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 : 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.

Aadi Thiruvizha

Aadi is the fourth month in the Tamil calendar. Usually weddings do not take place in this month, the real reason behind this is that if a woman conceives in this month, the baby will be born in the Tamil month of Chithirai (April 14 – May 14), the hottest period in Tamil Nadu. Hence the month of Aadi was dedicated to worship of Goddess – Amman.

It is a great sight to see all Amman temples decorated this month with various functions and rituals like pongal, maavilakku and theemidhi taking place widely.

All the Fridays of this month are even more auspicious with special poojas and alangarams to the Goddess in all the temples in Tamil Nadu.

Varalakshmi Vratham, a special pooja by the ladies for the welfare of their husband falls on one of the Fridays of Aadi.

The 18th day of Aadi is called Aadi perukku with fresh water flow into river Cauvery. It is a great celebration in the regions where Cauvery flows, but even people in other towns and cities follow the thanksgiving to Cauvery with special prayers and grand feast with different mixed rice like jaggery rice, tamarind rice, coconut rice, lemon rice, aviyal and vadaam.

Aadi Krithigai is special for Lord Murugan and special prayers including kavadi take place in all Murugan temples not only in India, but even in countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Aadi Pooram is special for Aandal and valaikaapu takes place in Amman temples on this day.

Aadi Amavasya is important and even people who do not follow the rituals to be done on other Amavasyas, do it on this day.

During the month of Aadi, the clothes shops, especially the ones selling pattu saris saw a sharp drop in their sales as the wedding season begins in full swing only in Aavani, the month after Aadi. But this is an old story now. About 8 years ago these shops started a 50% discount sale in the month of Aadi. This developed so well that nowadays, the shops seem to be more crowded in the month of Aadi than the others.

This is applicable not only to clothes and jewellery

but also electronics

and even footwear


                                  

With the result Aadi is not only Bhakti Thiruvizha but also a Shopping Thiruvizha in Tamil Nadu!

Temple visit - Subramanya Swami Temple

Subramanya Swami Temple, Kundrathur

As mentioned in my last blog,  Thiruvooraga Perumal, Kundrathur is famous for the Murugan temple. As soon as we got down from the bus, we went straight to the Murugan temple. There are about 60+ steps going up to the temple. Murugan being the ‘Lord of the Hills’, He mostly resides on higher levels.

Halfway up the steps, on the right side is a Valanzhui Vinayakar sannidhi. It was quite dark there, so we could not see the Ganapathy and continued climbing the steps to the main temple. As soon as we entered the temple, we could see another Ganapathy on the right side. We prayed to him and then proceeded further to see a huge Dwajasthambam and a sculpture of a Mayil (peacock).

We entered the sannidhi to see a very majestic looking Valli Deivanai samedha Sri Subramanya Swami with his Vel and Seval Kodi. When we enquired about the temple, the kurukkal readily said that it was about 1100 years old and built by Kulothunga Chozhan. Kundrathur also happens to be the birth place of Sekkizhar who wrote the Periya Puranam. This is the only temple in Tamil Nadu where Murugan is facing the North. On his way to Tiruttani after fighting with the demon Tarakasuran and defeating him in Thirupporur, Lord Muruga is said to have rested here for about an hour. The hill where he rested came to be called Kundrathur. This temple is also called “Then Tiruttani”, (தென் திருத்தணி) meaning Tiruttani of the South. Arunagirinathar has sung three hymns on the Lord here.

We could also see another very beautiful looking statue of Mayil - peacock, the vaahan of Lord Muruga - in front of the Murugan Sannidhi. As soon as we came out, there was Shanmugastavam  engraved on the wall. We stood there to read it. In the outer prakaram, there were a Sivalingam, Bhairavar and Navagraha sannidhi. In the Navagraha sannidhi, we noticed that on the head of the Moon God, there was a half moon shape (பிறை சந்திரன்) which we have not noticed in any other temple. Then there was Dakshina moorthy right behind the Murugan sannidhi facing the South as always. In front of the Dakshina moorthy, there was a window on the main wall of the temple. I went near to have a look wondering if it was the temple tank, but alas, it was a dry place with lot of junk thrown in! The Sthala vriksham is an Arasa maram and we could see many cradles on it hung by people praying for progeny.  Next we prayed at the Durgai sannidhi and reached the Dwajasthambam and did our namaskaram there and came away with a very satisfied feeling.

Soorasamharam at Vadapalani Temple

Immediately after our trip to Mylai Karpagambal Koil for the Golu, my sister Jayashree decided that she will take me to Vadapalani Koil for Soorasamharam during Kanda Sashti. I readily agreed to this as Murugan is my all time favourite God!

Last Friday, being the sixth and last day of Kanda Sashti, we checked with Vadapalani temple and found that Soorasamharam will start by 7 pm. We left our respective offices by 5.30 pm and met at the bus stop near the temple. Jayashree’s friend, Lakshmi also accompanied us. We entered the road leading to the temple and found several policemen controlling the crowd behind the rope barricades. As it was only about 6.15 pm then, we decided to go into the temple for darshan and then come back and find a place to stand.

As expected the temple was quite crowded. First we had a good darshan of Vinayakar followed by Sokkanadhar, looking very majestic with velli kavasam and suriyan and chandran on either side on the top of the Lingam. We could just have a quick look at the Valli Devasena samedha Subramaniyar as there was a big crowd at this sannidhi. Murugan was looking very handsome with vibudhi kaapu. The huge mandapam near this sannidhi was very crowded and we could not see what was happening inside. We understood that Murugan Ambalidam vel vaangum katchi (before the battle) was happening there. In the front part of the mandapam was the Urchavamurthy on Mayil vaahanam. The Lord was in regal alangaram. We gave the panneer bottle we had bought there and had archanai done for all of us. We took the prasadam and went to Sevvai sannidhi and had a good darshan there. Next was Meenakshi Ammai’s sannidhi. Ambal was looking beautiful in manjal kaapu in a grand pink nine yards sari. We spent quite a few minutes there taking in the beauty of the Goddess. Next was the kannaadi mandapam with Arumugar. I noticed that this mandapam has been made into a smaller one since before. During my earlier visits, I have noticed that the mandapam was big enough for one to do pradakshinam inside whereas now they have made it smaller that one can do pradakshinam only outside the mandapam. We could not see the tail of the queue to the Moolavar - வடபழனி ஆண்டவர் sannidhi as it was extremely long. We just took a chance and jumped onto the high platform and had a quick glimpse of Murugan in Raja alangaram. By the time we went near the Dwajasthambam to do namaskaram, there was a sudden rush and we realised that a smaller idol of Lord Murugan was being taken round the temple.

We immediately rushed out of the temple so that we can find a good place for main event for which we had come – Soorasamharam. As soon as we came out, we noticed that the crowd had doubled and there was no way we could get a place to stand near the temple. We were pushed into a street on the left side of the temple and were allowed to stand there outside the rope barricades.

When we had entered the temple, the loudspeakers were playing devotional songs, but now, we could hear the story of Kandapuranam being narrated with a commentary in between on when the Soorasamharam will begin. As the time neared, there was a frenzy in the crowd and a tiff between the police and the public with the police warning us to take precautions as during the procession, there was a chance of chain snatching, pickpocket etc. People inside the rope barricade objected to our standing in front of them and we were pushed further inside the road.

We started wondering whether we will get at least a glimpse of Soorasamharam from our position and lo and behold, Soorapadman came right in front of us and Murugan fought with him in front of us and beheaded him. Sooran came with Aatu thalai and was beheaded again. Maatu thalai, Puli thalai, Yaali thalai and Yaanai thalai followed and all the battles took place very near us. Each time the Sooran came near us, we were pushed towards the wall by the crowd and as soon as he was beheaded and taken to the centre, the crowd again moved to the centre and so on!

As it was Bala Murugan who defeated the Sooran, the idol of Murugan was quite small compared to that of Sooran. Despite the small stature, the Lord appeared quite royal. After beheading the different forms of Sooran, the Sooran reappeared with his original face and Murugan did the Samharam. The narrator explained that though actually the Sooran took the form of a Maamaram (mango tree) and Murugan cut it vertically and it transformed into Seval and Mayil, it was not possible to show this in this event and hence the Samharam is shown with Sooran’s original face itself. After the Samharam, the procession went to the centre in front of the temple and the crowd started moving. We had a darshan of the huge Urchavamurthy of Murugan decked with many flower garlands and grand alangaram and moved out of the place without getting caught in the crowd.

Thank you, Jayu, for the wonderful experience of Soorasamharam.