About my piligrimage to Thiruvahindrapuram!
From the Bhakti List Archives
• April 13, 1999
Shrimathe Sri Ramanujaya Namaha
Dear devotees ,
I returned today from the piligrimage to Thiruvahindrapuram-undoubtly
one to
be cherished and a very memorable experience.I would indeed consider
it my
priviledge to share with all of you my experiences and additional
information
pertaining to the details of the journey to the above place which I
hope
will inspire and also benifit anyone intending to obtain the darshan
of Lord
Devanatha and his divine consort Sri Hema Ambujavalli or Shengamala
Thayar
in Tamil.
Due to HIS divine grace on us ,we never at all felt the travel unto
this
place irksome or tideous at all.A nights journey to Cuddalore coupled
with
the bus journey to Thiruvahindrapuram(which is exactly 10 kms away)
was
very smooth.There are buses from 6.00am from Cuddalre to
Thiruvahindrapuram in the morning and every 20mins
hence until late evening - bus fare = Rs 1.75/.The 6.00am bus will
enable you to witness the
Viswaroopa sevai which we missed much to our dismay.
The temple is open until 12.00-12.15 noon after which it reopens at
5.00 in the
till The Lord retires which is around 9.00-9.30 in the night.
However for a detailed and descriptive study of the temple,I would
suggest
one reach the temple latest by 6.45 in the morning and remain there
till
12.00 pm minimum;an interested person may also interact with the
bhattars who are
ever so ready to explain the sthala puranams and show you throughout
the temple with quotes from Swami Desikar's slokas outpouring from
their mouths.
My heartfelt thanks to Shri Sudarshan Madabushi who gave me the name
of
Shri Neelamegha Bhattar and not to mention the reference made to his
elder
brother Shri Ramaswamy Bhattachar ,an octogenerian and brahmachari,who
is involved in the service of the Lord and Goddess since 5-6 decades.
It was he ,despite his failing stamina who opened for us some
sannidhis
and explained the necessary incidents concerning the same.
Beginning with a detailed description of the temple,I would like to
start
with the Sthala puranas as was explined to us ,which I noted down.
There are many stories governing the origin of this place of which the
bhattar
explained a few .There are many more as I gathered
by reading the book on 108 divya Desams published by TTD Devasthanams
by
Miss.S.Ramesh.I shall relate as many as possible.
1)
Once upon a time ,in Thirupapuliyur,Lord Shiva was praying to Lord
Devanatha when
an asareeri advised him to proceed to Garuda nadi and continue his
penence.
Lord Shiva followed the asereeri,and within short time Lord Devanatha
appeared before him and
he granted the help as requested by Shiva to kill the asura
Triprasuras.
With Lord Brahma = Sarathi,Mt Meru=Dhanus,Bhoomi=ratham,Chandra
+Surya=wheels,
Vasuki=bow string rope,4 oceans=quiver,vedas=horses,Lord Vishnu=arrow
that would
be loose from Lord Shiva's bow.
(Such a mighty war is surely beyond our contemplation-both the world
wars
fall cheaply behind,no nuclear weapons can ever result in a battle of
such fury
and might!)
The fierce battle resulted in the asuras being vanquished while at the
same time
Lord Shiva was being swept away by the river which was in spate.As
always, our
Lord Devanatha came to the rescue by playing the divine flute on the
river banks-
the result;Samudraraja was pacified,lord Shiva was back on the shores
safe and sound.
Even to this day on Masi Pournami the Theerthavari utsavam is
celebrated
wherin Lord Siva of Thirupapuliyur and Lord Devanatha gets into the
sea.
Swami Desikan refers to this in his Desika Sukti - 'masi kadal adi
mazhindu varu
vare',i.e.have a sea bath in Masi and be happy.
2)Concering the revealation of Lord Vishnu as the Trinity:
Yet another battle between the devas and the asuras with the former
being helped
by our Lord Vishnu and the latter by Lord Shiva.Chakrattalwar was
asked to
destroy the enemies and return victorious.In fact Lord Siva's 3rd eye
also
was no match at all to the dazzle of our Chakrattalwar-it seems it was
like like lighting a candle in broad
daylight.Lord Vishnu had enough of the war when he recalled Sudarshana
Alwar and
pacifying him by revealing himself in his beautiful form.
It was at this juncture that the Trinity form was seen by Lord Shiva.
Our Perumal's Trinity form had both Shankara and his consort Parvati
as a part,
Goddess Lakshmi was seated on His chest while Lord Brahma arose from
his navel.
The devas and brahmins were seen on his face ,kings on his
hands,vysyas on his thighs
and the shudras on His legs.In addition ,in his body, God revealed the
Ekadasa
Rudras i.e.manifestation of Lord Shiva in 11 forms.
Lord Shiva requested Lord Devanatha to stay at Thiruvahindrapuram and
also to permit him to
stay at Thirupapuliyur-both these wishes were granted by Lord
Narayana.
3)The Lord felt thirsty after this fierce batle and hence sent both
Garuda and Adishesha to fetch water
to quench his thirst.Adishesha hit into the earth and water came
gushing out.He took that water to Perumal
who was v.pleased and said that the water would be reffered to as
Shesha Theertham.Meanwhile,Garuda who had
gone to collect water from Viraja Nadhi entered Madhu vanam where a
rishi was engrossed in deep penance.The
muni had in his kamandalam the Viraja Thirtham seeing which Garuda
automatically tilted the same and diverted the
water inside towards Oushada giri where the Lord was waiting to quench
his
thirst.But Garuda became crestfallen on realising that Adishesha had
already obtained water for the Lord.
Our Lord who cheers up one and all ,found an appropriate solution by
declaring
that henceforth Shesha theertham would fulfill the wishes of all
people and will grant Moksha
to all people who bathe in it while the river brought by Garuda would
be known as Garuda Nadhi and will
be considered equivalent to the Holy Ganges.
It is believed that the water brought by Adishesha was Patala Ganga
theertham.Even till this day
the Shesha theertam is located in the premises of the temple and the
Madapalli(temple kitchen)
uses this water to prepare all the neivedhyams for the Lord.
Another noteworthy point is that in this divya desam,the practice of
pouring milk
to the ant hills is done by puring the milk directly into the Shesha
Thirtham.
4)Another story related to the temple goes thus:
Brighu maharshi found a girl child on a lotus whom he reared with
love and affection.
He named the child as Bharghavi(daughter of Brighu). Note that there
are only 2 places
where the Thayar is named Bharghavi-Thiruvahindrapuram and at
Adanoor.The Thayar
was also called Hemambujanayaki(which stays on as the official
name!)as she was found
on a golden lotus. From childhood,the girl was always thinking of her
Lord and finally
Lord Narayana himself came to Brighu Maharishi for permission to marry
Bharghavi.To save
Brighu from the sadness of saperation from his foster daughter the
Lord permitted
him to continue to stay at that place with Perumal and his daughter
which is why in
Thiruvahindrapuram Bhrighu maharishi is seen to the left of Lord
Devanatha in the Garbagriha.
5)The bhattar also told us as to why the Thayar is known by the name
Tharanga Mukha Nayaki-
Thayar as a girl was very fond of going to the seashore and watch the
waves
always and hence the name for her fondness towards the sea.
6)Further the bhattar went on to explain that the herbs found on
Oushadagiri are indeed
medicinal owing to the fact that when Anjaneya was on his way to Lanka
carrying the
Sanjeevani Hill,some herbs dropped down onto Oushadagiri.
Proceeding the desribe the various sannidhis here,
1)We are greeted by the magnificient and tall dwajasthambam-I would be
glad if any of you
can explain the significance of the dwajathambham and why we offer
pranams to that.
After offering our pranams,we went in pradhakshinam to the Thayar
sannidhi.The Thayar is
v.beautiful with long eyes-Ramaswamy bhattar said that the Thayar
often comes to his
dreams and advises him.We could see that he was sincere and there
seemed to be no
question of doubt or sincerity in what he said.
2)To the right of the main sannidhi is Lord Rama's sannidhi;where the
"Kathora Sukumara" Raghuveeragadyam was composed .The way Ramaswamy
Bhattar explained
-"It was this Lord Rama whom Swami Desika extolled as -Jaya Jaya
Mahavira,Mahadhira Ghoureya" and pointing to Goddess
Sita he quoted "Maithila Nagara Sulochana Lochana Chakora
Chandra....".The beauty of Rama with the arrow in his
hand resting on the ground,while that of Lakshmana's arrow held
upright by him as though
ready to protect Rama and Sita from any danger and Goddess Sita with
her serene and calm face is all
to be seen and experienced.It indeed requires the bhakti and poetic
excellence of Swami Desika to
express further in words.
One interesting feature is that Lord Anjaneya is not in his customary
posture of folded hands or kneeling down,
but his fingers are touching his nose(as we stand when we approach our
Acharyan!),which the bhattar explained
was the indication of ready inclination to fulfill any work assigned
to him by Lord Rama.
3)It is not known to many that the Lord in Thiruvahindrapuram is found
in all
the 3 thirukolam(postures ) namely standing(Lord
DEvanatha),sitting(Lord Ahindrapuranathan)
and the lying down posture as in the mighty causal ocean(Lord
Ranganatha).
Of course,the standing posture of the Lord is of maximum prominence
here in the form
of Lord Devanatha.The other 2 thirukolams of the Lord are less
prominent and especially
Lord Ahindrapuranatha is small in stature.
The main facets of Lord Devanatha (moolavar and utsavar) have already
been presented
by Shri Mani in his site and I have no extra details to add in this
regard except that I was not fortunate to see the
thiruvadi or the bottom half of the Lord as it was covered and the
covering would be
removed only 15 days hence.
The beauty of the utsavar really leaves you in tears and spellbound.I
could realise the
truth in Sri Desikar's words,"Nin Vadivazagu maravadar Piravadare".It
is to be experienced.
4)On the side opposite to the main sannidhi are the sannidhis of Lord
Ahindrapuranatha with
Adishesha howering over his head,sannidhi of Bhasyakaran,Kulashekara
Alwar,Thirupan Alwar
and Thirukachinambigal.(Could anyone tell me about him?)
5)On the other adjoining side of the main sannidhi and the above
sannidhis is Swami Deshikar's sannidhi
to the left of him are Lord ranganathar sannidhi,Andal and the
sannidhi of the Alwars.
6)We then climbed the Oushadagiri(73 steps to be precise which are
quite very easy to climb
unlike the steep and uneven steps to Lord Yoga Narasimha at Melkote)
to obtain the
blessings of Lord Lakshmi Hayagrivar.
When we came down,the bhattar told us to witness the thirumanjanam of
Swami Desika.
While the Shatumorai(I again do not know what this is exactly except
that I am familiar with the word
and that it is carried out in all our temples!) was going on for Swami
Desikan,the Bhattar was kind
enough to explain the title of Sarva Tantra Swatantran being
associated with Desikar
after he built a well with his own hands and also his idol (present in
his sannidhi)which he himself made.
Further Swami Desika is seated on a peetam which was made by an
opponent who lost to Desikar in a debate.
I will not be wrong in saying that the thirumanjanam performed to
Swami Desika by Shri Ramaswamy Bhattar was the magnum opus
of the entire piligrimage.
Milk,followed by curds,oil-it was as though rubbing oil over a small
child's head and body;it was done with such
care,affection and reverence to Swami Desika which filled your
eyes.After oil it was honey,tender coconut,
lemon (was squeezed on him),sandal water(paste also was applied on
him),turmeric water and finally water.
After the detailed thirumanjanam,Swami Desika was decorated with a new
silk dhothi and
a beautiful,flowing red rose garland -he was all ready for the night's
procession and the
idol was kept in a room of mirrors(It was the kannadi arai sevai)-can
you
imagine the beauty of Swamy Desika?Is it not but right to say that
Swami Desika is revered
as equivalent to God? Wow,it was something;a treat to our eyes!
Well,not to leave out the most important of all; guess what-Lord's
prasadam;we
were famished and hungry and the Lord decieded to not send us hungry
from his
place- Venn Pongal and Curd Rice.
After satifying our hunger,we thanked Ramaswamy bhattar for taking
interest in
showing us around and explaining about the temple.We asked him if he
could recite
the Gopala Vimshati as pointed by Shri Sudarshan Madabhushi but he
politely refused
due to his tiredness and persistent cough.
I hope all of you do visit this temple whenever you get an
opportunity to
do so;I would like to happily point out that this is one of the few
temples where
the bhattars are sincere and not polluted by the material wealth of
the poeple who
visit the temple.
Any other information you would like to know about visiting this
place
or anything pertaining to this,I would be glad to help if I am aware
of the same.
Do not hesitate to write to me- My e-mail address is
.
Thanking you,
With due regards,
Smitha Ajay.
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