DRIVING THROUGH CAUVERY DELTA -Day 5

Day 5:

      This day started in a relatively leisure way since we were in the company of relatives, Pavan-Mallika and Pavan’s father. We decided to limit the day to Madhurai local darshan so that Sreeram could relax a bit. Lord Venkateswara at the Azhagar Kovil was the first to bless us on that day. This very old temple is around 20KM from the town and is very well maintained and kept sacred. The main idol of Vishnu is very beautiful. His consort is Sundara valli Thayar. The sannidhi of Lord Narasimha is excellent, the roof of which has been left open so that his anger may be let out. The Chakrat Alwar, Lord in Sudarshana Chakra, is a fulfledged murthy and the Pujari here impressed me a lot. He was reciting the mantras in a very clear and understandable way which we generally can’t find. Round the sudarshana chakra are the idols of different Gayatri mata. There are as many monkies as the devotees.

                                               

                 Climbing a small hill takes us to the shrine of Amman where people queue for the sacred water that comes from far forests carrying medicinal values. Coming down a little, we found the Pazhamudircholai, the last of the Aru Padiveedu. It is the only Padaiveedu where the main altar is with both his consorts Valli and Devasena. After lunch, we did shopping for steel items and were back at home in the afternoon.

                                          

                         In the evening, we started to reach the first of the Aru Padaiveedu, Thiruparankundram, which is just 8KM from the town. This is the place where Lord Subrahmanya married Devasena, the daughter of Indra. The lord is found seated on ground here. Late in the evening, on this day of Dasara, we were blessed to be in the presence of Goddess Meenakshi devi who welcomed us with beautifully decorated mantapas and lighting. Since Abishekam was going on at that time, we were forced to wait there and we stated reading the Lalitha Sahasra namam. As we finished, the goddess was ready with great Alankaram to grant us her darhsan and blessings. The joy of the darshan was simple far out of description. I was just speechless. How graceful the Lord is to us to take us to such a presence on such a special day!  We were blessed.

               Next we went to the presence of Lord Sundareswara and were there for a considerable time and then finished visiting all other important places in the temple complex. We were back at home with memories to cherish for a lifetime.