marthana Varma entered into it through its mouth and came out of the rear and was conferred Brahmin-hood. But it was only a limited Brahmin-hood. And, the golden cow was cut into pieces and distributed among the Brahmins. . 

   On his being elevated, thus, to the status of Brahmin, he was told that he should not eat food together with his family members who had been elevated to the status of only Kshatriya. “The Maharaja ceases to partake of food, as formerly, with the members of his family, but is yet, not allowed to eat with the Brahmins, only admitted being present at their meals” (Page 390 - Native Life in Travancore - Samuel Mateer - 1883, also Page 169 - The Land of Charity by the same author).  The king, without any demur, obeyed all such ridiculous  Fatwas issued by the Namboodris.

                                        

It is interesting to see that the conferment of Brahminhood in this case was nothing more than the conferment of title to wear the Brahmanical cross-thread. There was no scope for the descendants of the king to claim the status of being Brahmins. For that, they had to do same Hiranyagarba Dhaanam and donate the gold to the Brahmins again and again. And they did too. Hundred years later, another Hiranyagarba Dhaanam took place in July 1854, performed by the king of Travancore, Uthiradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma II. And how that ceremony was performed has been recorded very elaborately by eye-witness account of Sreenivasa Row (Page 170 - The Land of Charity - Samel Mateer).

Aryans, the same bent of mind everywhere

Hitler never allowed mixture of Semitic-blood with the blood of Aryan race. “The Aryan gave up the purity of his blood and, therefore, lost his sojourn in the paradise which he had made for himself” said Hitler in his Mein Kamph. There was even a department called “Office of Racial Purity” headed by Dr. Walter Gross, under Hitler, that punished violation of acts of racial purity and prohibited marriages of Aryans with Jews. One might recall how the Brahmins Association of Tamilnadu urges the minor male children of Brahmins, at the time of their Upanayana, to take oath that they would not go for inter-caste marriage. (Para 5 of the article in the link: https://vaeyurutholibangan.blogspot.com/2025/10/non-brahmins-beware-your-oppressor.html ). 

The 1935 Nuremberg Laws approved the concept of ‘blood purity’ and outlawed the mixed marriages and any form of relationship between Aryans and Jews. "Anyone classed as an Aryan who was caught engaging in a relationship with a Jew after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws faced a prison sentence. Any Jew caught breaking the laws faced a lengthy sentence in a concentration camp with no guarantee that he/she would be released." (Blood Purity and Nazi Germany - C.N. Trueman).  It was called 'blood treason'. 

Hitler wanted to keep the Aryan race pure and aloof. That was the stand of the Namboodris of Kerala too. They conferred the status of Brahmin on the king Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, for a consideration. But, they were never ready to treat the offsprings of that king as Brahmins. This stand of the Namboodries, necessitated all the later day kings who wanted elevation to the Brahmin-Varna to perform Hiranyagarba Dhaanam again and again. This was to the convenience of the Namboodris who made easy fortunes on every such occasion. 

The kings of Kerala, of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, never read even contemporary history and were, therefore, falling prey to the Brahmanical machinations of Hiranyagarba Dhaanam, Murajapam, Tulabhara Dhaanam, etc., again and again.

Resultantly, another Hiranyagarba Dhaanam took place in July 1854, performed by the king of Travancore, Uthiradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma II. And how was that ceremony performed has been recorded very elaborately by eye-witness account of Sreenivasa Row (Page 170 - The Land of Charity - Samel Mateer). 

It is amusing to find one woman academician, who declares that she has converted herself from Christianity, claims that she has become, so easily, a “Sharma”. Funny ISKCON victims!