Kerala trip

On our way back from Thiruvannamalai in the 1^st week of December, the guys came up with a plan of visiting Kuladeivam of each and every person in the group. This plan was for all through the year of 2019 as the temples were far apart, spread all over Tamil Nadu and part of Kerala.

The first trip was planned for the weekend before Pongal. As it was close to Makara Jyothi, we thought of avoiding Kerala at that time. It was decided that we visit the Kuladeivam of Murali—near Salem and Ranga—Gobichettipalayam. As we usually do, we booked the tickets on our way back from Thiruvannamalai. But God had different plans. We came to know that Murali’s Kuladeivam was to be visited only by the people in their family. As it was impractical to just cover one temple per trip, the whole trip collapsed and all the 15 tickets had to be cancelled!

But the wish to cover some temple during the same weekend was still in our hearts. It is an unwritten rule in the Sabai as well as the sub-Sabai—the religious group that if any of the members is unable to join a trip, others just go ahead and the person missing the trip does not sulk or get upset over it!

This time from the initially planned trip to Salem for 7 couples, only 3 could make it for the alternate plan—Karthik, Kalyan and Ranga! We just decided and went ahead with the booking to go the Kerala. As I was the one to say that Kerala could be difficult around the time of Makara Jyothi, I felt quite humbled by God’s decision to take us to Kerala at that time!

With a slight delay in departure, we landed in Coimbatore at about 8 am. As usual Karthik had organized an Innova for the full trip right from Coimbatore airport. First stop was fuel for the stomach–breakfast at Annapurna. Taking a short break at a supermarket to buy some bananas to be distributed to the cows on Banu saptami as advised by Rama’s father, we took off to Palakkad.  As always Rama chanted Lalitha Sahasranamam on the way.

Our first visit was to Kalyan’s kuladeivam—Ootukulangara Bhagavathi Temple at Peruvambu.

A very serene place with a beautiful pond, huge trees and a quiet atmosphere! 

We freshened up and dipped our feet in the pond before entering the temple. Rama’s father, Mani mama, was waiting for us at the temple entrance. We went inside to have darshan of Goddess Bhagavathi who was decked with beautiful flower garlands. I came to know from Rama that the temples in Kerala usually make garlands with the flowers from their own garden and do not buy from outside. The priest was doing Pooja to the vaal kannadi in front of the deity. The sanctum was fairly big with the Goddess in the centre and provision on both sides to light lamps. After a good darshan and offerings, Rama and Kalyan gave the invitation for the arangetram of Amrita to be placed at the Goddess’s feet for her blessings. We perambulated and prayed at Lord Ganesha’s sannidhi behind the main sannidhi.

Coming out of the temple after a satisfied darshan, we did a small photo session before leaving for Adityapuram.

Adityapuram is Kalyan’s native place. Though their Kuladeivam is Ootukulangara Bhagavathi, their ancestry is from the village of Adityapuram. Kalyan had organized for our stay in a guest house there. Adityapuram, Pallipuram and Manjapuram are three different villages with just one or two agraharams. Adityapuram ended with the guest house where we were accommodated and Pallipuram began immediately after that. Manjapuram is an agraharam running perpendicular to these two!

When we reached, Adityapuram Gopalakrishnar temple was closed. But it was Sastha Preethi in Pallipuram Lakshmi Narayanar temple. As we entered the agraharam of Pallipuram, Sudha and I were zapped to see the maakolams in front of each and every house.  Isn’t this how our ancestors lived! If there was a festival in the temple, they took it as a festival in their own home and decorated the place! Now we don’t find time to visit the temple close to us on festival days!

People young and old alike were sitting in front of their houses on thinnais with their eyes on the temple. Very thirsty, Sudha and I barged into one of the houses asking for water to drink. The mami was so friendly that she was even ready to offer us food. We drank the tasty well water and she showed us around the typical old fashioned, beautifully maintained house. I could not help admire the cleanliness of Keralites! Thanking her, we proceeded to the temple.

 

It was quite crowded at the main sannidhi of Lakshmi Narayanar. The God was covered with gold kavacham and looked beautiful. The main activity was happening in the side, at the sannidhi of Sastha. Here again the kolams were lovely. Even the thinnai on either side of the path leading to sanctum were covered with beautiful maakolams. The passage to Sastha sannidhi was decorated with flower garlands and vazhaimaram with ilaneer kaai, paaku and vaazhai hanging at the sannidhi entrance

The whole place was crowded but in an organized manner. There was no pushing and pulling and people were patiently attending the puja either sitting on the small platform on either side or on the floor or just standing. Again, I could not help appreciating their organized manner! As we were looking at the deity covered with silver kavacham depicting the Lord’s face with his consorts Poorna and Pushkala, 4-5 people walked into the passage with a huge uruli which Rama called charaku. It had very little payasam in it. Mama explained that they will bring the container first with little payasam and then fill it up after placing it in front of the Lord. More men followed with containers of flavourful vella payasam. The charaku was filled to its capacity and they started stirring it with an oar like handle. To me it resembled an oar used on row boats. This was followed by two more charakus with two more types of payasam. All the payasams were offered to Sastha followed by karpoora harathi. Satisfied with the darshan, we came back to the main sannidhi where the men were allowed inside the sanctum. Next, we had lunch and how it was!! All the people including us sat on the thinnais on either side and the temple people served us food. It was a proper Kerala Sadya with all the three payasams included. The payasams were offered more than once and we had more than our fill!! On a full stomach, I clicked some photos outside the temple and the kolams on either side of the agraharam before retiring for the afternoon siesta which was compulsory after such heavy lunch!

We got up and left at 3.30 pm for our next temple visit to Mangotukaavu. A huge ground was followed by a fairly large temple, and it was so calm. 

The main sannidhi was yet to be opened. We went to the sannidhi of Chathan, where Mani mama had asked us to break coconuts for drishti and he himself had bought the coconuts for all of us. Since the sanctum was yet to be opened, we went around the temple taking in the calm atmosphere. Mama suggested a pariharam for Ranga and arranged for the same. 

The sannidhi opened soon and we had darshan of the beautiful Goddess! Here again the flower decoration was so divine and the Goddess was in a calm posture blessing us all.  

We came out to complete the drishti ritual at Chathan sannidhi. Had the pleasure of seeing an elephant fully decked ready for procession.

On the way we saw 3 elephants decorated with mukhapadaams with the photo of God on the elephant walking in the front and many people going in procession. A fierce looking person carrying a sword was walking in the front. “The ritual is called velichapadu,” said Rama.

A small video with Velichapadu

 Our next visit was to Sri Vilwamalai Vilwadrinathar temple. This temple is dedicated to Lakshmanan—one of the four brothers from Ramayana.

Atop a small hill with steps to reach, it was a fairly huge temple. The main deity is Mahavishnu with his consorts Sreedevi and Bhoodevi standing near his feet. This is a swayambu, came about as a result of tapas of Aamalaka Maharishi. There is a separate sannidhi for Lakshmanan, which was enshrined by Parasuramar. Fairly huge idol, covered with silver kavacham, I was happy to pray to my favourite Lord Lakshmanan, the personification of duty and sacrifice in Ramayana!

Sudha and I noticed an incense stand there, shaped like a 5 headed snake, reminding us that Lakshmana is none other than Adhiseshan!

The pillayar in this temple is quite different from other Kerala temples, looking typically Tamil. Mama explained how Cheraman and Mangayarkarasari were involved in the temple construction which is why probably Pillayar is typically Tamil Nadu style!

We continued our perambulation to Anjaneyar sannidhi. Anjaneyar was in full chandana kaapu with vadai malai with the vadai being so aromatic!!

We came down the hill to reach Parakotukaavu. It was quite dark by then and my phone did not take good pictures. The temple was so calm, but the priest said the Goddess is ugram, getting ready for a battle. This temple also had Sastha sannidhi

We called it a day, dropped Mama at the bus stand and had dinner at Kapilavastu.

Day 2 began very early with a visit to Gopalakrishnar temple in Adityapuram.

The main deity is K.alinga Nardhana Krishna, the other sannidhis were of Pillayar and Sastha

There were colourful pictures of Dasavathara and Krishna leela. 

                          

                 

 

   

 

There was also a pavazhamalli tree from which flowers were falling every now and then. 

 The regular visitors were collecting the flowers to be offered to the Lord. The devotion and simplicity of the people was very beautiful. So early in the morning, they offered us neipayasam prasadam too.

I was fascinated by the sandalwood grinding stone at the temple

We were keen to go to the Lakshmi Narayanar temple of Pallipuram again in the morning as we felt we had not seen the God properly. Rama mentioned that the Lord here had Mahalakshmi on his lap. This wasn’t clear the earlier day due to the gold kavacham. We visited the temple again in the morning to have our fill of darshan of this Lord as well as Poorna Pushkala Sametha Sastha.

The agraharam street was clear of all the maakolams of the earlier afternoon, with fresh podikolams in front of the houses so early in the morning!

We were happy to see many cows in the agraharam and distributed all the bananas there itself. Our next stop was for a cup of coffee at a road side stall.

We then proceeded to Vadakanthara Bhagavathi temple which happens to be the kuladeivam on Sudha’s maternal side.

Quite a big temple with many sannidhis, the main deity is underneath an Athi tree. We had darshan of the beautiful looking Goddess by standing in front of a long prakaram before proceeding to have darshan of Krishnar, Pillayar and Dhanvantri in separate sannidhis. 

Next, we went to Manapulikaavu, another Bhagavathi temple. Here the surroundings were very nice with a huge pond in front of the Dwajasthambam and a Kala Bhairavar sannidhi right outside. 

We entered the temple to see a benevolent Goddess covered with silver kavacham. The priest was a little strict here. When we perambulated after darshan, another local devotee showed us the deity from a side door where there was a stone perpendicular to the deity which he said is the actual main Goddess and all pujas are done to this stone shaped deity and only alankaram is done to the silver kavacham covered Goddess. There was also a small pillayar sannidhi and Nagaraja on either side of the main sannidhi. Ayyappan decorated in sandana kaapu was blessing all in another sannidhi with a separate entrance. We came out, prayed to the time keeper—Kala Bhairavar before leaving. The temple pond was so beautiful that we could not resist taking some selfies there!

Next stop was for body fuel –sumptuous breakfast at Kapilavastu.

Post breakfast, we went to Kalpathi after travelling for about 30-40 minutes. We visited the Sivan temple which is typically Tamil Nadu style. Kasi Viswanathar is the main deity with Goddess Visalakshi standing perpendicular to him in a separate sannidhi. Separate sannidhis for their sons, Pillayar, Valli Deivanai sametha Murugan, another Lingam sannidhi—Gangadharar. We could see the Navagrahams in their usual positions but with their consorts.

We tried to visit the Pillayar temple at Kalpathi but it was closed.

We saw that there was another Krishnar temple, but decided to skip it as we had to cover more temples before going back to Coimbatore

Most of the temples/town names were new to me but during breakfast the mention of a kaavu intrigued me—Meenkulathi kaavu. While checking the temple timings, I stumbled on the story of this temple which was quite interesting.

Once upon a time, devotees of Madurai Meenakshi, who were diamond traders in Chidambaram, decided to shift to Kerala due to drought. On their way, they visited Goddess Meenakshi temple and the youngest member of the family picked up a stone from Madurai temple pond and kept it with him. He considered the stone as Goddess Meenakshi and used to carry it with him always. Years went on and one day when this man who had become old by then, went to have bath in a pond in Kerala, he kept his palm leaf umbrella and the stone on the pond steps. When he came out, he could neither lift the umbrella nor the stone.  He brought people from the village and none could lift the stone or umbrella. All could notice a glow around the stone. An astrologer was brought in who said that the stone has the divinity of Meenakshi. They built a small temple around the stone. About 400 years later, Goddess came in the dream of that temple priest suggesting that a separate temple be built for her. This is how the temple came about. She is named Meenkulathi Bhagavathi because of the pond which has many fishes!

The temple typically has a long pond leading to the entrance. First, we prayed at the sannidhi of Lord Ayyappan. The walls around this sannidhi were metal plated with carvings of Pillayar and Murugan. The temple was quite crowded and we had to go through a small line to have darshan of the Goddess. 

Next was Perugotukaavu Bhagavathi temple. Again, a beautiful, calm place. Rama suggested we buy tickets for vedi—a ritual followed here which is for drishti. Temple was looking typically Kerala, with low ceiling at the entrance, beautiful thatched roof. Puja was going on and many were waiting for deeparathanai. Sudha and I went around looking at the many silver-plated carvings around the sannidhi trying to figure out the stories they depicted. We could make out some were stories of Lord Krishna and some of Lord Shiva. Above the sannidhi we could see a picture of the Goddess, quite ferocious looking with sword in one of her four hands. On either side of the path leading to the sannidhi there were long thinnais. On one corner of a thinnai, we could see the mukhapadams used on elephants during festivals, neatly stored in glass cases. We stood on the thinnai waiting for deeparathanai. Despite the weapons and the ferocious look, the Goddess showered her benevolence on one and all and we came out satisfied with the darshan.

Outside the temple is a separate sannidhi for Pillayar beneath 3 trees. Usually we see Him under one or two trees, here there was three trees!

We had lunch again at Kapilavastu and bought nenthirangai chips before going to the guest house for siesta.

I could not resist clicking the picture of Kalyan’s ancestral house, though it doesn’t belong to them anymore!

One of the families in Adityapuram, whose head is in charge of the temple activities was kind enough to invite all of us for tea before we left.

We proceeded to Aanikode pillayar temple. Again, a very small agraharam with a very beautiful looking pillayar temple in the centre. 

 

They opened the temple slightly earlier just for us. Around the sannidhi were pictures of different forms of Ganesha but the one looking like a baby was most beautiful!

There were sannidhis for Sastha and Nagaraja on either side of Pillayar sannidhi. The priest known to Kalyan’s family showed us the dining hall built for temple festivals and detailed how people native to the agraharam staying all over the world were contributing to the development!

Right in front of the temple was a brindavanam with the name Bhodendra Krishna Sharma. Curious, we enquired, but the priest did not have much details as the brindavanam has been there for a long time.

We then proceeded to Marudhamalai. On the way, as usual discussion was on for the next religious trip and tentatively fixed for last week of April.

It was late in the evening by the time we reached Marudamalai.

Shoba chitti—Ranga’s chitti gave a contact in temple for darshan which was helpful to have a close darshan of Lord Muruga. We went around the temple, having darshan of Valli Devasena Sametha Murugan, Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvathi and Perumal before standing near the Dwajasthambam to have another darshan of Murugan. Next was photo session in front of the temple.

We had dinner at Hotel Ananda and made a short visit to Shoba chitti’s place before proceeding to the airport. Settling the Innova, we entered the airport to note that flight was delayed by more than 1 hour. Temple visit all forgotten, we started wondering if we will have enough time to rest as all had office next day!  Finally reached home around 1.30 am!