The following interesting daily event takes place at Tirukalukundram temple, picturesquely perched on top of a hill . . . the feeding of the white vultures (Pharaoh’s chickens) euphemistically called ‘Eagles’ by pious Indians. For hundreds of years, so the tradition runs, a pair of these birds have thus been fed by the priest in charge of the temple. The fact is mentioned in the District Records, and Dutch and other records dating back nearly two centuries contain authentic accounts of the daily ceremony. At 11 o’clock every morning in the presence of pilgrims and worshippers to the famous shrine, the priest emerges and places a sumptuous and unctuous meal on a rocky eminence adjoining the temple with a brief religious ceremony. He sits there and waits patiently until the two birds, first merely white specks in the far distance, gradually approach in the wheeling flight particular to them and finally settle on the rock and dispose of the meal so ceremoniously provided. These birds are not uncommon, but the notable point is that there are never more than two. How this continuity is kept up, how one pair succeeds another, is a matter for conjecture.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:11:28 +0000
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