Chakravarti Kohttai is a re-enactment that is carried out on the morning before the firewalking ceremony itself (5am this year). It is done in front of the Aravan sanctum and the story is as follow:
Chakraviyugam is a battle formation. It is a very complicated formation and only two people know how to break into this formation – Arjuna and his son, Abimanyu. However, Abimanyu only knows how to enter, he does not know how to exit the battle formation.
Abimanyu is the son of Arjuna and Subathrai. Subathrai is Krishna’s sister. One day, Krishna goes to visit his sister, who was pregnant with Abimanyu. He talks about battles, battle formations and describes about Charkaviyugam to her. Abimanyu listens to this from inside the womb. Before he could complete on how to exit the formation, dawn appears and so Krishna has to stop abruptly. This is the reason why Abimanyu only know how to break through the formation and not exit it.
On one of the days of the battle, Gauravas take up this formation. And knowing that Abimanyu knows how to enter, the Pandavas decided that Abimanyu leads the army in. He has to ask the permission of the guards at the four corners. The first guard, Kali doesn’t grant permission. The next two, Kaanda Bootham and Ellai Kanni, do not allow him to enter as well. The last guard, Karandar allows him to enter.
Upon entering, the Gaurava army traps Abimanyu inside, not allowing any others from the Pandavas to enter. Abimanyu realising that he is entrapped, blows his horn to alert the Pandavas that he is in trouble and needs help. Krishna on the other hand, blows his horn louder thus overpowering Abimanyu’s horn. (Was this yet another plan of Krishna???) Noone hears Abimanyu’s cry for help and so he dies in the Chakra viyugam.
It is said that it is Abimanyu’s fate to die on that faithful day and in that way. A death in the midst of the Gauravas, on the battlefield.
This whole scene is re-enacted during the Chakravarthi Kohttai. Preparations start as early as two hours before the event. Members involved (if I’m not wrong, the Aravan Boys) build up a small castle looking structure infront of the Aravan Sanctum. The castle structure represents the Kohttai, or the Chakraviyugam – the fortress that Abimanyu enters and dies in.
The person who plays the character of Abimanyu, asks the four guards permission to enter. One man, gets ready to ”sacrifice” himself. He lays himself on a white cloth and members involved wrap him with another cloth. Upon the entry of Abimanyu into the Chakravarthi Kohtai where he is ‘killed’, the members carry the man wrapped in white cloth to the Draupathai sanctum.
It is said that when Abimanyu is killed, the man wrapped in the white cloth loses his life. And so he is rushed to the Draupathai Sanctum to be revived. This is usually successfully carried out (although stories have been told that there was a year that the man wasn’t revived and so Theemithi wasn’t carried out).
–SARVAM KRISHNARPANAM-
Open book; missing pages 