The following are events that took place on 9th July 2009 and covers Kumbakonam-Tirunageswaram-Uppiliyappan-Tirukarugavur-Darasuram-Swamimalai-Thanjavur route. Read about the previous day here.
Photo of the day:
Checked out from Hotel Green Park, Kumbakonam, early in the morning and went to Tirunageswaram at about 7.30am. Tirunageswaram houses another important nava graham deity – Lord Rahu.
Left the temple and went to Uppiliappan temple which is just 0.5km from Tirunageswaram. Spent about half an hour at this Perumal temple.
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.
Since last Sunday was Vinayagar Chaturthi, and coincidentally, there was a wedding to attend in KL (Ganesan Kulai’s), we decided to drop by Kotumalai Pillaiyar Temple (Jalan Pudu). The crowd was still there at around 10am, and traffic was bad. Managed to just prayer from outside the temple.
Anyway, before reaching the temple, we saw an elephant being transported on a lorry, followed by few lorries which took part in the record-breaking convoy to mark the birthday of Lord Ganesha.
Record-breaking convoy marks deity’s birthday
KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s longest convoy of 213 lorries took part in a procession held yesterday to celebrate Vinayagar Sathurthi, which marked the birthday of Hindu deity Lord Ganesha.
Measuring some 79.5km long, the convoy, which included an elephant to signify the deity, achieve a new feat in the Malaysia Book of Records.
Hundreds of devotees walked beside the lorries, which had been decorated with portraits of the elephant-headed Hindu god, in a procession that began at 7.30am from the Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Kampung Sungai Kayu Ara.
The procession stopped briefly at various places, including the Kottu Malai Pillaiyar temple in Jalan Pudu Lama and Batu Caves, before making its way back to Sri Maha Mariamman.
Big day: Devotees marking Lord Ganesha’s birthday celebration at Court Hill temple in Puduraya, Kuala Lumpur, Sunday.
Among the devotees at the Kottu Malai temple was 47-year-old secondary school teacher J.K. Vassanthi, who has been taking a fast of silence in homage to Lord Ganesha’s birthday for the past 28 years.
Accompanying her was her husband R. Ravindren, 48, who said his wife had been a devotee of Lord Ganesha before their marriage.
“She is thanking the deity for granting all her wishes and has even named our son after Him,” he said.
Another devotee who came to offer her prayers there was a Chinese woman, who embraced Hinduism three years ago.
“I feel calm and serene in this temple,” said the woman, who only wanted to be known as Adeline.
The 32-year-old fitness trainer said she often prayed at a nearby temple but decided to drop by Kottu Malai after finding out about the festival.
Clerk C. Minatchi, 31, said she had been going to the temple every week for six years since her prayers had been an-swered.
“My brother had gone into coma after an accident. I prayed to Lord Ganesha and 10 days later, my brother recovered,” she said.
Port company executive C. Kaleappan, 51, said he had been travelling all the way from Penang with his family to celebrate the occasion at Kottu Malai for the past 18 years.
“I feel a special bond with this temple and with the blessings of the Lord, my family is prosperous and healthy,” he said, who came with his wife and three daughters.
Comments Off on Convoy during Vinayagar Chaturthi »
Woke up a bit early since we wanted to walk around the town. We took a walk along the beach and saw quite a number of people walk/exercising along the beach side at around 7.45am or so. The waves were not high but can still feel the strong current. Saw Gandhi’s statue and War Memorial along the less than 1 km beach. We also saw some important buildings facing the sea – Ambedkar Hall, Church, government offices etc. Some of them are of French architecture.
We walked past Sri Aurobindo ashramam again to take some pics because was rushing yesterday. Took breakfast at Adyar Anantha Bhavan restaurant (same place we had tea yesterday).
Next, we went searching for the Auroville Information Center and managed to find it after using the map. The center houses a handicraft shop and also workplace. Collected some info on visiting Auroville city. We left for Auroville which is about 13km away. Reached Auroville at 10.20am (about 30 minutes due to traffic and road conditions).
A bit on Auroville. It was established in 1968 as a city of peace. There are residents of various nationalities living there, each contributing to the maintenance and well-being of the city. There’s strict rules on use of polluting vehicles and also other worldly vices. The highlight of the city is the Matri Mandir, a huge globe covered with small gold discs. There’s also a very old banyan tree and a white urn which contains soil (earth) from many countries which was placed during the launching of the city in 1968.
From the visitor center, we walked about 1km or so to the viewing point. Yeah, to visit the interior of Matri Mandir, have to make prior reservations (at least a day earlier). You will be allowed to enter and meditate in the Mandir. For longer stays, have to contact and make reservations.
We took some photos of the Matri Mandir from the viewing point, and talked to the security guard manning the viewing point (a mound of earth actually). We walked back to the visitor center (which is near to the restaurant, souvenir shops, and office management). Along the way, stopped at the to take photo of Sri Aurobindo’s statue. Proceeded to the souvenir shop – La Boutique d’ Auroville. Then did some shopping. Left Auroville at 12pm (hmm..more time shopping than viewing the Mandir!!!).
Chidambaram is famous for the Akasha stalam (yet another of the Pancha Bootha stalam) Tillai Nadaraja Temple. Here, Lord Shiva is represented as the space element. He is known as Lord Nadaraja since he performed the cosmic dance at the citsabha here (There’s 5 dance halls for Lord Shiva, Chidambaram is the golden hall). We hired a guide to show us around the temple (and its a huge temple compound!). There’s many, many statues and carvings dating back to 2nd century or older. As with other great temples in India, the building and expansion of the temple was done gradually over hundreds of years. The actual age of the inner temple is subject to debate, I guess.
Anyway, we arrived at 4pm, walked around, took photos and then entered the inner compound around 5.30pm. We were forewarned that the priests in this temple (this temple is privately run by the priests) will ask for lots of money for various reasons). I was looking forward to see the Chidambaram Ragasiyam (refer here , here, and here), and waited patiently for the 6pm pooja. Managed to see the black curtain, but no sight of the golden vilvam leaves. As “warned” earlier, towards the right side of the moolastanam there will one or two priests handing out vibuthi. If they sense you are not local, they will ask where you are from and proceed to promote some prayer or another). The guy in front of me was from out of town and they asked Rs300 for some special prayer. I decided to skip the vibuthi part. Also, the priest (or staff) seem not to be showing respect to the visitors or devotees, simply saying “poh, poh”, or pushing people away. When we went to climb up (at the side entrance), the guy there said only certain people can go, and that its closed already. To make the long story short, I was really angry with the situation at this temple. Maybe not meant to be my turn yet to visit Lord Nadaraja.
I made my way out, blood boiling. Came all the way from Malaysia and some jokers make the life miserable. I really cursed those fellas!
Left Chidambaram at 6.50pm for next stop – the popular Vaitheswaran temple in Vaitheswaran. Reached the temple around 8pm. Went for a quick tour and prayer in the temple. I can imagine Sarath Kumar making an entry in this temple as per the movie “Vaitheeswaran”. Why this temple is famous? Well, for two things: the “olai chuvadi” (leaves that contain details about an individual, writtten thousands of years ago), and the medicinal healing properties of the temple prasatham. Its also one of the nine temples that represent the Navagraha (this one represents Mars).
There’s a few shops outside the temple that are “agents” (I think) for the olai chuvadi business. We went to one of the stall. From what I know, not everyone’s record is available (well, with 6 billion over people, it will take a lot of storage!), so depends on your luck. There are very few places that store these leaves, so you may have try in the other venues as well. After searching twice, the guy managed to find the leaves that contain, ahem, my records. Basically, the use your thumb print to identify the suitable set of leaves, and by process of questions, eliminate the leaves in the set to find your records. They also provide a cassette recording of the session so that you can go back and listen to it. There’s also a standard pooja (for a fee of course) which will be done by their guru for your well-being, and the prasatham posted to your home (Got mine two days after returning home). For me, being the skeptical person, I have my doubts on the validity of the “agents” and the readings. The olai may exist, but surely only for small number of people. I can’t imagine someone writing down the records for millions of peoples who will be living centuries later. Oh ya, my “readings” were all normal, nothing out of the ordinary. Cost for full package (meaning it covers all topics – health, career, family, marriage, wealth, blah blah blah) is about Rs3000.
Tired from the travels, we hit the sack around 10pm. Stayed at Balaji Lodge for the night.
We checked out of our hotel, Arunachala Ramana Home around 7.30am. Went straight to the Arunachaleswarar (or Annamalaiyan) Temple. This Sivan temple is yet another Pancha Bootha stalam, where Lord Siva is represented as the fire element (earlier in Kanchipuram, he is represented as Earth element). We spent nearly 2 hours at the temple since its quite a big one (24 ha). The hill behind the temple is the Tiruvannamalai hill where Lord Siva appeared as a stripe of fire. Every full moon, the wick at the top of the hill is lighted and devotees walk around the hill (14km) – this is known as Girivalam. The most famous occasion is during the Tamil month of Karthigai (Nov-Dec) where the Karthigai Deepam function is held. It seems many famous actors and actresses also take part, including Superstar Rajinikanth. Read more about this stupendous place over here, and here. The city is also known for two famous gurus – Ramana Maharishi and Seshadri Swamigal. Ramana Ashramam is also located near the hill. The outstanding feature of the temple is the large gopurams.
We then took leave from Tiruvannamalai and headed towards next destination – Melmaruvathur which is about 100km away. We took the route that passes through a placed known as Gingee. Gingee is known for its fort which was building along the hills. We stopped for a while to take some pictures but did not climb up the hils as time was running short. We took early lunch at Vasantham Restaurant at Gingee town.
Even though we rushed, we arrived late at Melmaruvathur, partly due to our driver who is not so familiar with the road (and this will be a repeating theme throughout the trip). A bit about the temple here – its run by the Sakthi Peedam. The head of the Peedam is Sri Bangaru Adigalar whom Amman transmigrates into, and provides Arulvakku (God’s word). The Athiparasakthi temple was closed for poojas when we arrived, but visitors can still enter and pray.We entered the queue, saw photos along the walls and did our prayers. It was terribly hot, and walking barefoot outside the temple was not easy. We left around 2pm to our next destination – the picturesque and lovely Pondicherry.
A bit about Pondicherry (or Puducherry as it is known now) – The small strip of land on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu was a French occupied territory until (there are four such regions in total), thus there’s an unique blend of French and Tamil culture here. The strip of land is vertical (north-south orientation), but the French influence is more towards the coastal side, while inner Pondicherry is Indianised. Pondicherry is not a state in India, but an union territory. To enter Pondicherry, non-Pondicherry registered vehicles have to pay a fee of Rs400 (and its the same for all interstate travels). Pondi has a laidback feeling, a good sea view, and an urban look comparable with other cities in Tamil Nadu. And its a lot more cleaner too! No sights of men urinating anywhere.
We reached Pondicherry around 3.45pm. We parked near the main temple in Pondicherry – Manakula Vinayagar Temple. We waited until the temple opened at 4pm. Did our prayers and then went to Sri Aurobindo’s ashramam which is located just about 40 metres from the temple. Its a quiet place. The samadhi of Sri Aurobindo (Aravind) and Holy Mother is situated here. We prayed for a while, but did not take any photos . We then returned to the Vinayagar temple. Took some blessing from the elephant.
Took a break and had coffee at Adyar Anantha Bhavan restaurant which is nearby the temple. The tea and coffee was superb. We took some time to search for hotel and in the end decided on Hotel Ajantha, which was close to the beach. It was a bit expensive but since we could literally hear the waves beating down on the rocks, couldn’t resist it.
Disaster struck at this point. While unpacking I realised that I forgot to bring the USB cable that connects the camera to the laptop! So, had to change plans a bit. We hit the streets to find a computer/electronic shops and boy, it wasn’t easy! We walked all around the main shopping area (Nehru Street) and finally managed to buy a 3 feet long cable for Rs25 (about Rm1.90 only!). In a way it was a good exercise as we got to see the evening life around the shopping area. The crowd was big and traffic was slow moving around the main roads. Came back to room tired and retired for the day.
| 
Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email 
