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Dear Bhakti List members:

 

SRI:

SRI GOPALA DESIKA MAHADESIKAYA NAMA:

 

SrimAn Sadagopan and Sri Vijayaraman had written in detail about the

ThirukKalyanam for the Divya Dampathis with mantras. Adiyen gives only

a narration.

 

A brief narration of Sri ANdAL and Sri Renganatha Swamy Thirukkalyana

Utsavam at Bridgewater Temple, NJ, USA on Saturday, January 16, 1999.

 

Recitation of Andal's Thiruppavai in Margazhi

 

Sri ANdAL and Sri. Renganatha TirukKalyana Utsavam was celebrated on

Saturday, January 1999 at 4.15 p.m. at the Bridgewater temple premises

in NewJersey, USA.

This is the first ThirukKalyanam after Samprokshanam of temple in June

1998 and was a fitting conclusion to the month long recitation of

Thiruppavai. During the month of Marghazhi, Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatham,

Thiruppalliyezhuchi and Thiruppavai Anusanthanam were done at the "nARRa

tuzhai mudi nARAyaNan" sannidhi starting at 5 A.M. on weekdays and at

8:30 A.M. on weekends. (ThiruEmpavai was also recited at Lord Siva's

sannidhi after Suprabhatham by some devotees). This is the 5th

consecutive year that this Marghazhi sampradayam is being followed in

this temple. One of the key

persons in starting this tradition is Sri Guruvayurappan, known to every

one as "Guru", an ardent devotee.

 

The Priests and the Bhagavatas

 

Out of the four Vaishnava priests of the temple, namely Sri Lakshmana

Bhattar, Sri Sampath Kumar, Sri Dasarathy, and Sri Gopalacharya at least

two of them were present every day for the early morning Suprabhatham

Sevai not minding the December-January cold to which they are not

accustomed. Their enthusiasm and sincerity are to be appreciated. Sri

Vijayaraghavan(Viji) and Sri Gopinath(Gopi) were the two persons who did

not miss a single day in Margazhi, which includes a very bad day of ice

storms. They took the responsibility of waking the priests and bringing

them to the temple so Sri

Venkatesa Suprabhatham can begin exactly at 5 A.M. (On the last day of

Marghazhi, the roads were really bad. When my wife and I reached the

temple at 5:30 AM we were glad we made it safely due to HIS GRACE. We

were thrilled to see Viji, Gopi, Guru and the priests ready for

Pirabhandham after waking up Perumal with Suprabhatham. Such is their

dedication.)

 

The Manager of the temple, Sri. Chalapathy Sharma was very kind enough

to make the necessary arrangements so we can celebrate the Kalayana

Utsavam in a traditional manner. Sri Sharma brought the utsava idols of

Sri Srinivasar with Sri Devi and Sri BhuDevi to the "Kalyana Kootam" so

THEY can watch the wedding of Andal and Renganatha. With melodious

marriage songs in Nathaswaram flowing from the tape recorder adding to

the reality of wedding the function started.

 

THE PREPARATIONS

 

In the Bridgewater temple(I would call it 'pAlakkarai Balaji Kovil'),

there is another tradition:To designate a Bhagavata as "VishnuChittar".

This Bhagavata brings the 'seer varisai' for Andal. This year Andal's

Kataksham fell on Sri T.R.Govindarajan. He had the bhagyam to be

Vishnuchittar and he brought the seer varisai comprising the pudavai,

Veshti, fruits, and flowers. His sahadharmini, Srimathi Sumitra

stitched a beautiful "pavaadai"

for Sri Andal from a lovely green "pattu" cloth. She also prepared the

garlands for the deities assisted by adiyen's sahadharmini, Srimathi

Geetha. Sumitra prepared most of the bakshanams. Geetha and other

devotees made Mysorepak, sundal etc.

 

THE WEDDING

 

Sri Lakshmana Bhattar and Sri Gopalacharya were the priests who

conducted the marriage. Lakshmana Bhattar was on the side of the

bridegroom, WHOM he had decorated beautifully with flowers and pattu

vasthrams. Gopalacharya was on the side of Sri Andal whose decorations

could only match that of Perumal. AdiYen told the assembled devotees

about Andal, Thiruppaavai, Her Devotion, and her wedding to the Perumal

before the wedding. The wedding began with a procession around the main

sannidhi with all the "seer varisai"

carried by the devotees to the accompaniment of "Melam" from the tape

recorder. The wedding was conducted by the two priests in a nice

manner. "Nathaswaram" was played throughout the ceremony. It was a

pleasure to watch "malai mARRal" with the priests moving over from

thAyar to Perumal and back and forth, exchanging garlands. Gothra

Pravaram for Andal and Renganathar was done by Sri. Lakshmana bhattar.

Sri Gopalacharya narrated the events in detail in Telugu to those

assembled. Sri. Lakshmanan bhattar relayed the feeling of Sri.

Renganatha Perumal and Andal Kaipidithal by tying flower garland between

fingers of the two deities. All the devotees who sponsored the kalyanam

held this string of flowers ("neenda malar mAlai") in their hands when

this was 'connecting' Perumal and thAyar. The

"mAngalyam" was passed around to all the devotees so they can touch and

get the blessings of the Divya Dampathis. The 'mAngalya dhAranam' took

place with the sounds of "getti mELam" coming from the tape recorder.

After the "thAli mudiyal" , VaranamAyiram was sung and devotees rolled

the coconuts on the floor at that time. The priests made two flower

balls. These were tossed to devotees who tossed them back to the

priests. Thus "poopanthattam" was in full swing and was a delight to

watch. Prasadams were distributed to nearly 150 guests that day which

concluded the event with the "karunai" and "vatsalyam" of the Divine

Dampathis.

 

We could not bring Andal and Sri. Ranaganatha deities on a palanquin as

we did not make arrangement earlier. From the next year onwards, we can

arrange to have Homams in the new temple during the Kalayana

Utsava.deities as per the manager.

 

Thanks to Sri Ramagopal (and Bhakti-list itself - how quickly the

information is got!) we could get "Pravarams" for the function. No

account is complete without expressing our gratitude to Sriman Sadagopan

who has always inspired us and helped in this instance with detailed

explanations for the DIVINE WEDDING and VaraNamayiram. We took this

from Bhakti archives(April 1998). Thanks are due to Mani for this.

NAMO NARAYANAYA

SARVAM SRI KRISHNARPANAMASTHU

AdiYen dAsan

Lakshmanan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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