ThiruvallikENi

[Guest guest]

"Paarellaam pughazhangthidum Or Saarathy -avan

Paarththanukkuth thErOttum Saarathy -eNGaL

Saarathy... Paarthasaarathy!

 

ThErOdum veediyaam ThiruvallikENiyilE

iraru maadhaNgaLum inbamaana thiruvizha....

Chiththirai maathathil Devaki maingthanam eNGaL kaNNanukku

paththu naatkal BrahmOtsavath thiruvizha...."

 

Vaareer kaNdu kaLikka vaareer ...

 

 

ThiruvallikENi is a town with the presiding deity as its Naayakan,

friend, yajamaanan, ishtadeivam, kula deiva roopam who is as everyone

knows Lord Sri Parthasarathy. With a towering and imposing standing

posture of perhaps 15-16 feet or more and with a huge moustache he

steals everyone's heart; especially on this seventh day of the

BrahmOtsavam in the ThiruththEr, He makes Himself closer to anyone and

everyone who comes to have His darshan. (I have to mention what appears

to be a thrilling coincidence for me - I had delayed my mails on this

subject matter for pressing reasons; and on and off had thought about my

"yogyatha" to write about His kalyana guNangaL and so on, but at times

would also wonder about what to write. However I felt strongly I should

atleast make an attempt and write in parts if not all in the same day

and decided to start my narration today with this song. And today I

heard that it happens to be the BrahmOtsavath ThiruththEr for Sri

Parathsarathy PerumaL, the seventh day of the utsavam that sets the tone

and mood for an entire year of celebrations in this temple. It seems

BHEL has made two iron wheels for the ThiruththER and the chariot was

being drawn for the first time with iron wheels today! They were of wood

before.Incidentally my sincere apologies for not being on schedule and

for breaking the kOrvai of the segments on ThiruvallikENi)

 

With abhayahastham this murthy is forever enchanting and so stunningly

beautiful. On this day, His (urchava murthy) ThirumEni is decorated with

mostly maroon and red Banares type zari vasthram, and decked with the

choicest jewels and garlands. A diamond kavacham decorates His

abhayahastham always.The "pookadaikaaran" matches His imagination to the

tone and grandeur and season so well, it is a treat to see the garlands

on Him. With all the alankaram completed, and with the tune of

nathaswaram and the beating of the drums with the temple elephant in

front, by six am the "veedhi purappadu" starts from the temple, and

winds through to the top of the stairs located in the front lobby of

this house only a few feet from the temple entrance. The lobby also

serves as the waiting area for the devotees. The top step is connected

to the ThiruthEr via a plank and PerumaL enters the ThiruthEr. Prior to

His arrival the thEr is decorated with fragrant flower strings and long

cylindrical cloth decorators hang from each corner of the chariot. The

ThiruthEr is about 25-30 feet in total height. Perumal with

ubhayanaachimar is offered the seat and customary greetings of samaram,

karpoora harathi, offerings are given and a cocoanut is broken on the

wheels of the ThiruthEr. Then to a resounding "Govinda, Gopala, Govinda

Gopala", the long cylindrical decorations move a little.

 

By now the sun is well up and the place is teeming with people of all

ages and able men joining forces to take Perumal in His chariot through

the streets of ThiruvallikENi! It is an exciting moment for the kids.

Standing on the ground and looking up at this huge beautiful chariot and

noticing that the chariot inspite of the efforts of so many people not

budging an inch, they wonder! For the bhakthas, there is a glimmer of

darshan through the pillars of the ThEr and when the Bhattar is not

standing in the way! A flash of His hands, oh can we see His Thirumugam

- oh yes I just saw His face- and now His feet; ok lets move fast if we

go to that corner we can see Him better when the ThEr turns the corner-

so goes their thoughts.

 

A short lull and then " Govinda, Gopala starts as a murmer and reaches

awesome proportions- kids shout at the top of their lungs; and in one

sudden jolt the ThiruthEr moves and comes out of its "nilai" (permanent

location). Everyone clears its designated path and runs up front.

Meanwhile maami's who have not completed the kolam or who have waited

for the right moment to start so that it won't be tarmpled completely

before the ThEr comes in front of their houses, hurriedly sanctify the

floor of the street directly in front of their house steps and draw in

no time such elegant time tested and such enormous sized kolams. Every

now and then Harathi is performed for the Lord. Those two bhattars

"PerumaLai aNaiththukkOndu varum bhakyam peruvar on that day". [ The

bhattars embrace the Lord to protect being tilted by sharp turns of the

chariot with one hand on His ThirumEni and one on a pillar to support

themselves. How blessed they must be!]

 

The ThiruthEr goes around the immediate four streets adjoining the

temple and the roads are neither too long nor too wide. The procession

starts from one end of Car Street (East) goes through South mada street

(short road) turns into T.P.Koil Street (short for Thulasingal PerumaL

Koil Street) as this is the west entrance of the temple and separate and

also the entrance to Sri Lakshmi Nrisimhar Sannidhi with its own

Dwajasthambham.), goes through Singarachari Street (we lived in a bylane

to this street which joins PeyaalWar Koil St at the other end) and comes

back to Car Street and goes back to the nilai.

 

It is fairly quick until they get to the turning from Singarachari St

to Car St. By now it is already about 10 am sometimes later and at times

earlier. This is by far the most difficult turn to negotiate as far as I

can remember. People bring salt and pepper and scatter it on the wheels.

Meanwhile we (kids) run back home, tell mom that the thEr is at such and

such location, eat, drink and get ready for school and go to school

hoping to catch a glimpse of it again.

 

Finally, the ThEr reaches its destination and the busier part begins.

People gather in a winding line that ebbs and dies depending upon the

time of the day. Sometimes we go stand in the queue again and again

because the first time bhattar mama frisked us away! Everyone takes some

offering and they patiently perform all archana and harathi. More

importantly we go to see Him in all His glory and so beautiful to look

at for this is the closest you will ever be able to see Him at your

level (in height). You are but few inches away from the Lord. In all u

can but take only 10 steps to go around and once u do you have to get

down. You just started admiring His Thirumugam and u are already at the

other side. But wait- whose long decorated plait is this-His and the

back side of the crown oh even that is so pretty. And His vasthram has

been carefully placed as though a Raja is seated with the train flowing

half way down.

He wears such gorgeous anklets and upper arm bracelets made of kempu

and white stones and muthu with gold and kempu stones dangling

alternately. And then the most secretly desired moment is here- just for

a blink of an eye the bhattar is not watching you, there are very few

volunteers and people now attending or waiting and with your heart

thumping, you get to touch the corner of one of His vasthram! It is a

thrill only a child can get but nevertheless unforgettable. For all

practical purposes now u can reach God and He seems so much more

approachable - not like what elders used to say " ummachi kaNNai

kuththum". He is real to you, and you even think, "innikki ummachi

rombha azhagha irunthaLonO" not for a second realizing the enormity of

the Lord that u are trying to capture in your eyes! but such is His

Grace and hold on people who grow up in this town or come and have His

darshan. The queue grows and dies till about 6 or 6.30. By then they

begin to prepare for the evening veedhi purappadu which is done a little

bit more elaborately and He comes from the ThEr with such style! The

ThEr is gradually tented back with asbestos on all its sides and

completely covered. It seems so desolate now, but until the next year

the ThEr as much as the PerumaL linger in your memories....

 

In the coming mails I will try to describe as much of His festivals or

vahanams from a viewers point of view and more so that of a child!

Something to look forward to in real life, Guthirai vahanam of the

eighth day, Yanai vahanam of the sixth day, pallakku, Garuda vahanam of

the third day if u happen to be there at this time.

 

Kindly bear with me for the delay, any unintentional mistakes and if the

style in which this is written seems childish.

 

To Sampath Rengarajan and Vijay Triplicane special thanks for your kind

words and for the encouragement to write about my favourite deity and

for the amount of information I learnt through your posts and those of

others on the subject.

 

Thanks to all Bhakti contributors for your time and patience and

eagerness to share your knowledge. I only wish I could find more time to

read all of the mails and when possible expand on what I learn from u

all.

 

May Sri Lord Parthasarathy bless us all with His darshan soon.

 

Vaidehi V. Raja