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 Visit - Thiruvooraga Perumal

Thiruvooraga Perumal, Kundrathur

People familiar with the name Kundrathur tend to connect it to Lord Muruga as the Kundrathur Murugan temple is quite famous. I did get to visit the Murugan temple and a Sivan temple at Kundrathur apart from this Perumal temple. But I was so impressed by this temple and the enthusiasm with which the kurukkal readily explained the Sthala puranam and showed us all the alangarams done to the Perumal that I am tempted to blog this first.


Like on many other occasions, my sister Jayashree is responsible for this trip as she only suggested that we visit one of the temples around Porur, Poonamallee area one Saturday few months back.

We stood at the bus stop opposite Miot Hospital, Ramapuram and got into a Kundrathur bus as it came first. Thank you Jayu, for yet another wonderful experience!

Now about the temple: This temple was built about 1100 years ago by Kulothunga Chozhan II. He was a devotee of Thiruvooraga Perumal in Kanchipuram and wished to build another temple for him. He requested Perumal to choose a suitable site so that Kulothungan can build the temple. Perumal himself chose this site at Kundrathur and since it is the same Lord as in Kanchipuram, he is called by the same name - Thiruvooraga Perumal.

As Thiruppani (renovation) was going on, we entered the temple through the side entrance. We were very thrilled to see such a huge deity - more than 6.5 feet tall. The Sannidhi had only Perumal in the standing posture with His right hand as Abhayahastham, blessing us and the left hand on his left thigh. He had a majestic namam studded with stones. After Deeparathanai, Shadari, Theertham and Tulsi prasadham, the Kurukkal started removing a few strands of flowers from the deity. As we were wondering why he was doing this, he started showing us the different alangarams on the Perumal.

The Perumal has Sridevi and Bhoodevi on his chest, Dasavathara Odiyanam on his waist, similar to that of Tirupathi Venkatachalapathy, Lakshmi Haaram up to his knee, Silver kaasu maalai reaching below his knee, two strings of maalai made of silver Tulsi leaves and Salakrama Maalai touching his feet. The feet looked beautiful covered with velli kavasam. He is standing on Padma peetam – an open lotus. His crown was covered with many Tulsi garlands and two long garlands of Tulsi and flowers were adorning him from head to toe.

It was very nice of the kurukkal to explain the alangaram so well. We had the darshan of Garudan standing in front of Perumal and proceeded to the Goddess’ sannidhi. As soon as we turned right from Perumal, we entered a small area where we worshipped Thudhikai Azhvar (Ganapathy) and then Thiru Virundha Valli Thayar. Thayar was looking so beautiful with silver kavasam on her hands, wearing a diamond necklace around her throat, a lovely odiyanam and kaasumalai. The deity was decorated with many flowers too.

We went around the sannidhis and on the right side there was Andal sannidhi and one of Ramar, Lakshmanar and Seethai. Ramar and Lakshmanar were standing with their bows in their left hands and an arrow each in their right hands. We were wondering where Hanuman was and lo! He was standing right opposite the Ramar sannidhi in his usual praying posture. This Hanuman was looking rather different without a crown. We went in again to have another look at Perumal and noticed that there was another Hanuman along with Ramanujar very close to the Perumal sannidhi.

I am still able to visualise the Perumal when I close my eyes, such is his beauty. Hope to visit the temple again soon.

Madras by 11H

Last Saturday (26 December) dawned with me agreeing to my bossy sister, Jayashree’s suggestion that I make a trip to Paris Corner for her jewellery material purchase. I am not so confident about my expertise in checking out stuff, so I agreed quite reluctantly as it was an urgent requirement. 9.45 am saw me getting dropped by Ranga at Teynampet bus stop, wondering which bus I should take to reach the place fast. An 11H express service came in two minutes. Little did I know that I would be blogging about this trip! The bus was fairly crowded and I could not get a seat initially. As I crossed VTI, I recalled that it is such a nice place to spend time with lovely antiques to look at. Then came Spencer’s Plaza, a great place to hang out with friends. By this time I got a seat and the LIC Building appeared on the other side. How many times we have looked at this building in awe as this used to be the only high storey building in our Madras for a long time! The bus winded further through Mount Road, crossing Higgin Bothams, Tarapore Towers, touching the new assembly complex under construction as it curved into Wallajah Road. Many important buildings passed by and the bus turned into Kamarajar Salai (Beach Road). The imposing University Building was a great sight to behold right at the turning. By this time the bus was quite empty and I turned to the other side and what a sight it was!

The beautiful Marina Beach was looking so calm in the morning Sun with very little crowd. Out of the blue, I started praying to Goddess Mahalakshmi for the safety of my Madras city as this was the day Tsunami struck here five years earlier.

My eyes did not leave the beach until the bus reached Island Grounds. I was so tempted to give up my trip to Paris Corner and get down there. The replica of the Museum Art Gallery looks so majestic!  

  

However, the bus crossed this and went further down. Why have I never been to Fort St. George? I felt fierce pride for my city seeing the Fort. However the politicians are, they should feel honoured to have been elected by the public to be seated there, in that building. I had a glimpse of the Fort Museum and the huge walls of the Fort with a few cannons that are on displaly. Once again I felt the rush of pride seeing the imposing building of Reserve Bank of India! Even before the bus turned into NSC Bose Road, I was thrilled to see the wall of the High Court, recalling my Thatha’s pleasure in talking about his experiences there! The bus then crossed Kuralagam and entered into the Broadway bus stand, which happened to be the bus stop I had to get down and also the last stop for the bus.

I love my Madras!