Will? Allocated means will get or not in the end? 🙂
THE Selangor government will allocate land to four Hindu temples, reports Makkal Osai.
The Pakatan Rakyat government, at its state executive council meeting, approved the allocation last Wednesday.
The Sri Maha Kaligambal Samundeswarar Temple located in the former Efore estate in USJ Subang Jaya had been given 1.4 acres; while the Sri Selva Vinayagar Temple in Serendah, Hulu Selangor was given 25,000 sq ft.
The Sri Maha Karumariamman Temple in Batang Kali had been allocated 16,000 sq ft and the Dusun Sri Nanding Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Hulu Langat will get 10,500 sq ft.
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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.
First trip was to Aalamara Iyarkai Vinayagar Temple, located in Triplicane, Chennai. Kumaravel mentioned that tours starts off with a prayer at temples such as this. Its a very small temple, more like a shrine. This temple has a Vinayagar shaped tree trunk/stone. It was established in 1968. Currently, the new state government complex is being built next to the temple. In front of the temple, there’s a building in which the late MGR’s body was kept shortly after he passed away (so said the driver). The road to the temple is quite small and narrow.
We started the journey towards our first destination, Kanchipuram, leaving Chennai at about 8.45am. Along the way, we got to see Chennai on a Sunday morning. This part of Chennai was quite a dirty place. Dusty due to the soil/land and construction work. There were road and building constructions in many places. Road detours, and really outrageous way of during. I think I won’t even last for 10 minutes on the roads in Tamil Nadu! The scenes started to change gradually, from concrete to more greenery and open areas as we travelled further from the city. We took breakfast at a Highway Motel. I ate 3 chapatis while Then took thosai and idli. Passed Sriperumbudur Toll Plaza, paying Rs30. Arrived in Kanchipuram at nearly 11am. We had a local guide, Iyengar guy named Ragu who serves in the Varada Raja Perumal Temple. He took us to Ekambeswarar Temple (one of the pancha bootha Sivan temple). There’s a mango tree in the temple compound which is an offshoot of a 3500 years old mango tree which was destroyed 8 years ago. The temple charged Rs50 for bringing camera, but we can’t take photos in the inner compound.
My first grouse started here – many places disallow cameras, and some even disallow mobile phones (which meant it was a problem finding our driver again at times). My second grouse is the priests who asks for money for various reasons, but then saying they are “not compelling”. I realised later that this is common in many temples around Tamil Nadu. I find it irritating and disrupting our concentration. But what to do. If I knew all the mantras, I’ll just take over and conduct prayers myself! 🙂
Anyway, a bit on the pancha bootha thing – Sri Ekambeswarar is a lingam made out of earth (one of the five – pancha – elements). Thus there’s no abishegam done on the main deity. Instead, abishegam is done on another lingam which has 1008 tiny lingams carved on it. The temple compound has many, many lingams all around.
Next stop – Kanchi Kamachi Amman temple. We rushed to the temple because it was nearly 12.30pm, time for temples to close (Temples in Southern India usually close between 1 and 4pm, so do plan properly). Managed to reach in time, and due to our guide’s connection, we managed to get in front of the queue. I then realised that this is also normal in many temples there. You either pay special fees to get in front faster or you have contact with the temple staff/management. Just had a glimpse of Kamachi Amman, and the golden gopuram before being ushered out. There were so many people waiting. It was a tiring start to our journey, and still got 25 more days to go!
Since it was already 1pm, all the temples will be closed, so we took a trip to a silk saree weaving place. Kanchipuram is famous for two things – temple and sarees. We saw how the sarees are made. It takes up to 20 days to make a set of three sarees using the traditional hand-powered tools. Then then took some time to purchase a saree. We were famished, and headed for lunch at Saravana Bhavan. The chapati there was thin and not so filling. After that, we headed to Varada Raja Perumal Temple, the place where our guide works. According to him, the main deity took form about 3000 years ago, and the temple was built 2000 years ago. As like other old temples, this temple was expanded by different rulers in different eras. The deity in this temple is submerged in the water tank (teppakulam). The Perumal is 32ft tall while the pool is 46ft deep. Every 40 years, the water in the pool is drained and the prayers are conducted. Next session is expected to be on 2nd July 2019. A replica of the deity is kept in the main sanctum, measuring 11ft tall. The reason the deity is submerged is because it was partially damaged long time ago. In order to preserve its power, a deity must be kept in water or rice. Another unique thing about this temple is that the sanctum is accessed by climbing stairs, meaning its on higher ground. There’s also a pair of lizards that visitors can touch in order to get blessings and good fortune. One is made of gold and the other silver. The pair are embedded on a ceiling. We took leave from Kanchipuram and Ragu around 4.30pm, and made our way to Vellore.
Along the way to the famous Golden Temple in Vellore, we spotted a temple on a hill, near a town called Ratnagiri. Made an unscheduled stop here. The temple is Ratnagiri Hill Murugan temple, build in the 1960s. Its on a hill with about 60 stairs to climb. The view from top allows us to view the town. Left around one hour later.
Reach the newly built Narayani Golden Temple in Sripuram, Vellore around 7pm. It was getting dark already. In India, daylight starts early around 6am and nightfall is around 7pm. The Narayani temple was packed due to being a Sunday. We had to leave our handphones and camera with the driver. If you do bring it in, you’ll be asked to deposit it with the temple counter and given a token nmber to collect your things later. There are 3 or 4 checkpoints, so you can forget about bringing in cameras or handphone. They even took my spare camera battery which I was carrying in pocket without realising it. Trying arguing with the temple people but to no avail.
Anyway, we took normal entry and walked the entire star shaped pathway around the main sanctum for about 25 minutes. The place was well lighted at night and feels just like a garden. The crowd was concentrated at the main sanctum. We couldn’t really see much due to the crowd. Anyway, this temple is famous for….its GOLD sanctum. Yes, PURE GOLD! I think 1500 kilo of gold was used. No photos from me, but have a look at the image search results from Google. Its definitely something worth visiting. The official website of the temple is here, while some other sites on this temple are here,here, and here. While the Peedam who owns the temples justify the use of such large amount of gold and its expense, I personally feel the money could have been put to better use. The Peedam runs some charity and social projects, so expect counters all over the compound promoting their products and services.
Left Vellore around 9.00pm, after calling our driver from a phone booth (STD as its known there). Remember, no handphone, so make sure you keep some coins. Our halt for the night was Tiruvannamalai, about 70km away. Night driving in India is not advisable unless you have a good driver and high tolerance against dangerous moments. The roads are narrow, sharp bends, obstacles like cows may appear suddenly, and the overtaking by oncoming vehicles may make your stomach churn.
Reached Tiruvannamalai around 11.10pm and went straight to the hotel for a much needed sleep. Day 3 next.
Oh yeah, another thing which we noticed while on the road was that the rivers were dried up in many places. Driver told us that Kavery river is dry due to heat and the closing of dam by Karnataka state government. Things will be better once the rain comes.
This is the first part of a 29-part series on the recent trip to India. One part for each day, plus a summary at the end (when i finally get to that point! 🙂 ). Anyways, some of the postings will have photos and/or videos while others just text. I need to clarify some things as well:
1. The comments/observations/views are based on Then’s and my own understanding, plus from talking to people like the tourist guides, tour driver, and few people on the streets. Its not meant to represent any particular groups/thinking either in Malaysia or India.
2. The bulk of tour related information stated in the series of postings will most likely change due to infrastructure development, currency exchange rates, new rules and regulations in India, and many other foreseeable and unforeseeable factors.
3. The photos and videos are taken with permission (most of the temples require payment to bring camera/video – all receipts are being kept for record purposes) unless stated otherwise.
Ok…here we go:
The following are events that took place on 4th July 2009.
After nearly three months of planning, we finally arrived at the day where we leave for Chennai on our pilgrimage-cum-vacation trip. Its been few years since we left for overseas trip, so the excitement and trepidation was obvious. Since April, we were busy surfing the Internet on temples and interesting places, charting routes on Google Earth, estimating the budget, flight ticket comparison, surveying tour companies and packing stuff. Even though the planning could have been better, it did help a lot in making the trip a reality.
We took MAS from KLIA to Chennai. on Saturday night,4th July. Met Samy Vellu at the waiting area just before boarding the plane. Plane took off about 9.30pm local time and arrived in Chennai 3 hours and 10 minutes later. Rajini’s Kuselan movie was shown on board. It was quiet trip, but marred by the less than ordinary service by the flight attendants. They forgot to serve our dinner! We had to wait a good 10 minutes after everyone else on the flight got their meals. There was a bit of turbulence towards the end, but nothing worrying.
Chennai Airport was a bit old, unlike KL. Then said she there’s was a kind of smell at certain places in the airport. There were checks for the AH1N1 flu as we exited.. It was a bit strange seeing Tamil language everywhere, plus whole lot of Indians, Tamils especially. The immigration guy asked if I’m coming for business, whether have friends here or not etc., before allowing me to pass. We waited few minutes to collect the luggage and made our way to the exit.
There was a big crowd waiting, numbering more than 150 people, eagerly looking out for their family members, friends, or customers. Managed to find our agent, Kumaravel easily, as he was holding out my name in BOLD! The was a slight drizzle in Chennai despite the summer heat during the day, and we just walked to the car. It was an Ambassador, 2003 or 2005 version.
It took a 20 minutes drive to our accommodation for the night. It was a house converted into a guest house called Padmaja Nilayam, located in Arumbakkam. Checked in, arranged things and then took a nap. As advised by our guide-cum-driver, we decided to start the tour at 7.30am the next day.
No photos today as it was near midnight and quite tiring. Next posting will be on Day 2.
Hindraf’s Jayathas issued statement that the temple – Veera Muneswarar temple – in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng was demolished by gangsters associated with MIC. MIC Youth denied this and claimed that they were in the process of finding a solution to the temple issue. The temple is 20 years old, so most likely its on private land that belongs to someone else.
There are few things that I like to note:
1. Vel Paari is right in the sense that just complaining is pointless. HINDRAF is limited to doing just that – protest because they don’t have locus standi to do anything else, save initiate legal proceedings. No one will accept their memorandum or ideas or solutions. They are considered “outlawed” organisation which is not even registered.
2. If I’m not mistaken, Deputy FTÂ Minister Saravanan did pledge that no more temples will be demolished without proper alternative or solution. Looks like another broken promise for MIC?
3. Where/what is Hindu Sangam’s role in this? No statement yet from them.
4. What is DBKL’s role in this? Where is their committee on temple issues?
5. At least the developer removed the deities before demolishment, unlike the gangsters in local councils and their henchmen.
MIC Youth is unhappy with being blamed for playing a role in the demolition of a 20-year-old Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
The temple – Veera Muneswarar Alayam in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng – was demolished by some unidentified people and had prompted both Hindraf and MIC to converge at the scene to help the temple committee save the place of worship.
Hindraf, which for long has been in the forefront when it comes to protesting temple demolitions, issued a press statement immediately after the demolition, putting the blame on MIC, among others, for the demolition.
Hindraf’s S Jayathas bluntly blamed “MIC gangsters who worked with the developer” in demolishing the temple.
He also claimed that the police and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had failed to protect the temple and its devotees while allowing others to demolish the temple.
“It is disappointing that the police did not do anything despite the temple committee launching police reports previously against any attempts to demolish the temple,” he said.
But the main plank of his complain was against the MIC.
“Around 35 Indian guys that we suspect were MIC gangsters demolished the 20-year- old temple,” he said in a statement.
MIC Youth was naturally unimpressed with Jayathas’ sweeping accusations.
“This is what he does best – making such clumsy statements and then going away until another temple is demolished,” said MIC Youth wing advisor S Vell Paari.
MIC Youth in talks with developer
Vell Paari added that MIC was not involved in the demolition of the Jalan Yap Kwan Seng temple. On the contrary, he said, the movement was deeply involved in getting the problem solved.
“We have been following up with this temple case from the beginning. We have spoken to the temple committee about three weeks ago and they told us that they wanted to deal directly with the developers.
“And when the demolition took place yesterday, we immediately sent our people over to see what was happening. We contacted DBKL who confirmed that they were not demolishing the temple,” he added.
He said that the demolition was done by the developer who had paid some people to remove the deities from the temple before tearing it down.
“Even then, it was MIC Youth members who helped the temple committee in sorting out the issues. We were there when they lodged a police report after one of them was hurt in the demolition process,” he said.
Vell Paari said that MIC Youth was now working with DBKL and the developer so that some form of arrangement can be made to save or relocate the temple.
“They want to remain in the same place. That will be tough but we are trying to find a best alternative spot for them as well as with adequate compensation from the developer,” he said.
Start finding solutions
He also challenged Jayathas to come up with a proper solution for the Jalan Yap Kwan Seng temple.
“He should not just talk and make wild accusations. Can he sort out the mess for the temple committee? No point in making any noise but without being able to find solutions,” he said.
Temple demolitions have been a thorny issue for the past few years. In 2007, at the height of temple demolitions throughout the country, Hindraf capitalised on the issue by evoking raw emotions among the members of the Indian community.
The anger of the community towards the Barisan Nasional government was apparent when the ruling coalition, including MIC, was roundly routed in the 2008 general election.
Since then MIC had been playing a more proactive role in solving the issues concerning the Indian community.
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