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thoo nilA muRRam - part 11 - logistics and panchakrOsa yAthrai

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Sampath Rengarajan • May 24, 1999 


thoo nilA muRRam - part 11  - logistics and panchakrOsa yAthrai

Dear bAgawathAs,

	This kshEthram is  situated  in  tanjore  district in tamil
nAdu. One can reach this holy city by a train from  Madras,  Trichy
or Madurai. From the railway station it is about 2 miles west.  One
can take a cab or an autorikshaw or a cycle rickshaw from the train
station to the temple. Everyone knows if you say  sArngapAni  kOil.
One can  also reach here by bus from anywwhere in tamilnadu. Trichy
and Chidambaram are connected by direct bus service every half hour.
There are also buses to Madras every hour. Madras is 8 hours  by  a
bus and 5 and a half hours by a car or private cab. It costs around
Rs 1800 (rate for 1999) for a to and fro trip by a cab from  Madras.
Night train journey (Rs 150 ?) needs advance reservation of atleast
a month ahead.

Day time chOlan express and Janata express reach  in  evenings  and
are often faster and not crowded if one can take the scorching sun.
One can stay  here  as  abundant  places such as hotels, chahtrams,
travel bangalows, state tourism complexes, are there to stay. While
staying here one can visit my abimAnana  kshEthram  Sri  Boomi dEvi
samEtha Sri Oppiliappan sannithi and 19 other  divya  dEsams  among
108 divya dEsams  altogether  totalling 21 divya dEsams.  The chOla
nAttu divya dEsams amount to 40 among 108. Ofwhich all  the 40 DD's
are within less than 4 hours travel. However there are 20 DD's that
can be seen from KumbakOnam  itself  by  staying  in kumbakoanm and
renting a cab for 3 to 4 days and  cover  6  to 7 a day. These DD's
are all within  a few  hours  (less  than  2  hours  each)  travel.
Howvever there are 9 closeby divya dEsams that are in the immediate
vicinity and are collectively known as  a  dasAvathAram  of Sri ArA
Amudhan HIMself. It is said that Sri ArA Amudhan did a dasAvathAram
during HIS arcchA avathAram itself.

They are:

1. Sri Oppiliappan kOil, or thiru viNNagaram
2. nAchhiyAr kOil or thiru naRaiyoor
3. Thiru chErai
4. nAthan kOil or thiru nanthi pura viNNagaram
5. thiru koodaloor or AuduthuRai perumAL kOil
6. thiru kabisthalam
7. thiru puLLam bootham kudi
8. thiru Athanoor
9. thiru veLLiam kudi

	These temples are also in sitauted in somewhat a concentric
formation around  Sri ArA amuthan like a  pradhakshinam.  They  are
not  only  known  as  the  dAsAvathAram  but  also  known  as   the
nava ratthanams that garland  Sri ArA amudhan.

	It is delivered  in "kumbakOnam mahAthmiyam"  58th  chapter
several  times  that   "in  thiru   kudanthai  our  Lord  undertook
dasAvathAram 'AGAIN and AGAIN' for the sake of the  dEvAs.  Several
other kshEthrams are also present in this  holy  city  itself. Many
bhakthAs  come  here  and  stay  here   and  go  around  the  local
Srivaishnava temples first and then go around to  the  other  divya
desams  around  in  the   vicinity.  This  specific  itinerary   of
visting thiru kudanthai and the other encircling Srivaishnava divya
dEsams around it is known as "pachakrOsa yAthrai" in purAnAs.

Sri  kOmaLa  vaLLi  thAyAr  samEtha  Sri  ArA  amudhan thiruvadikaLE
saraNam
Sampath Rengarajan

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