Sunday the
16th of October , was a memorable day with lots of treasured moments. My close
friend Mangala and I had planned a pilgrimage to Kancheepuram , as I had never
in my life visited Kancheepuram.
Since we
had planned on leaving early in the morning to Kancheepuram, Mangala decided to
spend the previous night at my place. She arrived by 10 p.m. and after having
some buttermilk - told me she wanted a good night's rest as she was
dead-beat. Little did we both realise that we would both end up talking
well upto midnight. Heads rolled mercilessly and we laughed uproariously till
we hiccuped. Like Ghosts, we were up drinking water at midnight ( due to the hiccups) finally realising how late it was, we both resolved to catch up on
some sleep as we would have to wake up at 5 a.m.
Mangala had
arranged for a Cab and it arrived at 6.30. We were both ready and got into the
cab - we had lots more to talk - lots of unfinished head -rolling and catching
up to do. By 8.30 we had reached Kancheepuram. We headed straight for Saravana
Bhawan and had a sumptuous breakfast. From there we headed straight for Kanchee
Kamatchi amman kovil. There one Mr. Nataraja Sastry - (a friend of Mangala's)
he is a trustee in that Temple, took us straight to the amman Sannidhi and we were
allowed to sit right in front of Ambaal for a full 15 minutes and we witnessed,
at close range, all the pujas and rituals underway. Mangala was so enthralled -
she cried out of joy. She could not believe her luck. We then thanked mamma
profusely and headed straight towards Varadaraaja Perumal kovil.
As good
luck favoured us, the temple was devoid of crowd – we were a mere 15 people for
the dharshan of Perundevi Taayaar . After a fleeting 3-4 minute dharshan
we headed towards the Perumaal Sannidhi. It is notable that both the Thayaar
and Perumal live in the first floor …(separate apartments though). The steps
are steep and it would be at a height of at least 20 feet.) In a wait of 10
minutes, we followed the queue into the “perumaal” sannidhi. A gigantic
resplendent idol. We got a fleeting 2 minutes in front of the Deity and then we
headed towards the famous Golden and silver lizards. These are huge metallic
images of lizards stuck to the ceiling of a small room housed in the corner of
the same floor as the Perumaal. They have provided a steep two way ladder, on
which people can climb, touch the lizards and get down the other side of the
ladder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bOqIiuRwYs
The third
place was "Ekambareshwarar Kovil" - an anicent Shivan temple. Grand
with beautiful acrhitecture. The main idol (Shiv lingam) of this temple is made
of sand, and being referred as Prithvi Lingam . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv4oo1X6O9U&feature=related
In the
above video you can see the mango tree ( 3600 years old) - famed to represent
the 4 vedas.
Next was a
pitstop was at the Kaanchi Periyavaal shankara madam. I wanted to use the loo.
Mangala, being the pious one, wanted the dharshan of both the kanchi
shankaracharyaas. Both of our wishes were granted. I was very happy to see
Shri. Jayendra Saraswathy. He was sitting on a chair and blessing families that
came to see him. We also did namaskaram and then went to see
"china-periyaver" doing the Maadyaana poojai - it was during the
"Gaja" ( elephant) and "Go" (Cow) poojai that we went. An
elephant, a cow and her calf all three were made to stand in the hall ( they
were being fed - so they would not be restless), while the acharya did the
poojai. We did not wait till the end of the poojai, we left soon after.
We then headed to a place called Nemmili.
To the allegedly famed " Bala Thirupura Sundari Peetam".
Nemmili was about 20 kms away from Kanchipuram. We reached there without much
problem. I was expecting another sprawling temple, but this was in a small,
narrow street - a nondescript two storied house. We saw rows of chappals outside
and we left ours outside and proceeded in. There was a record blaring out
" Nemmili Baala" songs - a sharp toned voice belted out in
ear-splitting volume - much to our discomfort. Here is where we encountered a "con" man.
Clad in a t-shirt and a blood red pattu veshti - that he had wound round his waist and draped the length of it like a saree. He sat in a "simhasanam" like cushioned chair and had a mike in his hand.
Out of the blue, there appeared a saffron clad shishya who asked if we had come by prior appointment – when we said no, its our first time here…he directed us to the sales counter that stood at the corner of the room – selves of knick-kancks such as stickers, small idols, photo frames, cassettes, CDs and small packets of chocolates. We bought 2 small packs of toffees. We were then asked to wait till the group of people behind the curtain came out. It was then out turn to walk further into the room and sit in front of a cluttered show-case laden with photos of all deities . I roughly estimated that the “con man” who owns the place would have invested something to the tune of Rs. 2,500/- in designing these shelves and a small wooden stage on which he had dumped all sorts of pooja samagris (paraphernalia). On display on the top most shelf of the showcase was a tiny 2 inch statue made of some alloy … the tiny goddess “ Bala Thiripura Sundari” was adorned in a rainbow coloured gown. The man claimed that the Goddess has been in his family for 150 years.
The man spoke in "local- colloquial" Tamil narrating how the baby Goddess holds dialogues with him every day . He told us of her mood swings – when she would not fancy anyone visiting her and so, would cause small upheavals in their lives just for fun. Examples he gave were – people taking take ill with fever, diarrhoea, nausea, hospitalization or their car having a flat tyre so that the people would not turn up at her place and disturb her !! Well, can you imagine any God / Goddess being so mean ?. Ironically, Mangala and myself had turned up with no prior appointment.
This man had “Con-man” written all over his face – for one, he was too casual, leaning against the wall with one leg placed comfortably on the wooden stage while he pretended to mutter some Sanskrit verses and held a plate with a burning camphor , with a total lack of interest as he gazed steadily at the audience counting heads. That was the sincerity of his pooja. That done, he held out a tray on which he meticulously arranged some Rs.500/- notes to appear on top of the tray, interspersed with Rs.100/- notes and hid the Rs. 10/- notes under- so no one would dare donate Rs.10/-. This indicated the end of show and we were expected to donate money.
I found a video of this place and the same man on youtube …please note - this video is in the year 2000 - 11 years before. Its the same man - but he is wearing something less scammy then..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5dQyJzpOdc
We headed for Saravana Bhawan and had a good lunch. From there we went to a temple at a distance of 25 kms - called the Maha Meru Amman. This is on the way from Walajabad to Tambaram. Its a unique temple. In the midst of 2 to 3 acres of open ground, and some coconut groves is situated this temple. We were the only visitors. We had the temple hall all to ourselves. Its a huge hall that houses 16 Devis ( Ambaals) - There is a photo and sreechakram design for each devi. These are mounted on a small mandapam. Each Goddess specialises in alleviating a different kind of problem, or in other words, bestows powers in a specific domain. (eg) studies, creativity, art = one goddess.
Well, that was the last of the temples we visited. We headed straight back home. A very memorable day - made delightfully fun and jolly only because it was my best friend - Mangala who accompanied me. Looking forward to going on more such trips with her.
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