4 ambalam

[Guest guest]

Dear sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

I am not sure how many of you know this, that there are separate temples for raama lakshmaNa, bharatha and sathrughna. Anyhow what I came to know that yesterday, I am sharing that experience with all of you.

 

I went to kochi in kerala for some other purpose and when I was talking with my friend he said have you visited guruvayoor? I said yes. But the next question he asked me was more surprising to me.

 

Have you visited the 4 ambalam – means – the 4 temples of the above 4 brothers?

I said I hear this for the first time in my life.

 

Raama temple in thiruprayar

Bharatha temple in koodal maanickyam

LakshmaNa temple in thiru moozhikkuLam

Sathrughna temple in paayambal.

 

I do not know – perhaps this thiru moozhik kulam is that 62nd of the 108 divya desam.

 

So he arranged for me a car and both of us went. From this thiruprayar – guruvayoor is 27 km or 17 miles.

 

The procedure he said is more surprising. Since this is karkkataka maasam – aadi maasam - which is the raamaayaNa avathaara maasam, it is very auspicious to go to all four before noon. So we left kochi by 4.30 am in very severe rains. This we could cover and do by one 'o' clock before lunch time.

As per procedure, we have to go first to raama temple. Second to bharatha and third lakshmaNa and last sathrughna – in the order of their birth to king dhasaratha. In all 4 places there are no dhevis [wives] to the presiding deities – as I understand from my friend - the 4 brothers – it was a bit more surprising for me. My friend could not offer any explanation for why no dhevis for all 4.

 

Actually all the four are in 4 different places, with a distance of at least 25km or approx 15 miles in between each. To go even in car in heavy rains, it was really difficult.

 

 

Actually after visiting raama, on way to bharatha temple – from the main road if you turn left, at some distance it is bharatha temple, but if you turn right at some distance it is sathrughna temple. That way you can save some distance while covering all 4. But since this order is to be maintained, you have to travel a bit more.

 

In all 4 temples the main sannidhis are in circular shape and temples in square or rectangle. Actually bharatha temple is very big in size compared to other three.

 

Near raama temple a river is flowing. In bharatha temple a very big tank is there inside the temple complex. In spite of pouring rains, all have to do a tank pradhakshinam – called theertha pradhakshinam here.

 

In sathrugna temple there is a free meal scheme - some thing similar to the thirupathi thirumala scheme – wherein temple prasadham is being offered free – a full meals.

 

 

The moorthies, the 4 brothers, are very attractive and said to be removing all sins, in particular the sathughna wherein lot of harvest grains are also offered to lord. Thanks to Mr. Mahesh, my friend I got a new experience in this trip.

 

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.

 

-- Vasudevan MG

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas:Many thanks to Sri MG Vasudevan Swami for inviting attention to the "4 ambalams" in Kerala.

I had the bhaghyam of visiting all the Divya desams in Kerala as also these four temples when I was in service way back in 1960s.

 

Some of the points he has mentioned are new to me also like the "Procedure" for visiting the temples, the absence of Thayars in the temples, the shape of sannidhis being circular, the temples being squares etc.

 

May be, my faculty of observation was as poor then as it is now!

 

But, one thing I was given to understand is that when the King of Malabar offered a Carbuncle gem (maanickam) to adorn the deity of Bharata in Irinjalakuda, it got stuck up in the image and was moving around the image whenever anyone attempted to touch it!

 

That is why, the place is also known as "Koodal maanickam" meaning "The gem that got fixed to the image"

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

 

 

 

oppiliappan ; From: vasudevanmgDate: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:44:03 +0530 4 ambalam

 

Dear sri vaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

I am not sure how many of you know this, that there are separate temples for raama lakshmaNa, bharatha and sathrughna. Anyhow what I came to know that yesterday, I am sharing that experience with all of you.

 

I went to kochi in kerala for some other purpose and when I was talking with my friend he said have you visited guruvayoor? I said yes. But the next question he asked me was more surprising to me.

 

Have you visited the 4 ambalam – means – the 4 temples of the above 4 brothers?

I said I hear this for the first time in my life.

 

Raama temple in thiruprayar

Bharatha temple in koodal maanickyam

LakshmaNa temple in thiru moozhikkuLam

Sathrughna temple in paayambal.

 

I do not know – perhaps this thiru moozhik kulam is that 62nd of the 108 divya desam.

 

So he arranged for me a car and both of us went. From this thiruprayar – guruvayoor is 27 km or 17 miles.

 

The procedure he said is more surprising. Since this is karkkataka maasam – aadi maasam - which is the raamaayaNa avathaara maasam, it is very auspicious to go to all four before noon. So we left kochi by 4.30 am in very severe rains. This we could cover and do by one 'o' clock before lunch time.

As per procedure, we have to go first to raama temple. Second to bharatha and third lakshmaNa and last sathrughna – in the order of their birth to king dhasaratha. In all 4 places there are no dhevis [wives] to the presiding deities – as I understand from my friend - the 4 brothers – it was a bit more surprising for me. My friend could not offer any explanation for why no dhevis for all 4.

 

Actually all the four are in 4 different places, with a distance of at least 25km or approx 15 miles in between each. To go even in car in heavy rains, it was really difficult.

 

Actually after visiting raama, on way to bharatha temple – from the main road if you turn left, at some distance it is bharatha temple, but if you turn right at some distance it is sathrughna temple. That way you can save some distance while covering all 4. But since this order is to be maintained, you have to travel a bit more.

 

In all 4 temples the main sannidhis are in circular shape and temples in square or rectangle. Actually bharatha temple is very big in size compared to other three.

 

Near raama temple a river is flowing. In bharatha temple a very big tank is there inside the temple complex. In spite of pouring rains, all have to do a tank pradhakshinam – called theertha pradhakshinam here.

 

In sathrugna temple there is a free meal scheme - some thing similar to the thirupathi thirumala scheme – wherein temple prasadham is being offered free – a full meals.

 

The moorthies, the 4 brothers, are very attractive and said to be removing all sins, in particular the sathughna wherein lot of harvest grains are also offered to lord. Thanks to Mr. Mahesh, my friend I got a new experience in this trip.

 

Dhasan

Vasudevan m.g.

 

-- Vasudevan MG