thiruchinnam

Thiruchinnam is also one amoung  instruments such as ekkalam, kai silambu,pampai, udukkai and thambattam, urumi  is played in rural villages of tamilnadu during festivals .

Thiruchinnam is the wind instrument which is made of brass. Usually two thiruchinnams are joined by a chord and blown together. Its Considered as the one of the  mangala vadyam so thiruchinam were played at temples during the procession of deities  or during the ritual like thirumanjanam,  mangala arati, palliyarai poojai etc. And this instruments is also played when the mutt heads/adheenams/sannidhanams leave for their puja. And it is still heard at the Thiruvavaduthurai Adeenam.

Thiruchinnam is played in tamilnadu Siva temples along with the udal and talam. As per saivates legend instrument like thiruchinnam, udal, ekkalam, brahmatalam and sangu are some of the favourites of Lord Siva that came to the earth due to the efforts of Muchukunda Chakravarthy.  #Thiruvarur Thiyagaraja Temple there was a custom to play thiruchinnam. Nowadays occasionally these kind of instruments were  played  by the Sivagana group in many temples.

In #Srirangam temple during the procession this instrument is heard, along with the bigger variety of the ekkalam It is also played at the Kanchi Kamakshi Temple, when the mutt heads are given the temple honours.

There are many  inscriptions records  and tamil literature that speak highly of this ancient instrument.  Here in this picture 13 century ( debatable ) unique piece eight hands sati thandava moorthy icon which shown him in ferocious attitude by carrying the body of his dead consort Sati is on the left shoulder and the left leg of Shiva is placed on the head of the boothagana who place the thiruchunnam is displayed at #Napier_museum, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. From this  we could understand that the usage of this instrument was existed from the early days. Even now we have the usage of this thiruchinnam in some temples for there daily rituals .

#comparison #museum #thiruchinnam  #Indian_instruments  #rituals  #tamilnadu #thiruvarur #folk #instruments #ramu #dec2020

-- Ramu.Rm.N