ORE NAALIL MOONRU DHEVIYAR DHARISANAM

TOUR DIARY -  J.K. SIVAN

3 Amman temples +  Devadhanam temple visists in our ONE DAY TOUR - 01/03/09 0600- 2200HRS  

 

On Sunday the 1^st March 2009  our  AALAYA DHARSHAN  group of 15 members – (as usual, the  age range being  between 51 and 80)  performed this Tour on a comfortable 16 seater Tourister driven by a very young and most cooperative Venkatesan as the chariot. The total distance covered as per reading was 293km, did we??? 

0630-0730hrs  -  We  visited the 650 year old Santhana Srinivasan temple at Mugappair, and were the first batch of devotees immediately after the priests chanted the Pallandu and other pasurams. The 9.5 ft  idol is a replica of Lord Balajee at Thirumala Hills but is  taller than him. Because of His fulfilling the wishes of parenthood to many childless couple,  the whole village was named MAGAPPERU (santhanabagyam) which Time has distorted to  the present name  Mugappair.

This temple is almost at the end of the Mugappair road in a small street jutting out of the main road.  We finished our breakfast at the mandapam itself here which is spacious with water taps and has adjoining toilet facilities.

0830-0900 hrs.  Ayappakkam  Dhakshinamurthi  (16’ ft tall)  temple -    is  a Guru sthalam  and the idol  is on the first floor of the temple. The approach roads are very bad and one has to proceed very slowly to avoid disc problems of the devotees.  We lost  2 valuable hours because of the  bad road condition and as a result compelled to deny ourselves,  our program to visit the Vaishnavi temple at Thirumullaivayil. 

0915 –  0930 hrs – The Masilamaniswarar temple at Thirumullaivayil  houses the sannidhi of Kodiyidai Amman.  There is a belief that the same sculptor had made the other two Ammans,  viz., Thiruvudai Amman at Melur, and Vadivudai Amman at Thiruvottiyur.  When we stood before Her Paalabhishekam was performed and the beautiful Amman idol is a feast to the eye.  Masilamaniswar’s Nandhi is facing opposite direction unusually and this is explained by folklore that Nandikeswarar was busily engaged in fighting and warding off  the Asuras and evil elements trying to attack Him and the village  This is a very old temple

1015-1030 hrs.  -  The second Amman to visit, viz, Thiruvudai Amman is at Melur, off Minjur.  The temple is located in a narrow road off the Melur main road with a prominent arch with the temple name.  It  is safer therefore to seek local help from time to time to avoid delay in reaching the temple.

1200-1230 hrs  -  Before the temple doors are shut we rushed to Thiruvotriyur which is quite far away from Melur,  on the eastern seacoast. The temple is on the busy Tiruvotriyur  High Road requiring patience in manouevring through the confusing traffic and indisciplined  road users. Vadivudaiyamman is yet another beautiful idol magnetizing the devotees with Her benevolence. Being a Sunday and situated in a big town, the crowd here made us wait for almost an hour. We could not have darshan of Thyagaraja and the huge Dhakshinamurthy in this vast and ancient temple

We proceeded to Ponneri despite the heat picking up earlier this summer,  even in early March,  cooling ourselves with cold Lassi enroute.  Ponneri Devadhanam temple is quite remote to have access.   On the Ponneri road, one has to take diversion towards Vellakulam railway gate, cross it and ask for Devadhanam.  At the fag end of the village cart  road,   through serpentine coils,  with paddy fields on either side of the road,   we reached the village  by about 1430hrs and selected the house of a goodhearted  villager named Dhayala  Naidu, who has acres of land planted with rich  teak, palm and coconut trees besides sugarcrane and kitchengarden.  Naturally therefore his products are exploited by a group of  monkeys, dogs and a cock family having no food problem.  Dayalanaidu is one person living upto his name by his deeds.  He and all members of his family were very courteous and offered us all the comforts.  The sweet well water was refreshing and cool as if from a refrigerator.   With great reluctance we rose up  from this temporary heaven, at about 1545hrs to proceed to Devadhanam temple which was open from 1600 hrs.

1600-1700 hrs – Vada Thiruvarangam – Devadhanam Ranganathar temple.  The temple is a gift from the Devas,  was built by early Chalukyas.  Sri Ranganathar’s idol is made of salagramam, 18 ft long,  5 foot high, in  Bhoga sayana thirukolam with Sridevi Bhoodevi, Brahma, Naradha and Thumburu  in attendance. Resting His head on  “wooden-measuring equipment”   (marakkal padi)  His smiling lips tempt the ardent devotee to embrace Him.

 This “ullam kavar kalvan”   gives Seva just a foot away from the visiting devotee.   There is no abishekam for Him and is annually given “thaila kappu”.  Garudazhwar with his wings spreadout is 4ft tall in front of the sannidhi.

1930-2000 hrs -  The long journey towards Narasinghapuram from Ponneri is through Minjur, Thiruvallur Thirupachur, Kadambathur, Perambakkam  and through the winding narrow streets of Narasinghapuram leading to the ancient 2000 year old smiling santha Lakshmi-Narasimhar both mutually embracing each other. This temple belongs to early Chola period. An excellent dharshan we had just prior to closing hours thanks to Mr Nandagopal, the trustee of the temple who put in a word to the bhattachariyar there to await us.   Without the cooperation of young Venkatesan, our driver we would not have made it. 

There is a miracle reported about the dwajasthambam of this temple  For erecting the Dwaja Sthambam (Flag Staff) of the Temple (as the original was found missing) a 53 feet tall wooden piece from the Amazon forests of South America was located thanks to a miraculous dream that a devotee had of a ship sailing with logs of wood. On enquiry it was found that a ship laden with logs of wood from the Amazon had just docked in Chennai Port. An Industrialist of Chennai Sri  Navaneetha Krishnan bought a 53 Feet long wooden log  and offered it to the Temple.

One peculiarity about this tour is we just covered only 6 temples traveling about 293 km    


To view all the photos in the album covering the above tour click the link 
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ANDHRA TEMPLES IN 4 DAYS

ANDHRA TOUR DIARY 21.01.2011 1530 hrs The weather was very nice at Chennai when we stepped into the Mahendra Van collecting 16 friends to board Circar Express leaving at 1720 hrs Egmore for Vijayawada. 4 friends joined us in Coach S2 . Srinivasan organized Iddly+ curd rice packets for dinner . It was a joyous crowd with devotional songs sung by Mrs Rukmani Ganesan. 22.01.2011 0300 hrs At Vijayawada junction we refreshed ourselves at the A/c retiring room and proceeded to the Krishna River ghat for a holy bath. Which was clean and well maintained with safety rails. We had to go by autos to Kanaka Durga temple as our TATA 709 could not climb up due to road repairs. It is divine and extremely soulfilling experience to stand with folded palms before the beautiful idol of the Goddess. The view from the hillock with vast flowing Krishna around was enchanting. The visit to Mangalagiri hill where we had dharshan of Panaka Narasimhan was also by autos as private vehicles are not allowed beyond a point . The Panagam is offered b the temple and fed to Narasimhar by the priest through a conch (sangu). Every sangu-filled panakam enters the mouth with a gurgle and at one stage it is rejected and collected back in the sangu and poured back into the pot. It is learnt that Narasimhar drinks only half the quantity offered . It is a miracle so to say isn’t it? Down the hill, we visited the Lakshmi narasimhar temple . On our way to Bhadrachalam we found a roadside small canteen where we had our break fast with hot iddlies dosas and poori and tea. The food was tasty and hygienic. It was really a long hazardous road travel worsened by our young Driver Yakub Khan contributing with his sudden breaks all the more. Around 2 pm we entered a mess where we were served somewhat palatable Andhra meals. By 10 pm we reached Bhadrachalam . Rooms provided by the Seetha Ramachandraswami vari Temple Devasthanam were not bad and we had a well earned rest. 23,01.11 0500 am As usual Mr Srinivasn woke up everyone and we had an excellent dharshan of Rama Lakshmana and Seetha in the temple built by Gopanna (later Ramadas) . The idol of Ramadas is installed in front of the sannidhi in worshipping form. Parnasala is about 35 km away from Bhadrachalam. One can see the rocks where Rama and Seetha stayed, had their food, the place where they dried up their clothes and where they took bath etc., and the cottage built by Lakshmana for their stay, the Lakshman rekha drawn by Lakshmana to prevent Seetha from any danger by Rakshasas are shown here. Ravana Sanyasi with begging bowl and his real form with 10 heads are exhibited as colourful dolls. Photography not allowed here. The hazardous bus journey resumed for us to reach Rajahmundry for about 150 kms. With the bus jolts we managed to find a place for lunch and continued. At about 1745 pm we reahed the Hotel Dwarka where we had our rooms booked already. Within 15 minutes we were ready after a brief refreshment to visit the Iyappan Temple and Shirdi Saibaba temple with marvelous scrulptures. The Lingam in this temple is 52 ft tall and has to be seen climing steps in 5 stages. A very neat temple and well maintined. The imposing idol of Saibaba is breathtaking and brings enormous inner happiness. The night halt in our rooms in Rajahmundry rejuvenated and recharged us for the next day’s misery on the road. 24.1.2011. We came with a lot of plans to visit Annavaram, Bhimavaram, Samalkot etc., to have dharshan at various temples listed by us, but it was decided to proceed to Draksharama temple (one of the 5 Pancharama Kshetrams – Legend is that Tarakasura made a sivalinga which burst and splintered in to 5 pieces each place where a piece fell was a Pancharama Kshetram - Dhraksharama, somarama kshetram, ksheerarama, kumararama etc. At about 8.30 am when we almost reached Dhraksharama , it was unfortunate, the writer who was seated in the middle of the last row, facing the passage between the two rows of seats was thrown up and landed about 5 ft away fracturing his spinal cord. The writer has no words to express his sincere and grateful thanks to one and all who decided to discontinue the tour and accompanied him to Kakinada to board the Circar Express for return to Chennai with a trace of sadness and dis appointment the way the tour ended. The fall was caused by one of the sudden breaks applied by the young driver Yakub Khan. The lesson to be learnt is not to sit without safely holding on to something pariculary when seated IN THE LAST ROW in any bus facing the open passage. 27.1.11 The misfortune aggravated with the sudden demise of Mr A.Parthasarathy one of the tour members due to cardiac arrest. A very good friend he was with pleasing manners and may his soul rest in ever lasting peace. Perhaps a few months later when the writer is back with his “back” restored to normalcy, there will be the next tour as usual..!!!!!!!!!!!!! J.K SIVAN 9840279080 PHOTOS TAKEN WILL BE SENT IN AN ALBUM TO THOSE WHOSE EMAIL IDS ARE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE WRITER.
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ECR PRADHAKSHINA TOUR .....

ECR PRADHAKSHINA TOUR DIARY Our AALAYA DHARSHAN group of 13 members performed this one day tour on 10th May 2012 from 0600 HRS TO 2030 hrs This tour diary gives you a rough idea of time taken and distance covered detailing what we saw, where and how significant was it. We travelled by a Tempo Traveller and we had a very good cooperation by driver Sri Sebastian. Mention should be made of course of the delicious food items usually supplied by my friend Sri R.Janakiraman’s brother, a professional Caterer. 1. 0600 left from Thirumal Marugan temple as is our practice after prayers 2. 0630 Madipakkam Oppiliappan temple is not open at this time. 3 0700 Had a good dharshan of Lord Marundheeswarar at Thiruvanmiyur where abishekam was already in progress 4. 0715 Pamban Swamigal adhishtanam is very closeby. At 0715 hrs on May 10th 1925 the saint attained Mukthi. We were at the same time and day in front of the Saint-Poet Samadhi – What a strange coincidence!! 5. 0800 hrs We visited ISCON temple at Injambakkam. What a grand temple well planned with comfortable and safe approach roads facilitated with a lift for elerly devotees who cannot climb the stairs. The morning bhajans were in progress with ecstatic devotees dancing to the tunes. We had prasadam and our morning breakfast in the temple premises 6. 0845 hrs At Kanathur, the Poori Jagannath temple is a must to visit for anyone passing along the ECR. The temple houses Lord Krishna, His brother Balarama and sister Subadhra in a row bless the devotees. The Orissa accent of the slokas is a pleasant experience to hear from the Archakas. The temple houses Mahalakshmi, Anchaneya and Ganesa in separate sannidhis and the green lawns are well maintained. See the Dwajasthambam in photo on entering the temple. 0915hrs Shirdi Sai Trust has created an excellent temple of Bhagwan Shirdi Sai at Krishnankaranai village enroute Mahabalipuram, on the ECR. Don’t miss this temple when you are next in the area. All the statues and walls, of the sanctum sanctorum are in white marbles in a peaceful environment. The devotees pray to the divine feet of the Baba on either side of the main idol. 1015 hrs We were able to locate the ancient dilapidated temple of Kailasanathar – Vaikuntanatha perumal temple in Kovalam. The temple is under renovation and the main idols are placed in a covered area for devotees to have dharshan. See the photos below. The temple is about 1300 years old built by Pallava Dynasty. . The Garudalwar gives dharshan with His head turned slightly to right, in front of the Perumal. The idol is a grand piece of sculpture by the Pallavas. The temple is under care of the Archaelogical Dept who is renovating it and preserving the past for future. The temple is in acres of space with separate sannidhis for Thayar, Lord Ganesa, Muruga . 1145 hrs- We missed having the dharshan of Panduranga at Vittalapuram. The temple is in a secluded area not much visited by devotees as we were told by the petty vendors there. The temple is open between 0700 and 1030 hrs and again in the evening by 5pm for a few hours. The temple is an Archealogical Dept treasure and dates back to Krishnadevaraya period. Lord Pandurangan had been built by the local chieftain of the Krishnadevaraya, in the same style as worshipped by him in Karnataka. 1200 hrs. Nobody in the local area will tell you where Nathamedu is – but it is on the way to Kalpakkam Atomic Research centre in the main road. The small temples on either side of the road houses the sitting Ranganathar on one side and the huge Sivalinga on the other side. Careful crossing of the busy road is warranted. No one was in the temple but we could see the idols through locked doors.. . 1230 hrs We were in Shadras - don’t be surprised, in Dutch/English mouth the Sathuranga Patnam was distorted thus. The place is adjacent to Kalpakkam Atomic energy research centre. There is a great ancient temple for Malai mandala perumal hereThe temple bhattacharyar obliged us to have an excellent dharshan and prayer to the Lord . We considered ourselves fortunate to have our Lunch in the Thayar sannidhi outer space 1330 to 1530 hrs Siesta at a park in Kalpakkam Atomic Research Centre. The members of our tour had a good rest here in groups to get ready for continueing the schedule from 4 pm onwards. 1600 hrs. A hot coffee at Adyar Anandha Bhavan at Mamalla puram restored our enthusiasm and energy as well. 1700 hrs We visited the shore temple – Jalasayana Perumal in a dark cavelike temple in Mamallapuram. The temple had been devastated by the ferocious sea waves in the past and now safely restored ashore in a heightened spot. The Archaelogical Dept has done an yeoman service in collecting, unearthing and restoring the beautiful sculptures for public view in the cordoned area on a small fee of Rs 10 per head. A worthy welcome spot for photographing devotees visiting Mamallapuram. See some photos below of the beautiful enchanting shore temple which had withstood the rigours of the seas for ages since it was built by the great Pallava kings 1800hrs the visit to Sthalasayana Perumal at Mamallapuram is an unforgettable experience. This temple is one of the Divyadesam temples and the Lord has been personally seen and praised by Alwars with Thirumangai Alwar in particular who has sung 20 pasurams on the Lord. 1900 hrs. We rushed to Nenmeli which is about 10 km on the Chengalpattu – Thirupporur road. we reached the village and visited the famous Shraddha Lakshminarayana Perumal temple. The legend goes to describe how the Lord blessed an issueless couple that He would perform the annual ceremonies for them after their demise. He keeps His promises for all as well who seeks this temple to perform Thithi for their ancestors. 1920 hrs. We visited the temple of Agora Veerabhadrar at Hanumanthavanam. The area is a real dense forest on the road next to Thiruvidaisoolam to Singaperumal koil but the road has been laid recently. 1930 hrs we ended our tour and proceeded back to our respective homes in Nanganallur reaching happily with great memories by 2030 hrs. The tour had been successful because of the cooperation and assistance of all the 13 members and it costs only about Rs 406/-per head with coffee, breakfast, lunch, snacks evening coffee etc., the distance covered being less than 250 km a day. Tks brgds. J.K.SIVAN