The Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip 16.02.09 Part 2

The 1st picture from top shows the sthala vriksham. In the Kritha Yuga, this was a kadamba vanam, in Thretha Yuga, this was a vilva vanam, in dwapara yuga, this was a vagula (magizhambu) vanam, in kali yuga (now), this is a vembu (nibumba) vanam.

See the outer praharam in the next picture. The praharam obviously existed for a long long time, however, the pillars and the roof were constructed only about a decade back. The roof is very useful – previously doing a pradhakshinam of the outer praharam was quite difficult, especially in summer, now it is much easier. I do not know how people did angapradhakshinam when the roof was not there (doing angapradhakshinam in V.Koil is not an easy task – I’ve done that only once and believe me, it is not like doing it in Guruvayoor or Sabari malai, it is very very difficult because of the sheer length of the praharam). I only wish people had thought about harmonization with the existing temple architecture while constructing the pillars and the roofing.

Take a close look at the 3rd picture from top. The pillars are of the 3^rd oldest type of architecture. But look at the pillar on the left hand side. Only one side seems to have the extension, the other side seems to be blank for no apparent reason!

The next few of snaps of the inner praharam. What you see in the 4th pic from top is Sattanathar. He is directly above the Dhakshinamurthy.

The navagrahas are actually in a line and not in a typical three by three square format is seen in many temples (see 5th picture from top).

The Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip 16.02.09 Part 1

We started off at about 9 30 am for Trichy Junction and traveled to Mailaduthurai by train. The Jan Shatabdi express actually came from Coimbatore and had only one Air-Conditioned chari car. The seats were brown and once again, the railway’s deviation from blue looked great. It seems like there is a definite shift in the Railways mindset, atleast as far as the furnishing is concerned. Chithi had made mullangi sambar saadam, curd rice, vendaikkai curry and vazhaikkai chips for brunch. To go with the curd-rice, we had puli-ingi oorugai, once again, it a bit of jaggery in it and tasted great. From Mayavaram, Saravanan, a cabbie, took us to Vaitheeswaran Koil.

We were put up at Balambika Lodge, yet another new lodge at the ambal sannathi street. It seems like two more houses in the agraharam is giving way to lodges and hopefully, that would bring down the prices of the rooms a little bit – Rs.800 for an air-conditioned room in V.Koil somehow seems to be a bit too much.

We visited the temple in the evening at about 5:30 pm. While entering the huge temple through the ambal sannathi street, you have go around the temple kulam. The kulam itself is quite huge in size as shown in the 1st picture on top. Note the domes on top around the pathway of the kulam. Also note the two Rajagopurams behind. There are about 15-20 temples in India with four Rajagopurams and V.Koil is one of them. However, it seems like this is the only temple where all the four Rajagopurams are in the same line (I don’t know for sure, I’m just guessing here). In most temples, the four Rajagopurams would be on the four walls of the outer praharam of the temple. However, here only two are in the outer praharam (on the east and western side). The other two are also on the eastern and western side, on the next inner praharam.

Take a look at the 2nd picture from top. No wonder Samanvitha says “Baachu chithapa is a Vaadhyar Mama”!!!!! Right behind me is the Karpaga Vinagayar. He is actually quite a Kaarya Siddhi Vinagayar as far as I’m concerned. We had no hopes of getting the Bank Audit last year on some technical grounds. However, dad prayed to this Vinagayar stating that he would break 108 coconuts for the Vinagayar and against all odds, we got the Bank Audits last year! He mentioned that we should be doing it this year also and you know what, our firm has been classified as a stage II firm (meaning we could be auditing bigger branches) even though it was technically impossible!!!!!

Anirudh has been talking about the Yaanai for the past several days, however, when he saw Mriganayaki (see 3rd picture from top), he was too frightened to go near it.

The 4th from top picture below shows the back side of the Muthukumaraswami sannadhi. It is interesting to note that only Grihasthas do archana and harathi for Muthukumaraswamy, bachelors are not allowed to do it.

The 5th picture from top shows Angarakan Sannadhi which was constructed only about a decade back. Previously Angarakan was in the side next to Pazhani andavar sannadhi. Once again, people have not bothered to ensure harmony of the new construction with the existing temple architecture.

Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip - 15.02.09 - Part 2

For all the child-like eagerness that had in seeing Brahmendral’s adhishtanam, it was a fairly simple place (see 1st picture on top). I should have expected it, after all, Brahmendral was a gnani and was a Digambari for a large part of his life; but I was probably influenced by Mahaperiva’s adhishtanam in my thought process of looking for the great saint’s adhishtanam.

So this is it folks, the simple square which seems to be about 12’ by 12’ and which has the vilva tree at the center. Also note the lingam at the foot of the tree which has been decorated well. In fact, the combination of Naaga Linga Poo, Red hibiscus  and Nandyavettai in the circle around the tree looked beautiful. According to Sivan Sir, Brahmendral told people beforehand that someone would be coming after 10 days of his Samadhi and giving a lingam which has to be placed near the vilva tree. Sivan Sir put it beautifully and the sentence goes something like this “10 naal kazhithu lingathai kodutha nabar yaar endra kelviyai naan ungal kitteye vittuvidugiren!!” The Archakar  that you see in the picture is Narayana Upadyaya. Both the archakars told me that Sadasiva Brahmendral had three samadhis – in Nerur (Sthoolam), Mana Madurai (Sookshmam) and Karachi (yes, the Karachi in Pakistan, where his Karya Shariram had attained samadhi). I tried telling them that it was actually in five places (Puri-Jagannath and Kasi, in addition to the three mentioned above) and that it was based on Sivan Sir’s recording of Brahmendral’s history, but only got quizzical looks in return. The archakar also told me that Bharti Theertha Swamigal, the 33^rd acharya of Shringeri also known as the Mahasannidhanam, actually located the adhishtanam in Karachi (before India’s independence).

Take a look at the 2nd pic from top, and I was shocked. The vilva tree actually seems to have no life!! The archakar confirmed that it has been about 5-6 years since it became pattu poiduthu. I do not know how to interpret this – was it because Brahmendral’s Saannidhyam had left the earth? Then I saw that there were offshoots that had come up recently (by themselves, the archakar told me) and then I decided that it is best not to interpret what the no-lifeness of the original tree means and what the growth of the new ones mean. The picture below shows the new vilva shrubs growing. The other side directly opposite to this one contains a lot more and I was kind of happy to see that.

I recited Thotakaashtam and did namaskaram for each sloka and then chithi and I came around the adhishtanam (including Kasi Vishwanathar and ambal) 11 times and then I made a final prostration and we retreated. The gurukkal asked me what I was doing and he gave an odd expression when I replied. It has happened before – looking at a fair, intelligent looking (humility is an attribute of a saadhu, but I’m only trying to be a viveki) person with vibuthi pattai, panchakacham, angavasthram and on top (pun intended) of it, a kudumi, I don’t know if they expect “I’m a vedic scholar from Kasi”, but they definitely don’t seem to expect “I’m a Chartered Accountant doing business in Chennai”.

Outside the temple, but inside the compound wall of the place, we had brunch, it was about 11 am by then. Chithi had made excellent lemon rice and to go with it, she had made beans, carrot and thengai curry and then of course, vazhaikkai chips. The thayir saadam was even better, what with the saadam being garnished with kadugu, kothamalli, pachai molagai and made from superb cow’s milk/curd. The best part was the molagai thokku to go with the curd rice. It had some jaggery in it along with green chilli but tasted like amritham.

On the way back, chithapa asked me why I keep putting Rs.100 in archakar’s thattu wherever I go and I explained – It is because of this money factor that the sons of these archakars are not learning their kula thozhil and are studying in English schools to make a “better” living. So people like us who go to temples, especially the rarer temples, should give money yatha shakthi to the archakars so that they are encouraged to bring their children in this line. If this doesn’t happen, then who would take care of the thousands of temples in Tamil Nadu (leave India, I believe there are more than a thousand temples in Tamil Nadu itself)?? In the earlier times, this problem was not there because kings made it a point to give lands to temples and a portion of the land was apportioned to the archakars and thus their livelihood was assured. Now with all major temples coming under the Endowment and Charitable Board, it is only a money swindling activity for our politicians. Little do these guys know about the kind of sufferings that they need to undergo for swindling a temple’s money/land.

Talking about temples land, I want to show you another photo, take a look at the 4th pic from top – It is the picture of the Church in St. Josephs college, right across the street after you come out of Rockfort. I have no doubt in my mind that at some point or the other, the land would have belonged to the Thaayumaanaswami temple. Let me give you a couple of examples here. Almost all shops near the Marundeeshwarar temple pay rent to the temple because the land in and around the area belongs to the temple. If you take Thiruvellarai temple near Trichy (it is one of the 108 holy Vaishnavite temples), I was told that the temple still owns about 500 acres of land.

Now, how was land from Thaayumaanaswami temple acquired by missionaries? It would be interesting to see that piece of history, given the way missionaries have been operating in India since the history of missionaries in India!!!

We came back home at about 2 pm and took rest. Chithi then made unbelievable cauliflower and Kathirikkai bajji for me. She knew that was an avid bajji fan and her bajjis were simply fabulous!! She used kadalai maavu and arisi maavu in 3:2 proportion but the clincher was a pinch of soda salt which made the bajjis really moru-moru!!!!!

Later in the evening, I went to pick-up Prinitha and the kids at her chithi’s house had dinner of adai-avial, which was also very well made.

I came back and took a look at chithapa and Chithi’s horoscope. An interesting observation was that Guru was placed in Simham (Mithuna Lagnam) for both of them!! Ever since the Guru Dasa started in 2001, they have been going on kshetra yatra. Chithi and chithapa have since visited all the Jyothir Lingams, came with us to Badrinath and Kedarnath, visited kasi and Rameshwaram, made a trip to all major temples in Karnataka and Kerala and they have been visiting a lot of temples in the Trichy-Thanjavur-Kumbakonam belt and also visited the nava-tirupathi temples in and around Thirunelveli!!! So it seems that it is ideal for religiousness/temple visits when Guru is in Simham (it is notable that Maha Maham occurs when Guru is in Simham and when full moon occurs in Simha maasam, i.e. when sun is in simham and moon is in Khumbam).

Time to hit the bed today, looking forward to Vaitheeswaran Koil tomorrow….

Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip - 15.02.09 - Part 1

I forgot to mention the dinner yesterday night – it was chithi’s trademark Rava Dosai with Thenga Chutney. It seems the trick to the ultra roast lies in the Dosa Kallu, which chithi got from Kumbakonam. She also showed me another Kallu, which was very heavy (as compared to other typical dosa kallus) – it was flat on top and was really fat on the other side at the center. She said she inherited that from her mother-in-law and said that the roast from this Kallu would be unbelievable.

We started off at around 7:30 in the morning, left Prinitha at her chithi’s home because we felt it would become too much travel for the kids and then Savithri chithi, chithapa and I proceeded to Nerur. It was about 10-15 kilometers from Karur and the NH 67 itself was a beautiful drive. Throughout the distance till Karur, Cauvery was on one side for two thirds of the distance and then there was Amaravathi for the balance. The other side of NH 67 was dotted with temples, rice fields and Vazhai thoppus. On the way, we saw Kambarasampettai, Nangavaram, Mahadhanapuram and Musiri – all these places were once famous for Agraharams. Now I do not know if “Kambarasam Pettai Agraharam” denotes just a street or if it is still populated by Brahmins. Chithi tells me that there are still Brahmins in Kambarasampettai and Nangavaram, but nobody here is sure of Mahadhanapuram and Musiri. My guess is that there should still some/lot of Brahmins around, but the entire Agraharam may not be populated entirely by Brahmins.

Take a look at the 1st picture on top, it is an ordinary way-side mandapam between Karur and Nerur. The pillars are of second oldest type of architecture in south India and so it may be even a thousand years old. However, it has to be kept in mind that the pillar architecture is only indicative of the period. For example, even the Kasi Vishwanathar temple at Thennur that I visited yesterday had the same pillar architecture – that is because the budget! The later type of architecture, especially the ones which has the S shape extending at the top is very costly. So some pillars, even though built recently, could belong to an architectural style that belongs to a previous period. Moreover, it doesn’t make sense in spending lavishly on a roadside mandapam – our kings always knew where to spend lavishly and were to be cost effective and yet utilitarian. There are hundreds of such mandapams that were intended to provide shelter to traveling people – I’ve seen quite a few myself along the Chennai-Trichy-Kumbakonam highway. It may also have been more effective considering that travel in earlier days invariably took more than a day.

The area near Brahmendral’s adhishtanam was surrounded by sugarcane and vazhai thopus as shown in the 2nd and 3rd picture from top. In the midst of these serene lands, Brahmendral’s adhishtanam looked very peaceful indeed.

Note the small Gopuram inside in the 4th photo from top. I was actually surprised to find a Kasi Vishwanathar Koil and that Brahmendral’s adhishtanam is actually located inside the temple premises. The Gurukkal at the temple told me that swami and ambal were brought from Kasi by a Brahmin boy. I do not know if the temple was in existence before Brahmendral’s time, but going by the architecture, it definitely seems to me that the temple was in existence before and Brahmendral’s adhishtanam was built later – otherwise, it would have been planned in such a way that the adhishtanam occupied a more prominent place in the premises.

Note the 5th picture from top. Brahmendral’s adhishtanam is located right behind Kasi Vishwanathar.

The Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip 14.02.09 Part 5

I could not recollect mother’s rendition of the Thiruppughaz that I found in the temple. So I took a picture of it and then let us see if mother knows it (see pic above).

The picture on top shows the swamy and ambal.

Retiring for the night, looking forward to tomorrow – one of the main purpose of visiting Trichy was to see Sadasiva Brehmendral’s adhishtanam in Nerur. I’ve been having an inner urge to see the place for a long time now, so sweet dreams!

The Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip 14.02.09 Part 4

In the evening, I wanted to go to a temple in Cholamadevi but ended up going to a totally different temple. The driver seemed assured about the place, so I left it at that, then once we were there, I realized that we had come to Thirunedungalanathar temple. I was not disappointed at all – the temple was a padal petra sthalam – Thirugnanasambandar and Arunagirinathar had compositions in the temple and it was indeed a pleasant surprise.

The temple is actually about 7 kms from Thuvakudi, which in turn, is a few kilometers from BHEL/Erumbeeswarar Temple.

The inside of the temple actually looked beautiful, as seen from the picture above (2nd from top). Note my new Color Plus shirt – it was a surprise from Prinitha who said it a gift for “Valentine’s Day”! I was even more surprised because she knew that I’m not the one to celebrate V-day. Then came the truth – she had got two shirts yesterday on a CP sale for our wedding day which falls next month. She didn’t know what to do with the next one and decided on this!!! 

The architecture of this temple was typically south India (Chozhan) and as always, extremely good. But take a look at the above picture (3rd from top) and see where Anirudh is sitting – it seems to be a relatively addition as compared to the temple. It should have been done only within the past couple of decades, but whoever did it, did not really try to synchronize it with the rest of the temple. Take a look at the next picture (4th from top) – this elephant is also a recent addition. Though this is more in sync with the overall architecture of the temple, the original would have been a great sight (it would have probably looked something like the single piece elephant at the entrance of the Rockfort temple as depicted in my previous post).

The swamy in the temple is Mangalamba sametha shri Nithya Sundareshwarar. The priest told me a couple of interesting facts – this is the only temple other than Kasi where the swamy has two vimanams (see 5th pic from top). Agasthiyar is supposed to have worshipped in the temple and there was a Agastheeswarar lingam in the outer praharam.

The Trichy-V.Koil-Guruvayoor Trip - 14.02.09 Part 3

I left Prinitha, the kids and Chithi at the temple and went to have a Darshan of the uchchi pilliyar.

Take a look at the picture above, it was taken on the way from the Thaayumaanaswamy temple to the uchchi pilliyar temple. This is actually a small place beside the steps leading to the uchchi pilliyar temple with three pillars on the outside and three on the inside. If you see carefully, the beam which seemingly supports the pillars and the pillars themselves seems to be carved out of Rockfort’s Rock itself!!! Then I wonder if the place inside was hollow before or if the place itself was carved out??!! My guess is that there would have been a small natural entrance leading to the inset cave and then these four pillars and the beam would have been carved out. I also wonder if many parts of the Thaayamaanaswamy temple itself was like that – maybe some or many of the pillars and beams of the three tier temple was carved out of the rocks itself. I wonder if the history of the construction of this temple is preserved somewhere. Let’s see if researching the net helps.

A view of the uchchi pilliyar temple (4th pic from the top). Note the steps – again seems to be carved out of the rocks itself for some distance. 

Take a look at the building which houses a huge bell for the pilliyar koil (3rd pic from top). I don’t know if the bell existed before the building, but the building was definitely a later addition, as indicated by its architecture, which seems to be influenced by the British style of architecture.

 The second picture from the top is that of the Thaayumaanaswamy temple from the uchchi pilliyar. 

The first picture on top shows the dry Cauvery. I really wonder if it is a good idea to build dams in rivers. I’m not too sure how much the nadhi devata would like it. If she doesn’t, then people obstructing the natural course of the river would have to pay a heavy Karmic price. Note the Srirangam temple’s gopurams on the left hand side.

 Talking about the gopuram, I recall an interesting conversation with a Vaasthu specialist in the train. He said that Gopurams were designed in such a way that it could even absorb lightning. At that point of time, I recalled another conversation with Gopi (archakar at Kanchi Kamakshi amman temple) whose new house had only a ground floor. When asked why, he explained that no houses in the vicinity should actually be taller than Kamakshi’s Gopuram. Now it really makes sense – in the earlier years, the temple gopuram was the tallest and it absorbed the lightning. I wonder how many other public utilities our temples had?

We came back home and chithi had made superb “combination poricha kozhambu” and violet kathirikka curry. It has to be noted here that the violet kathirikka tastes superb in Kumbakonam and Trichy and invariably is not good in Chennai (gives a kasappu taste). The thakkali rasam, to which a bit of kothamalli verai podi was added, tasted great.