Maavilakku - Adi Velli - Auspicious Aadi offering to Amman

 

Along with Ganapathi Homam and Bhagavathy Sevai, Maavilakku is a cherished family tradition in our Trikkur home, observed during the Tamil month of Aadi, usually on the last Velli (Friday). 

The word Maavilakku comes from two Tamil words: "Maa", meaning rice flour, and "Vilakku", meaning lamp. It is a unique lamp made from rice flour, jaggery, and ghee, with a cotton wick placed in the center and lit as an offering to God.

To prepare the Maavilakku, raw rice is washed, dried, and ground into a fine flour. Jaggery is then mixed with the rice flour in the proportion of 1 cup rice flour to ¾ cup jaggery. A little water is added to make a firm dough, which is shaped into a small mound with an indentation in the center to hold the ghee and cotton wick.

Before the lamp is lit, all the cooking for the day is completed. Molagootal, Rasam, and Nellikai Pachadi, (prepared either with fresh nellikai or dried Nelli Mulli, ground with coconut and green chillies) is the menu for lunch on this day. No seasoning (thalippu or porichukottal) is done that morning, following our family's custom.

The Maavilakku is lit by the women of the house - my grandmother, my mother, or my chithis (aunts) then and now us. As the lamp burns, we chant the Lalitha Sahasranamam or sing devotional songs until the flame naturally goes out. Thenga, Vethalai paakku, Pazham are offered. After the worship, the Maavilakku dough is distributed as prasadam to all the family members.