Kshetradam -II
We left Chidambaram at around 7:00 and boarded a bus to Vaideeshwaran koil
Vaideeshwaran Koil
-------------------
Another Shiva temple. This temple is very famous for its healing powers. The Lord is Vaidyanatha Swami (The Master of Medicine) and his consort is Thaiyal Nayaki (Thaiyal means stitch in Tamil - I guess it means Goddess who heals). Looked like both of them have taken up the responsibility of curing people of all ills. There is a very famous kulam (tank) where in people take a bit of jaggery and let it dissolve. So, the tank should actually have sweet water! :-) I never sipped it though. The temple prakaram is not as big as Chidambaram and the works are not that exquisite, but it is a big temple nevertheless. There is a beautiful dark elephant welcoming you. It being the Aadi Maasam (month of worship of Goddess Parvati), I saw many madisaaru maami's keeping maavilakku maavu (a lamp made out of rice flour, jaggery and ghee)....I would've loved to eat that. But, it was meant to be a lamp and for the deity! :-( After a lot of being pushed (something like mumbai trains), we got our archana done. We ate a sumptuous puliyodharai (tamarind rice) and thayir saadham (curd rice) at 9:00 AM in the morning in the temple itself.
We took a rickshaw to few kukgraamams (remote villages) called Koothanur and Eravanjeri. The roads are narrow and there are a dozen lorries and buses on them. They roads are bad as well, and the rickshaw fellow blamed a few political parties for the same - typical in Tamilnadu
Koothanur Saraswathi Temple
---------------------------
It seems there is just one temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswathi in India and that is at Koothanur. The Goddess is seated on a white Lotus. The temple is really small, however there was quite a bit of a crowd. I was thoroughly sleepy by this time. Surprising that there is just one temple for Brahma and Saraswathi. The other two of the trinity, Shiva and Vishnu, enjoy a large following, however, the creator Brahma somehow does not have many worshippers!!!
Eravanjeri Angaala Parameshwari Temple
----------------------------------------
Nearly drained, we reached Angaala Parameshwari Temple - a very very tiny temple, but the deity has a faithful large following. The gurukkal was waiting for us and proceeded to do the Abhishekham. Since there weren't any helpers around it took a whole of 2 hrs at that temple. However, we enjoyed a nice darshan - unlike the pushing at Vaideeshwaran Temple. Hungry as I was, I thoroughly enjoyed the sakkara pongal (sweet pongal) prasadam that was given in the end.
The place is really a kukgraamam - lacks basic amenities! There is electricity, however. I was amazed to see the vast difference between the city culture and that of the villages.
From Eravanjeri, we came to a bigger town Kumbakonam. Thankfully, the roads improved. On the way were Paddy fields all depending on the water from the river Cauveri. It seems the dams had been opened a few days ago and hence we saw the canals (arasalaaru) full of water. The locals were delighted at this. That was a short-term harvest season too - I think it is called kuruvai nel. However, my mother told me that Chennai gets most of its rice needs met by Nellore and other towns from Andhra since it is close to Andhra border.
From Kumbakonam, we had to travel another 60 odd kilometers to reach Trichy....in my next blog.
Vaideeshwaran Koil
-------------------
Another Shiva temple. This temple is very famous for its healing powers. The Lord is Vaidyanatha Swami (The Master of Medicine) and his consort is Thaiyal Nayaki (Thaiyal means stitch in Tamil - I guess it means Goddess who heals). Looked like both of them have taken up the responsibility of curing people of all ills. There is a very famous kulam (tank) where in people take a bit of jaggery and let it dissolve. So, the tank should actually have sweet water! :-) I never sipped it though. The temple prakaram is not as big as Chidambaram and the works are not that exquisite, but it is a big temple nevertheless. There is a beautiful dark elephant welcoming you. It being the Aadi Maasam (month of worship of Goddess Parvati), I saw many madisaaru maami's keeping maavilakku maavu (a lamp made out of rice flour, jaggery and ghee)....I would've loved to eat that. But, it was meant to be a lamp and for the deity! :-( After a lot of being pushed (something like mumbai trains), we got our archana done. We ate a sumptuous puliyodharai (tamarind rice) and thayir saadham (curd rice) at 9:00 AM in the morning in the temple itself.
We took a rickshaw to few kukgraamams (remote villages) called Koothanur and Eravanjeri. The roads are narrow and there are a dozen lorries and buses on them. They roads are bad as well, and the rickshaw fellow blamed a few political parties for the same - typical in Tamilnadu
Koothanur Saraswathi Temple
---------------------------
It seems there is just one temple dedicated to Goddess Saraswathi in India and that is at Koothanur. The Goddess is seated on a white Lotus. The temple is really small, however there was quite a bit of a crowd. I was thoroughly sleepy by this time. Surprising that there is just one temple for Brahma and Saraswathi. The other two of the trinity, Shiva and Vishnu, enjoy a large following, however, the creator Brahma somehow does not have many worshippers!!!
Eravanjeri Angaala Parameshwari Temple
----------------------------------------
Nearly drained, we reached Angaala Parameshwari Temple - a very very tiny temple, but the deity has a faithful large following. The gurukkal was waiting for us and proceeded to do the Abhishekham. Since there weren't any helpers around it took a whole of 2 hrs at that temple. However, we enjoyed a nice darshan - unlike the pushing at Vaideeshwaran Temple. Hungry as I was, I thoroughly enjoyed the sakkara pongal (sweet pongal) prasadam that was given in the end.
The place is really a kukgraamam - lacks basic amenities! There is electricity, however. I was amazed to see the vast difference between the city culture and that of the villages.
From Eravanjeri, we came to a bigger town Kumbakonam. Thankfully, the roads improved. On the way were Paddy fields all depending on the water from the river Cauveri. It seems the dams had been opened a few days ago and hence we saw the canals (arasalaaru) full of water. The locals were delighted at this. That was a short-term harvest season too - I think it is called kuruvai nel. However, my mother told me that Chennai gets most of its rice needs met by Nellore and other towns from Andhra since it is close to Andhra border.
From Kumbakonam, we had to travel another 60 odd kilometers to reach Trichy....in my next blog.
posted by appalam vadaam at
7:53 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home