உ
திருச்சிற்றம்பலம்
Pilgrimage- 2017
During our India trip from Jan 4 to Mar 8, 2017, my wife and I were
fortunate enough to visit a few holy places and shrines. What follows is a
brief account of our trips to these places.
1. To Chidhambaram
1. To Chidhambaram
We arrived at Chennai from Toronto on Jan 6, 2017. After staying in a hotel (Hotel Maris in Radhakrishnan Salai) for 3 nights, we left for Chidhambaram on Jan 9, 2017. By then, the ‘Arudhra Dharisanam’ festival, inarguably the most important celebration of Lord Nataraja and Goddess Sivakami in Chidhambaram and all other Siva temples in Thamizh Nadu, had already started from Jan. 2. We stayed in the hotel Nataraja Residency (a very and hospitable nice place). On the day we arrived, the Uthsava moorthi took the Bhikshatanar form in the evening procession. We could not, unfortunately, witness the procession as I was sick with severe cold from the day we arrived in India. On the next day, the Pancha Moorthi-s (Lord Nataraja, Mother Sivakami, Ganesa, Subramanya with Valli and Dhevasean and Chandikesvara along with Saint Manikkavachaka in the front facing the Lord) are taken in procession in individual chariots (‘Thiru Ther’) along the four streets surrounding the Nataraja Temple. This is a sight which cannot be described in words. As I was sick and Girija went for the dharsanam in the morning for a short time. In the afternoon, to enable me to see this divine procession, we took an auto rickshaw which took us to the place where the procession had progressed at that time.
As
I stood watching the Lord from at a good distance, I saw two gentlemen whom I
had met in 2012 during the Arudhra Dharisanam festival days in Chidhambaram.
They were Alan and Kerry from Sydney Australia both of whom have been
witnessing this function every year for the 31st time without a
break! They waved at me and my wife and came near us. As we talked, we started
to walk towards the Nataraja chariot and stood right in front of it to have a
sumptuous dharisanam. Then we joined others in pulling the chariot along two
remaining streets. All along, I did not think about my cold which kept me
bed-bound the previous few days. In fact, the cold had already left and Alan
and Kerry planned our strategy for witnessing the great Arudhra abhshekam and
the subsequent Arudhra Dharisanam the next (final) day. (After bringing the
Chariots to the starting point in the evening, pooja with dheeparadhana is
performed by the Deekshthars along with the singing of Manikkavachakar’s
Thiruvembavai songs; I had watched this wonderful Pooja in 2012 till late in
the night.) [Taking pictures of deities inside and outside the Temple in
Chidhambaram is strictly prohibited, although some still violate this
stipulation.)
The next
day (Jan 10) was the last and most important day of the 10-day festival when
Lord Nataraja and Mother Sivakami are given the Arudhra Maha Abhishekam in
front of tens of thousands of ardent devotees who come from all over India and
abroad to watch this holy event and also the subsequent Arudhra Dharisanam when
the Divine Couple are dressed up in a uniquely beautiful way and are taken in a
huge procession where they enter dancing into the Kanaka Sabha, back after
spending the previous 10 days outside giving devotees from everywhere to see
their splendour. We watched the Arudhra Abhishekam in the morning in
the Thousand- Pillar mandapam and were joined afterwards by Alan and Kerry for
witnessing the Arudhra Dharisanam in the afternoon. Unlike the morning function
done in the open spacious outer prakaram of the Temple, the Arudhra Dharisanam
procession starts from inside the Thousand Pillar mandapam and ends in the
interior Sanctum) with huge crowds of devotees surging in to have a close look
of the Deities. With their 31-year experience behind them, Alan and Kerry
guided us to the best place to stay and watch, the interior Hall of the sanctum
which was narrow and packed with devotees. After a good wait, we were blessed
with the holiest sight of our life, the entering of the Lord and His Spouse
into the front hall to finally reach their places inside the sanctum
sanctorum of the Golden Sabha. Our eyes were
filled with tears of joy seeing the Lord at such a close range. Mother
Sivakami’s idol was taken to the paLLaiyaRai (bed chamber)
where She will join the Lord in the night after the ardhajAma Pooja.
Lord Nataraja was then lifted along a ramp into the sanctum sanctorum (from where He had gone out in
the previous 10 days.) Finally, Sain Manikkavachakar’s Union with Lord
Nataraja is enacted with poojai and dheepa aradhana. (This has
reference to the last event in the Saint’s life where he was asked by the
Chidhambaram Dhikshithars to explain the meaning of his great work ThiruvAchakam, which
was dictated by the Saint to Lord Nataraja who was disguised as an old brahmin.
The Saint pointed out to the Lord and said He is the answer and entered into
the Lord’s abode, Sivapadham.)
2. To
ThiruvannAmalai
The next day (Jan 12, 2017) we took a taxi drive to Thiruvannamalai. We were not aware until we reached there that that day was Bhagavan Ramanar’s Jayanthi Day. We first drove to our pre-booked guest room in Yogi RamSurat Kumar Ashramam (hereafter referred to YRSA) which is at a walkable distance to Ramanasramam. (By God’s grace, we were given to stay there for nearly a month instead of a week or less given to most visitors. Later on Jan.26, I was asked by YRSA’s secretary, Sri. Swaminthan, to hoist the flag at Indian Republic day celebration at the Asramam-run primary school across the guest rooms and give a speech to young students; that endeared us to the lovely children during the rest of our stay!) On the Jayanthi day, Ramanasramam was decorated all over with flowered arches and the place was filled to the brim with devotees from everywhere.
Special Pooja-s were going on inside the Shrines of Bhagavan and His Mother. We were fortunate to witness these and to participate in the lunch prasadham (which was served outside to the huge line up of devotees) and in the evening parayanam and poojai. For the rest of our stay till Feb. 7, we visited the Asramam and spent most of our time there returning to YRSA mainly for food and rest. Pongal day (Jan 14th) was celebrated with special poojai and Annamalai Thevaram parayanam in the evening. The next day was pradhosham as well as maattup Pongal day and both Natarajar and Nandhi Dheva at Mother’s shrine were decorated with garlands of flowers (as well as edibles on Nandhi) and were offered a special poojai (see pictures.)
During
the evening pradhosham time, we were at the Arunachaleswarar temple and had a
wonderful dharsanam of the Lord and His consort Unnamulai Amman as well as
Nandhigesvara who was elaborately decorated with vilvam , flowers and edibles.
On Jan.
16th, we met Sri Nochur Venkataraman at his home and had a wonderful
conversation with him for about 1.5 hrs. He explained the special meanings
of several of the words in Bhagavan’s Aksharamana maalai, Ulladhu Narpathu and
Arunachala panchakam. On 17th morning, we met David
Godman for about 45 minutes (-we got extra 20 min due to someone else not
showing up after20 min.; see picture). We introduced ourselves as Toronto
Ramana sathsang members. It was a very useful meeting and will stay in
our minds forever.
We also met our friends, Sri
Krishnamurthy and Seethalakshmi (parents of Sri. Siva Ramakrishnan in Brampton)
from Chennai who were renting a house in Thiruvannamalai. They
introduced us to Sri. Chandramouli, the librarian who is well versed in Thamizh
verses like Thevaram and to Sri. Mohan who spent almost all his waking time in
the Asramam’s meditation hall. At a later date, we were able to meet Sri.
Devaraj who used to live in Ottawa before deciding to give up all his
possessions and live permanently in Thiruvannamalai; he had earlier
visited the Toronto Ramana sathsangam. Alan and Kerry whom we met in
Chidhambaram paid a visit to Thiruvannamalai on Jan 23 and spent time with us
until the next day when they left for Thanjavoor (see picture). On Jan. 26,
we met Dennis Hartel who runs the Arunachala Ashram in New York and Nova Scotia
(and whom I had met in Apr. 2017 during my 1-week stay at the N.S.
Ashram.) To meet spiritually accomplished like him and Goodman is akin to meeting great rishis and yogis
whom we hear about in the scriptures. At a later date, we met Sri. Ganesan
(who is the grandnephew of Sri Ramana
Maharshi and the former general
manager of Ramanasramam) at the Asramam (see picture). We also had
the good fortune of seeing Sri Nochur and Sri. Ganesan together at a
Kumbhabhishekam function for the Samadhi of a Siddhar in a
mutt situated a little off the girivalam route.
For the rest of our stay, we tried to
participate in the morning and evening poojai-s, reading of Bhagavan’s works in
the evening, paaraayanam in the evening after the poojai, and
meditation. The terrace of YRS Asramam presented a glorious view of the
Arunachala mountain and was a great place to meditate as well; one could also
see peacocks trotting nonchalantly from one terrace to the other; see
pictures.
Due to the courtesy of the hosts who let me join via telephone, I was able to continue to listen to the lectures on Bhagavan Ramanar’s Devikaloththiram given every Monday early morning in India) by Sri. Bala Krishnaswami in Cupertino, California as well as Swami Paramarthananda’s taped Gita lectures every Wednesday morning in Sri. Baskaran’s house in Toronto. To be able to listen to these lectures sitting in the terrace of the YRS guest room overlooking the holy Arunachala mountain was indeed a divine experience.
On Jan 18th morning, we visited Sri Arunachaleswarar temple and had a wonderful dharsanam of the Lord and His consort Unnamulai Amman. In the evening, a group of westerners sang bhajans with the melodious accompaniments of harmonium and guitar in the hall of the Mother’s Shrine. The hall was packed with listeners who joined the singing as well (see picture).
Due to the courtesy of the hosts who let me join via telephone, I was able to continue to listen to the lectures on Bhagavan Ramanar’s Devikaloththiram given every Monday early morning in India) by Sri. Bala Krishnaswami in Cupertino, California as well as Swami Paramarthananda’s taped Gita lectures every Wednesday morning in Sri. Baskaran’s house in Toronto. To be able to listen to these lectures sitting in the terrace of the YRS guest room overlooking the holy Arunachala mountain was indeed a divine experience.
On Jan 18th morning, we visited Sri Arunachaleswarar temple and had a wonderful dharsanam of the Lord and His consort Unnamulai Amman. In the evening, a group of westerners sang bhajans with the melodious accompaniments of harmonium and guitar in the hall of the Mother’s Shrine. The hall was packed with listeners who joined the singing as well (see picture).
We did
the giri valam (circumambulation) of the holy Arunachala mountain
on Jan 22nd (when Girija had mostly recovered from the severe
cold she was suffering from soon after our arrival in Thiruvannamalai.) We
started off from the Agni Lingam temple near Ramanasramam at 6 pm and returned
back at 10 pm. Unfortunately, we could not do the girivalam more
often.
From Jan 19 to Jan 29, the Sri Arunachaleswarar temple celebrated the Mahaa
Kumbhabhishekam festival and we were just lucky and blessed to be in
this very holy place at this very holy time. (Most temples in South India
undergo a complete renovation of the buildings followed by a re-sanctification
of the gods in the main altar as well as in other areas of the temple. This
ceremony, performed once every 12 years, is called Mahaa
Kumbhabhishekam. Elaborate yagna-s and poojai-s over a 10-day period were
performed in
the yaaga saalai. Holy water-filled Kalasam-s
(pots) representing the various gods are sanctified with Veda mantra-s and will
be poured over the idols of the deities as well as over the kumbha-s at
the very top of the temple gopurams.)
We were particularly fortunate to be able
to joined the local Thevaram group (led by Sri Chandramauli) in reciting
Annamalai Thevaram songs at Sri Arunachaneswarar temple once or twice in each
of the 10 days. (On the very first day, the paaraayanam was done in front of
Kasi Viswanathar’s shrine inside the Dhurga temple situated inside the city;
this Goddess is the guardian deity of Thiruvannamalai and is worshipped on the
first day of the Mahaa Kumbhabhishekam with lakshaarchanai and
copious flower decorations. On the other days, we did the paarayanam in front
of the yaagasaalai or wherever else we found a place to sit down, as the crowd
of observer devotees got larger by the day.)
On the Mahakumbhabhishekam day (Feb. 6), we could not make it to the
scene of action since there was a huge crowd everywhere (-the expected number
was 15 lakhs of people!) and we did not think we will get anywhere near to see
the Abhishekam ceremony. (We realized later that we were wrong to have assumed
so since several others from Ramanasramam were able to get a dharsanam from
spots like the terrace of buildings nearby. We could not view it from our
terrace in YRS ashramam.) We went to see Lord Arunachaleswara
and Unnamulai amman later in the evening inside their altars in the
temple which were closed for view the previous 10 days.) The crowd inside was
quite large but we managed to get a good dharsanam of the Amman. When we tried
to enter Arunachaleswara’s altar, the crowd was unmanageable and we were asked
not to risk our lives in the stampede that was happening inside. We followed
the advice and went around the prakarams. From the open courtyard in the
middle, we could also go up the terrace from where one could see seven of the
nine gopurams, all lit with dazzling colour lights (see pictures).
On a later day (Feb. 3), we went to the Kamakshi Amman temple situated
near the pavalakkunru (see pictures) to have the dharsanam of
this Goddess who is regarded as the guardian deity (ellai amman) of
Thiruvannamalai (see pictures).
While in Thiruvannamalai, we were fortunate to be able to meet Sri Nochur Venkataraman, who steeped
in Bhagavan Ramana’s philosophy and practice and is well-known for his
excellent discourses on Sri Ramana and on Veda-s, and scriptures. He was at
that time engaged in revising the already published Thamizh version of the book
‘Swathmasuki which was first published in Malayalam. This book is an excellent,
detailed commentary on ‘Ulladhu Narpathu’ (உள்ளது நாற்பது; Forty
Verses on Reality), one of
Bhagavan’s most important works which epitomises His teachings on
self-inquiry. Along with a few of his devotees, Sri Nochur was
going through each of the forty verses, replacing complex Sanskrit words and
usages with simpler ones in Thamizh and also adding more references from
Bhagavan’s other works as well as from Thamizh saints like Manikkavachakar,
Ramalinga Adigalar and Thayumanavar. I felt very fortunate and blessed to be
asked by Sri Nochur to join the devotees involved in this effort which took
place at his home during late afternoon each day from Jan. 26 till Feb.
8.
3. To Thirukkoviloor
After
spending 21 spiritually uplifting days in Thiruvannamalai, Girija and I left
for Thirukkoviloor on Feb. 9 mainly to visit Swami Nithyananda Giri at
Gnanananda Niketan. Swamiji had not been feeling well for some time but he
appeared to have re covered well (see picture taken in
2014).
We stayed
at the Niketan for 2 nights. During this time, I met my old friend Hans (-I
don’t recall his last name), a dentist from Germany who spends most of his
retired life at the Niketan.) As on previous occasions, we went together to the
nearby Veerattesvarar temple, a very ancient (~2000 year-old) temple for Lord
Siva in the form of destroyer of the demon Andhakasura. A swamini, now living
at the Niketan and helping the Swamiji, also accompanied us. Hans is particularly
attracted to the shrine of Lord Ganesa inside this temple and sits in front of
the deity for a long time looking at the idol. It is here that the great
Thamizh poetess, Avvaiyar, is said to have composed the well-known ‘Vinayakar
agaval’ hymn and got lifted by Ganesa’s trunk to Siva’s abode, Kailasam, ahead
of other devotees who rode on elephant and horse to reach the mountain. There
is a stone carving nearby depicting this
incident.
Veerattesvarar’s
consort, Sivanandavalli is housed in an adjacent temple. Some very unusual,
beautiful stone and bronze idols are seen in the outer and inner prakarams of
the Veerattesvarar temple
(see pictures). Unlike on previous visits, this time we could not make it
to the famous Ulagalandar (Vishnu as Thrivikrama) temple nearby for want of
time.
4. To
Madurai and Rameswaram
We returned to Chennai from Thirukkoviloor by taxi
on Feb 9 and stayed with one of our friends, Sri. C.S. Ramasami in
Chitlapakkam, near Chrompet till our return trip to Toronto on Mar 8. (I had
met CSR and his wife Akila during my Kedarnath-Bhadrinath trip in 2012 when I
stayed with them for a week in their house in Dehradun.) On Feb 14, we flew to
Madurai in the morning and stayed in Madurai Residency hotel, a very nice one
for short stay. In the evening, we went to Sri. Meenakshi Sundaresvarar temple
and had a very good dharsanam of both the deities as well as other deities in
the prakarams, including the Dancing Lord in the Velliambalam (Silver Sabhai)
where He poses with the right foot lifted up and the left on the ground instead
of the usual pose with the left foot up, as in Chidambaram.
We could also witness the evening abhishekam and poojai to Mukkurunip
Pillayar on that auspicious Chathurthi day. The next day (Feb 16), we got up
early and made our way to Meenakshi temple and got a good, leisurely dharsanam
of both Her and Sundaresar. We took time to go around the prakarams and look at
the sculptures, etc. We then enquired around and found our way to Ramanasramam
near the South tower. This was the house wherein Bhagavan Ramana had the ‘death
experience’ which then led him to Thiruvannamalai and remain there for the next
51 years. It was a very spiritual experience to be in the room where this
remarkable realization event took place (see picture).
We then left for Rameswaram in an already booked
car by about 11 am. (On the way, we visited St. Mary’s High School where I
studied for 3 years (1951-54.) I met and talked to groups of students who were
sitting outside in the lawn and also met and talked to the Headmaster. He was
pleased that I could re-visit the school.) We reached Rameswaram around 3.30 pm
and stayed in Brindavan Residency hotel, a nominally priced, good place to
stay. [Girija had never seen Rameswaram before and I had seen the place and the
temple in my school days when my father took me on a train trip arranged by
devotees of Swami Chinmayananda (as the culmination of the Gita Yagna lectures
he gave in Madurai). I remember Swami Chinmayananda performing abhishekam to
Lord Ramanthar with water from the ocean (Sethu samudram)]. We went to the
temple in late evening and had a very good dharsanam of Sri Ramanathar and
Parvathavardhini Ambal. It happened to be the dhvajarohanam (raising the temple
flag up the flagpole, kodi maram) day for the 10-day maasi
magam festival.
We were fortunate to see the beautifully decorated
Uthsava Moorthi-s of Swami and Ambal ready to start for procession in the
streets.
The next day (Feb 17), we performed the pithru tharpanam for
our ancestors with the help of a priest (relative of Akila) in his house. As
part of the ceremony, we first made our sankalpam in the
Sankara Matam with the help of another priest who then guided us for a
holy dip in the ocean (Bay of Bengal) followed by bathing in the 22 wells
inside the temple, each containing puNya theertham from the many different holy
rivers in India.
After performing the pithru tharpanam,
we had our lunch as arranged by the priest. After some rest, we drove to the
famous Pamban Bridge and then to the several other points of interest such as:
former President Abdul Kalam’s house, Nambunayaki amman
temple, Ramanathaswamy temple, Jada theertham and, finally, to
Dhanushkodi beach; we could only get to the start of the beach since, going further
would require a jeep drive which we did not have the time for. We started back
to Madurai in the morning after a quick visit to the Temple (which was then
filled with thousands of pilgrims from North India lining up to take bath in
the ocean and in the holy wells.) We reached Madurai airport well on
time to head back to Chennai by the 3 pm Jet Airways flight.
5. Visits to other temples:
After our return, we stayed in Chitlapakkam from
Feb 18-Mar 7 during which time we could visit a few temples. One of
them was the Thrisoola Nathar Temple (in Thirisulam village near Chennai
airport) which is situated on a hillock in a small village and is very ancient
(see picture).
We had a very beautiful dharsanam of the Lord,
Ambal (Thripurasundhari) and Nandhigesvarar on the holy Maha Sivarathri day
(Feb 24). Unlike the huge crowds of devotees in the other Siva temples
inside the city, this temple was only moderately crowded and everyone could
have a good view of the deities. As in our other Chennai visits, we
went to Sri Kapaleesvarar temple (Mar. 2) and worshipped the Lord and
Karpakambal. We could also see the decorated uthsava moorthi of
Ambal in the outside hall (after a sponsored golden chariot
procession.) There was a live dance performance going on in the
outer prakaram. Later on Mar 5, we visited the Dhenupureesvarar
temple in Madambakkam (Kamadhenu, the divine cow, worshipped the Lingam by
pouring her milk on the idol and hence the name.) It is another very ancient
temple with a variety of very beautiful stone carvings on the pillars in the
outer hall; many of the sculptures, such as the one of Dhakshan with goat’s
head standing near Veerabhadra, were unusual and not seen elsewhere. It is a
pity that they are not well appreciated by many and not well taken care of. (I
took pictures of only some them since the hall was packed with devotees
witnessing the poojai for Sarabeswarar. see: https://tinyurl.com/ksocaqn for the
collection.) We also visited the Siddhar Koil in Madambakkam which was established by Sri. Seshadri Swamigal,
Here, statues of all the 18-siddhars as well as that of the Swamigal are seen
in individual shrines. Such temples are very rare to find elsewhere. On the way
back, we visited Skandhasramam, an elaborately built temple (belonging to the
Santhananda Asramam in Pudukkootai) housing Skandha, Goddess Bhuvanesvari and
several other deities all in gigantic proportions. It is quite unusual in its
structure and concept. The day before our departure to Toronto,
we went up the steps of Kumaran Kundram situated very near to where we were
staying in Chitlapakkam. It is an amazingly beautiful temple with exquisitely
decorated idols of the deities. There was a nice musical discourse going on
Appar’s Thevaram by a lady in the ground level hall. The view from the top of
the hill where the main deity resides is very nice.
6. Visit to
Mullandiram and nearby temples
While we were
in staying in the house of Sri. Ramasami in Chitlapakkam, a relative of him,
Sri. Sankar offered to take us in his car to an ancient temple in Mullandiram,
a small village north of Arani in Tiruvannamalai district (about 150 km away from Chennai).
Mullandiram (முள்ளந்திரம்) is
connected with Saint Arunagirinathar, the author of the well-known Thiruppugazh
songs. He is said to have been born (or lived) here. It is also said that the
great Siva devotee and Sanskrit scholar, Appayya Dhikshithar had his gurukulam
training from his teacher in Mullandiram. We started off around 6
a.m. and reached there by 10 a.m. The countryside, though dry due to lack of
rainfall, was still very beautiful with several rocky hills strewn
all around. Our first visit was to a temple for Renukambal (Lord Parasurama’s
mother who is regarded as the guardian deity for the village (see picture.)
We then moved
on to our main destination, the Thanthondri Eesar (Svayambunathar)
temple. The Goddess has the name Hamsa Nateswari, signifying Her bestowing Self-realization
to her devotees (hamsa being part of the ‘ham saha’ chant done by spiritual
seekers). Sankar has been trying to renovate this ancient temple which houses
the ‘kula deivam’ (ancestral god) of his family with help from local
villagers and friends elsewhere. He had arranged a devotee to do the daily
Pooja to the Siva lingam. The temple, as per a stone inscription, was built in
1550 A.D. The Siva lingam inside is, according to a legend, a svayambu lingam
(and hence the name, Svayambunathar) and was discovered when a devotee was
ploughing his field of betel leaves. Later on, the vigraham of Nandhi was also
dug out from a nearby field.
The formal installation of the Siva Lingam, Ambal and Nandhi is yet to be done
and financial help is being sought from the public. Going around the temple, we
saw a shrine for Ganesh and a statue of Nandhi that was dug out. There is
also an adjacent dried out pond (theppak kulam.) There are also bilva trees
near the temple (-I understood, there are quite a few of them in the
village.)
The outer stone mandapam with many pillars is fairly intact, though it needs much repair to reinforce the pillars and renovate the structure. This mandapam has an amazing range of stone carvings on the pillars which are worn out by age and exposure to the weather. The carvings, however, are still intact. It is a great pity that their beauty and value are not known yet to the general public. I have taken pictures of most, but not all, of them and some are displayed below. These sculptures depict a huge variety of God figures such as: Siva and Parvathi; Dancing Ganesha; Murugan riding on peacock; Siva as bhikshatanar accompanied by a dog and Kundodhara carrying the begging vessel on his head; Gajasamhara moorthi; Siva as a hunter (kiratha) with Parvathi accompanying him carrying Skandha on her hip; Veerabhadra and Dhakshan with goat head; Mahishasura mardhini; Urdhva Thandavar; Kali; Bhiravar; Rama and Lakshmana carrying their bows and arrows; and many more.
The outer stone mandapam with many pillars is fairly intact, though it needs much repair to reinforce the pillars and renovate the structure. This mandapam has an amazing range of stone carvings on the pillars which are worn out by age and exposure to the weather. The carvings, however, are still intact. It is a great pity that their beauty and value are not known yet to the general public. I have taken pictures of most, but not all, of them and some are displayed below. These sculptures depict a huge variety of God figures such as: Siva and Parvathi; Dancing Ganesha; Murugan riding on peacock; Siva as bhikshatanar accompanied by a dog and Kundodhara carrying the begging vessel on his head; Gajasamhara moorthi; Siva as a hunter (kiratha) with Parvathi accompanying him carrying Skandha on her hip; Veerabhadra and Dhakshan with goat head; Mahishasura mardhini; Urdhva Thandavar; Kali; Bhiravar; Rama and Lakshmana carrying their bows and arrows; and many more.
There are
also sculptures depicting puranic events, such as: Markandeya
hugging Siva linga as his rescue when Yama throws his rope (pasam)
around him and the lingam; Siva killing andhakasura (?); Hanuman dragging Siva
lingam with his tail wound around the lingam (for installation in Rameswaram
?); Vishnu offering his eye as a lotus flower to Siva (who then gives him the
chakra as a gift); the discovery of a Siva lingam under the feet of bullocks
during the ploughing of a field – this most likely refers to the legend about
the discovery of the Siva lingam of this temple; Saint Thirunavukkarasar being
worshipped by the king after his conversion from Jainism to Shaivism (very rare
sculpture); a Siva gana (Kundodhara?) carrying an old lady, possibly Karaikkal
ammaiyar, in a basket on his head (very rare sculpture); a hunter who climbed
up a bilva tree oi a Mahasivarathri night and, unknowingly, kept dropping the
leaves on a Siva lingam below and getting blessed by Siva; Vyagrapadha Rishi
(with tiger’s legs) performing Pooja to a Siva lingam; ; a Shaivite Saint
praying to Siva; a woman (man?) jumping on to a tree to escape from a tiger’s
chase; a farmer. There are
also some carvings whose significance is unknown (to me): a yogi in tapas with
a pig near him; a god (Siva?) going to a war (?); a drummer; a person on a
boat; etc.
There are still many more sculptures which I did not take pictures of. We then went to an ancient Vishnu temple nearby. The moorthy is called Kalyana Venkatesvarar and is said to be the precursor to a similar display in Thiruppathi. The temple is in a dilapidated condition (see picture) and its renovation is planned by devotees like Sri. Shankar’s and other families.
We then drove to Pannirandu puthoor to see the temple of Lord Vidhyapatheesvarar and Goddess Akshrambikai. Like the earlier ones described above, this temple is in a very good condition with a shining dwaja sthambam and a mandapam for Nandhi. (see pictures).
There are still many more sculptures which I did not take pictures of. We then went to an ancient Vishnu temple nearby. The moorthy is called Kalyana Venkatesvarar and is said to be the precursor to a similar display in Thiruppathi. The temple is in a dilapidated condition (see picture) and its renovation is planned by devotees like Sri. Shankar’s and other families.
We then drove to Pannirandu puthoor to see the temple of Lord Vidhyapatheesvarar and Goddess Akshrambikai. Like the earlier ones described above, this temple is in a very good condition with a shining dwaja sthambam and a mandapam for Nandhi. (see pictures).
Interestingly, Saint
Arunagirinathar has composed a Thiruppugazh on Lord Muruga of this place which
is also called Somanathan matam, in honour of the great scholar, Somanathan,
who was an ardent devotee of Lord Arunachalesvarar of the nearby
Thiruvannamalai. During his time, the place was ruled by King Prabuta Devaraya
and hence the other less known name, praputadevarayapuram (ப்ரபுடதேவராயபுரம்) for this
place (- this name is sometime associated with Mullandiram; this is likely to
be incorrect.) Interesting details about the Saint and the scholar are
given on the inside wall of the temple (see pictures.)
Our next and
final destination was the village of Adayapalam, the birthplace of Sri. Appayya
Dhikshithar. During his time two Sivan temples were built (in 1582
A.D.) according to his wish. These are Kalakantesvarar temple and
Neelakantesvarar temple which not far from each other. We had time for only the
former temple. It is well-maintained thanks to the pioneering efforts of Sri.
Chandrasekhara Sarasvathi Swamigal, the great Maha Periyava, of Kanchi Kamakoti
Sankara mutt and had its renovation and kumbhabhishekam done by Sri. Jayendra
Sarasvathi Swamigal in 2009. There are stone vigrahams for Adhi Sankarar and
Sri. Appayya Dhikshithar inside the temple and also marble inscriptions of his
history detailing his devotional literary contributions. Many of
Sri. Dhikshithar’s sthothra-s, as well as musical compositions (krithi-s) in
parise of Sri. Dhikshithar composed by other vidwan-s, are also found along the
walls of the temple and the adjoining meeting hall. It was a divine experience
to visit this Siva Temple built by one of the greatest Siva devotees and
Sanskrit scholar whose works are cited as authorities in Hindu philosophy and
whose sthothra compositions are recited in many Hindu households. One of these
hymns is the famous Margabhandhu sthothram (popularized by the late Brahmasri.
Anantharama Dhikshithar, a descendent of Sri. Appayya
Dhikshithar.) It was a thrilling experience for me to realize that
the term ‘kalakantam’ used to describe Siva in this sloka was addressed to the
deity, Kalakantesvarar of this temple.
We started
our return to Chennai by about 4 pm after a very delicious lunch around 3 pm in
the house of one of the families associated with the temple and also deeply
involved in the renovation of the Mullundiram temple which is the goal of Sri.
Sankar’s family.
