In Search of Siddhi

Long back people of India worshipped Hills. It was called Parvatha Pooje or Giri Pooje. Especially in South India. It was no Deity or God they worshipped but just the Hills themselves. This was because Hills provided everything they needed. It was their first Home. Hills were embedded in their Primal Psyche. Man first lived in Caves, which gave him protection from the Elements & Wild beasts. As he started to understand that he could grow food and need not Hunt it always, he must have begun to experiment in farming and moved down towards flat Land and flowing Water. Still, he lived nearer to Hills and invariably there were forests in the Hills. Hills provided everything the Early Man needed. Food, he could hunt or gather there. He found Firewood for warmth and cooking. Hills yielded Herbs and many medicinal Plants and insects which were life saving during illnesses. Gave him Honey ...He could go there for Ritualistic Hunting now.....And so at the merest opportunity Man takes off to the Hills even now!!!

The Races & peoples of South India including the Dravidians are as ancient as the Aryans and have been inhabiting the Indian Sub-continent from early ages. In the beginning they were spread all over the sub-continent from Afghanistan to the southern tip of India.

Language of Brahui, now spoken in Balochistan, Turkemenistan, Afganistan, Sind by a few tribes is a Dravidian Language most closely related to Kannada (Canarese in the western Lingo)

The Culture of Pre-Aryan India was Unique and in its nascent stage developed independently of the Vedic Or Aryan Culture.It came face to face with the Sanskrit speaking early Aryans and thereafter it was a Synthesis of the Two cultures.
There is a belief that the Vedic Culture as we know it today was the same three and more thousand years ago. This cannot be true as cultures interact with each other and do not remain the same. Even as native cultures came in contact with the Aryan they too began to change even while keeping many of the tribal traditions, customs , languages alive.

One of the most significant ritual of these early tribals was the worshiping of Hills. There was no Idol but just the Hills. "Worship" was not as we know it today. The people would go to the Hills , spend time there, spruce up a cave there, cook food, eat and come back. There would always be a cave at the hilltop. This Ritual is very much alive even today with many South Indians.Hills and Mountains have always been held in high esteem. This is manifest in the fact that some of the earliest Kannada names people gave their Children was Parvathappa ( Of the Mountains ), Giriyappa ( Of the Hills), Guddappa ( Of the Hillocks). This name lives on today with Kids still being named after Hills... as in Girish!!!
Siddara Betta ( Hills of the siddhas, Siddala Konda in Telugu ) is about 70 KM from Bangalore. It is a hillock with a cave at the top and a natural Health Spa inside the cave . The water has a very salubrious effect. Inside the cave there is a Linga , the symbol of Shiva which is worshipped. Linga or the Phallic Symbol is found in the Indus valley civilisation excavations at Harappa & Mohenjodaro and also at Lothal. It is a pre-Vedic religious symbol integrated into the Hindu religion & Vedic culture and points to the influence of the natives on the Vedic.

Siddi or Siddhi means attainments or achievements. It also means one who has attained, achieved. These are spiritual attainments and takes a lot of "Sadhane"( Effort, Perseverance, Penance) to achieve. One of the important criteria for becoming a Siddi is to lose the Ego. Shed all desires. And yearn to know the truth.Become one with the All. Siddi( One who has attained) is an Ascetic, living a frugal life meditating for months on end. They were akin to the Sages, Seers and Rishis of the Vedic tradition and were the keepers of Knowledge and Wisdom in society. These people were held in high esteem.

Siddis were also experts at using herbs, minerals for curing ailments and were equivalent to doctors of Modern society . Sidda medicine evolved to a great and an exacting science and is used by a significant number of people in India even today.
The climb atop Siddara Betta seemed easy but it was not.

Steps only led upto a point and after that steps were carved right on to the hillock with a supporting rail and the going was tough.
This too is the trail!!!

But as you reach the top, walk inside the dark cave and pour the chilling water from the Spa on your head, all the weariness will drain away and you will be refreshed!!!


Most fascinatingly this hill and the cave with the Linga has been worshipped by my family for as long as anybody can remember. Though we may visit other Temples and worship other Gods this one has a unique place. My forefathers have been coming here for generations together. It is a cave that was earlier almost inaccessible.

Yet every baby born in my family is brought here on its first birthday,wherever on earth that family might be residing, and its hair is cut or shaved in sacrifice . Only after this ritual is the baby taken to the neighborhood Hairdresser for the weekly cut.

My father, who is 67 years now had come to Siddara Betta after his first birth day. I came here when I was One and so did my Sister and brother. My grandfather remembered coming here when he was a kid and used to narrate how dangerous it was to make the journey to Siddara Betta from his village 70 KM away. Wild animals were prowling about and proper roads or transport were absent. They would travel on Bullock carts for days to reach Siddara Betta. My brother brought his kids here for their first hair cut. It is thrilling to speculate that people must have been visiting this cave for hundreds of years!!!

Shiva, the greatest of all the Siddis is always smeared in Ash, signifying that everything returns to the nothing it came from. And you would be too if you visited the cave at Siddara Betta!!!