Navaratri 2014 - Day 5

A little sickness I thought is going to put a break to my Navaratri blogs, but the Goddess gave me a spurt of energy that I could visit the Kali temple in West Mambalam. She also blessed me with a visit to Angala Parameswari Puthu temple where the archakar suggested I take a snap of the moolavar and post on FB!

Kali Temple

  

This is my second visit to this typical Bengali-style temple. The whole place wore a festive look with people getting ready for Durga puja and Arthi of the day. 

My visit was short and swift as usual due to lack of time. I entered to see the sanctum to my right, Goddess Kali was in the centre with her great devotees Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sri Sarada Devi on either side! On first look, the Mata looks fierce with her red tongue out, but once you notice her eyes you can see she is full of benevolence! As the archakar was not around, I just took the kumkum and proceeded to circumambulate. 

There were a few stalls selling lac and shell bangles, dolls especially the face of Goddess Kali, saris etc. Right behind the main sanctum are three small sannidhis of Durga, Shiva and Ganesha.

Further down was a huge display of Golu.

 The centre mandap has a Nataraja with a smaller version of the main deity of the temple, Goddess Kali! My two eyes weren't enough for the decoration in front of the mandap. There was a colourful rangoli surrounded by many kalasams and different rangolis in plates, paruppu thengaai, fruits, Tulsi plants and what not.

The display of golu continued further with two huge statues of lady dancers on one side of a padi golu. The first doll that struck my sight was a beautiful pallikonda Sivan, on Ambal's lap!

Next to this padi golu was Meenakshi Sundareswarar wedding with a Pillayar in front. This was also flanked by two statues of women looking very western! The flooring here was treated with plaster of Paris and there was a small board saying Moon's surface. 

This was directly behind the main mandap and in front of this, i.e. on the reverse side of the mandap was a very cute palanquin with a beautiful Goddess in it.

 Next was another padi golu followed by a very cute doll of Krishna with one hand on his hip. 

 and a huge Saraswathi and then Viswaroopa darsanam of Maha Vishnu. 

 It ended with another huge statue of Karumari Amman. 

I came out and once again had darshan of the main deity before leaving the temple

Sri Angala Parameswari Temple

I came across the lane with the pillar mentioning the name of the temple. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the kurukkal suggesting that I take a photo of the main deity when all I asked him was permission to take a picture of the kutti golu which was done with great enthusiasm in such a small place.

Here are the pictures of the kutti golu, Puthu Amman and the beautiful, beautiful Angala Parameswari! A few ladies were reciting Lalitha Sahasranaamam making the atmosphere even more divine!

The kurukkal informed me that sannidhis of Murugan, Iyyappan, Anjaneyar and Navagrahams were on the first floor and I climbed above to have a look. I noticed Murugan with Valli and Deivayanai and Anjaneyar on my right and prayed to them. I could see that the ceiling was built around the neem tree near which the puthu is located below. On the other side were the sannidhis of Iyyappan and Navagraham. I had a very strong inner feeling that I am stepping on top of the Amman in the temple and my legs just would not cross the neem tree. I just prayed to the deities from this side itself and came down. I could feel the presence of the Goddess so well in this temple!