This posting will be about our trip to divya desams around Kumbakonam

On 21st all of us woke up early in the morning and thankfully well in time for the vishvaroopa darshan of Sri Oppiliappan. We went to pushkarani inside the temple and took a holy dip and after returning to the Srimad andavan ashramam for Urdvapundram and nityanushtanam, we
rushed to the sannidhi for darshan. Unlike Srirangam, it was much easier here to have darshan of Lord from very close quarters. In that early morning, when the shops are yet to open and the traffic is yet to pickup momentum, the whole place was so calm and divine. In that early hour, we could spend more than half an hour standing near the gigantic perumal and the divine experience can't be explained in words. appa was reminding that we are getting late but adiyen could not move so easily. The ramar sannidhi needs special mention as the deities here are so beautiful and if you closely look at him you can note his warm smile. As adiyen mentioned earlier the rama deity at Vaduvoor, Thillaivilakam, Thiruvahendrapuram, Oppili appan koil and Madurantakam are very beautiful and each arch is different from  another. Next time if you happened to visit these temples please take an extra minute to observe this.

Our next visit was to Nathan koil, which is also called Nandhipura vinnagaram. The temple is located amidst of fields and it is remote. Obviously the transport facilities are poor. When we reached the temple, it was closed (around 8.30AM). The regular bhattar was away and the stand by archaka has to come from nearby village. Our trust member Smt Subhashini Narasimhan has arranged for a Diesel generator for the temple at the request of temple authorities. This temple is under the guidance of Sri Vanamamalai mutt. We went around the temple and spend some time in that peaceful atmosphere while waiting for the archaka. He came finally and he was very
old and with lots of difficulty he gave us darshan of Lord. His hearing ability was also very poor and it is a real pity to see such old archakas serving the Lord out of their affection. They work for long hours than most of us in that dark area standing for long hours and there is no retirement
for them. After having a peaceful darshan, we left for Adhanur.
Adhanur and PuLLambhuthangudi temples are under the maintenance of Sri Ahobila mutt. You might have seen appeals from Srimad Azhagiya singar for reviving various utsavams in these temples. One problem with these divya desams is that they are remote and located in villages and the access is very difficult unless you hire a car/auto from Kumbakonam. The car (thEr) is in very bad condition and even the dwajastambam. Please make a point to visit divya desams and help what ever you can. This is the only way we can preserve the glory of these divya desams.

Our next stop was PuLLambhuthangudi. adiyen have to share about one more less known place near this divya desam. That place is Narasimha puram. The speciality of this place is that brindavanam of 5 Azhagiya singars is located here. Luckily adiyen read an article about this sacred place in Nrusimha priya and the timing also suited. This sannidhi will be open in the
morning and the archaka is travelling from PuLLambhuthangudi for daily thiruvaradhanam. We went to Narasimhapuram enroute PuLLambhuthangudi and took the blessings of 5 Azhagiya singars. If you are interested to do some kaimkaryam for this sannidhi please email adiyen.

Unlike aadhanur, PuLLambhuthangudi divya desam was blessed with one full decad of Peria thirumozhi by Sri Thirumangai azhvar. Recently Srimad Azhgiya singar has offered special kreedam for Sri Valvil Raman and now another group of bhagavathas are offering Panidiyan kondai. The paricharaka swami at this temple is very old (80+) and at now he has an assistant to support him at madappalli kaimkaryam. They were very kind and offered lots of prasadam
to us.

Then we went to Thirumandangudi, which is the birth place of Sri Thondaradippodi azhvar. The archaka was away but the local people were kind enough to open the sannidhi for our darshan. This temple is also located amidst of paddy fields and there is a sugar factory nearby.

Then we went to Kabistalam divya desam. This temple is not very popular and hardly gets sevarthis. The archa thirumeni of the moolavar was with cracks without thailakappu. This information came in the cyber e groups and adiyen was in tears reading the condition of the temple. We have visited the temple and arranged for thailakappu every month and thirumnajanam to the utsavar on Sravanam day. This kaimkaryam is going on well for the past few months now.

This divya desam was sung by a sole pasuram by Thirumazhisai azhvar. The further beauty is that the azhvar could not physically come to the temple due to floods in Kaveri river which is running close to the temple. Perumal out of mercy shown HIS divine archa from and azhvar did mangalasasanam as "aaRRangari kidakkum kaNNan".

The deities in this divya desam are very beautiful indeed. There are many sannidhis for Sri sudharshana and Varada and most importantly the Gajendra moksham is carved on a pillar. Perumal is in reclining posture and utsavar is called Gajendra varadan and Thayar is called Rama mani thayar.

We had arranged for Thirumanjanam during our trip and the bhattar did it in an elobarate manner. adiyen was blessed to recite pancha suktam and Neerattal pasurams during thirumanjanam. The bhattar first did thailakappu for all the deities (moolavar) and then the thirumanjanam was started. At this time a group of devotees came on an arranged trip from Pondichery and they were very happy to get a chance to see thirumanjanam.

After thirumanjanam and alankaram bhattar adorned the perumal with large garlends, which he specially arranged for this day. He mentioned that adiyen is coming all the way from Bahrain and he wanted to do the thirumanjanam in a grand manner with lots of flowers and garlends.After archana and bhojyasanam the prasadam was given to all the devotees and we were very happy to have so many sevarthis in an isolated temple. adiyen will soon upload the beautiful photos taken during our trip for your pleasure of enjoying HIM.

Then we went to another temple in Keezh kabistalam, which was under renovation. This is also an ancient temple with sannidhis for Sri Varadaraja and Hanuman. They local residents are very enthusiastic to renovate the temple and they have requested help from our trust also. There was an appeal in Nrusimhapriya too for the renovation work. Now the renovation is completed and we are doing our humble bit for daily aradana.

The bhattar at this temple is not getting good sambhavana and given the today's cost of living it is very difficult to meet the both ends. Unfortunately his only son is dumb. He was in tears requesting help for medical expenses. adiyen has offered to take his son to specialist doctors
in Chennai and assured him for financial help too. It is very disturbing to note such bhagavathas who are serving the Lord every day are put into such difficulties. It is all HIS sankalpam. What to say.

Our next visit was to Kudalur divya desam and the perumal here is called aaduthurai perumal. This temple was recently renovated by Sri Thirukkoshtiyur Madavan swami and others. The Yagasalai etc which were made for samprokshanam are still there. We felt happy to see a divya desam in good shape. Since we were running out of time we could spend little time only at this divya desam.

We then rushed to Thiruvelliyangudi divya desam. This is also another isolated temple and if the driver is not familar with the surrounding villages of Kumbakonam then it will be difficult to locate the temple. The Garudan is seen with Shanku and Chakra. This temple was sung by Sri
Thirumangai azhvar. This temple is in good condition and we understand that the nitya aradanam is going on well. Recently Sri Muralidhar swami has offered Silver Kreedam for Thayar. The sthala vruksham is Plaintain tree (Seevvaazhai) which can be seen in the prakaram of the temple.

By the time we came out of the temple it was around 7 PM and our train to Chennai was at 8PM. We have to skip our plan to visit the local temples like Sarangapani, chakkara pani and Sri ramar temple. adiyen has visited these temples numerous times during our stay in kumbakonam but still adiyen was feeling very sad for visiting this time. Due to other commitments, we could not extend our stay and returned to chennai after memorable trip of visiting 25 divya desams in two days.

There will be one more posting in this series about our trip to Kanchipuram, Sevilimedu and Navalpakkam and other local divya desams in chennai. Please bear with me.