The division of the year according to the position of the Sun. ഞാറ്റുവേല

 

 

ഞാറ്റുവേല.. The division of the year according to the position of the Sun..

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The word njaattuvela could have had two sources.

njaaru in Malayalam means the tiny sprouts of a plant like Paddy, which is grown in huge numbers by sowing best quality seed in high density in a field and is then gathered and replanted scientifically over huge expanse of land.

This is the first step of a cultivator in Kerala and njaattuvela is the basic division of the year into timeslots for the understanding of the cultivator.

Njaattuvela thus implies the schedule for the tiller with his land and the plants there...we divide the year into twenty-seven parts, each corresponding to almost a fortnight.

The year begins in Medam at Vishupunyakalam with Ashvathi njaattuvela and ends with the close of the year in the next Meenam concluding at Revathi njaattuvela.

The status of the Sun and the variation of the climate was predicted by the tillers and farmers of Kerala using this njaattuvela calculation rather than using the Malayalam month etc.

The name could have come from Njaayar and his velas or timings. Njaayar is the Dravidian word for the Sun, and the calculation starts with the Sun entering the Meda Rasi.

We may have roughly two njaattuvela in a month.

Karthika njaattuvela would correspond to Katri or Agni nakhsatram.

Makeeram, Thiruvathira, Punartham njaattuvela are of very heavy rain and represent the dream and hope of the tiller. For the tiller, if Thiruvathira fails him not even God can help him.

It is believed that any plant, even a cut branch or perhaps even a leaf kept on the land in Thiruvathira njaattuvela will take roots.

The Portuguese and others came to Kerala as traders and took away lot of spices especially pepper, perhaps to the detriment of the trade in Kerala..

Samoothiri the King of Calicut once remarked. "They can take away pepper. But can they take away the Thiruvathira njaattuvela?”

He trusted in the fertility of our land and the benevolence of the rain god. He believed that pepper will grow so nicely only in Kerala in its special climatic environ and that cannot be replicated anywhere else.