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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