Kudamookku, Kaveri and a Weekend

A trip to the temple town in TN, Kumbakonam was a long awaited thing for me! I was all pepped up as soon as I booked tickets 3 months in advance through IRCTC on Jan. 1 (what a way to begin the New Year :) ). The primary aim was to go to Oppiliappan Koil to perform tonsure ceremony for Jumblu, but I had an ulterior agenda item – to increase my count of visits to Dhevara Koils to the magical number of 92, this would mean I have seen at least 1/3rd of them (274 in total). My count was at 89 on Jan. 1.

As we had to take Jumblu along, I did not want to experiment booking 3A and make fellow passengers be awake all through the night. So, I booked 10 tickets in conventional FC in Kamban MS-KMU. This class is the best for a rail-fan – offering exclusive, RPF-intervention-free, wide-windowed view best suit for taking videos of overnight crossings or ripping a station though platform-filled-main line at MPS. We boarded the train in pf 3 at Egmore, dot departure at 2315, arrived Kumbakonam 30 minutes late (technically 2 minutes late) at 0531 on Saturday March 26, 2011. Details of trip jottings will be made available in my rail blog (www.wdg4.blogspot.com) later. WDM-2 #16853 ED did the honours short hood facing, I got forward-facing window on the East side.

Saturday – March 26:

I had booked two apartments in Iyyangar Guest House in Pachayappa Agraharam (near Mela Kaveri) – both are 2BHKs with K locked and 1B A/C. Rent was reasonable at 1000 per flat per day. After getting settled and going through the morning routines, we had excellent tiffin in Venkatramana Mess (near Yaanaiadi) – the one that my thaathaa used to hang around, during his peak days as a busy dealer in musical instruments. Being a man from the delta, he knew in and out of the delta towns. Appa had an interesting chat with the mess owner who remembered my thaathaa very much! After some food to prepare us for the day, we went to Thirunageswaram (Nageswarar temple) in a Tavera that Appa had arranged for the gang. It took some time for me to figure out that the crowd in that temple was due to the fact that it was a Saturday and peak Ragu Kalam! However, the main sannidhi was lesser crowded and we had a peaceful sevai of Sri Nageswarar. The abhishekam was over by the time we went to Ragu sannidhi, we had to be contended with a darshan from a distance due to the crowd. This was the fourth time I am visiting that temple and I have distinct memories of each of the trips – the abhishekam with milk turning blue during a crowded Ragu Kalam way back in 1985, peaceful darshan and the phone call to bro sitting near the main tank during 2004 (we both were boasting of our trips – he was in Ooty at that time), again a darshan during soft twilight rays of 2008.

The next step was Oppliappan Koil – the one Who has the greatest virtue beyond which there cannot be any greater virtue (uyarvara uyarnalam udaiyavan yavanavan) – the one Who does not have any similies (Oppu ili appan). It was relatively less crowded despite being a Saturday. We stood in front of the 15 ft tall Gentleman who attracts devotees with his mischievous smile and a slogan that says “I am the only person Who can provide moksham to all”. I am a fan of how bhattars adorn Him with those long rose garlands and nalla sampangi garlands – contrast to Tirumalai where Perumal is a bit thin (so they will not be broad), whereas this Perumal is huge and wide, so the garlands spread a larger area and given the fact that one can stand right in front of Him at close quarters and have a good sevai. After completing the sevai and tonsure ceremony, we learned that (being a Saturday), nadai will be open in Nachciar koil too upto 1 pm. We then went to Nachiar koil, just in time as the bhattar was closing the nadai for uchchi kalam – we had excellent sevai of Nambi, Vanjulavalli thayar and Periya thiruvadi (kal garudan). After a few rounds of discussions on how the vigraham gains and loses weight (my bro and I concluded that it should be due to gravity) during the uthsavam, we came back to the guest house around 2 pm.

A good majority of the janatha was feeling tired and we all opted for a local town tour. The evening was well spent in Sarangapani koil, Nageswaran koil, Vyaazha Somesar koil, Ramaswamy koil and Chakrapani koil. As usual, the smell of bat-filled prakarams in Sarangapani koil was unforgettable (not that I dislike them)! Nageswaran koil and Somesar koil are two new dhevara koils that I included in my list. Chakrapani koil was a also first-time visit.

Sunday – March 27:

The day started with a lot of enthusiasm floating around as people were excited to have their list of ‘unvisited-temples’ being considered in the trip plan. We started the day with a superb darshan at Swamimalai – we were the only gang in the entire temple all along! It was a peaceful darshan and as we started coming down those 60 steps, we saw that arrangements were carried on to start the abhishekams for the day. A quick tiffin in a mami mess nearby to fill our tummies recharged our batteries and we proceeded to Adhanur. The road to Koonancheri via Nagukudi was as usual amazing with sugarcane and paddy fields on both sides, filling the landscape with lush green colour and making the road look like a thin blue snake! Arooran Sugar Mills in the distant west horizon added more beauty to the scenery. Adhanoor was in a dilapidated state when I visited first in April 2004. Thanks to the continuous efforts of HH Jeeyars of Ahobila Mutt, this temple is now completely renovated and the prakarams look a lot inviting. After having a great sevai of Sri Aandalakkumaiyan, we travelled another km to reach Pullamboothangudi divyadesam. Lord Dhrudadhanvi (Valvil Raman) in bhujanga sayanam is a great sight to see.

The next scheduled stop was Thiruvaikavoor – the temple in which Sivaraathri is most famous for in Tamil Nadu, next only to Sri Kalahasthi on all-India basis. A couple of km away from PB Kudi was Koonancheri where the road from Mayiladuthurai via Pattavarthi to join KMU-Thiruvaiyaru road passes through. We took a right turn at Koonancheri and went 2 km North to reach Thiruvaikavoor. Had an excellent sevai of the moolavar and Ambal Sarva Janaambigai. It is interesting to note that a vilvam tree has sprouted in the exact place where the old vilvam tree stood for centuries, without anyone planting a sapling there! A round of delicious panneer sodas to quench our thirst and we started to Thirukarugavur. Passing through Thirumandangudi, the birth place of Thondaradipodiazhwar, I was trying to locate the local temple, but in vain. We then took a right turn in Thiruvaiyaru road after 10 km, reached Kabisthalam – the gang voted in favour of a visit to the divyadesam, so we took a short diversion to have sevai of the ‘Kannan along the river bank (aatrangarai kidakkum kannan)’. An amazing sevai was provided by the bhattar at the temple. Jumblu was playing a lot in the wide maha mandapam – he was trying to catch hold of everything on the floor and was trying to hit his mottai head in all the pillars, he seemed to have been enjoying a lot there!

Thirukarugavur was not far away via Papanasam and Saliamangalam Road – 2+7 = 9 km in total from Kabisthalam. One of the most expected events happened here – crossing Kaveri and her distributaries (Arasalar, Thirumalairajan Aaru, Kudamurutti and Vettaar). I feel very excited everytime when I get to cross those tiny looking distributaries in the delta – as if I am the Ponniyin Selvan himself :) The good news was that the Vettaar bridge is now repaired and in working condition – this means I will not be parking my car in the North bund, cross the river on foot over a make-shift wooden bridge to take a share auto for 5 Rs to reach the temple. There was considerable crowd in Ambal sannidhi – we were able to have a relatively free darshan in Eswaran sannidhi (Yoothikavaneswarar / Mullaivananathar) earlier.

Having completed this temple at 12.30 pm, I saw a good 30 minutes in front of us to cover Thirusathimutram and Patteeswaram – however, a wrong turn at Govindakudi ended up us taking the route to Valangaiman instead of the route to Darasuram! Thankfully, we discovered this quickly – but not quick enough as it was 1 already. A detour in a narrow single road via Udaiyalur (supposedly where Raja Raja I was cremated) took us to Pazhayarai – Jumblu’s hunger stopped us in front of the temple and I got ample time to get down and explore the ancient capital city of the later Cholas. The massive temple complex was secured by a simple 6 size Navtal lock manned by a person in a thatched hut nearby – what a pity! A temple that was once extremely patronized by Queen Sembian Madevi, Princess Kundhavai, the great King Arulmozhivarman (Raja Raja I) and all later Chola kings is now in a state of total neglect! It has 3 prakarams, the outer and middle ones did not have any sannidhis except for the Kolavizhiamman sannidhi in the 3rd (outer) prakaram. The vigraham of Kailasamoorthy in the first prakaram (supposed to be worshipped by Raja Raja I) is a sculptural marvel by itself – the ahankaram in the face of Ravanan, the sarcastic smile in Lord Siva, an afraid Parvati trying to get hold of Siva for balance – all in a single stone, is a brilliant work altogether. After eating all the architectural grandeur this once-the-first-city-of-Cholas, I stepped out to take the car back to KMU.

Afternoon was reserved for good earned rest, sound sleep and a round of Tambola with some Mysore Bondas and Pori Kadalai to munch. An amazing trip is what I would consider this one to be! Finally, I moved the needle in the Dhevara Koils list past the magical 1/3rd mark of 92, to 93.

I took 6176 Kamban back on Sunday ex-KMU in FC, hauled by a faithful WDM-2 #17677 TNP Long Hood Forward, dropping us at Tambaram at 4.28 AM on Monday (technically 6 minutes BT). I took First Class compartment from TBM to Saidapet, travelling in an FC coach of an EMU for the first time!

Subham.

Hope you would have enjoyed reading this post, comments welcome.

-Aravi.