Thoondamani vilakku is a hanging chain lamp with a swan (annaparavai) at the top and the wick below. The lamp has a large ball shaped oil well (reservoir) in-between the swan and the wick at the bottom in which the ghee was poured in the ancient times.
"Thoondamani Vilakku" is a type of votive lamp commonly found in Hindu temples in South India. Votive offerings are nothing but the voluntary dedications to the gods, like a Vow or a prayer or promises of individuals or communities to God. If the prayer is been answered they would complete their promise.
For example: A promise would be to light a candle or to light a particular number of candles or it could be anything. Likewise in India, in particular towards the South, instead of lighting candles people promise to light Thoondamani vilakku / Nandhaa Vilakku in the temples throughout the year or for a particular period.
Etymology of this Lamp:
Thoondudhal (தூண்டுதல்) in Tamil meaning, touching something. So to not touch something is called Thoonda (தூண்டா ). Since this lamp works by the Capillary action and auto feds oil or ghee from the reservoir in to the lamp to burn continuously without the necessity of adjusting the wick it has got it’s name “Thoondamani Vilakku” (Tamil: தூண்டாமணி விளக்கு).
Also, putting something off is called Nandhudhal (நந்துதல்). As the light of this lamp never dies due to the reservoir keeping it filled all the time, it is named as “Nandhaa Vilakku” (நந்தா விளக்கு) or “Thoonga mani vilakku” (தூங்காமணி விளக்கு) meaning it can burn day and night, the light never sleeps or dies.
There are other names for this lamp like "Thirunundhaa Vilakku" (Tamil: திருநுந்தா விளக்கு), “Nundha Vilakku” (Tamil: நுந்தா விளக்கு), “Nandhaa Vilakku” (Tamil: நந்தா விளக்கு) and “Nondha Vilakku” (Tamil: நொந்தா விளக்கு)
Archeological evidences and Mentions about this lamp in Ancient literatures:
“NandhA Vilakku” (நந்தா விளக்கு) has been mentioned multiple times in Sangam literatures ( 300 BCE to 300 CE). References are from Aga-naanooru, Seevagasindhamani, Pattinapalai, Paripaadal and so on.
It is also mentioned as “NandhA Vilakku” (Tamil: நந்தா விளக்கு) in 2 Tamil stone inscriptions found in Anuradhapuram, Srilanka which belonged to 10th Century CE.
Also it is mentioned as "Thirunundhaa Vilakku" (Tamil: திருநுந்தா விளக்கு) in many Tamil stone inscriptions and in temples which belonged to Raja Raja chozhan period ( 10th century CE)
In ancient days, to burn these lamps in temple they needed loads of ghee. Therefore, cows were donated for the daily supply of milk to obtain loads of ghee. Proper maintenance of these cows is essential for the continuation of this tradition in the temple.
A historical incident from Chola period;
There are many rock edicts as archeological evidences in Tamizh Nadu for the usage of this this lamp during the 10th century CE in Tamizh Nadu . Here is one historical incident which happened In Chola dynasty during the Raja Raja Chozhan period in 10th Century CE.
Once a troubled women visited a Shivan temple who had many problems in life and took a vow that she would light up the thoondamani vilakku in the Sanctum sanctorum (உண்ணாழிகை / கருவறை) through the year, if her prayer was answered. So she approached the temple priest/ officer whoever is the head of the temple to find out what would be the cost to fulfill such a vow. The temple officer sat down and worked out and came out with an estimation for the amount of ghee required for a whole year and it’s cost. So she offered him the full cost in gold coins to fulfill her vow. This was recorded in the temple ledger by the temple accountant. If the temple officer had gotten the said amount of ghee required to light up that thiondamani vilakku for a year, this story would have never been born. As it was a regular practice in the kingdom then.
But the fate had something more to offer to the Chola people. So somehow this incident came to the ears of the then king Raja Raja Chozhan. And he works out a new plan called “Sava Moova peraadugal thittam” (Tamil: சாவா மூவா பேராடுகள் திட்டம்) meaning a never aging or dying cows or goats. Let’s name it “The Immortal Big Goats”. Here the law mentions the cow as big goats (Peraadugal-பேராடுகள்). King believed that this new plan would benefit both the temple and its people.
There was a farmer’s census in the kingdom who suffered in poverty as they had no farm-land to farm. One of the farmers from the list been summoned to Tanjore palace to experiment the new idea. The King ordered the farmer to deliver exactly one uzhaakku which is aprox 240 ml of ghee to the temple every day as the temple required exactly one uzhaakku of ghee to light up a thoondamani vilakku a day.
So as per the plan “The Immortal Big Goats”, temple officer gets the farmer 96 goats along with one male goat using the gold coins obtained from the lady to fulfill her thoondamani vilakku vow. And the farmer was described the rules and regulations of the King which was part of the plan ‘The Immoral big goats’.
The rules and regulations of the “The immortal big goats” plan;
- The 96 female goats including a male goat will be in the farmer’s account.
- The farmer has to deliver one uzhaaku of ghee (360ml) every day to the temple.
- The farmer has to return the exact number of goats to the temple officer exactly after one year.
- If the farmer wishes to continue the job, he can keep the goats and continue delivering one uzhaakku ghee to the temple every day.
After the Royal meet the happy farmer drove all the goats home and herds them and delivers one uzhaaku of ghee every day to the temple as promised. Within few days the goats gives birth to many and the herd multiplied naturally. The farmer runs the family selling the milk and also sold extra goats when needed. Because now as the herd has multiplied in numbers he was sure that he would be able return the exact number of goats to the temple by the end of the year as promised in the agreement.
A Win- Win situation for all its participants. The lady was happy as her prayers were answered and the thoondamani vilakku in the Sanctum sanctorum (உண்ணாழிகை / கருவறை) was lit throughout the year. The farmer or shepherd was happy as the goats helped him run the family. The temple officer was happy as he would get the exact number of healthy female goats and male goats and baby goats which he could pass on to another farmer or shepherd who have signed the contract for the next year. Thus the idea of “The Immortal Big Goats” (“Sava Moova peraadugal thittam” ; Tamil: சாவா மூவா பேராடுகள்திட்டம்) worked. It was really a Win-Win!!
As we all know the humongous size of the Tanjore big temple built by Raja Raja Chozhan in 10th century, We could only guess the number of lights that it required to light up the whole temple before the invention of electricity 1000 years back. Because of the size of the temple lets assume a requirement of minimum of 100 thoondamani vilakku. So to lit them up daily there should be 9,600 goats in the signed contract of temple which would have been given to 100 farmers / shepherds to make their life easy. And this would have multiplied every year. This new plan “ The immortal big goats’ of King Raja Raja Chozhan raised the economical status of the the people without touching the government treasury.
This became a regular practice in the kingdom for all the future vows of the devotees. People either offered temple the gold coins otherwise they offered 90/ 96 goats or 32 cows along with a bull as offerings to the temples to fulfill their thoondamani vilakku vows. So this incident proves that the thoondamani vilakku was an important element in the lives of people in south India in 10th century.
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