Tiruttani

Last Sunday after Soundaryalahari parayanam in Suja’s house, we were sitting and talking when Rama mentioned that Kamala had suggested that we should all visit Tiruttani. As it is I had been behind Ranga to take me to Tiruttani and this added fuel to the fire!

Immediate action on WhatsApp group resulted in a big disappointment with Sajan and Karthik not being able to confirm due to official work. As it is, we were missing Jayashree as she is back in Vapi!  Further in the week, Kalyan hinted that he may not be able to join as he was to travel out of Chennai on the same day. Despite all these hiccups, we were keen that all of us should go together which I think finally helped our cause, as all confirmed their joining on Saturday evening!

Starting in two vehicles at 430 am after breaking coconut to Pillayar as usual, we reached Tiruttani at 630 am.  

coffee break on the way

We took the assistance of one of the temple staff for darshan. As we entered the sanctum, the God decided to surprise us with the Gurukkal of Srikarumbur temple on duty standing in front of Lord Murugan! After that it was just short of red carpet, making us all sit in front of the Lord, who was decked in thanga kavasam and wearing a blue velvet coat! I felt very sentimental with my ancestral connection with the temple and was tearful throughout the darshan. With archanai and deeparathanai, Naren Gurukkal took us to the sannidhis of Valli, Devayanai and Durgai!

We had darshan of Sri Adhi Balasubramaniyar just behind the main sanctum.  Coming out, we had darshan of the Urchava murthy Lord Murugan with Valli and Devayanai seated in a Rudraksha mandapam. I was tempted to take a photograph here as usually, clicking photos of urchava murthies is allowed. But the Gurukkal there said it was not allowed there inside the rudraksha mandapam, but we could take photos when the urchava murthies are taken out in procession. Accepting his words, we went to Shanmugar sannidhi. There are two sannidhis adjacent to each other. The one close to the wall was Aabathsagaya Vinayakar, such a huge Pillayar, always ready to help us! In front of this sannidhi, adjacent to the wall we could see idols of Arunagirinathar and the Nava veerar who were with Lord Muruga during the war.

Next to Aabathsagaya Vinayakar was Shanmugar with six faces, sitting majestically on a peacock, flanked by Valli and Devayanai on either side with a snake beneath the peacock’s feet. We prayed here and came out having a glimpse of a very cute smaller urchavamurthy.

We sat for a few minutes at the temple and the Gurukkal gave us sandalwood paste prasadam on special request. This prasadam is edible and is considered sarva roga nivarani.

 

 

Darshan completed, we were ready for breakfast. After driving down for about 5-10 minutes we took a breakfast break. Next plan was to visit Thiruvallur Veeraraghava Perumal temple.

But isn’t it HIS decision where we go?

Mani mama (Rama’s father) called Sudha and she promptly told him that we were at Tiruttani. His immediate advice was that we should visit Thiruvalangadu.

Mama further advised that we visit the Kali temple first and then the Sivan temple. We came to know only then that these are two separate structures and not one!

Our visit to this temple made me very happy for two reasons. 1.  Mama had advised me to visit a Kali temple for Rahu dasai and 2. I have been wanting to visit Thiruvalangadu for a long time!

We drove about 20 km to reach Tiruvalangadu. Our first stop was at Kali temple. This temple has just one sannidhi of the Goddess with Lord Ganesha on the side. The Gurukkal here enthusiastically explained about the Goddess.

Kali Temple gopuram

Once upon a time there was a rakshasa called Rakthabeejan who after a long and tough penance obtained a boon from Goddess Parvati that he will not be killed by humans and each drop of his blood touching the ground will create a clone of his! Goddess granted the boon and Rakthabeejan became all powerful. To destroy him, the Goddess created Kali from her own body. When Goddess Kali fought with Rakthabeejan, drops of his blood falling down created as many Rakthabeejans. To stop this, Kali collected Rakthabeejan’s blood in a bowl and drank it, thereby destroying him.

The result of drinking evil blood, Kali became violent! Lord Shiva was the only power who was capable of stopping her. The Lord built a small hut near her and settled there. Kali angrily beckoned him for battle. The Lord calmly suggested that they have a dancing competition. Kali agreed to this and the competition started. Equally matched, the dance went on for a long time. The Lord dropped his right earring and as though trying to wear it again, he picked it up with his left foot and put it back on his ear. The Goddess could not match this posture and accepted defeat! Here, in this temple she stands with her right hand in abinayam, left hand in abhayam and six more hands holding weapons. Her feet are in a dancing posture, heels touching and toes away! The Gurukkal also showed her anklets to us!

The Lord granted her the boon that people will visit her first before coming to his abode and hence all go to the Kali temple first and then to the main temple.

People who want to excel in dance pray here!

As I recalled this narration this morning, my only worry was won’t the Goddess’s feet hurt if she stands in this dancing pose eternally? Thaye, please bless me with an answer to this!

We had to drive down for a few minutes to reach the main temple. It was a huge temple with Vallabha Ganapathi and Valli Devayanai sametha Arumugar on either side at the entrance. We went in further to see Vandaarkuzhali sannidhi on our right and further inside to our right was Ratna Sabhai. Lord Natarajar dancing with his left foot up in the air and to his left standing very cutely in nine yards sari was Samiseenambikai. Quite a strange name but the Gurukkal later explained the very beautiful tamizh name—arugil viyandha ambikai.(அருகில் வியந்த அம்பிகை)  Yes, who will not be in awe of such a dance posture!

   

  

On the right side of the Lord is his ardent devotee one of the 63 Nayanmars— Karaikkal Ammaiyar.

This is the place where Karaikkal Ammaiyar attained mukti and jeeva samadhi in the place where Rathna Sabhai Natarajar is dancing eternally!

For more details on Karaikkal ammaiyar pls click on my blog : Karaikkal Ammaiyar 

We circumambulated around the main sanctum praying at many sannidhis starting with Surya Bhagavan and Adikara Nandi. Next was Sreedevi Bhoodevi sametha Vijayaraghava Perumal and then Valli Devayanai sametha Murugan, Ashta Ganapathy, Bhadrakali. Directly behind the main sanctum on the left was Pradhana Ganapathy and on the right was Valli Devayanai sametha Murugan. On the right corner behind the sanctum was Gajalakshmi and then Maandhiswarar.

Maandhi is the Son of Saneeswarar and is marked in horoscopes in some families. In front of Maandhi was another Shivalingam named Paapahareswar. Next was Lord Iyyappan and a very beautiful looking Upadesa Dakshinamurthy. We walked further towards the main sanctum and on our left was palli area. Sudha and I wondered where the Lord was as the Goddess was sitting there cutely on a swing! We entered the main sanctum to see a huge lingam. The name of the Lord is Vada Aranyeswarar.

The Gurukkal explained that this was a forest full of Aala maram (Banyan trees)—Vada Aranyam and hence the swayambu Lord was called Vada Aranyeswarar. We prayed to the Lord and came out to go to Goddess Vandaarkuzhali sannidhi. She was a majestic Goddess, clad in a bright orange sari, standing tall and blessing us all. We prayed and sat in the prakaram for a few minutes. I stole a few more minutes to take some snaps much to the irritation of the men who wanted to leave. In the outer prakaram, we prostrated in front of the kodi maram before leaving.

We decided to call it a day as Kalyan had to catch a flight in the evening. We were back home by 1130 am. All in all, a short but great trip with excellent darshan satisfying all of us!