Guest guest Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Thank you shri ganapathyji for elaborating on the worship of Maha Mariamman ! It is very brave of you to share personal details regarding your childhood affliction with skin *warts* and how you got rid of those warts by simply by visiting the " the Kempamma Temple at Ulsoor Bangalore on five fridays and poured Curd and salt at a particular place kept for this purpose." Well, it is all about faith and devotion. and it is your "faith" in the Divine MOther's infinite mercy THAT cured you... As you might all know , i was recently in south india visiting many temples from Tanjore to THIRUVANNAMALAI. I visited shiva temples, shakti sthalams, murugan temples, pillayar kovils and of course abodes of Vishnu.... After visiting all the temples In Tanjore , we stopped at the Punnainallur Mariamman temple ... well, we saw the beautiful depictions of Ashta LAKSMI inside the mandapam IT IS BELIEVED that "MARIAMMAN" herself appeared in a dream and told Maharaja Chatrapati (1676 - 1688), a Maharashtra king of Tanjore - that she (the Mariamman idol) was in a forest of Punna trees at a distance of about 3 miles from Tanjore. The King rushed to the spot indicated to him and recovered the idol from the jungle. A temple was constructed at the place in 1680 and the idol was installed, so the deity of this temple is known as "Punnainallur Mariamman". It is said that the daughter of Tulaja Raja (1729-35) of Tanjore, who lost her eyesight in an illness, regained it on offering worship at this temple. To each his/her own. devottes pray to the divine mother with different objectives... some ask for 1) material wealth 2) spiritual wealth 3) progeny (santana bhaghyam) 4) Good health 5) moksha etc.... etc... THE DIVINE MOTHER is approachable and worshippable in all her divine manifestations - whether in her form as Mariamman or Meenakshi! as Kamakshi or Kali ! as VISALAKSHI or as Vaishno devi! AS sharada or sheetala devi! as lalithambika or GOWRI! SO ON AND SO FORTH!! IN EVERY FORM, SHE IS BEAUTIFUL, DELIGHTFUL AND DIVINE !!!! The famous poet Bharatiyar has also composed some nice poems on "muthu" mariamman ! and who can be more inteelectual than Bharatiyar? he Had "saraswati" kataksham IN FULL MEASURE ! as far why "salt" and curd are offered to Mariyamman ? my own take on this is "salt" is an antiseptic and "curd" is a cooling agent !!! so, it is believed that people afflicted with chicken pox or small pox have lot of "ushnam" in their bodies - so curd is supposed to cool them. and when people are afflicted with chicken pox etc, they have a tendency to "scratch" when the scabs fall off and this may infect the skin... hence, the salt !!! so, salt and curd are offered to Mariamman ! AUM SREE MATRE NAMAHA ! PS - there is some "padai" kavadi ritual associated with devi mariamman! may be some learned member can throw light on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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