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The following are events that took place on 8th July 2009 and covers Vaitheeswaran-Thirunallaru-Vellankani-Thiruvarur-Alangkudi-Kumbakonam route. Read about the previous day here.
Photo of the day:
Day 5 started early, around 7.20am. We left the hotel, and headed back to Vaitheeswaran temple to take photos.
Also took photos of the shops where the Nadi Jothidam is done.
Passed by Tirukadaiyur, the location of famous Abirami temple. The temple is famous for couples that hold their 60 years wedding anniversary. We just took some photos from the outside. Took breakfast at Abirami Restaurant at 8.30am.
Took some shots of the villages and countryside along the way.
Next stop is Tirunallaru, where we visited the famous Darbaneswarar temple, the second of the nine nava graha temples. Had a guide who charged Rs50 to show us around.
We left the temple and headed to Vellangkani. It was quite hot, nearly 11am when we reached the seaside town. From afar, we can see the white towers of the church complex. The air smelled of fish and seawater. The church was big – a two level building. We walked around, prayed, and took lots of photos. We also walked towards the smaller church located directly opposite the main church, about 15o meters away, and prayed there. Left Vellangkani at 1pm.
Couldn’t visit Lord Murugas’ Singaravelan temple at Sikkal since it was closed, so we continued towards Tiruvarur, a very famous town.
It is said that those born in Tiruvarur achieve moksha! Had lunch at Vasanth Restaurant. The most famous monument of Tiruvarur is its ratham (chariots). There’s five of them (the biggest weigh 420 tonnes!), replicas of the original wooden chariots that were burnt down in a fire years ago. The chariots are huge. It must be our lucky stars that on that particular day, it was the even of the annual chariot festival (ratha orbolam). The festival was postponed from an earlier date. There were lots of activities going around, involving preparation of the chariots. We managed to climb up the stairs and pray to Lord Thiyagarajah on the chariot. Really different feeling!
News paper article mentioning the chariot festival
Trip to Tiruvarur won’t be complete without visiting Lord Thiyagarajah temple (Devi here is known as Paadampiriyal – One who does not leave His feet!) which is located next to the stationery rathams (temple official website here).
The temple complex has the biggest teppa kulam (water tank/pool) in Tamil Nadu. This temple was very relaxing, with less problem from beggars and priests. Had a good darshan of Lord Thiyagarajahswamy. We entered the temple complex at 3.30pm and left at 5.20pm, so can imagine the size of the area! The crowd was starting to swell around the rathams outside the temple. We were in two minds – whether to put up a night in Tiruvarur to watch the procession, but since we had a long itinerary ahead, decided otherwise.
Tiruvarur is also well-known for being the birth place of masters of Carnatic music – Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri and Saint Tyagaraja.
Continued trip to Alangudi, arriving at 6.25pm. Prayed at Lord Guru (another nava graham stalam) temple. Left half an hour later to Kumbakonam to put up a night there.
Complete photos are at Picasa
Read the next day (Day 6) here.
