Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Hridyaaleeswarar Temple

Tirunindravur Hridyaaleeswarar Temple

The next temple we visited was Hridyaaleeswarar Temple. Both the Bhaktavatsala Perumal Temple and Hridyaaleeswarar Temple are about 1500 years old. In those days the kings built temples for both Sivan and Vishnu nearby.

The legend of Hridyaaleeswarar temple is that Poosalar Nayanar, one of the 63 Nayanars wished to build a temple for Lord Shiva. As he did not have funds to build a temple, he built a temple in his heart for Lord Shiva. It was not a rough structure, but a detailed one, covering all aspects of a Sivan temple. He also fixed a date for the kumbabishekam of the temple. Pallava king Rajasimha had built a temple for Lord Shiva in Kanchipuram during this time and he fixed a date for kumbabishekam which happened to be the same day as the Poosalar’s heart temple’s kumbabishekam day. On the earlier night, Lord Shiva came in the king’s dream to tell him that he cannot come for his temple kumbabishekam as he has to be present for Poosalar’s temple kumbabishekam. The king went in search of Poosalar and was shocked to find that Poosalar had built a temple in his heart for the Lord. He got a detailed description of the heart temple from Poosalar and built a temple accordingly. This temple is the Hridyaaleeswarar temple – Hridya meaning heart. To this day people pray here for cure for their heart ailments. This is again a huge temple.

As soon as we entered we prayed to Lakshmi Ganapathy and then proceeded to Lord Shiva’s sannidhi. This temple was fairly crowded, but most of the crowd seemed to be part of a group that had come for some film shooting. The imposing dwajasthambam was there with Nandi in front of it facing the Lord.

Sivan sannidhi was more like a hall with a couple steps leading to the Lord’s sannidhi and with Ambal on our right side. We first went to the Lord’s sannidhi and prayed there. Lingam is a fair size, neither too big, nor too small. Poosalar Nayanar was sitting in front of his Lord in the form of a statue. We prayed to the Hridyaaleeswarar to take care of any heart ailments and then got down to go to Ambal Sannidhi. Ambal alangaram was minimal but she was looking very beautiful in a nine yards sari. The name of the Goddess is Maragathaambigai.

Towards right side of the Siva Linga is the Navagraha sannidhi. We did a few pradakishnams around the nine planets. Just in front of the Navagraha, we could see a statue of Rajasimha, the Pallava king who built this temple for Poosalar. The ceiling of the inner prakaram was a visual treat with very beautiful paintings.

Directly behind Hridayaaleeswarar sannidhi on the left side was Ganapathi and on the right side was Murugan with Valli Deivanai. We also saw the idols of 63 Nayanmars and of course Natarajar and Sivagami Ammai. As we completed the pradakshinam, Bhairavar was on the left corner and on two sides of the entrance door were Chandran and Suryan. We came out to do a pradakshinam of the outer prakaram which was an open space. As we completed the pradakshinam we understood that the inner prakaram - the hall were all the above sannidhis were was in the form of Gajaprishtam – back of an elephant in sitting posture. Satisfied with the darshan we had, we proceeded to have a breakfast break at our friend Bhavani’s place.

Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Marudhamalai

Marudhamalai Temple

This is the first part of a pilgrimage to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Six of us from our family boarded a train to Coimbatore to go to Ranga’s aunt’s place on a Saturday. As usual I was fascinated by chitti’s garden and went straight there with my morning coffee!

I took many snaps of her plants, trees, the hill range and the paaku thoppu (betelnut plantation) nearby. I did miss the field which used to be there in yonder days as many new houses have come up in the area of Vadavalli. My brother-in-law Nagarajan Anna, being the organiser, was after us to get ready for our first visit to Marudhamalai Murugan Temple. Vadavalli is located just below the Marudhamalai hill range and it takes a very short time to reach the temple from Chitti’s home. Chitti arranged for a call taxi and we all left for the temple after breakfast.

Though this was my second visit to this temple, all looked new to me as there were many modifications while construction work was still going on.

Gopuram of the main sannidhi

Entrance to main sannidhi

construction work

mandapam on the lower level

The name of Sando Chinnappa Devar etched on many places leading to the temple mentioning his contributions, reminded me of the song “Marudhmalai Maamaniye Murugayya” sung by Madurai Somu in the movie Deivam!

As the taxi took us up to the temple, we had to climb only about 20-25 steps to the sannidhis. 

people climbing

more steps, dont miss the decoration for Thai poosam

First was Panchavriksha Vinayakar, a very cute Ganapathy under a tree. We tried to make out if there were actually five trees as the name suggests, but could see only one type of leaves! We lit a few ghee lamps there and proceeded to have a darshan of the main deity – Dhandayudhapaani. It was not much crowded and with special darshan tickets, we reached the sannidhi quite quickly. As his name means, Murugan was looking very handsome with a majestic turban on his head and holding the Dhandam. The Vel was also near the Dhandam We had a very good darshan and moved out from the left side itself via a side entrance. The Dhandayudhapaani sannidhi is flanked by the Lord’s parents – Patteeswarar and Maragathaambikai on either side – Saga Uma Skandar style. We had darshan of a quite small  Lingam – Patteeswarar and a very sweet looking Maragathaambikai in simple alangaram. We then proceeded towards the front to have darshan of the Navagraha. 
 I was happy to see a photograph of Arunagirinathar and Pamban Swamigal on either side of the main door leading to the sannidhi of Dhanayudhapaani and remembered by grand father, an ardent devotee of Murugan and follower of Pamban Swamigal. On the right side of the door was the small sannidhi of Varadaraja Perumal. We prayed there and sat down in the mandapam for a few minutes.

We saw markings with directions to the Paambaati Siddhar cave temple and steps leading down. All of us were keen to visit and climbed down another 20 stairs. There was a sannidhi with Shiva lingam and an idol of the Siddhar and a naturally formed shape of a snake. There was a milk in a bowl and we heard that snakes come to drink it. The sannidhi is built around a rocky structure with many natural hollows. The archakar there explained that there is a path to the garba graham of the temple from there which the Siddhar used to visitsthe sannidhi to offer his prayers to Dhandayudapaani. We could feel very good vibrations at this sannidhi and sat there for some time in prayer.

Pambaati siddhar sannidhi

view near the Siddhar sannidhi

On the way up is the Saptakanni sannidhi with seven idols of the Saptakannis covered with turmeric.

We came up the steps again to pray at the moolasthaanam of the temple. This has tiny idols of Murugan with Valli and Deivanai. 

Moolasthanam gopuram

 

We went back again in front of the main sannidhi and prostrated in front of the Dwajasthambam. 

Dwajasthambam

Vel near Dwajasthambam

 

The special darshan queue was so long that we realised that we had just managed to escape the big crowd. We thanked the Lord for the same and climbed down the steps to go back home.

A view of the town from temple level

Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Kandakottam, Chennai – Soorasamharam – Part I

Soorasamharam at Kandakottam - Part I

When we had a great darshan of the Soorasamharam at Vadapalani temple last year, Jayashree decided that she will take me to Kandakottam for this year Soorasamharam. Who will get such a sister, who instead of just enjoying herself, ensures that I also get the pleasure out of such visits. Thank you Appa and Amma for such a sister and thank you Jay, Love you!

We had enquired at the temple and found that Soorasamharam will take place around 7 pm. To find a comfortable place to stand, we reached the temple by 5.30 pm to have the darshan of the Lord. Despite hearing a lot through my parents and grandparents, this was my first visit to this temple.  I was thrilled to see the well decorated gopuram (temple tower) but was a little bothered about the long queue which stretched to the road on the side of the temple. But the queue moved so fast that within 7-8 minutes, we were inside the temple.

 
It was a very quick darshan and volunteers were pushing people as they had to accommodate a huge crowd. I just glimpsed the idols of Vallalar and Pamban Swamigal on the left. On our right was Murugan. Murugan looked very very cute in full alangaram. I was surprised to see such small idols of Valli Deivayanai sametha Murugan. On either side of the sannidhi were separate sannidhis for Valli and Deivayanai.

We moved further to have darshan of Ganapathy in front of us and I was just allowed to read the words Suriyan and Veerabagu by which time the volunteers pushed us out. I promised myself to make a detailed trip to this temple again and blog about it including the legend and history.

As we came out the Dwajasthambam was to our left and many ladies were lighting ghee lamps nearby. We moved to our right and reached a very beautifully decorated mandapam. On the left side on a raised platform there were beautiful water rangolis on plates. The rangolis were of Ganapathy, Valli Deivayanai sametha Arumugan, Gnanapandithan, Murugan on his mayil vahanam, Natarajar and Vallalar. Inspite of being six days old, the rangolis were looking beautiful and a lady nearby wondered how it would have been on day one.

On the right side near the decorated pillars was the Urchavamurthy on Mayil vahanam. It was a pleasure to have his darshan. Like Thatha used to say, the youthful Murugan gives one so much cheer and energy! We had our fill of this Murugan and proceeded further.

The staircase next to this had “way to Kandan Kalaiarangam” written on it and people were going up and down. We too went up out of curiosity. We were delighted to see the gopurams from there.

There was no programme happening at the Kalaiarangam. But people were just sitting around and relaxing there.We came down and moved further right to have darshan of another Urchavar. This happened to be Valli Deivayanai sametha Arumugan complete with his Vel and Sevalkodi. All the six faces were looking so beautiful and  benevolent!

We reached the side entrance of the temple and came out. While coming out, I could feel the presence of Murugan everywhere and the Bhakthi of the people in that area and all around there were shops in  the Lord's name.   

We once again enquired about the timings and exact location of Soorasamharam with a few people. We then reached the main road near Eithirajulu Naidu Sons and stood a comfortable place hoping to get a good view. The traffic was in full swing and people around were saying that it will be stopped the moment, Murugan comes out of the temple in oorvalam (procession). While waiting in such a huge but organized crowd, I could not stop feeling proud of our country where we never give up such festivities and celebration for the sake of our livelihood, but make it a part of our lifestyle!

Temple Trails Tamil Nadu : Golu at Nandalala Temple, Mylapore

Golu at Nandalala Temple, Mylapore

I again have to thank Dorai Thatha who had told me about the Golu in this temple.

I went there on Saturday evening with my husband and we are happy about the Golu as well as the temple

First we went to see the Golu in the basement of the temple

There was a proper Golu with seven steps in the centre and in the sides were details about Ashtalakshmi with many illustrations.

One has to go in order so that nothing is missed out. First on the left, opposite the Golu was a beautifully decorated Saraswathi.

Next was AdhiLakshmi with Mahavishnu next to her. There were also dolls of people praying to Adhilakshmi and Mahavishnu and a photo of a newly wedded couple. There was also a picture of Adhilakshmi on top.

Above this set, there was also a small write up which is part of Sri Madhi Oli mandiram about meaning of Adhi with benefits of praying to Adhilakshmi

Then it was Santhanalakshmi with idols of Aalilai Krishna, Krishna in a cradle, dolls of animals with their young ones and a cardboard crèche with a picture of Santhanalakshmi on top. The write up about Santhanalakshmi was missing.

Next was Dhanalakshmi with beautiful display of jewellery, different golden ornaments, models of different shops in Chennai with their festival offers. The picture of Dhanalakshmi above this was looking beautiful. Sri madhi Oli mandiram here says that Dhanalakshmi resides in every one and hence one has to show love towards his fellow beings and be content to have Her blessings in full.

After this, there was a beautiful picture of Krishna playing the flute flanked by two elephants and a picture of Sri Madhi Oli’s hands

In the centre was the seven steps golu. I liked the Rajasabhai set in this best. See how the king and the ministers are sitting with pots of wealth. A lady there was kind enough to explain that it is a King’s court and the King and his ministers are wondering how to make best use of so much of wealth available with them!

I just thought, that was how India was once upon a time much before the arrival of Mughals and British!

Do not miss the embroidery on the cloth below the last step.

Next was Thiruvaanaika set with a picture of the Ambal praying to Jalakandeswarar and the Uchikala Go puja there.

There were many spatika lingams near the Thiruvaanaika set, but the people there specifically told me not to photograph it.

After this was Dhanyalakshmi with pictures of people doing various jobs in the field and ladies cooking food at home. There were also tubs with really crops. On top of the picture of Dhanyalakshmi was the Sri Madhi Oli mandiram for this Goddess saying that She is in the form of food grain and in addition to satisfying our hunger, we should offer food to people who come to our homes. Anna dhaanam is the best dhaanam there is and by doing it, we can get her blessing.

Next was Vijayalakshmi with a model of a well built house showing that it is the fruit of one’s efforts. Sri Madhi Oli mandiram above the picture of Vijayalakshmi says that with good efforts, hard work and faith, one will be victorious and Vijayalakshmi will always be with him

Vidyalakshmi had models of school and library with different musical instruments and pictures of children at school. The mandiram above Vidyalakshmi says that the Goddess is in the form of intelligence in all. One has to use it in the right way, talk softly and not hurt others to get her blessings.

Last this was Dhairya Lakshmi with pictures of Karate classes and a police station model

This also had a picture of Kiran Bedi and a lady train driver. Above the beautiful looking Dhairyalakshmi picture the mandiram says that courage has to be in one’s mind. One should be courageous enough to accept and admit his faults and mistakes

Finally it was very cute looking light house model complete with a sea wall paper and a real light on top.

We completed the visit of the lovely golu and went up for Nandalala’s darshan

First it was a very huge Ganapathy. Next we went near Nandalala’s sannidhi and were amazed looking at him. Krishna playing the flute and his cow standing behind him was so beautiful. His eyes were magnetic and one gets drawn towards same. There was recital of Vishnusahasramam when we entered and hence we went for a pradikshinam. Behind Krishna was a very cute looking Ganapathy urchavar complete with his mooshika vahanam. As we completed our pradakshinam of the hall, there was an endearing statue of Hanuman that I couldn’t take my eyes of him. It is a very small statue, in the usual praying posture of Hanuman, but the expression on his face was so sweet. He was decked with vadamalais. We went around him a few times and came back to Krishna’s sannidhi for deeparathanai as the recital was over by then.

There were also huge pictures of Durga, Lakshmi, Sarawathi kept in front of Krishna’s sannidhi for Navaratri.

We came out to collect thamboolam and sundal satisfied with a lovely darshan.