29 August 2010

Tirunelveli & Divya Desams around

On 29th Dec, we started off with Nellaiappar.

Nellaiappar temple is huge, bigger than Madurai. We were told this is 14 acres, Madurai, 12 acres. This is also because in Madurai Meenakshi sannidhi is closer to Sokkanathar whereas Kantimathi is far away from Nellaiappar, almost a separate temple.

The main entrance has some amazing wood work and the musical pillars add to the intricate architectural elements.

A large Perumal  in Kidantha kolam next to the Swamy. Nellai is Tamra Sabhai among Pancha Sabhai. Curiously, this is situated behind the Moola Sthanam, on the North Western side. Nataraja Sannidhi's usually on the North Eastern side. We come out of the Swamy sannidhi and walk along a long corridor on the southern side to reach Ambal. There is a big tank, a number of Ayyappa pilgrims taking bath & doing their morning poojais. Kanthimathi Ambal moves you, an inscription of Sri Kanthimathim, by Veenai Brothers of Tirunelveli.

Sambandar has sung a padigam, describing the natural beauty of Nellai. Photos

Then, we completed the three remaining Nava Thirupathis, Sri Vaikuntam, Varagunamangai and Tirupulinkudi. The temples were just recovering from the busy Vaikunta Ekadasi, the previous day. Pandals were getting dismantled, floors scrubbed etc etc. We were perhaps the only set of sevarthis.

From Varagunamangai, we traced back to Nellai and then onto Vanamamalai also known as Nanguneri also known as Tirucheevaramangai. This is one of the Swayamvakta Kshetrams. The temple is managed by the Vanamamalai mutt. There is an oil well, where oil after the abhishekam is stored. The temple employee tells us the oil well has a depth of  20 feet.

From here, we drove to Thirukurunkudi. The village is quite idyllic, with green fields, cloudy mountains. The temple, with just the base of Rajagopuram looks majestic. We will need 4-6 hours to visit all the temples here. Thirumangai Azwar, the multiskilled Azwar was stoned to death here. This is also the ancestral village of the TVS family. Photos.

22 August 2010

Tiruchendur & Nava Tirupati

Started from Rameswaram at 9am and reached Tiruchendur by 1230.

That Tiruchendur is one of the Arupadai Veedus is well known. Nakkeerar's Tirumurugatruppadai and Adi Sankarar's Subramanya Bhujangam are on the Lord. This is also the place where Muruga danced for Arunagirinathar and this is observed during the annual utsavam. The temple poojas are conducted by three sets of priests - a set of Mangalore Brahmins, a set of Sivacharyars and a set of 2,000 priests believed to have been brought by Lord Muruga. This is similar to Chidambaram Dikshitars (Thillai Moovayiravar) and Nambiyars of Avudayarkovil. I remember a member of this sect visiting our home, staying for a few days, to collect money for festivals.

We started from Tiruchendur by 130pm to Tirunelveli. This was the Vaikunda Ekadasi day and we came to know that the Navatirupati temples (Divya Desams) would be open for Darisanam even in the afternoon. This proved really fortuitous and helped us cover all the temples in the plan. Nava Tirupati temples, while clustered   together, need visiting in a sequence to cover in a few hours. This depends upon your starting point - Tirunelveli, Tiruchendur or Thuthukudi. Our sequence for the day was:
Thenthiruperai: 2:30pm
Thirukolur: 3pm
Tholaivillimangalam (Irattai Tirupati): 3:45pm
Tirukulandai: 4:45pm
Alwar Tirunagari: 5:30pm

This is Nammalvar's territory. He is known as Vedam Tamiz Seidha Maran Satagopan, who translated Vedas into Tamil. He is the largest contributor to 4000 Divya Prabandam. His verses are philosophical and you can sort of equate him to Tirumular of Saiva tradition, another big time (3000 verses) philosophical contributor.

The temples were crowded, had to stand in queues. You may be able to see the temples quicker if you go on normal days. The map will help you plan well. Curiously, the temples are being linked, in a rather contrived manner, to Navagrahams. There are photographs of the 'Before & After' versions of the temples after TVS took over the maintenance of the temples. TVS family belongs to Tirukurungudi, a close by Divya Desam.

We reached Tirunelveli at 7pm.