TOUR DIARY -- notes jotted down inside a Tempo Traveller
- J.K. Sivan
When we boarded the Rameswaram Express at 2000 hrs on Friday the 14th of
November, the 10 of us intended only to have Thula snanam in the
river Cauvery on the last day of tamil month Aypasi. For that matter of fact, the
whole of Ayppasi is sacred to wash of one’s sins if he or she has Thulasnanam in Cauvery and it is
extended by a day upto the 1st day of Karthigai, thanks to the lame fellow
who arrived late long long ago whom Goddess
Cauvery pitied upon and granted the one day extension for his bath (Mudavan
Muzhukku) at Mayuram Cauvery river. To
the full satisfacation of all the 11 of us (one joined at Trichy), it turned out to be a memorable journey
covering visits to about 30 temples, listed below with brief notes:L
15/11/08 0430-
0830hrs
Took holy bath (Thula
snanam) in the Cauvery (now in full
flow!) at the Ammamandapam Bathing ghat.Dharshan of Lord Ranganathar – Had dharshan
of Udayavar (than aana meni) and Para Vasudevar which many miss at this temple.
0915- 0945 hrs
The temple
of Kaattazhagiya Singar
1030-1045 hrs . Uthamar koil—a Divya desam - (a.k.a Bikshandar koil) is a kshetram where both Saiva &
Vaishnava devotees throng. Lord
Purushothamar is another pallikonda perumal,
Also the temple has shrines for Siva with a begging bowl (bikshandar) Brahma
and Vishnu. At a particular point in this temple you can see
all the 3 trinity gods at a time. You can see Brahmini in this temple as well.
1045-1100 Pandurangan at Then Pandaripuram is about 6 km. from Uthamar koil. As
they do at Pandharpur one can touch and embrace the idol of Pandurangan here; a beautiful idol with Radha and Rukmani sannidhis on either side of
Pandurangan.
1100-1130 hrs - At Anbil ( a Divya desam) Vadivazhagiya nambi
blesses us with his consort giving the devotee inexplicable inner joy.
1150-12noon - On the way from Anbil there is an excellent temple of Maha Mayi Amman and
that all the chola kings worshipped Her before they ventured their wars and
battles.
1200 -1230 hrs - The last temple we could visit before the
closing time of Hindu temples was at Lalgudi,
the famous ancient temple
of Saptharishiswarar
1630 -1645 - When you cross Thanjavur, you cannot afford
to miss a visit to the Big Brahadeeswara temple which is now undergoing
renovation of architectural beautification. A few minutes before the Nandhi and
Brahadeeswara is an experience one should undergo to understand.
1700-1730 hrs - Three
temples of the 108 Divya desam are close to one another on the way near
Vennathangarai. Thirumanikoodam, Thirumanikkundram and Neelamega Perumal
temple and the last named temple is now undergoing Punarddharanam.
1830-1900 hrs – We reached Mayuram and had another bath in
the River Cauvery before proceeding to Thilatharpanapuri (a.k.a. Sethalapathy)
15 km away.
2000 hrs till 0730
hrs on 17.11.08 - at Sethalapathy. Well earned rest after excellent hot tiffin
provided by the Gurukkal at his residence at Thilatharpanapuri.
0645 hrs – 0730 hrs.
Karthigai masa tharpanam done.
If one does Tharpanam for the
departed ancestors here on any day, it is equivalent to doing same on the exact
day due, and also extends to 27 generations.
Lord Rama per formed tharpanam for Jatayu and his father Dasaratha here,
and you can see the idol of Rama kneeling down on his right leg and performing tharpanam with 4 pithrulingam(pindams turned to be lingams) before him. The lord of
the temple is Muktheeswarar!. This temple has the sannadhi for Adhi Vinayagar,
(Ganapathy with his original head before it was replaced by an elephant’s head!).
This temple is one of the ancient Chola temples.
0745-0750 hrs – Seethala Devi temple is here in a quiet
place surrounded by coconut trees. There is also a sannidhi of Periyachi amman - a grama devadhai in a ferocious mood
with angry look.
0750 -0815 hrs -
Koothanur - Saraswathi sitting
adorned in dazzling white silk saree is beautiful and graceful. This is the
birth place of Poet Ottakoothar, and his idol is fuly covered by examination,
hall ticket numbers and candidate requests for a pass in some exam for the
person and his relatives concerned. Devotees request the priests to place
the pens and pencils at the feet of
Saraswathi seeking her blessing for the success of the students at home.
0830-0900 hrs - Thiru
meeyachur - Lord Muyarchinadhar is the
moolavar here. - Lalitha Sahasranamam was first written and
recited here at the sannidhi of Lalithambigai here seated with her left leg
adorned with a silver kolusu. Devotees offer
silver anklets here to the goddess. There is a special statue of Perumal
holding the chin of the goddess , which
when looked from the right side, would
show the face of the goddess in an angry mood, but at the same time when viewed from the left, would reveal that
she is smiling. What a piece of grand architecture!
1000 -1130 hrs - 5
km from Kollumangudi in a village single
cart road, you can reach Thirupambu puram. Buses and big vehicles cannot go on
this road. The only temple with Rahu and
Kethu together is the speciality attracting devotees to perform parikarams for
Kalasarpa dosham and graham preethi. The temple exhibits the snake skin
frequently found on the idol of Siva here.
Snakes live and move on the moolavar frequently as reliably learnt here.
1130 – 1145 hrs.
Vanamutti Perumal is made of Athi wood.
He is 18’ tall. He is at
Kozhikuthi (a mutilated version of Koti
papa hasthi!!!!!) You can see a beautiful small Anjaneyar with a bell at his
tail’s end, the tail resting on his head!)
1145-1230 hrs We returned to Mayuram on our way back to Trichy - as
temple timings were over, we took the last opportunity to have “Mudavan
Muzhukku: (see above for detail) at the Lagadam padithurai of River Cauvery.
1630 – 1700 hrs The
long return journey to Trichy after
lunch at Kumbakonam, took us to Koviladi
close to Grand Anicut to have the darshan of Appakudathan (a Divya desam). Perumal as an old man, tested the local
raja’s ability to feed Him and ate all the food prepared for feeding over a
lakh Brahmin devotees and still asked for more as he was still hungry. As
there was no food left and no grains He suggested atleast some “appams”
for satisfying His hunger! The king
arranged to place a huge silver container with enough soft appams which is
still placed close to the right hand of the Perumal at this temple.
1700-1830 hrs. On our
way, at Trichy, we visited at Devadhanam, East Boulevad, the temple of Adhi
1830 – 1930 hrs – At Thirukozhi (Uraiyur Nachiyar koil) – 2nd
of the 108 Divyadesams – we worshipped Azhagiya Manavalaperumal in his kalyana kolam standing with goddess
Komalavalli nachiyar seated. There is no
separate sannadhi for the Thayar here.
Incidentally this is the birth place of Thirupanazhvar, the author of
Amalanadhipiran. Don’t miss to see the statue of a cock defeating a huge
elephant on the temple wall. That is why
this place is known as Kozhiyur or Thirukozhi.
1930-1945 hrs -
Vetkali Amman koil was very crowed being a Sunday also because we went there
immediately after Rahukalam .There is no roof for the sannadhi as She does not
allow any roof over her.
1945-2030 hrs - At
Trichy, there is an ancient small temple for Panchavarneswarar and we did not
miss this temple and worsipped Him.
2030-2045 hrs - The
last temple of the tour ended with our visit to Thanthondrisar &
Kunkumavalli. (this is strange because
mostly the name ends with a “valli”
in Perumal temples only for the
Thayar). Thanthondri is swayambu in
sanskrit. There is Thillaikali in the adjacent sannadhi.
2100 to 0600 hrs
on 18/11/08 - After resting at A/C waiting hall at Trichy
and locating our berths in the Rameswaram express which left Trichy junction at
2355 hrs, on 17/11 we
reached Tambaram at 0600 hrs and returned home by autos from
Palavantangal.
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