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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00156 Apr 2006

 
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Madurai, known as temple city, is a pilgrimage centre for both 
saivaites and vaishnavites  and famous all over the world because of 
Meenakshi temple, known even to nonhindus and foreigners. One can 
finish touring the place in three days as we did.

        We arrived in Madurai  in  the morning on 2nd April2006, at 
4am  and booked a room in the New college Hotel  near the station 
which was quite tolerable with good service and good restaurant. We 
arranged for a taxi to go to Srivilliputhur at 6am and reached 
Srivilliputhur after 3 hours. When we went near the temple we saw a 
lot of people belonging to a political party and had misgivings as to 
whether we will have good darsan. But fortunately the VIP, who has 
come to take the blessing of the Lord for his election campaign, left 
soon after we entered. We had a good darsan of Sri Andal and Sri 
Rangamannar.Here Andal gives seva in kalyanakolam with Ranganatha and 
Garuda is seen standing next to the Rangamannar, the moolavar, which 
is the speciality of this temple. There was a well near the main 
sannadhi where Andal used to look in after wearing the garland made 
by her father for the Lord  and compared herself  with Him, 
saying, 'emperuman azagukku ennazagu eedaagumaa?'

        Outside the main temple is the nandavanam from which 
Periyazvar gathered flowers for the garland to adorn the Lord and 
where, under a tulasi bush Andal was found by him as an infant. Both 
inside the main temple and the mandapam built in the nandavanam all 
the thirty thiruppavai verses are written on the walls

         It was thrilling to walk through the place where Andal had 
wandered along with her father and the whole region was reverberating 
with the sacred verses of thiruppavi and Periyazvar pasurams. Next to 
the mandapam, which contains a sannidhi for Andal, and the nandavanam 
is the sannadhi of Vatapatrasayi the original deity of Srivilliputhur 
whom Periazvar and Andal worshipped..Vatapathrasayi is very nice 
looking with amischievous smile in His bujanga sayanam. 

        The sannidhi of Rangamannar with Andal came only after  Andal 
was taken to Srirangam and  disappeared into the sanctum sanctorum. 
The Lord appeared with Andal in Srivilliputhur to please Periazvar as 
Rangamannar. This is the place where Sri Ramanuja fulfilled the 
prayer of Andal that she would offer butter and akkaravadisil in 1000 
pots amd Andal came out callng'anna' which is why she is referred to 
as 'Perumpudurmaamunikkuppinnaanaal.,' the sister of Ramanujaa. This 
is the reason why no one is allowed into the ardhamandapam ,the 
entrance till which Andal came to greet Ramanuja as her elder brother 
and hence considered to be the part of garbhagrha.

        The gopuram of the temple is grand and magestic and next only 
to that of Srirangam  We also bought some paalgova for which the 
place was famous for.

        The same day in the evening we went to pay our respects to 
the queen, Goddess  Meenaakshi. There was a good crowd the day being 
Sunday but we did not have to wait long , having paid 10 rs. for 
special darsan. The moolavar statue is quite small and we could see 
only from outside the ardha mandapam . Previously there was a big 
mirror in front of the sannidhi but now they have removed it.and put 
it outside.We met the same VIP who was in Srivilliputhur in the 
morning. We only hoped that he would not follow us to the other 
temples!

         We visited the temple of Koodal azagar  near the bus stop 
earlier and had a good darsan , There are three tiers in the temple . 
In the lower the Lord Koodal Azagar is seen in sitting position, 
inthe next He is standing and in the top He is in a reclining 
position, the steps to which is quite challenging for a half-cripple 
like me but I managed! The navagraha sannidhi is a speciality here 
which is not usually seen in a vaishnavite temple.

        One could imagine Periazvar mounted on the elephant, after 
vanquishing all the scholars in Madurai through the grace of the 
Lord, eventhough he was not equal to them and excelled them only by 
his devotion, and the Lord Azagar appearing before him to witness the 
glory of His devotee. On seeing the enchanting form of the Lord, the 
anxiety of Periazvar, who had experinced the Lord as a mother would, 
that no evil eye should be cast on Him made him sing 'Pallaandu.' 
Standing in the place where this event took place, I could visualise 
the whole episode in my mind's eye and felt elated to thnk about the 
vatsalya bhakthi of  Periazvar and the vatsalya of Bhagavan towards 
His devotee. 
 
        The next day,that is on 3rd April, we left early in the 
morning to Thirukkottiyur or Thirugoshtiyur , as it is known to the 
locals. It took nearly 2 hours or so by taxi and on the way we had an 
exilerating experience. As it was early morning the Sun rose in front 
looking like a red hot iron ball quite beautiful and pleasing to look 
at, a sight which we poor chennai flat dwellers can never hope to 
enjoy nowadays. It was something marvellous and a never- experienced  
scene, though I have seen sunrise before, several times, even in 
Kanyakumari. It looked as though the Sungod is blessing us on our 
journey. I recited Aditya hrdayam nine times  and felt blissful.

        When we reached Thirukkottiyur it was a different experience 
altogether. We had darsan of  the Moolavar Uragamellanaiyaan and the 
Utsavar Soumyanarayanan and I expressed my wish that I wanted to see 
the statue of Ramanuja at the top of the temple tower from which he 
shouted the ashtakshara manthra for all to hear, without knowing what 
I had in store. It was just as well, since I might have backed out  
if I had known. The bhattatr said that the steps were locked but when 
I told him that I have done my doctorate in Ramanuja's Sribhashya he 
was very cooperative and opened the gate to the stairway. 


        Thirukkottiyur temple also has three tiers , Soumyanarayanan 
in the ground level in sitting posture, while He is standing at the 
higher tier and reclining at the top.We also had the darsan of  the 
Lord Nrsimha in front of whom Thirukkottiyur Nambi gave the 
ashtakshara upadesa to Ramanuja .. Thrilled at standing at the place 
where Ramanuja received his upadesa  we started climbing the stairs.I 
climbed easily the steps upto the second floor and when tried to 
climb the top we were faced with a flight of steps of rock quite 
steep and uneven Somehow I climbed to the last but one step but the 
next one came as a shock since it was two feet high and I almost 
thought of giving it up when, due to the mercy of the Lord, as I have 
been chanting  'lakshminrsimha mama dhehi kraavalambham' through out 
my journey, a lady who was older  and stouter than me was climbing in 
front and she  gave me the hope that I could also do it. She heaved 
herself up with the help of others who joined our party and 
encouraged me to do so. I was practically hauled up by them and we 
saw the Lord in sayanakkolam with  words at the top 'Paramapadam', 
very apt, considering our experience.

        But that was not all. When  we wanted to go out into the 
tower to see Ramanuja we found that we had to enter into a gateway 
three and a half feet high and two and a half feet feet wide. The 
lady in front crawled through which I could not do. So I had to bend 
double and walk carefully not to bang my head at the rock ceiling and 
again my friends helped by pulling me by my hands.Lakshminrsimha had 
given karavalambham!

         But after going out and seeing the statue of Ramanuja at the 
place where he gave his upadesa of  ashtakshara to one and all and 
laying my head at the feet of the Acharya I felt that all my efforts 
were worthwhile and marvelled at the God's mercy  through which I was 
able to make it. A piece of advice for those trying to enter the 
gateway to Ramanuja! Do not raise your torso until you are well out 
of the entrance or you will end up with breaking your spinal column!

        After we came down the same way, a little shaky but elated, 
we went to Thirumayyam and had the darsan of  Satyamurthi, a quite 
impressive form and near the main entrance is the sannidhi of the 
Lord in  sayanakkolam where the moolavar is biggere than in 
Srirangam. After that we visited thr temple of Vinayaka in 
Pilliarpatti which was on the way back to Madurai . 

`       As the weather was quite hot in Madurai we rested during the 
afternoon and  went to Azagar hills, Thirumaaliruncholai. Up the 
hill  was  quite a pleasant ride, abounding in greenery  and monkeys 
all around, where the temple of Lord Muruga ,called Pazamudhirsolai, 
one of the six padaiveedus , is situated. There were lot of monkeys 
around and the driver of our taxi warned us to keep our wallets etc. 
tightly clasped! At the top is the noopuraganga a spring the origin 
of which is not known.

        On descending the hill we went to the temple of Azagar at the 
bottom of the hill. We had a good darsan of the Lord and proceeded to 
Thirumogur.The moolavar there is Kaamegha perumal and utsavar is 
Thirumogur Aptan who is also known as vaziththunaiperumal because 
when you pray to Him He will come with you as an escort when you 
leave this world.

         Behind the main sannadhi is that of Chakkarattazvar, who has 
16 hnds carrying weapons to protect the devotees of the Lord.. 
Nrsimha is at the back , both having the wheel around with flames. 

        Last but not least was the visit to the temple of Othakkadai 
Narasimha at the bottom of the Anaimalai hills. It was originally a 
cave temple and made larger with prakaras and vimana and rajagopura 
recently . The Lord Narasimha there cannot be described in words and 
seeing Him I could only think of the words of Narayanabhattaadri, ' 
na hi vadhithum iso asmi,' when he was about to describe the 
appearance of Nrsimha emerging out of the pillar. I have heard about 
this temple from friends but I was not prepared for the magnificence 
that was present there! Even to think about His form gives 
horipulation! It was lifesize and appeared to be alive to my eyes. A 
wonderful experience!

        The next day we visited Menaakshi temple to bid goodbye and 
saw the 1000 pillared mandapam which houses a museum of statues, 
musical pillars etc. After browsing around the shops there we  
returned to rest as it was the last day of our tour. I brought the 
tour to a conclusion by buying some sungudi cotton saris for which 
Madurai is famous besides its jasmine flowers!, We also bought some 
thaazambu kumkum, which is so called because it is scented with 
thaazambu flowers, which also you can get only in Madurai.We arrived 
in Chennai on5th morning already lookinfg forward to our next trip.









 
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