Iravan

Iravan, also known as Iravat and Iravant, is a minor character from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He is the central deity of the cult of Kuttantavar. Iravan is also a patron god of well-known transgender communities called ThiruNangai. Aravan’s severed head is worshipped in the form of his severed head and is believed to cure disease and induce pregnancy in childless women.

About Iravan in brief

Iravan, also known as Iravat and Iravant, is a minor character from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He is the central deity of the cult of Kuttantavar which is also the name commonly given to him in that cult. Iravan is also a patron god of well-known transgender communities called ThiruNangai. Aravan’s severed head is worshipped in the form of his severed head and is believed to cure disease and induce pregnancy in childless women. The name is popularly believed to be derived from the word aravam, which means a large eyes and a large moustache, or Kuttandavar, which is sometimes spelled Koothavar or Kandaravar. The South Indian, Tamil, name, Aravaan, is also spelt as aravaan in South Indian Hindu cults: the Kuttanavar cult and the Draupadi cult of India. In his own, known as Kuttavavar killing the demon Kuttacuran, he is also worshipped in temples in his own form, usually depicted with a machete in his hands and large eyes, pronounced moustaches. The MahabHarata portrays Irava as dying a heroic death in the 18-day Kurukshetra War, the epic’s main subject. However, the South Indian cults have a supplementary tradition of honouring Arava’s self-sacrifice to the goddess Kali to ensure her favour and the victory of the Pandavas in the war.

In Koovagam, Tamil Nadu, this incident is re-enacted in an 18- day festival, first by a ceremonial marriage of AravAn to Thiru Nangais and male villagers and then by their widowhood after ritual re-inactment of A Gravan’s sacrifice. An independent set of traditions have developed around Irawan on the main island of Java where, for example, he loses his association with the Naga. Separate Javanese traditions present a dramatic marriage of Irawans to Titisari, daughter of Krishna, and a death resulting from a case of mistaken identity. These stories are told through the medium of traditional JavanESE theatre, especially in shadow-puppet plays known as Wayang Kulit. The root Irav at is derived from Irā —closely linked with Iḍā —meaning ‘possessing food’ or ‘endowed with provisions’. The French Indologist Madeleine Biardeau describes religious use of the word IḌā as reference to an ‘oblatory substance’ consumed by the participants from which comes all fecundity of the sacrifice. Based on this definition, biardeau concludes that Iravon means sacrificial victim in the Mahab Harata. Iravar is also used elsewhere to denote a substance that Devas and Asuras vie for.