The Tamil Nadu graffiti symbol – the “Karkida” symbol indicates the Pithru rituals in the month of “Karkidam”.

The month of Karkidam is the time to remember ancestors in Kerala. This ritual is performed throughout India, even though it is known by different names. However, only in Kerala have people retained its original name, “Karkida Vavu”. Initially, it could have been called “Karkida Kavu”; however, because of the abandonment of animal sacrifice, it has become Karkida Vavu. Please refer to my article, “God Rudra was the most important god of the Indus Valley civilisation,” for more details. (1)

Figure 1Karkida symbols with arrows merged. Picture courtesy Rajan. (1)

The picture above shows the karkida symbols with arrow symbols. Karkida means crab. The god of the karkida month is Rudra. Rudra’s arrows cause injury and death. Rudra was the most worshipped god in IVC. Please observe the above symbols keenly. It can be seen that the arrow symbol is merged with the karkida symbol. This is quite logical because Rudra is the god associated with the rituals held in this month. Reference page no. 101, Book of Rajan. (1) The above picture is graffiti from the Hyderabad region.

The picture above shows some of the variants of the Karkida symbol in IVC. The same symbol similarly appears in Tamil Nadu.

The above given karkida symbols are from Kodumanal, Erode district. Note the similarity with the Karkida symbol of the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC). That indicates the karkida ritual was common to both civilisations. An additional point to note is that the karkida symbol is drawn within the pot symbol. The pot symbol indicates the sacrifice pot, thereby signifying that an animal sacrifice was performed and the blood was offered to the Pithrus on the occasion of that ritual.

The above graffiti is from Kodumanal, as referenced in the book by Gurumurthy. (3) If it is an arrow symbol, it indicates the Hindu god Rudra. If it is considered an inverted branch, then it means Ka (Soul) (Represented by a Hand symbol). Anyhow, the situation remains the same on both interpretations. It is the ritual on karkida day to please the Pithru or god Rudra.

The ligature above is from the book Rajan. (2) This ligature displays the karkida symbol with a star symbol. It shows that karkidam was a star as well as a month. I have been telling you for a long time that there is a karkida star. This graffiti confirms my long-time claim about the Karkida (Crab) constellation and symbol.

$C:\Users\user\Desktop\crab constellation picture.png$

Sky map showing the ‘Crab constellation’: Note that the Crab constellation resembles an inverted branch. One important finding is that even though these symbols [ $C:\Users\user\Desktop\ivc-logos-indus - 3\yajna-3.jpg$ and] indicate the word ‘karkida’, it is surprising to see that the clefted branch symbol [ $C:\Users\user\Desktop\ivc-logos-indus - 3\yajna-3.jpg$ ] indicates ‘karkida sastha’. In contrast, the crab symbol [ ] indicates the month of Karkida. Read my article, “Rudra was the most important god of IVC”, for more information. (1)

References

1. Jeyakumar(Rudra). Rudra was the most important god of Indus Valley Civilization. www.academia.edu. [Online] https://www.academia.edu/43654003/Rudra_was_the_most_important_god_of_Indus_Valley_Civilization.

2. Rajan., K. Thonmai Tamizh Iyal (in Tamil). Chennai: International Institute of Tamil Studies, 2018.

3. Gurumurthy .S. Deciphering the Inus script. Chennai. : University of Madras, Chennai., 1999.