Fw: About Thondanur from sister list

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fromRajagopalan Narayan <rajagopalannarayan

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toramanuja

 

dateMon, Oct 20, 2008 at 9:37 PM

subject[sri ramanuja] keera-thondanur

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Friends OM NAMO NARAYANAYA

i wish to share some obserwations of my visit to the abimansthalam

thondanur.

It is better known to the locals as keerathondanur and is 18 kms from

srirangapatna. we drove from Bangalore to mysore. before one reaches

srirangapatna there is a road to the right marked -pandavapura,.10 kms away.

continue further for another 2 km and there is a sign board on the left

indicating way to four temples established by sri Ramanuja. 3 kms on a kutcha

road and u have reached the temples.

The famous thondanur temple is big with a big deepasthambam in the

frontyard.Temple is clean but in a poor condition with very little support from

the endowment board.

The battar opened the sannadhi and it was totally dark because of the powercut

from 11am to 6 pm.we groped our way to the sannadi and prayed to narayana nambi

lighted by an oillamp.Money even for this oil lamp is lacking and devotees have

to support the purchase.

However because it was daytime with no rains that day an assistant illuminated

our Nambi with sunlight reflected by a hand held mirror,held 25 yards away

outside the sannadi. One is stunned by the briulliancePerumal is really

excellent with jewels and battar was sincere with the archana.

Various acharyas ,nammalwar and thirumangai mannan had their sannadis just

outside the garbagriha. Desika abn kurathalwan with pillailokachray a and

manvalamamunigal also are seen along with the others. Interestingly the main

deity has thengali thiruman and panchrathra agama is followed.THere is a

seperate san

annadhi for aravindavalli thayar.who too was lluminated by the mirror as before.

The nithyapadi for perumal is carried out by donations from devotees-Rs.500 per

day

Sorry to see the state of a great temple wher e Ramanuja established the first

of the 5 narayanas.

The compound just opposite houses the temple of parthasarathy and

santhanagopalan with rukmini and satrhyabama thayars,THis temple follows the

vikanasa agama and is apparently better off .Peruma l is adorned with vadakalai

thiruman Make a point to note the legs of Gopala are crossed left and right as

against the usual mode..Battar of this temple is also incharge of the narasimha

temple a few yards away on a smallhill .This temple has recently been renovated

by an auditor from tiruchi, Yoganarasimha i s a grand awei nspiring site.Apart

from the usual satari and theertham we are also blessed wiith a wooden dhandam

kept constantly with perumal for the past 1000 years. The dhandam is a

bramharakshasa cured by Sri Ramanuja. Chakram is on the left and Sanka is on the

right

Ramanuja has a seperate sannadhi.He is in a sitting posture under adisesha,.He

carries NO thridandam and is not shown as a sanyasin.Here he is adisesha as an

acharyan who answered simultaneously questions raised by 1000 jain pundoits .One

can also see the tail of a snake circling the acharyas waist. Ramanuja is

adorned with thengali thiruman. Battar has no explanation.Apparently no big fuss

is made about the kalai in karnataka.

The huge lake made by our acharya is a few minutes away and well

maintained.Ramanuja is supposed to have directed the thirumanchan a water and

rasakrita water of Gopala and Gopikas to form this lake.

One leaves with an extreme sensation of satisfaction and bhakthi wondering

about the achievements of our Great Acharya Hope the ancient glory and grandeur

of these temples will soon be revived.

Sri Narayanadesikaya namah.

dasan narayanan