Kailasam, Salagramam Yathirai

Seetha, Hari and I did the Kailasa Yathirai this summer. We were honoured to have ever practical Jayakamala and Aficionado + Connoisseur + what not, Gopu sir, with us.


There are three ways of doing the Kailasa Yathirai:
1. Government route: Longest (25-30 days), and cheapest
2. Overland through Private Operators in Kathmandu (15 days, Rs75,000 approx, ex Kathmandu)
3. Flying through Private Operators in Kathmandu (12 days, Rs1,25,000 approx, ex Kathmandu)


We chose the third option. Reasons:
1. Option 1 was never considered
2. We were not sure about quality of accommodation/ toilets in option 2.
3. We wanted to go to Salagramam too, an additional 4 days. 16 days looked more manageable than 19 days.


Recommendation:
Take option 2. We learnt later that flights are dependent on weather. We were stuck in a place, on the way back, for 4 days as no flights could operate due to weather. We heard that last year, a group of yatris were stuck for 9 days on the way to Kailash, their visa expired. They could not go to Kailash and returned.


We went in May-June to match with Hari's school holidays. 


Recommendation:
Plan your yathirai in August - September. Snow would have melted after three months of summer and you can do pradakshinam. Due to snow, we could not do pradakshinam .


Travel Agent
We went through Samrat Travels. We felt comfortable, 
1. Rajaram Tiwari, their Sr Manager, responded quickly to our email queries.
2. CN Pandey, their CEO visited our home in Chennai in January, spent an hour clarifying our queries. 
3.  We felt what they gave was a good deal (Rs125,000 for Kailash, Rs26,000 for Muktinath)


Following was the schedule: 

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtKGdIwrawB4dGdYVzBCVG5xNlBqdDhGZjZVWGM1RHc&hl=en_US#gid=0

Thirukutralam to Madurai

Started off a busy day from Kutralam at 6am. Covered Srivilliputhur, Thiruthankal, Alavai, and Thiruparankundram.

Srivilliputhur, with its majestic Gopuram, is place drooling of godliness and palgova. Andal's Thirupavai and Thirumozhi are dripping with Andal's intimate relationship with Krishna. While Jayadeva's Gita Govondam is widely sung even in Tamil Nadu in Radha Kalyanams, would like Thirumozhi to be sung as Godha Kalyanams.

Similarly, Perialwar's verses, treating Krishna as child and cuddling and cajoling him as a mother would lovingly do is so moving.

Vatapatrasayee is not what the name says. You expect a Balakrishnan as a child lying in Banyab leaf, He is large frames and lying on Adiseshan. He is colourfully made of lime and not a granite vigraha.

Thiruthankal is near Sivakasi. The temple has benefitted from the wealthy businessmen of Sivakasi. Perumal is colourfully made and not from granite.

Thiruvanparisaram, Thiruvattaru & Thirukutralam

Thiruvanparisaram is very close to Nagarkovil. This is a Malai Nattu Divya Desam. Temple is a mixture of Kerala and Tamil Nadu style architecure. Malayala priests perform Poojai. Thiru Vazh Marban (The one who has Lakshmi in his heart) is the name of the Lord. Birthpplace of Nammalvar's mother. Also considered Nammalvar's birthplace. Nammalvar has sung a pasuram. We started from Nagarkovil around 7am, had darisanam and were back at Nagarkovil by 8. Temple is in a serene setting with a pleasant brimmming temple tank Photos.

Then, we drove to Thiruvattaru. This temple is Kerala style in architecture and worship. Believed to be a smallish replica of Thiruvananthapuram temple.Adi Kesava Perumal also resembles Anantha Padmanabha Swamy -  Kidanda Kolam and large size. The temple is calm, clean. We were not allowed to take photos inside the temple.

From Nagar Kovil, we started about 2pm and reached Thiru Kutralam via Thirunelveli about 5pm.

Kurum Pala Nathar temple is next to the main falls. Swamy is named after sthala vruksham, jackfruit tree. The temple is associated with Agasthiyar. Legend is that as the whole world assembled to watch Siva's wedding, Siva sent Agastyar to the South to prevent the world from tilting and tipping over. Also believed to have originated Tamil. Another story is that Agastyar converted the erstwhile Vishnu temple into Siva temple.

Thiru Kutralam is the Chitra Sabhai sthalam, Nataraja is in pictorial form, not a vigraham. You need to climb about 50 steps amidst shops and chaos to reach the Chitra Sabhai, which deserted. In the guise of protecting precious heritage, there is quirky plastic roof.  Sambandar has sung two padhigams. Padhigams are on two sthalams  - Kutralam and Kurum Pala, both assumed to be Kutralam. Also sung by Manikka Vachakar - Uttrarai Yaan Venden is a well known verse, where he renounces family, fame but just desires the Lord's feet like Cow loves her calf.

The town is crowded and filthy, teeming with monkeys. Could not find  a decent place to eat or stay.

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.

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.

Rameswaram

We spent Day 2 at Rameswaram. 

Started for Dhanushkodi, about 25km from Rameswaram at 730 in the morning. There are jeeps plying the route as there are no roads and we need to drive through sandy track. It takes about an hour to reach Dhanushkodi. On the way, you can see old Railway station, Postoffice  destroyed in the 1964 cyclone. The drive is beautiful. surrounded by calm, blue sea on three sides. The beach is clean, no crowds, a good place for a bath. When compared to Agni Theertham, just in front of the Ramanathaswamy temple, this is heaven. We reached Rameswaram at 1100.

The story of Rameswaram is well known - Rama wanted to do pooja for Siva, asked Hanuman to bring an idol of Siva. As Hanuman took some time to bring the idol. Seetha made a Lingam out of beach sand which Rama worshipped. This is the present Ramanatha Swamy. The idol Hanuman brought is Viswanathar, the shrine next to Ramanathar.  

Appar, in his padhigam   mentions the temple is built by Vishnu (Maal seida Kovil) 10 times and that  Vishnu built this after destroying destruction of Ravanan & Company.

Sambandar has done two padigams. He is even more specific in his Ramayana references  -  Rama killed the Ten Headed one who took Vaidehi away by stealth, etc

Rameswaram is also a Jyotirlinga Kshetram, the only one in Tamil Nadu and one of the two in South India, other being Srisailam. Lord Siva gave Adi Sankarar 12 Lingams. Adi Sankarar established these lingams all over India and these are Jyotir Linga Kshetrams. Jyotir Linga sannidhi is the north eastern side of the main sannidhi.

Dikshitar's Ramanatham Bhajeham is of course very famous. A coincidence - the song is in Pantuvarali & the Sundarar Padhigam is in Sadhari, the pann name for Pantuvarali.

Rameswaram's third praharam is the longest prakaram in the world, if there are such rankings for prakarams. Nandi is also huge, like in Thiruvavaduthurai, made of presumably brick & lime & not granite like in Thanjavur.

The whole is temple is slushy as people take bath in the 24 or so theerthams (wells) and move around in the temple in hoards completely drenched. We could see many groups of foreigners, apparently complete believers in Sanatana Dharma, chanting names with closed eyes, as someone lowers a small bucket tied to a rope in the wells, pulls it up and pours it over the heads.

Rameswaram, inspite of being a big pilgrimage destination, does not have good quality hotels. It has many chatrams, providing cheap accommodation. It also has many small hotels, not of any great quality.  The town is dirty and noisy with the shops blaring out all sorts of songs.

Photos here.

Temple Visits

 Apologies for not regularly updating the blog. We completed Pandia Nadu (DD+PPS) during Christmas - New Year break. We also did a few near Kumbakonam. We are just back from Vada Nadu trip. Please see the photos of Vada Nadu Divya Desams - Vada Mathurai, Gokulam, Ayodhi and Naimisaranyam.