About my piligrimage to Thiruvahindrapuram!

[Guest guest]

Shrimathe Sri Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Dear devotees ,

 

I returned today from the piligrimage to Thiruvahindrapuram-undoubtly

one to

be cherished and a very memorable experience.I would indeed consider

it my

priviledge to share with all of you my experiences and additional

information

pertaining to the details of the journey to the above place which I

hope

will inspire and also benifit anyone intending to obtain the darshan

of Lord

Devanatha and his divine consort Sri Hema Ambujavalli or Shengamala

Thayar

in Tamil.

 

 

Due to HIS divine grace on us ,we never at all felt the travel unto

this

place irksome or tideous at all.A nights journey to Cuddalore coupled

with

the bus journey to Thiruvahindrapuram(which is exactly 10 kms away)

was

very smooth.There are buses from 6.00am from Cuddalre to

Thiruvahindrapuram in the morning and every 20mins

hence until late evening - bus fare = Rs 1.75/.The 6.00am bus will

enable you to witness the

Viswaroopa sevai which we missed much to our dismay.

The temple is open until 12.00-12.15 noon after which it reopens at

5.00 in the

till The Lord retires which is around 9.00-9.30 in the night.

However for a detailed and descriptive study of the temple,I would

suggest

one reach the temple latest by 6.45 in the morning and remain there

till

12.00 pm minimum;an interested person may also interact with the

bhattars who are

ever so ready to explain the sthala puranams and show you throughout

the temple with quotes from Swami Desikar's slokas outpouring from

their mouths.

 

My heartfelt thanks to Shri Sudarshan Madabushi who gave me the name

of

Shri Neelamegha Bhattar and not to mention the reference made to his

elder

brother Shri Ramaswamy Bhattachar ,an octogenerian and brahmachari,who

is involved in the service of the Lord and Goddess since 5-6 decades.

It was he ,despite his failing stamina who opened for us some

sannidhis

and explained the necessary incidents concerning the same.

 

Beginning with a detailed description of the temple,I would like to

start

with the Sthala puranas as was explined to us ,which I noted down.

There are many stories governing the origin of this place of which the

bhattar

explained a few .There are many more as I gathered

by reading the book on 108 divya Desams published by TTD Devasthanams

by

Miss.S.Ramesh.I shall relate as many as possible.

 

1)

Once upon a time ,in Thirupapuliyur,Lord Shiva was praying to Lord

Devanatha when

an asareeri advised him to proceed to Garuda nadi and continue his

penence.

Lord Shiva followed the asereeri,and within short time Lord Devanatha

appeared before him and

he granted the help as requested by Shiva to kill the asura

Triprasuras.

With Lord Brahma = Sarathi,Mt Meru=Dhanus,Bhoomi=ratham,Chandra

+Surya=wheels,

Vasuki=bow string rope,4 oceans=quiver,vedas=horses,Lord Vishnu=arrow

that would

be loose from Lord Shiva's bow.

(Such a mighty war is surely beyond our contemplation-both the world

wars

fall cheaply behind,no nuclear weapons can ever result in a battle of

such fury

and might!)

 

The fierce battle resulted in the asuras being vanquished while at the

same time

Lord Shiva was being swept away by the river which was in spate.As

always, our

Lord Devanatha came to the rescue by playing the divine flute on the

river banks-

the result;Samudraraja was pacified,lord Shiva was back on the shores

safe and sound.

Even to this day on Masi Pournami the Theerthavari utsavam is

celebrated

wherin Lord Siva of Thirupapuliyur and Lord Devanatha gets into the

sea.

Swami Desikan refers to this in his Desika Sukti - 'masi kadal adi

mazhindu varu

vare',i.e.have a sea bath in Masi and be happy.

 

2)Concering the revealation of Lord Vishnu as the Trinity:

Yet another battle between the devas and the asuras with the former

being helped

by our Lord Vishnu and the latter by Lord Shiva.Chakrattalwar was

asked to

destroy the enemies and return victorious.In fact Lord Siva's 3rd eye

also

was no match at all to the dazzle of our Chakrattalwar-it seems it was

like like lighting a candle in broad

daylight.Lord Vishnu had enough of the war when he recalled Sudarshana

Alwar and

pacifying him by revealing himself in his beautiful form.

It was at this juncture that the Trinity form was seen by Lord Shiva.

Our Perumal's Trinity form had both Shankara and his consort Parvati

as a part,

Goddess Lakshmi was seated on His chest while Lord Brahma arose from

his navel.

The devas and brahmins were seen on his face ,kings on his

hands,vysyas on his thighs

and the shudras on His legs.In addition ,in his body, God revealed the

Ekadasa

Rudras i.e.manifestation of Lord Shiva in 11 forms.

 

Lord Shiva requested Lord Devanatha to stay at Thiruvahindrapuram and

also to permit him to

stay at Thirupapuliyur-both these wishes were granted by Lord

Narayana.

 

3)The Lord felt thirsty after this fierce batle and hence sent both

Garuda and Adishesha to fetch water

to quench his thirst.Adishesha hit into the earth and water came

gushing out.He took that water to Perumal

who was v.pleased and said that the water would be reffered to as

Shesha Theertham.Meanwhile,Garuda who had

gone to collect water from Viraja Nadhi entered Madhu vanam where a

rishi was engrossed in deep penance.The

muni had in his kamandalam the Viraja Thirtham seeing which Garuda

automatically tilted the same and diverted the

water inside towards Oushada giri where the Lord was waiting to quench

his

thirst.But Garuda became crestfallen on realising that Adishesha had

already obtained water for the Lord.

Our Lord who cheers up one and all ,found an appropriate solution by

declaring

that henceforth Shesha theertham would fulfill the wishes of all

people and will grant Moksha

to all people who bathe in it while the river brought by Garuda would

be known as Garuda Nadhi and will

be considered equivalent to the Holy Ganges.

It is believed that the water brought by Adishesha was Patala Ganga

theertham.Even till this day

the Shesha theertam is located in the premises of the temple and the

Madapalli(temple kitchen)

uses this water to prepare all the neivedhyams for the Lord.

Another noteworthy point is that in this divya desam,the practice of

pouring milk

to the ant hills is done by puring the milk directly into the Shesha

Thirtham.

 

4)Another story related to the temple goes thus:

Brighu maharshi found a girl child on a lotus whom he reared with

love and affection.

He named the child as Bharghavi(daughter of Brighu). Note that there

are only 2 places

where the Thayar is named Bharghavi-Thiruvahindrapuram and at

Adanoor.The Thayar

was also called Hemambujanayaki(which stays on as the official

name!)as she was found

on a golden lotus. From childhood,the girl was always thinking of her

Lord and finally

Lord Narayana himself came to Brighu Maharishi for permission to marry

Bharghavi.To save

Brighu from the sadness of saperation from his foster daughter the

Lord permitted

him to continue to stay at that place with Perumal and his daughter

which is why in

Thiruvahindrapuram Bhrighu maharishi is seen to the left of Lord

Devanatha in the Garbagriha.

 

5)The bhattar also told us as to why the Thayar is known by the name

Tharanga Mukha Nayaki-

Thayar as a girl was very fond of going to the seashore and watch the

waves

always and hence the name for her fondness towards the sea.

 

6)Further the bhattar went on to explain that the herbs found on

Oushadagiri are indeed

medicinal owing to the fact that when Anjaneya was on his way to Lanka

carrying the

Sanjeevani Hill,some herbs dropped down onto Oushadagiri.

 

Proceeding the desribe the various sannidhis here,

 

1)We are greeted by the magnificient and tall dwajasthambam-I would be

glad if any of you

can explain the significance of the dwajathambham and why we offer

pranams to that.

After offering our pranams,we went in pradhakshinam to the Thayar

sannidhi.The Thayar is

v.beautiful with long eyes-Ramaswamy bhattar said that the Thayar

often comes to his

dreams and advises him.We could see that he was sincere and there

seemed to be no

question of doubt or sincerity in what he said.

 

2)To the right of the main sannidhi is Lord Rama's sannidhi;where the

"Kathora Sukumara" Raghuveeragadyam was composed .The way Ramaswamy

Bhattar explained

-"It was this Lord Rama whom Swami Desika extolled as -Jaya Jaya

Mahavira,Mahadhira Ghoureya" and pointing to Goddess

Sita he quoted "Maithila Nagara Sulochana Lochana Chakora

Chandra....".The beauty of Rama with the arrow in his

hand resting on the ground,while that of Lakshmana's arrow held

upright by him as though

ready to protect Rama and Sita from any danger and Goddess Sita with

her serene and calm face is all

to be seen and experienced.It indeed requires the bhakti and poetic

excellence of Swami Desika to

express further in words.

One interesting feature is that Lord Anjaneya is not in his customary

posture of folded hands or kneeling down,

but his fingers are touching his nose(as we stand when we approach our

Acharyan!),which the bhattar explained

was the indication of ready inclination to fulfill any work assigned

to him by Lord Rama.

 

3)It is not known to many that the Lord in Thiruvahindrapuram is found

in all

the 3 thirukolam(postures ) namely standing(Lord

DEvanatha),sitting(Lord Ahindrapuranathan)

and the lying down posture as in the mighty causal ocean(Lord

Ranganatha).

Of course,the standing posture of the Lord is of maximum prominence

here in the form

of Lord Devanatha.The other 2 thirukolams of the Lord are less

prominent and especially

Lord Ahindrapuranatha is small in stature.

The main facets of Lord Devanatha (moolavar and utsavar) have already

been presented

by Shri Mani in his site and I have no extra details to add in this

regard except that I was not fortunate to see the

thiruvadi or the bottom half of the Lord as it was covered and the

covering would be

removed only 15 days hence.

The beauty of the utsavar really leaves you in tears and spellbound.I

could realise the

truth in Sri Desikar's words,"Nin Vadivazagu maravadar Piravadare".It

is to be experienced.

 

4)On the side opposite to the main sannidhi are the sannidhis of Lord

Ahindrapuranatha with

Adishesha howering over his head,sannidhi of Bhasyakaran,Kulashekara

Alwar,Thirupan Alwar

and Thirukachinambigal.(Could anyone tell me about him?)

 

5)On the other adjoining side of the main sannidhi and the above

sannidhis is Swami Deshikar's sannidhi

to the left of him are Lord ranganathar sannidhi,Andal and the

sannidhi of the Alwars.

 

6)We then climbed the Oushadagiri(73 steps to be precise which are

quite very easy to climb

unlike the steep and uneven steps to Lord Yoga Narasimha at Melkote)

to obtain the

blessings of Lord Lakshmi Hayagrivar.

 

When we came down,the bhattar told us to witness the thirumanjanam of

Swami Desika.

While the Shatumorai(I again do not know what this is exactly except

that I am familiar with the word

and that it is carried out in all our temples!) was going on for Swami

Desikan,the Bhattar was kind

enough to explain the title of Sarva Tantra Swatantran being

associated with Desikar

after he built a well with his own hands and also his idol (present in

his sannidhi)which he himself made.

Further Swami Desika is seated on a peetam which was made by an

opponent who lost to Desikar in a debate.

 

 

I will not be wrong in saying that the thirumanjanam performed to

Swami Desika by Shri Ramaswamy Bhattar was the magnum opus

of the entire piligrimage.

Milk,followed by curds,oil-it was as though rubbing oil over a small

child's head and body;it was done with such

care,affection and reverence to Swami Desika which filled your

eyes.After oil it was honey,tender coconut,

lemon (was squeezed on him),sandal water(paste also was applied on

him),turmeric water and finally water.

 

After the detailed thirumanjanam,Swami Desika was decorated with a new

silk dhothi and

a beautiful,flowing red rose garland -he was all ready for the night's

procession and the

idol was kept in a room of mirrors(It was the kannadi arai sevai)-can

you

imagine the beauty of Swamy Desika?Is it not but right to say that

Swami Desika is revered

as equivalent to God? Wow,it was something;a treat to our eyes!

 

Well,not to leave out the most important of all; guess what-Lord's

prasadam;we

were famished and hungry and the Lord decieded to not send us hungry

from his

place- Venn Pongal and Curd Rice.

 

After satifying our hunger,we thanked Ramaswamy bhattar for taking

interest in

showing us around and explaining about the temple.We asked him if he

could recite

the Gopala Vimshati as pointed by Shri Sudarshan Madabhushi but he

politely refused

due to his tiredness and persistent cough.

 

I hope all of you do visit this temple whenever you get an

opportunity to

do so;I would like to happily point out that this is one of the few

temples where

the bhattars are sincere and not polluted by the material wealth of

the poeple who

visit the temple.

 

Any other information you would like to know about visiting this

place

or anything pertaining to this,I would be glad to help if I am aware

of the same.

Do not hesitate to write to me- My e-mail address is

<smitha_ajay .

 

Thanking you,

With due regards,

Smitha Ajay.

 

 

 

 

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