My encounter with an ox

My native village is situated in the Cauvery Delta area of Tamilnadu, India.It is a very small village. Until two decades back agriculture is the main profession in the village. After the Cauvery dispute between Tamilnadu and Kerala states, agriculture lost its lime light in this area. Our family is one among the prominent agriculture families in the village. Agriculture was not mechanized twenty years back in India and hence bullocks were used for agricultural activities. We had a big cattle yard to maintain these bullocks, buffaloes and cows. We had a ferocious ox also. It was the grand calf(grand son?) of a cow owned by us. This ox was very friendly with me when it was a calf. I used to call it as "Ranjan," name of an action hero of South Indian film industry. Eventhough I was a fan of MGR, evergreen hero of Tamil film industry, I didn't want to name the calf after him as I thought it would be an insult to my hero.

I was twelve years old then. The calf also grown into an ox. But he was not as my old friend. He was very ferocious. He was so black and had sharp horns. His breathing sound could be heard from ten meters away. He began to hate boys like us and whenever we went to the cattle yard he would try to attack us. If Ranjan had to be taken to somewhere else, atleast four persons needed to control and take him. But he obeyed only one person named Rengaiyan who was appointed to maintain these cattle yard. I was very much disappointed over the attitude of Ranjan and wanted to be a friend of him. Rengaiyan helped me in many ways to make both of us friends. But Ranjan didn't agree for any compromise. I was always thinking ways to tame the ox and to make him my friend . One day I was meddling with my father's book collection. I found one old book titled " Malayala Manthrigam"(Black Magic of Kerala) . In India there is a belief that Kerala is the home state for all these black magic arts. So out of curiosity , I turned the pages and found many manthras and the procedures to do them under various captions. One of the caption made me spell bound. "Manthra to make ineffective of the attacking enemies, attacking birds and attacking animals" Oh! At last I found the way to tame my ox Mr. Ranjan .

The page read as follows:

"In an auspicious day get early in the morning and take bath. Then have a bit of neem tree root in your left hand and close it. Put your right hand over the left hand and tell this following manthra 108 times.After finishing the manthra, tie the root bit in your left arm. Now you are ready to face the enemies. If anybody come to attack you or any bird come to attack you or any animal come to attack you, just pick a handful of sand in your hand and recite the manthra three times and then blow it in the air. That's all. The enemy will surrender to you". The manthra is translated into Tamil and given like this:

"Ombahari, Ombairavi, Samundi, Sadakshari (Names of a deity)

Yennai Pagaithuvantha evvana Gajathuvaiyum

kattu kattu kadugana kattu ( Tie all those who opposes me)

Bakshi jarihalaiyum paravamal kattu (Tie the birds and make them unable to fly)

Miruga jathigal ennai mirattamal kattu (Tie the animals which threatens me)

Onkari Aaankari Singalakali Gangaikalyani (Again the names of a deity)

Matrum sabaiai kattu ethiriyai kattu (Tie my enemies and their associates)

Sing vang ling om reem shivaya swaha (Manthra)".

I was very much pleased to read all this and I decided to use this manthra against my friend turned enemy Ranjan, the ferocious ox.

The next day was Shivarathiri, an auspicious day for Hindus. So I decided to make use of that day. I woke up early in the morning and did all the things that were told in the book. After performing all the preliminaries, I tied the neem root in my left arm and felt as if I had gained some extra power. With increased confidence I went to the cattle yard. Ranjan was chained and he welcomed me with an harsh look. I went near to him. He scratched his horns in the ground and try to snap the chains. I took a handful of sand in my hand and uttered the manthra for three times and then blew it in the air. That's all what I did. Ranjan raised his front legs and made a jump. The chain was snapped and he rushed towards me to attack. I did not know what to do and began to run. He was chasing me. I tried to climb in the gate of the cattle yard. Oh my goodness! Rengaiyan came from somewhere else shouting some commands against Ranjan. He ran towards me and stood between me and Ranjan and waved a stick as if to beat the ox. Ranjan retreated and slowly moved backwards. Rengaiyan caught hold of the chain and took the animal to its place. Then he came and advised me, not to do these type of adventures anymore. I returned back with increased beat of hearts. My dream of taming Ranjan was not at all materialized and he had also been sold out after few months. But I will always laugh myself whenever I remember this incident.