The first one - Gokarneswara

Ganapathi Temple was the first one we visited. We were ready by 10:30 a.m. and the driver came on time. The following were on our list. Gokarneswara, Kadiri, Mangala Devi and Durga Parameswari in Katil. We visited a Jain Temple also (driver's choice).

Gokarna is a pilgrimage center of Karnataka, Worshipped here is the Aatma Lingam Mahabaleshwar. It is regarded as one of the 7 Mukti Stalas of Karnataka. Gokarna is located at a distance of 170 km from Mangalore. The other six being Kollur, Kodeshwara, Kumbasi, Subramanya, Sankaranarayana and Udipi.
Legend goes that Vinayaka (Ganapathi) tricked the demon Ravana into leaving behind a Shivalingam here, a legend similar to that of Tiruchirappalli. In spite of the strength exerted by Ravana, the Maha Bala, the Shivalingam stayed fixed, hence the name Mahabaleshwar. Because of the pull exerted by Ravana, the Shivalingam resembled the shape of a cow's ear and hence the name Gokarnam. A very similar legend holds at the Vaidyanath - Jyotirlingam temple at Deogarh in Bihar, which we plan to visit in 2008. The female deity Gokarna Nayaki also known as Taamragowri - her shrine is behind the sanctum.

The Temple of Mahabaleshwar faces west in a square Saligrama Peetham. A golden rekha (line) on the peetham, and a small hole in its middle permits devotees to have a glimpse of the top of the Aatma Lingam. Once in 40 years, during the Ashta bandhana Kumbhabhishekam, the six foot tall Shivalingam that is encolsed inside the Peetham is seen. We were there at a different time!!! There are also shrines of Vinayaka, Chandikeswara, Aadi Gokarneswara and Dattatreya.

Karnataka, dream come true!!! - chapter 1

The abovephoto was taken near Sringeri. Rao and our driver.

I was in the province of Karnataka many times in my life. I did my 8th grade public exam (in the good old 50s) in Bangalore. We lived there for about 3 years. I love the place. Many sweet memories!! But this yatra, my desire was to see Sringeri Sarada Peetham. The holy place established by Sri Shankara Acharya. We added few more places like mangalore, Dharmasthala, Kukke (Subrahmanyam), Talakaveri, Udipi, Madikare, Annapurneswari etc.
We left Tirupathi on Nov 26th around 10:30 a.m. by Taxi. Reached Katpadi Junction by 12:30. Great driver, scenic drive. On the way I noticed a structure with symbols of the three major religions Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. The driver said it was a school!!! The train at Katpadi was at 1:30 p.m.to reach Mangalore by 5 a.m. We slept well. Nirmala had arranged for a Taxi, driver cum guide to meet us at the train station. This was done through the help of her niece and her husband who live in Ernakulam, Kerala. The driver had a sign and we recognized each other. Nirmala was told that the driver could speak Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English. We were thrilled. But, as soon as Rao spoke a few words in Kannada, the driver dropped the other languages (which he knew very little anyway). But he was intelligent and polite, unlike our Tirupathi driver.
It was already 27th. We went to Hotel Manorama, on K.S. Rao Road in Mangalore (excellent) to shower, rest, have breakfast etc. Attached to this hotel was a restaurant.The rates were reasonable, food was healthy and tasty. The official tour began at 10:30 a.m. on Nov 27th visiting the local Temples. The driver knew where he was going and what he was talking about. We will meet in my next post.

Return to Tirupathi - Nov 8, 2007

We had an enjoyable trip overall. But all of us were exhausted. The weather, the food, the hotels were all good. The driver's aptitude did not change. The men in our group pampered him a little bit. He took advantage of that and his attitude had changed. Now it was our return journey to Tirupathi. On the way we were passing by Kanchi. Rao's brother wanted to see that place also. The two of them (he and his wife) even considered getting off and exploring by themselves. Since there was so much to see there, we wanted to make a separate trip. But we weren't sure whether they should take the risk of travelling by themselves. Anyway, as we approached kanchi, Rao's brother had some uneasy feeling healthwise. So, we did not stop and hence returned to Tirupathi.

There was a wedding from my father's side of the family that I wanted to attend in Nellore on the 10th. So, I went to Nellore on the 9th and returned on the 11th. I saw tons of relatives and old friends and aquaintances whom I have not seen in decades, at that wedding. Rao rested at Nirmala's place for 2 days. his brother and sister-in-law returned to Hyderabad with happy memories and some health issues.

Rao and I made a day trip (night journey) to Puttaparthi to see our beloved Sathya Sai Baba. We had great darsan and returned to Tirupathi. The trip was short and sweet. By the time we returned, Nirmala was ready with the plans for the next leg of the yatra.

Thanks to all of you who read my posts so far. Please comment and help me improve my blog. The next chapter would be our trip to Karnataka.

Palani , last, but not the least!!!

This will be my last post of our Tamil Nadu tour. Nagalakshmi very much wanted to stay overnight here. But, like I said in one of my previous posts, we were short of time and the night halt at Palani would have added more miles to our travel. By the time we reached Palani, it was late afternoon. After the darsan, we returned towards Madurai.
Palani is situated at about 110 kms from Madurai amd 150 kms from Trichy. The Temple is situated on a hilltop, about 450 feet high. if we took the steps to climb, we may have to climb close to 700 steps. We decided to take the very comfortable Trolly (electric winch?). I remember in 1985 when I visited (along with my children) my sister (akka, who was then working as a principal of a local college in Palani) I was nervous going on that trolly with a steep upward motion. But this time, I wasn't nervous. That train made many trips each day taking devotees up and down.
The deity is Dandayadhapani, another name for Subrahmanya swami (Murugan). This is one of the six Murugan Temples one should visit. We had a wonderful darsan here. As soon as we entered the Temple, we were fortunate to witness the chariot procession sponsored by somebody. We walked around along with that party.

I don't want to go into sthala puranas about this Temple. About sage Agastya, Narada bringing a special mango, the competition between Vinayaka and Subrahmanya and so on. Once you search the internet, you can see all that.

Samayapuram, Tiruvanaikkaval Jambukeshwara

I should have mentioned this in the Srirangam-Trichy post. But never too late.

Samayapuram Temple has been dedicated to Mariamman. She is the manifestation of Shakti. People believe that the Goddess Mariamman is capable of curing diseases like Small Pox and Chicken Pox. I felt that this was like the village deity. In my childhood, I have seen such Temples in Nellore also. Especially when I saw goats (tied to the poles) and cocks waiting to be sacrificed, I felt very uncomfortable. This was the typical grama devata (village deity)style. I did not want to go inside the shrine as soon as I realized that such superstitions still existed!! People believe in it and pray for the cure and once cured(or not) they sacrifice these animals. There are other festivals like annual floats etc., but I wasn't interested in knowing any more details. Sorry folks, Not much to elaborate here.

The legend goes that when Lord Shiva swallowed the Kaalakoota poison he created Goddess Kali from that poison and so, henceforth she assumed the name Kali.

The temple at Tiruvanaikaval is a big one covering an area of about 18 acres with high walls and gopurams on all the four sides. The temple has five prakarams. The main shrine(the 5th prakaram) can be reached by entering a series of Gopurams. Situated in the 4th prakaram, Akhilandeswari is the presiding female deity and Jambukeshwara is the male deity. I did not take any photos. But I liked the photos on this site. I mentioned this Temple under the 'Five elements' theme.

According to the legend there was once a forest of Jambu trees at this location. Near by was a tank called Chandratheertha which was filled by water from the river Kaveri. Lord shiva appeared as a Lingam under one of the trees. Hence the name Jambukeshwara (and more on the name, you can search). Due to a curse, two of the shiva ganas Pushpadanta and Malyava, were born in the forest as a white elephant and as a spider. The elephant worshipped the Lingam with flowers and with water brought in its trunk. The spider too worshipped the Lingam, spinning out a web over the Lingam to prevent leaves of the tree from falling on it. The spider's web appeared to be unclean for the elephant and it destroyed the web. This lead to big clash between the two and ultimately resulted in their death. Lord shiva granted salvation to both.
Anyway, we were told that the river Kaveri water can be seen in the slabs under the lingam. I thought it was a spring underneath slab.

The concentric walls make the Jambukeshwara Temple more interesting and exciting. For the Shaivites the Jambukeshwara Temple is an absolute charm. There are also seven Gopurams and they are captivating for both the religiously inclined and the artistically minded.

The non Hindus are not allowed to enter the temple premises.

I was totally confused in some of these Temples. I am writing this in a rush to finish this post. Please feel free to make corrections or additional comments about this temple.www.googlemaps.com

Madurai and it's glory

This again is one of my favorite pilgrim places. My third visit (1985, 1987, 2007) to the great Temple of Goddess Meenakshi. In addition to being a religious center, Madurai is loaded with colleges of all categories. There are International students who study here participating in the student exchange programs.It is also famous for the cotton (hand loomed) chungidi sarees.
The land marks that make this city famous are Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Tirumala Nayakar mahal, Azhagar Koyil, Gandhi Museum and Tiruparankundram.

So far, we visited the Temples on the banks of river Kaveri. In Madurai the Meenakshi Temple is on the banks of the river Vaigai. Do you ever wonder why Hindu religion is the only one that gave so much importance to the female aspect of the divine?

This temple complex is dedicated to Shiva and Parvathi, known as Sundareshvarar and Meenakshi. The original temple was built by Kulasekara Pandya. But it was the Nayakars who brought out the glory into the current state in the 16th to 18th century.

Apart from the main temple, there are a number of smaller shrines. The pillared halls and towers and the twelve gopurams are very impressive. The gopurams are covered with colorful figurines of monsters (don't know why), mythical animals and a variety of deities. One may have to spend a life time to get to know the details of all these temples.

Temple Towers:
There are 12 temple towers(Gopurams).
Out of which the four at each direction of North, East, West and South are about 160 feet and have nine storeys. This temple is maintained very well. We were told that the figurines etc. are repaired and repainted every 12 years. Some work was going on when we were there.

Ashta Shakthi Mandapam:

This one is at the Eastern entrance. The sculptures here tell the stories of Lord Shiva's miracles and the life of Meenakshi ammal.

Meenakshi Nayakkar Mandapam:
This is adjacent to Ashta Shakthi Mandapam. This one has 110 pillars with animal figurines with a lion's body and elephant's hear. Again, I wonder why?

The Golden Lotus Tank:

This temple tank is where devotees took bath in the holy water. The area around this tank was the meeting place of the Tamil Sangam - the ancient academy of poets. The tank is surrounded by a pillared corridor. Steps lead down to the tank. Many of the ancient Temples have this arrangement in the South Indian Temples.

Oonjal(means swing)Mandapam:

This one is on the Western side of the tank. There are 28 pillars with sculptures depicting Hindu mythology. The parrots in the Kilikoontu mandapam (located here) are trained to repeat the name of Meenakshi. Every Friday, they have special ceremony at the Oonjal Mandapam.
Also worth seeing are the Kadambatadi Mandapam and a big hall called Velli (silver) Ambalam. Here, an idol of Nataraja is covered with silver leaves. Hence this hall is named as Velli Ambalam (Silver Hall).

The Thousand Pillar Mandapam:

In many Temples I have hear this word 'thousand pillared', never verified the number!!!. Do you think it is exact? Actually, here, the number of pillars count to 985 decorated columns. Exhibiting the 1200 years old history, there are so many other smaller and bigger mandapams in this temple.
Just outside this Mandapam ,towards the west, are the Musical Pillars. Each pillar when stuck, produces a different musical note.

Kalyana Mandapam

This one is one the South side. As the name indicates, every year during Chittirai festival (which is middle of April), Shiva and Parvathi's marriage is celebrated.

Vasantha Mandapam:

Vasantham means Spring season.
The Spring festival-is celebrated in this Mandapam in Vaikasi (April/May). The pillars have elaborate sculptures of Shiva, Meenakshi, scenes from their wedding as well as the figures of ten of the Nayak Kings and their consorts. This is also called Pudu (meaning new) Mandapam.

In each of these Temples, watching the elephants blessing the devotees is a delight!! We had enjoyable time and did purchase some sarees and sandals(out of neccessity) and bangles for the children and some small brass items.

My personal experience:

I had a very strange experience at this Temple. I must share this. Prior to reaching this Temple, I was a little frustrated with my life (not going the way I wanted it to go) and prayed in each Temple to 'take me away'. This was the last Temple I was going to cry hard. As we entered the first gopuram, a man in his fifties spoke from behind my right shoulder "amma, you people go in that direction". Even though we followed his way, I thought he was one of the self appointed guides. But I did not see him for a while. Then,out of the blue he appeared again and gave me a small package containing a photo of the idols,small packets of vibhti (holy ash) and kumkum. I was surprised, but accepted it. Finally, we entered the interior of the shrine and bending forward, the rope railing, I was about to send my prayer. I heard that man's voice on my right. I was in a shock. How did he get here? He said "amma, if you do not want rebirth, She is the only deity that will give you that boon. You should pray for that". He repeated it to make sure I heard him. Saying this, he left the premises. I did not see him again, but this time, I did not pray for 'death'.
The message I got from this experience was 'don't run away' from challenges. Prepare yourself for 'no rebirth'. After a few hours of pondering on this, I felt that the yatra was well worth the time and money. But it took me several months to put this into practice!!!

Srirangam and Tiruchinapalli

After a lot of discussion, we decided to go to Palani only for a day trip later. We realised that we needed an extra day for us to cover our list of temples. My niece Padmaja's son Harish who is a student at SASTRA University in Trichy (Tiruchinapally)was also on our list. But we had no time to see him neither on the campus nor his room (which he and all of us very much wanted to do). We asked him to come and meet us in a hotel instead. He took a bus from his hostel and met us. He accompanied us to the Ranganatha Temple in Srirangam. Where ever they allowed, he took photos with his Cell phone and later on sent them to me. Harish did a great job. He came to the hotel room with us and rested a little bit. Now about the Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Srirangam:
Apart from being the first of the 108 Vishnu Sthalas, Srirangam is also listed as one of the Navagraha Sthalas. I have visited six of them so far. The last one in Tirunallur, of Saturn, I don't think I had visited. The list of Navagraha sthalas is:
Suryanarcoil........Sun
Tirupati............Moon
Palani..............Mars
Madurai.............Mercury
Tiruchendur.........Jupiter
Srirangam...........Venus
Tirunallaru.........Saturn
And I need to add the other two planets Rahu and Ketu:
Thirunageswaram – Rahu
Keezhaperumpallam – Ketu
Well, the rest of the group was not really interested in this aspect. It is just that I am interested in both Astrology and Astronomy.

Srirangam is 2 km from Tiruchirapalli and is the most important Temple for Vaishnavas. The Deity is Lord Ranganatha and is reclining on Ananta Sesha. His consort is Ranganayaki. The area covering this Temple is over 150 acres and is surrounded by the Rivers Kaveri and Kolladam. Well, the Ranganatha Temple in my native town Nellore is on the banks of the river Pennar.

Unlike most deities which face east, Ranganatha faces south towards Lanka to bless Vibhishana (Ravana's brother who befriended Raama) and his kingdom. It is said that Vibhishana returns every 12 years to perform the worship of Lord Ranganatha.

This temple has a very interesting history. It was the headquarters of Sri Ramanuja acharya (who established Vaishnavism??) for many years and it is here that he entered Samadhi at the age of 120.(WOW!!!). His samadhi shrine can be seen here. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself made deities of Jagannatha, Baldeva and Subhadra and installed them here. There are other deities in the temple enclosure including that of Laksmi, Sudarsana and Narasimha.
I have visited this Temple also in 1987, but, this time, I got to see in detail. In 1987 it was a package tour of 6 nights and we were rushed in all the Temples. Even in darsan line, like in Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, we were pushed forward by the crowd as well as by the volunteers, priests and the like. Another thing I was uncomfortable with was with the fact that most of these Temples, did not allow non-Hindus after a certain point. There are signs posted and if you missed it, the volunteers/employees stop you very politely ofcourse!! I wondered how they can identify a non-Hindu Indian man!!!I understand the dress-code part.
The architecture again was exquisite. As I promised before, the photos will be posted separately.

Prior to my visiting Trichy, I did not know about Srirangam's location. The name Tiruchy reminded me only of the great mridangam player Tiruchy Sankaran. Do you, all music lovers agree??

Thiruverkadu, Maangadu, Mookambika

I should have written this post long before the other Tamil nadu posts. When I first landed in Chennai in October 2007, I expressed the desire to Mohan and Priya that I wanted to visit the Thiruverkadu Temple. They happily agreed to take me there. They were the ones who introduced me to this Temple. The first time I had darsan of Karumari Amman, the main deity there, was just before my daughter was married to their son (in 2004). Once again, we all - Mohan and Priya, Mohan's parents, Sridhar (their second son) and me were there. It is a small Temple in a small town.

Thiruverkadu literally means a forest of holy herbs and roots and is a western suburb of Chennai. We hired a Taxi for the trip.The Temple was crowded that day, but it was manageable. Special pooja sponsors were sitting in an enclosed area. The Devi idol was enchanting. Just outside the Temple was a huge snake pit. The three women in the group, we walked around the pit. There were offerings of milk, broken eggs for the snake (I am not sure anyone ever gets to see that snake). I could not bear the smell of eggs.
The next Temple was of Kamakshi Amman of Mangadu. Mangadu (meaning forest of mango trees)is a small town situated 24 Kms away from Chennai and all these three Temples are near Poonamallee.
In this Mangadu, the story goes that Goddess Sri Kamakshi came and started her penance standing on the PANCHAGNI in the midst of forest of Mango trees. Then Lord Siva appeared before her and married her at Kancheepuram. The local belief is that in the same way, if any unmarried woman, comes and offers vows to Sri Kamakshi, she gets married very soon. We witnessed some dance and music program by local students and famous artists like mandolin Srinivasan that day. My ears perked up with joy when I saw them perform dance to the kriti Kanjadalaayatakshi...., which was the first kriti I learnt in my high school music class. We moved on to the third Temple which was amore recent addition to the area.
At the Mookambika Temple, we were greeted very graciously. This particular location is called Panachikkadu (I don't know the meaning - all I know is kadu means forest). This Mookambika Temple is also known as Dakshina Mookambika. I guess this is fairly new at this location. (There is one in Kollur, Karnataka also). The Temple at Panachikkadu is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge and learning and is very famous for 'Vidyarambham'. We met the lady who founded this in the South. She asked us to have a meal which was being served for free for many visitors. But we could not have it that day!!