Dear Friends
I am happy to communicate with you
handing you my diary page recording my notes on our last and latest One
Day Pilgrimage Tour and trust you will find my recording complete and if
you observe any omission please don’t hesitate to correct me to enable me note
same in my diary.
Sunday 25th November was a very
auspicious day (Muhurtha naal) and it so coincided with the celebration of
Valli Kalyanam in many Murugan temples in Tamilnadu and it also happened
to be a Pradhosham day.
We, 17 friends in all from Nanganallur,
Puzhudhivakkam, and West Mambalam, desirous of joining hands on a
mini-pilgrimage, ventured to visit temples in and around the Arakkonam
zone, and commenced our entourage on a Tourister van, with all snaks,
lunch, breakfast and light eats, well packed, and landed first at Mudichur by 7
am. Many of us frequently pass through Mudichur on our way to Sriperumbudhur
and Kanchipuram, and most of us would not have halted for a few minutes
to visit the beautiful temple viewed from the road at Mudichur adjacent
the temple tank. Please tell your friends also if they have
not so far visited the Lakshminarayanan temple at Mudichur (Thirumanam
Mudicha voor) that they have missed enjoying the enchanting image of
Lord Vishnu “standing” with Adishan canopying him. We performed chanting
holy verses, and one of us in fact, did the Aarathi to Lord Siva in the SIVA
VISHNU TEMPLE OF MUDICHUR.
The tour members for the one day
tour on Sunday the 25th November 2012.(At Mudichur Siva Vishnu
temple)
The lingam is qute imposing and it was the first
dharsan of the day for us.
At Padappai, you have to go quite far interior
to visit the Maharanyam temple of Kalyana Srinivasan who is a replica of
Lord Balaji of Thirumala Hills and we had eyeful of Him.
Lord Kalyana Srinivasan idol turned on His own from
the fixed position to Eesanyam direction at Maharanyam, Padappai. 
Our visit to this calm and quiet temple
in the pleasing vey slight drizzing morning was a memorable event.
The Veda Patasala run by HH Sri Muraleedhara Swamiji is adjacent to this
temple. There is a big Hanuman in the open, which cannot be missed
even in poor light.
The group facing the camera with Lord Hanuman
as backdrop at Maharanyam , Padappai
Another snap of
the group at the same venue.- Padappai Hanuman idol
Before visiting Vallakkottai on your
left in the very good broad road, you will find a board indicating the presence
of Jaya Shree Dhurga temple, founded by late Dhurgai Chitthar. Lord
Hanuman with his holy mother, Anjani is having a sannadhi here along with the
huge Dhurga devi blessing the . 
--(Dhurga + Dhurgai Siththar (deceased) at
Jaya Dhurga temple – Padappai.)
--(Dhurga + Dhurgai Siththar (deceased) at
Jaya Dhurga temple – Padappai.)
devotees.The temple (a private trustee temple)
permitted our having breakfast and offered all the facilities.
Vallakkottai Murugan is about 10km from this
temple. This is a 1000 year old temple built by King
Bageerathan of Ilanji Kingdom, ruling Sankondapuram. As I already
mentioned, the temple was full with devotees to be on the day of Valli
Kalyanam celebrations. The temple organized free special wedding
day meals to devotees there and distributed the prasadhams in the temple
premises itself.
Vallakkottai Murugan is a powerful deity and
the temple is centuries old with devotees thronging from far and near always.
Just 3 km from Vallakkottai you have to turn
right to travel about 1 km on the village road to visit Theresa puram, where a
small temple housing the
( Vallakkottai Murugan
temple)
Just 3 km from Vallakkottai you have to turn
right to travel about 1 km on the village road to visit Theresa puram, where a
small temple housing the Panchamuga Hanuman and a visit to this temple is a
must for those on their way to Vallakkottai.
By the time we left Vallakkottai enroute
Govindavadi, we visited Kooram, still a village with no proper
transport facility for tourists and devotees wishing to visit
Koorathazhwan temple. See my attached recent write up on
Koorathazhwan, in tamil. Strangely I felt writing about
Koorathazhwan without realizing that it was the 1000th
annual uthsavam of the great soul.
Koorathazhwar temple at Kooram, near Kanchipuram
By about 1.00 pm we reached
Govindavadi to ensure that the temple was properly locked and proceeded to
Thirumalpur (As per the story told by the Bhattachariiar there, it
was THIRUMAL PER - the “name of Thirumal” which was the blessing of the
presiding deity Lord Siva to Vishnu, who desired worshipping
the Lord with 108 lotus buds, and having found 1 lotus bud missing, removed His
left eye and used it as the 108th lotus bud. (The Vishnu here in the
sanctum sanctorum is named
Senthamaraikannan (left eye removed for
offering as a lotus bud)
Thirumalper temple view
About 4 kilometers from Thirumal per is
Pallur, the typical south Indian Village presenting country
tiled houses of erstwhile century, where you will be able to visit
the Vaarahi temple. Vaarahi is one of the 9 forms of
Sakthi worshipped by those following the cult of Saktham.
We had our lunch at Thirumalper and proceeded on our
post lunch pilgrimate reaching Thakkolam . This is a Pallava built
temple in 876AD (By Aparaajitha Varman ) as a stone temple which
later had the Rajagopuram built by Vijayanagar kingdom during the regim
of King Veera Prathaapa Sadasiva Rayar in 1543AD.
The presiding deity is Jalanaadheeswarar with
the goddess Giriraja Kannikambal. What is special about the presiding
deity is He is known as THEENDAA THIRUMENI. (Untouched by anyone0
including the priests. The lingam appears in white colour during
Dhakshinaayanam and red during Uththarayanam. We had an
excellent dharshan of the Lord Jalanadheewswarar on the Pradosham
day. The idol of Lord Dhakshinamurthy in this temple has His head turned
beautifully turned to His left (see photo below) and the Dhurgai
identically turning Her head down to the left in this temple is a
pleasing sight for all devotees visiting this ancient temple.
The special Dhakshinamurthy at Thakkolam temple.
About 8 km from Thakkolam, on the way to
Perambakkam, in the narrow roads coiling like a huge snake, you
will to put up with the bumps, to reach the Narasiinga puram
Lakshminarasinga Perumal temple. All the strain and pains you underwent
to reach this temple will be forgotten the moment you stand before Him a big
Moola Vigraham of many centuries old. The Perumal is also called with the Thiru Naamam "Sri
Kalyana Lakshmi Narasimhar" (as the Perumal performs
"Aalinganam" - holding Sri Lakshmi towards Him very closely
.
Lord
Lakshminarasimhar at Narasimgapuram (Vara Prasaadhi)
Between Thakkolam and Thiruvalangadu you have to
pass by Sivapuram where the Archaelogical Society of India has done
a wonderful job of reconstructing the temple of Lord Siva, the temple
belonging to Raja Raja Cholan I period (930AD). The
idols in the temple is a real feast to the eye of spectators. The chanting of
Thevaram by the Odhuvar in this temple was pleasing to ears when we
visited the temple. The writer was tempted to sing 2 devotional songs on Lord
Siva.
Sivapuram temple built in 930AD by RajaRajan 1
nicely maintained by ASI.
The last in the list of temples we planned to
visit for the day was The Rathnasabapathi (Vataaranyeswarar) at
Thiruvalangadu. The temple was illuminated well, with the presiding
deity decorated with many flowers on the Pradosham day we had undisturbed
dharshan of the Lord after visiting the nearby Bhadrakali temple.
The front view of Vataaranyeswarar temple at Thiruvalangadu.
With the dinner at Porur Rathna Café as
usual, we returned home by 10 pm.
I thank one and all of the participants in the
above tour and the thirst to have them again in future tours as well is
unquenchable.
Sorry my camera disappointed and I could not
cover the tour with photographs. So I copy the available pictures
from my mobile phone and my photo
album. With warm regards
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