Visit to divya desams part 11

[Guest guest]

Dear bhagavathas,

 

pranamams.

 

On 21st all of us woke up early in the morning and thankfully well

in time for the vishvaroopa darshan of Sri Oppiliappan. We went to

pushkarani inside the temple and took a holy dip and after returning

to the Srimad andavan ashramam for Urdvapundram and nityanushtanam, we

rushed to the sannidhi for darshan. Unlike Srirangam, it was much

easier here to have darshan of Lord from very close quarters. In that

early morning, when the shops are yet to open and the traffic is yet

to pickup momentum, the whole place was so calm and divine. In that

early hour, we could spend more than half an hour standing near the

gigantic perumal and the divine experience can't be explained in

words. appa was reminding that we are getting late but adiyen could

not move so easily. The ramar sannidhi needs special mention as the

deities here are so beautiful and if you closely look at him you can

note his warm smile. As adiyen mentioned earlier the rama deity at

Vaduvoor, Thillaivilakam, Thiruvahendrapuram, Oppili appan koil and

Madurantakam are very beautiful and each arch is different from

another. Next time if you happened to visit these temples please take

an extra minute to observe this.

 

Our next visit was to Nathan koil, which is also called Nandhipura

vinnagaram. The temple is located amidst of fields and it is remote.

Obviously the transport facilities are poor. When we reached the

temple, it was closed (around 8.30AM). The regular bhattar was away

and the stand by archaka has to come from nearby village. Our trust

member Smt Subhashini Narasimhan has arranged for a Diesel generator

for the temple at the request of temple authorities. This temple is

under the guidance of Sri Vanamamalai mutt. We went around the temple

and spend some time in that peaceful atmosphere while waiting for the

archaka. He came finally and he was very

old and with lots of difficulty he gave us darshan of Lord. His

hearing ability was also very poor and it is a real pity to see such

old archakas serving the Lord out of their affection. They work for

long hours than most of us in that dark area standing for long hours

and there is no retirement

for them. After having a peaceful darshan, we left for Adhanur.

Adhanur and PuLLambhuthangudi temples are under the maintenance of

Sri Ahobila mutt. You might have seen appeals from Srimad Azhagiya

singar for reviving various utsavams in these temples. One problem

with these divya desams is that they are remote and located in

villages and the access is very difficult unless you hire a car/auto

from Kumbakonam. The car (thEr) is in very bad condition and even the

dwajastambam. Please make a point to visit divya desams and help what

ever you can. This is the only way we can preserve the glory of these

divya desams.

 

Our next stop was PuLLambhuthangudi. adiyen have to share about one

more less known place near this divya desam. That place is Narasimha

puram. The speciality of this place is that brindavanam of 5 Azhagiya

singars is located here. Luckily adiyen read an article about this

sacred place in Nrusimha priya and the timing also suited. This

sannidhi will be open in the

morning and the archaka is travelling from PuLLambhuthangudi for

daily thiruvaradhanam. We went to Narasimhapuram enroute

PuLLambhuthangudi and took the blessings of 5 Azhagiya singars. If

you are interested to do some kaimkaryam for this sannidhi please

email adiyen.

 

Unlike aadhanur, PuLLambhuthangudi divya desam was blessed with one

full decad of Peria thirumozhi by Sri Thirumangai azhvar. Recently

Srimad Azhgiya singar has offered special kreedam for Sri Valvil

Raman and now another group of bhagavathas are offering Panidiyan

kondai. The paricharaka swami at this temple is very old (80+) and at

now he has an assistant to support him at madappalli kaimkaryam. They

were very kind and offered lots of prasadam

to us.

 

Then we went to Thirumandangudi, which is the birth place of Sri

Thondaradippodi azhvar. The archaka was away but the local people

were kind enough to open the sannidhi for our darshan. This temple is

also located amidst of paddy fields and there is a sugar factory

nearby.

 

Then we went to Kabistalam divya desam. This temple is not very

popular and hardly gets sevarthis. The archa thirumeni of the

moolavar was with cracks without thailakappu. This information came

in the cyber e groups and adiyen was in tears reading the condition

of the temple. We have visited the temple and arranged for

thailakappu every month and thirumnajanam to the utsavar on Sravanam

day. This kaimkaryam is going on well for the past few months now.

 

This divya desam was sung by a sole pasuram by Thirumazhisai azhvar.

The further beauty is that the azhvar could not physically come to

the temple due to floods in Kaveri river which is running close to

the temple. Perumal out of mercy shown HIS divine archa from and

azhvar did mangalasasanam as "aaRRangari kidakkum kaNNan".

 

The deities in this divya desam are very beautiful indeed. There are

many sannidhis for Sri sudharshana and Varada and most importantly

the Gajendra moksham is carved on a pillar. Perumal is in reclining

posture and utsavar is called Gajendra varadan and Thayar is called

Rama mani thayar.

 

We had arranged for Thirumanjanam during our trip and the bhattar did

it in an elobarate manner. adiyen was blessed to recite pancha suktam

and Neerattal pasurams during thirumanjanam. The bhattar first did

thailakappu for all the deities (moolavar) and then the thirumanjanam

was started. At this time a group of devotees came on an arranged

trip from Pondichery and they were very happy to get a chance to see

thirumanjanam.

 

After thirumanjanam and alankaram bhattar adorned the perumal with

large garlends, which he specially arranged for this day. He

mentioned that adiyen is coming all the way from Bahrain and he

wanted to do the thirumanjanam in a grand manner with lots of flowers

and garlends.After archana and bhojyasanam the prasadam was given to

all the devotees and we were very happy to have so many sevarthis in

an isolated temple. adiyen will soon upload the beautiful photos

taken during our trip for your pleasure of enjoying HIM.

 

Then we went to another temple in Keezh kabistalam, which was under

renovation. This is also an ancient temple with sannidhis for Sri

Varadaraja and Hanuman. They local residents are very enthusiastic to

renovate the temple and they have requested help from our trust also.

There was an appeal in Nrusimhapriya too for the renovation work. Now

the renovation is completed and we are doing our humble bit for daily

aradana.

 

The bhattar at this temple is not getting good sambhavana and given

the today's cost of living it is very difficult to meet the both

ends. Unfortunately his only son is dumb. He was in tears requesting

help for medical expenses. adiyen has offered to take his son to

specialist doctors

in Chennai and assured him for financial help too. It is very

disturbing to note such bhagavathas who are serving the Lord every

day are put into such difficulties. It is all HIS sankalpam. What to

say.

 

Our next visit was to Kudalur divya desam and the perumal here is

called aaduthurai perumal. This temple was recently renovated by Sri

Thirukkoshtiyur Madavan swami and others. The Yagasalai etc which

were made for samprokshanam are still there. We felt happy to see a

divya desam in good shape. Since we were running out of time we could

spend little time only at this divya desam.

 

We then rushed to Thiruvelliyangudi divya desam. This is also another

isolated temple and if the driver is not familar with the surrounding

villages of Kumbakonam then it will be difficult to locate the

temple. The Garudan is seen with Shanku and Chakra. This temple was

sung by Sri

Thirumangai azhvar. This temple is in good condition and we

understand that the nitya aradanam is going on well. Recently Sri

Muralidhar swami has offered Silver Kreedam for Thayar. The sthala

vruksham is Plaintain tree (Seevvaazhai) which can be seen in the

prakaram of the temple.

 

By the time we came out of the temple it was around 7 PM and our

train to Chennai was at 8PM. We have to skip our plan to visit the

local temples like Sarangapani, chakkara pani and Sri ramar temple.

adiyen has visited these temples numerous times during our stay in

kumbakonam but still adiyen was feeling very sad for visiting this

time. Due to other commitments, we could not extend our stay and

returned to chennai after memorable trip of visiting 25 divya desams

in two days.

 

There will be two more posting in this series about our trip to

Kanchipuram, Sevilimedu and Navalpakkam and other local divya desams

in chennai. Please bear with me.

 

regards

 

dasan venkat