Retirees' Retreat

Early bird gets the worm. So, started the year 2019 invading the temples of Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Trichy, Chidambaram, Vaideeswaran Koil...for possible best of blessings. My colleague and friend Ragu, his wife Padma, Aunty and I covered 26 temples in just two and half days. ‘Cover’ doesn’t mean a whirlwind tour, of the touch and go nature. At each temple we persuaded the priest to share the Sthala Puranam.

Each of these Sthala Puranas is worth treasuring. But, space constraints restrict me to highlight just a few of them, more as a teaser. In all the temples one thing goes without saying: the artisans had chiseled these architectural masterpieces in absolute leisure time - phursat mein banaya hai.

First it was to Ramaswamy temple with the surrounding tall walls bringing Ramayana alive in colour painting format. Both ladies bought tickets for Archanai. While coming out, Ragu gently reminded them that it was okay to be doing Archanai in every temple, but our target would be reduced to just half. “Since this was the first temple, we started off with Archanai,” said the two ready-witted ladies and got away with it.  Then we went to Chakrapani temple and to Swaminatha temple (Lord Muruga). This is Ragu’s kula deivam, and it was here that his marriage was solemnized. Yes, with just five members being present – a pre-condition of Ragu, a believer in simplicity.

From here we went to Muruga’s elder brother, Lord Ganesha’s abode – Tiruvalamchuzi temple, then to Uttukkad Krishna temple, Darasuram and Pattiswaran temple. Marvellous architecture. Sorry for being repetitive.

By now, despite a heavy breakfast at Ragu’s favourite haunt, Hotel Mangalambikai (one of the few hotels where garlic is not used – Ragu was very particular), we felt hungry and decided to halt for lunch – at the same hotel. The young driver, Kartik, did his best to show us half a dozen other new hotels. Ragu was unmoved. 

Exactly after forty minutes of nap at the hotel, we began the afternoon session in such a way that we are at the gate when the temple will open in the evening. We covered Adi Kumbeswarar (Shiva), Tribhuvanam Sarveshwarar temple (Shiva), Tiruvidai Maruthur Mahalingaswamy, Uppiliyappan, Nachiar Koil, Kubera Linga, and Sarangapani temple (Vishnu).

In Nachiar Koil, Kal Garuda is taken out for procession on occasions. Starting with just 4 people to lift it, the weight keeps on increasing as it leaves one mantapa after another inside the temple, evident by more and more people, 64 and more, lifting it. Similarly, on return, the weight reduces at each stage.

Tired after long stretches of walks at each temple and travel from one temple to the other, all of us were waiting to hit the bed. Added to that Ragu reminded us we would leave hotel at 4.30 next morning, first to Chidambaram, a long drive, Thillai Amman temple, and then Vaideeswaran koil (our kula deivam), Dakshinamoorthy temple, not to speak of the famous Brihadeeswarar temple in Tanjore. This 1000- year old temple is also called the Big Temple, and carries the UNESCO heritage tag. No description of it will be too much.

On day three, Friday, 3 Jan, it was the turn of Trichy -Srirangam temple, Jumbukeswarar temple, Gunaseelam, Gneeliyaneswarar koil, Shri Yama Dharma Raja’s abode, and Shri Pundareekaksha Perumal. The Srirangam temple also preserves the 1000-year old mummified body the saint Shri Ramanujacharya.

Gunaseelam, where Prasanna Venkatachalapathy presides over, is where illness is cured. There is a mental health rehabilitation centre at the rear that has the stamp of the Tamil Nadu Government. We asked the priest if we could go there. “No, you need a medical certificate from the hospital authorities,” he said.

We rushed with all these visits in half a day. We thought ladies deserve some free time for shopping. Kartik took us to a home where the family made a living weaving handloom and silk sarees. The ladies nearly ransacked it.