Divya desa trip experiences of Smt Godha Sridharan, Chennai

This write-up is about the visit to temples around Kumbakonam and Tanjavur. On 04/16/04, three of us (Ramadurai mama, myself and my mother) left to Tanjavur by RockFort Express. We reached Tanjore the next day morning around 7.00 AM and were received by Mr. Rajendran. He took us straight to Smt Vaidehi’s home where we refreshed ourselves and got ready for the day’s visit. We visited Manikundra Perumal temple (adjacent to Smt Vaidehi’s home) and had a wonderful darshan here. Later we went to Neelamega Perumal temple and Narasimhar temple. These three temples are together considered as one DivyaDesam  ‘Thanjhai Mamani Koil”. After having darshan in these three temples ,we had breakfast in  Smt Vaidehi’s home (Thanks to their hospitality). Our next stop was at ThiruKandiyur temple. Perumal’s thirunamam is Harasabha Vimochana Perumal.  By the time we reached,  Bhattar was busy and so we had a good 10 minute waiting in front of the Perumal and enjoyed his Thirumeni Azhagu. Later the Bhattar came and gave us theertham and Satari prasadams and we left for Thirukudaloor. Here Perumal is JagathRakshagan  And He has a sengol in His hand (if I remember it right). We had a good darshan here also.

After Thirukoodalur, we went to ThiruKavithalam. This is one of the Krishnaranya Kshetrams. Perumal’s thirunamam is Gajendra Varadhan. Bhattar gave a very good sevai of the Perumal and Thaayar here...

From the main temple entrance to the one inside, there was sand spread all over and we were terrified to walk bare foot in the hot sun as it was close to noon. So we had to walk with slippers even while crossing Dwajasthambam and in many temples that we visited during afternoon, we didn’t do namaskaram/pradakshinam, afraid of the scorching heat.. I feel sorry for having walked with slippers..and wish I had run inside the temple with bare foot..While leaving Bhattar gave me 2 bananas offered to the Lord and I had never tasted such a rasthaali (a type of banana) in all my life. Even my mom felt the same. I have to admit that we both were surprised by the sweetness of the banana!!!

Leaving Kavithalam, we went to Thirupullamboothangudi . This temple is under the administration of Ahobila Mutt. Perumal here is Valvil Raman and He is in sayana thirukolam. Here He is taking rest after giving moksham to Jatayu. Bhattar also showed us the Jatayu near the Perumal. Since Seetha Devi was in Ashokavanam during that time, we have Bhoomi Piratti sitting near Perumal’s Thiruvadi.

Later we went to ThiruAadanoor..Here Perumal’s thirunamam is Andalakkum Iyen and He is in sayana thirukolam. Bhattar also showed us the marakkal and kamadhenu . We had a good darshan here and left for Thirumandangudi. This is Thondar Adi podi Azhwar’s ThiruAvathara sthalam. The temple was closed , but somebody associated with the temple (don’t know who) was kind enough to open Perumal’s and Azhwar’s sannidhi for us and we had a good darshan. Perumal here is Kalyana Ranganathan and is in Nindra Thirukolam. It seems that there are only 2 temples where Ranganathan is in nindra thirukolam., one being Thirunagari and the other Thirumandangudi. We then visited ThiruNandhipura Vinnagaram (popularly known as Naadan Koil) and had a good darshan here too..Perumal is “Naadan Perumal” and is in Veetruirundha thirukolam. Our driver friend Rajendran managed to cover all these temples and he took us to Thiruvinnagar right on time for the Kalyana Utsavam. Most of the times he ran for the bhattar, did a lot of help and ensured that we did not miss any darshan. No amount of thanks can ever repay what he did for us.

We reached Thiruvinnagar and had about 15 minutes to refresh ourselves and get ready for the kalyana utsavam. Around 3:30 PM, we reached the temple and Perumal and Thaayar were in a small procession inside the temple..Perumal and Thaayar exchanged garlands thrice and got ready for the divine wedding.

To witness the Divyadampathi’s thirukalyanam is an experience about which Iam incompetent to write..We were fortunate to watch the entire wedding including kaapu kattudhal, mangalya dhaaranam, laaja homam, varanamaayiram etc. After the utsavam, we went to the Moolavar sannidhi and had a wonderful sevai. The beauty of this Perumal cannot be described in words and one has to see Him to believe this. We were also given lot of prasadams after the kalyana utsavam. We went to Badri’s home near by for some coffee and left early as we had planned to cover Thiruvelliangudi , Thirukudanthai and the local temples.

Our next stop was at Thiruvelliangudi. Perumal’s thirunamam is Ksheerabdhi Naathan and is in sayana thirukolam. Perumal’s thirumeni is made of sudhai and He looks so beautiful. Visiting this divyadesam is considered to be equivalent to visiting all 108 divyadesams. There is one lamp inside the sanctum sanctorum called “Nethra Deepam”. People with eye disorders pray to this Perumal for their proper vision.

We then proceeded to visit Chakrapani temple. This is probably the one temple dedicated to chakkarath Azhwar. This temple was very crowded as it was Saturday evening. We had a peaceful darshan both in Perumal and Thaayar sannidhis. Next visit was to Ramaswamy temple., Here Perumal is in Pattabhisekha thirukolam. Perumal and Thaayar are seated on the throne and we could see Lakshmana, Bharata and Hanuman doing kaimkaryam to Perumal. Then we went to Thirukudanthai divyadesam. Perumal’s thirunamam is Aaravamudhan and he is in Uthaana sayanam, trying to get up for Thirumangai Azhwar.
We had a very peaceful darshan here as we did not have any other temple to visit for the day and spent time with this Perumal to our heart’s content. Then we had dinner in Badri’s home and retired for a good night’s sleep.

    On 18th morning, we woke up in time for the Viswaroopa Darshan of Oppiliappan. We had a wonderful sevai and it was so great to watch the gigantic Perumal and kind thaayar in that early hours..What a way to start the day!! People who reside in such divyadesams and see Perumal everyday are really blessed..

Next stop was at Therazundhur. Here Perumal’s thirunaamam is Aamaruviyappan. When we reached the temple, preparations were in progress to awake the Lord and we were fortunate to have the viswaroopa sevai. Bhattar gave a long and wonderful commentary of this divyadesam quoting Azhwar’s pasurams. He also showed us the cow and calf at Kannan’s Thiruvadi. Perumal is giving darshan as Gopalan here.

Bhattar also showed us the Thiruvaabharanams of Perumal and we were so fortunate to touch them.
Rajendran then took us to ThiruIndaloor divyadesam. Perumal here is Parimala Rangan and is in Veera sayana thirukolam. We also had a good sevai at Thaayar and Ramar sannidhis. Next we visited ThiruSirupuliyur Divyadesam. Here Perumal is called ArulMakadal Amudhan and is in Bala Sayanam. This Perumal is of very small thirumeni and this is probably the smallest of all sayana thirukolams. This Perumal gave moksham to maharishi Vyagrapadhar and this maharishi is also seen at Perumal’s thiruvadi.

We then proceeded to Thirukannapuram. Perumal’s Thirunamam is Sourirajan. Thirumangai Azhwar has dedicated 100 pasurams to this Perumal. He is seen with a prayoga chakkaram and looks so beautiful. We also had a wonderful sevai at the Thaayar sannidhi. She is called Kannapura Nayagi.

Then we drove to Thirukannamangai divyadesam and this Perumal is called Bhaktavatsalan. He stands very gigantic and majestic. Bhattar then took us to the Thaayar sannidhi and he also showed the thenkudu just outside the thaayar sannidhi. It is believed that all the 33 crores of devathais took forms as bees in this kaliyuga and is doing kamikaryam to Thaayar. We reached this temple just before it was about to be closed.

Thanks to the driving expertise of  Rajendran . All these time he was planning/driving to cover as many temples as possible and it was due to his attitude and expert driving that we got to see these many temples at one stretch.
  
    Our morning trip ended with Thirukannamangai ., we had lunch at Badri’s home and rested for a while. Mama was concerned that we didn’t visit Thirukannangudi and Thirunaagai but I felt extremely satisfied and happy having seen so many divyadesams. Hope we get to visit Thirukannangudi and Thirunaagai in our next trip.

    For the evening we had planned to visit Nachiyar Koil and Thirucherai. First we went to Thirucherai to see Saranathan Perumal. This is Pancha Saara Kshetram. Thaayar is Saara Nayagi.

There wasn’t much crowd and we had a peaceful sevai here. Next we visited Nachiyar Koil. Perumal is called  Srinivasan and Thaayar is Vanjulavalli Thaayar. As the name suggests, here Thaayar gets the first of everything.  Bhattar mentioned that just like Parthasarathy is with his family in Thiruvellikeni , Kannan is seen with his family (Balaramar, Aniruddha ) in Nachiyar Koil too. Then we visited the famous Kal Garudan sannidhi. Garuda Bhagawan looks so majestic and is seen with 9 snakes (If Iam right) in his Thirumeni. Some 200 years back, a devotee (who had travelled all divyadesams and made 108 Utsava Perumals) had given utsava perumals of various divyadesams he worshipped to Nachiyar Koil. All of the kutti perumals now reside in Nachiyar Koil and we were blessed to get a darshan of all these Perumals.

In the outer prakaram, we saw the place (in the tree) where 2 birds had lived earlier and attained Paramapadham. Our evening went so peaceful visiting Thirucherai and Nachiyar Koil. We then left for the station to catch our Chennai train. Badri’s family had packed curd rice for our dinner. We were extremely happy at our 2 day visit covering 17 divadesams and I feel highly indebted to Ramadurai mama for completely organizing this trip for us. These divyadesams would remain in our hearts forever.
This is a write-up about our visit to Divyadesams and Abhimana Sthalams near Thiruvarur. On 21st May, three of us ( myself, my mom and Ramadurai mama) left to Thiruvarur by Rameswaram Express. We reached Thiruvarur around 6 .00 AM and were received by our driver friend Mr. Rajendran. We left to Nagapattinam and it was nearly a 40 minutes drive from Thiruvarur. We started our day’s visit after refreshing ourselves at Ramadurai mama’s friend’s home. First we went to ThiruNaagai Divyadesam. Perumal’s thirunaamam is Sowndarrajan. Needless to say, Perumal looks so beautiful. Bhattar did a wonderful sevai for us. Thirumangai Azhwar calls this Perumal as “Naagai Azhagiyaar”.
This is a big temple and seems to be well maintained. We then took the blessings of Thaayar and also visited the nearby Desikar and Krishnan temples. Bhattar was not available in these temples, but still we could get a glimpse of the Lord from the outer door. Then we had a good breakfast at mama’s friend’s place and left for Thirukannangudi.

This divyadesam is in a very remote place and is difficult to reach if the driver is not well versed with the roads. Moolavar Thirunaamam is Lokanathan. Utsavar is Damodara Narayanan. This is one among the five Krishnaranya Kshetrams and is the 26th divyadesam. Thaayar’s thirunaamam is Lokanayaki. Bhattar was kind enough to give us a small booklet on the Sthala Puranam. After having a good darshan here, we left to Mannarkudi and reached there around 11:15 AM. This is a huge temple and one needs a lot of time to visit all the sannidhis. Since we had to reach Vaduvoor before 12:30 PM, we had only around 30 minutes to spend in this temple. Perumal’s thirunaamam is RajaGopalan  and is seen with a cow and two calves. He gives sevai as ‘mannaar’. This Perumal looks extremely beautiful that one feels like never leaving Him. We then had a good sevai of Sengamalavalli Thaayar and left to Vaduvoor. Bhattar at this temple was waiting for us and gave us a very good sevai of Vaduvoor Ramar. One cannot forget the smile in Ramar’s thirumugam. We then left for the Veda paada saalai. Most of the paada salai students have gone to Bangalore for celebrating Srimad Andavan’s thirunakshatiram. We had a good lunch here along with the paada salai boys and also had some time to rest.

Around 2:30 PM, we left to Thillai Vilagam Ramar temple. The road to Thillai Vilagam was not in good condition and Rajendran was very patient and careful in driving under such conditions. We reached the temple just before 5.00 PM and were waiting for the Bhattar to arrive. Mama was conversing with the temple staff about the needs of the temple. Moolavar Ramar is a Pancha loha murthy and looks so beautiful. Bhattar showed us the Rama charam and explained that Ramar used this Rama Charam only three times..( against Kakasuran, Vaali and Ravanan). He also said that in most of the Ramar temples, we will see only Artha Chandra Baanam. He then showed us the divine veins and marks on Ramar’s thirumeni and the kaapu which kousalya tied for Ramar’s protection . Anjaneya is not seen with folded hands ( as he is usually seen) but with a hand near his mouth as if waiting for Rama’s message to be conveyed to Bharatha.
In all, we had a wonderful and peaceful sevai here. We were also fortunate to receive vadai prasadams. Then we left to Thirukannamangai divyadesam which is just a few kms away from Thiruvarur railway station. Had been to this divyadesam during our Kumbakonam visit and were fortunate to see this Perumal for the second time. Perumal here is BhakthaVatsalan. Bhattar explained that they do thirumanjanam only once a year during Jeshtabhisekham and for the rest of the year Perumal will give darshan with his kavachams. Utsavar’s thirunaamam is Battharaavi Perumal. In Sanskrit, it is BhakthaVatsalan. We had a good sevai of Thaayar(Abhisekha valli Nachiyaar) too..When we reached this temple, it was time for Artha jaama poojai and we were lucky to have sevai of Perumal and Thaayar before the temple was closed for the day. Rajendran then dropped us at Thiruvarur station and took leave from us. We had to spend close to 2 hrs at the station before our train arrived and we reached Chennai around 9 AM , the next day morning . It was not very taxing as we thought it would be.. Unmindful of his age and the hot summer, mama takes us to places and when it comes to temples, he becomes very energetic and enthusiastic and one has to see it to believe it! It was a wonderful trip for all of us covering 3 divyadesams and 3 Abhimana sthalams in a day’s time. Thanks to mama in making this trip for us!