KOZHIKODE: The royal kingdom may have long been abolished but Zamorin P K S Raja, when he attends the Revathi Pattathanam on Tuesday, will be transported to a time when his namesake was the ruler of all Malabar. Waiting to greet him will be his faithful band of Nair soldiers in their traditional attire accompanied by his famous Moplah battalion, standing against the backdrop of the famous Tali temple as it stood a century ago.Organisers of the 700-year-old festival, which is often described as a peek back into the traditions of medieval Kerala, have gone to great lengths this year to ensure that the festival lives up to its name. They have decked up the stage to remind one of the days gone by, complete with a blown-up version of a 100-year photograph of the Zamorin’s army and subjects waiting to greet him for the festival, in the background. “The photograph was taken in the 1900s by a British photographer and we had it in the archives. It recreates the picture of age gone by and even shows the original Tali temple as it stood in the days of the Zamorins,” said Prajeesh Thiruthiyil, convener of the stage committee.The festival itself started out as a penance for a great sin. “A couple of Moosads who were the priests of the Tali Shiva Temple were killed by the Zamorin’s men and this event was blamed for various tragedies that befell his family. As a penance, it was suggested that he hold an event that would provide a venue for various scholars to debate and institute a prize for the winner,” says historian M G S Narayanan. The position of ‘Bhatt’ was conferred upon the winner, with the name ‘pattathanam’ itself evolving from ‘Bhatt sthanam’, meaning ‘the position of Bhatt’ in Malayalam.However, now it is held over a single day and the focus has shifted from penance to preservation. “The main aim of the festival now is to conserve Sanskrit which was once the premier language of the country, but is now more or less extinct as a spoken language,” said Revathi Pattathana Samithi secretary P K Krishnanunni Raja. As part of their conservation efforts, the samithi held various school and college level competitions in Sanskrit, the winners of which will be felicitated at the Pattathanam on Tuesday.Festivities will start at 8 am when an eminent Vedic scholar, chosen by the king’s traditional advisor Koodalloor Namboothirippad, will be presented with a purse by the Zamorin. The formal inauguration of the events will be performed by Social Welfare Minister M K Muneer. Raghavan MP will release the official souvenir of the festival by presenting a copy to District Collector P B Salim. A slew of cultural events will follow. The closing ceremony will be presided over by Mayor A K Premajam.
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