On 2nd July after vishvaroopa darshanam of Sri Ranganatha we have continued our divya desa yatra. One bhagavatha Sri Varadharajan swami who is house owner of our friend Sri Radhakrishnan mama’s flat has met us in the temple and he volunteered to help us for arranging a car to visit Anbil and Thirupper nagar. This happened on 1st July. Not only that. On that day evening he met the bhattar of Anbil temple in Srirangam who has come for a Janavasam of a marriage about our proposed trip to Anbil. As per his suggestion we went to Kattu azhagiya singar temple first. Unfortunately we could have darshan since there was a huge crowd which came for a marriage in the temple. Further the morning pooja was going on at that time. The driver reminded that if we delay here then we won’t be able to cover the other two temples. We seek pardon from Narasimha for waiting for HIS darshan, and left for Anbil.

Generally during July month, bus/car journey along the Kaveri/kollidam river will be very pleasent with cool breeze striking on your face, since there used be good water flow. Alas! The entire strech of Kaveri from Srirangam to Anbil and thirupper nagar was dry and you could see only barren land. The breeze was hot and unbearable. Having born and brought up in the banks of Kaveri river, adiyen could not digest this situation. What these farmers will be doing now? The rich ones manage the show with borewells although the yield is considerably less. The poor ones will for sure are in trouble. These are the thoughts in my mind as the car was fast approaching the Anbil temple.

The driveway to Anbil from Srirangam is good and one can reach the temple in 45 minutes. The bhattar was waiting for us and arranged a very good darshan for us. This temple is also not doing well financially. There was an article about this temple in The Hindu 2 years back. adiyen saw a copy of the write up in the temple wall. Unfortuantely adiyen could not locate the article in the Archieves section of the “The Hindu” web site. The perumal is in reclining posture and HIS birth star is Vaikasi Visakam. The bhattar’s name is Sri Varadharaja bhattar and any one is willing to help this temple for nitya aradanam or utsavam can directly contact the bhattar. If you need any further information adiyen can assist.

Bhattar told that the easy way to go to Thirupper Nagar is to go by foot walking across the kaveri river since there is no water in the river. adiyen read in the Lifco book that one can use parisil (ie manual boat) to cross the river. See how the things are now. Since it was very hot and walking on the sand will be next to impossible for my 10 year old daughter we left that idea and decided to go by road only. If you know the geographical location of these divya desams, you will understand this. Both Anbil and Thirupper nagar are on the two opposite banks of Kaveri river and if you want to go by road, we have to return to Trichy all the way and take a different route. That is why the bhattar was telling us to walk across the river.

By the time we left Anbil it was around 11 AM and the driver was bit nervous since it looked difficult to reach Thirupper nagar before 12 Noon as the temple used to be closed by that time and the evening pooja is only at 5 PM. The road leading to Thirupper nagar is in very bad condition with lots of throny shrubs protruding on to the tiny road. The edges of the road are eroded propably during the last rainy season and there is no maintenance for these roads. The jungle on the road sides are dense and at the road turns one has to be extremely cautious as you can’t see the traffic coming opposite to you. As you know once the temple is closed for the morning session there is no way you can open it again to have darshan. Further we can’t get angry with Perumal as Thirumangai azhvar did with Thiru indhalur parimala rangan. We were all thirsty and hungry and the clock was ticking fast as we were far from the temple. My daughter started calculating the distance from the road distance markers and it was like a movie thriller. The worst part is that we can’t continue our yatra to Thanjavour via Thirukkattuppalli since the car was hired from Srirangam. So if the temple is closed, the entire journey is of waste.

By then we have reached Kallanai and once upon a time it used to be a beautiful picnic spot and adiyen has come here during school/college days with friends. Now without water in the river, the entire place looked like a desert. We have slowly crossed the narrow bridge and contiued our journey.

By 12.20 or so we have finally reached the temple and alas it was closed. We could see the big entrance doors of the temple in closed position from a distance. Driver told that the bhattar is staying close to the temple only and we can request him to open. We went close to the temple and came out of the car. By then seeing the car, the bhattar himself came to the temple and told that generally he used to close the sannidhi by 12 Noon but today the sannidhi is still open for us to have darshan. Our joy can’t be expressed. It’s all HIS sankalpam.

The bhattar gave an electrifying commentry about the divya desam. All of you are aware that this divya desam is special, since Swami Nammazhvar sang this divya desam just before his travel thru archiradhi margam to Srivaikuntam. It is believed that only this divya desa perumal gave salvation to Sri Naamazhvar. In Thiruvaymozhi, decad of this divya desam comes as 8th Thirumozhi in 10th decad just before SuZ visumbu.

In one of the book related to divya desams by a popular publication it is written that this divya desa perumal is holding the appakkudam. When adiyen said that and wanted to see how the perumal is holding the appakkudam, the bhattar almost got wild. He called each and every one of us near to the perumal and shown that there is atleast 1 to 1.5 feet between the appakkudam and perumal’s hand. He told that it is unfortunate that such leading publishers make such an error in their book. Also adiyen was under the wrong impression that appam is offered as aravanai prasadam in the night. The bhattar corrected this statement telling that the appam is offered only in the evening pooja and not during the artha jama as believed by many. His explanations of various divya prabandham verses and purushakaram of Thayar etc are still fresh in our memory. Sadly this temple don’t receive many sevarthis as it is very remote. To adiyen’s joy this perumal’s thirunakshatram is also vaikasi visakam same that of Anbil which is adiyen’s janma nakshatram too.

The bhattar then took us to his home and offered last night’s aravanai prasadam ie appam and he blessed us with abhaya hasta mudra of perumal embossed on hardened sandal paste. He and his wife were very kind and he that any time we can come to this temple and stay with them and have food in their home. His name is Srinivasa bhattar and this divya desam is known as Koviladi. He insisted us to stay and have prasadam, but since we were five in number did not want to trouble them without prior information. We thanked for their courtesy and left for Trichy. It is believed that if anyone do darshan of Anbil and Tirupper nagar one after another it is considered to be punyam of visiting all the diyva desams. We thanked the perumal for giving us darshan although we came late. This temple is also in need of financial support and being remote there is little income to the bhattar. adiyen has told my father to visit this temple and we are planning to offer some small ornaments to Thayar. If any one of you are interested, please mail me.

After our lunch at Trichy, we left for Thanjavour and adiyen will continue this in my next mail.