Vaikuntham and Kailasam-Heavens on earth
After a considerable research about the sthala puranas and historical importance (this time not much about the route map), we both packed luggage for about 8 days and were on the highway to Trichy (Tiruchirapalli) on 20/10/2012. The main aim was to cover the important places on the Cauvery delta. The Sthala puranams and other important details about the temple I'm going to mention below are from the book '101 pilgrimages' by outlook traveller. This was the main guide to us though out the entire tour.
DAY 1
We started at 3.45 early in the morning and were at our destination by 10.15AM with few breaks of coffee and breakfast. We directly headed towards the Sri Ranganatha temple. Everyone should accept the fact that this temple is a treasure. It has got lot of things to visit and explore. This is believed to be the first most important of the 108 Divya desams of the vaishnava tradition.
Sthala puranam:
Vibhishana, brother of Ravana, was carrying the ranga vimana(idol of Lord Ranganatha) which he had secured from Rama at the Lord’s coronation ceremony in Ayodhya. He wished to take it to Lanka. He stopped at the spot where the Cauvery meets its tributary, the Kollidam, as he had to perform his Sandhya vandanam. He knew that if he placed the vimaanam on the ground, it would root there. Vibhishana handed it to a boy playing near by agreeing to the condition that he would come when called thrice. The child called his name as many times in quick succession and before Vibhishana could hurry back, set the vimaanam upon the sands and took to his heels. Vibhishana rapped him on his head but destiny prevailed. Sri Ranganatha swami never left what then became Srirangam. The deity still faces south, towards Lanka. The hill the boy ran to, where he revealed himself to be vinayaka, became the Uchchi Pillaiyar Kovil. The indentation on the idol is said to testify Vibhishana’s fury.
Things to see:
Sri Ranganatha Swami is resting on the Adi sesha and at his feet is Vibhishana. Lord Narasimha with one hand risen (as if calling somebody), Kodanda Rama, Godadevi- Alwars, Pattabhi rama temple, Sridevi-Bhudevi sahita Vishnumurty, Garuda alwar, Ranganayaka, Ranganayaki-Godadevi-Sridevi mandiram, the small holeslike imprints marking the fingers of Amman (from where she peeped to get the darshan of Sri Ranganatha who was coming to marry her), Dhanvantari, Chakrat Alwar And Ramanuja Sannidhi. The last one has some interesting facts attached to it. The moola purusha of Vaishnava sampradaya Sri Ramanuja Swami (1071-1137) left his last breath here and his body remains like that till today. It is covered with the paste of Karpuram and Kumkuma puvvu(camphor and saffron) and no abishekam is performed there. He is found sitting in artha padmasana with his dandam in one hand. Some people even say that his nails and hair grow even to date.
We finished all darsanams except that of Amman before the afternoon and before evening we went to the Tiruvanaikkavil, the panchabhoota siva sthala, known as Jambukeswaram.
Sthala puarnam:
Here the Lord Shiva presides as the primordial element of water. The Lord’s consort is Goddess Akhilandeswari. She was initially considered as ugra devatha. Hearing this, Saint AdiSankara consecrated two Srichakras on the goddess’s ears turning her into a peaceful diety. Sri Adi Sankara sang the famous Soundaryalahari here and that was inscribed in Tamil outside the goddess’ sannidhi.
Two devotees of Shiva were cursed to be born as a spider and an elephant. Each morning the elephant would bathe in the Cauvery, bring flowers and fruits to the Lord, clean the altar and offer worship. Later the spider would build a web so drying leaves wouldn’t fall on the lingam, and offer worship. The web was destroyed by the elephant every morning and rebuilt by the spider each evening. One day the spider spotted the elephant destroying the web. Angered, it entered the elephant’s ear killing it and dying in the process. The elephant (‘annai‘ in Tamil) attained moksha thus giving the name Thiru-Aanaika later became famous as Tiruvanaikkaval. The spider was reborn as a Chola king.
An interesting tale is narrated about his birth. The royal astrologer told his parents, Subhadeva and Kamalavati, that they would be blessed with a male successor of great fame if the birth took place at a particular time, but that any time other than this would have dire consequences. As the queen went into labour earlier than the prescribed time, she made her attendants tie her legs and hang her up side down, delaying the birth. She achieved her objective but the baby was born with reddened eyes thus getting the name Chenkannan. Later he built this temple in Jambukeswaram . Blessed with memories of previous birth, he had the temple built in such a way that elephants can never enter the main sanctum or even have darshan from afar.
During the Uchikaala puja, (11AM-12.30PM) the head priest dresses up as goddess and leaves from the Akhiladeswari sannidhi to reenact the consecration of the appu Lingam in the main sanctum.
We missed this special feature since we were struck at that time in the queue for Lord Ranganatha swamy.
After finishing the darshan in this temple, we took a hotel opposite to the temple, just by the side of Manavala maha muni sannidhi, and took rest for some time. In the evening, we again went to both the above temples and had considerable time spent to treasure in our memory. We were very lucky to enter the Thiruvanaikkaval at the time of pallaki seva which was a feast to the eyes and heart. My husband also got the chance to carry the pallaki for some time and I was totally spellbound seeing the grace of the goddess coming out for showering her blessings on the devotees. Since that was the time of Navaratris, the beauty of the Alankaram of the goddess begs words for description. We both sat there in the main temple chanting the Lalithasahasra namam and after looting the great joy of being in the seva, left the temple with lifetime treasured blessings.
Route: Bnagalore-Krishnagiri-salem-Namakkal-Trichy
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