Thirunaagai

Thirunaagai

Recollecting my trip to Thirunaagai divyadesam brings back very fond memories. About two years ago, I got an unexpected long weekend. 24th Dec was a holiday which i missed out until the previous week and suddenly I had a 4 day weekend. I had not travelled to any of the divyadesams in the previous 6 months and i desparately wanted to use this weekend. But unfortunately due to the holidays, I could not get any tickets to anywhere.

I was feeling very disappointed and finally when discussing with my mother, the idea came up to visit nagapattinam for a darshan of Soundararaja Perumal.

So on the morning of 24th, I started around 5 am. The trip was unforgettable. I could not get a direct bus and had to take a multi-stop route - Chennai -> Pondicherry -> Cuddalore -> Chidambaram -> Mayiladuthurai (Mayavaram) -> Nagapattinam. I kept hopping from one town to another in the hope of reaching Nagapattinam the same evening. The entire day went pretty fast with a book on 108 Divyadesams for my company. I read a lot about the divyadesams, the pasurams and was completely immersed that i did not feel the strain of my travel. Finally, i reached nagappatinam around 5 pm and reached the temple in another 10 minutes.

The temple is a beautiful one, with a big Rajagopuram. Once i entered the temple, all tiredness had disappeared. I had a wondeful darshan of Neelamega perumal. The Perumal in Nindrathirukolam is so beautiful and there being no one else in the temple, i had a long darshan. The bhattar (priest) gave me a beautiful insight into the sthalapuranam as well as the pasuram by thirumangai azhwar. He also told me that i can go to thirukannankudi which is about 8 to 10 kms from here. After spending more than hour, i came out of the temple to try and find a transport to thirukkannankudi.

Thirukkannankudi

I spoke to a couple of people and they told me that there were not too many buses and also that i had to get down at aazhiyur and walk or take an autorikshaw (which is not easy to get late evening) for more than 1 km. Finally, i bargained with an auto driver to take me to thirukkannankudi and back to nagapattinam. It was already dark and the road was not so good and it was a good decision to take an auto.

I finally reached thirukkannankudi after 7 pm. I was very fortunate to be there at the right time. There was a temple festival and the utsavar was ready for the procession. The utsavar Damodara perumal, called so because He has the mark of the ropes which was used to tie him to the magizha maram (tree). The moolavar Loganatha Perumal in nindra thirukolam is a sight to behold. Since the utsavar was ready for the procession in the mandapam in front of the  moolavar sannidhi, normally, people will not be allowed to have a darshan of the moolavar. As i was wishfully thinking of having a closer darshan of the moolavar, the bhattar enquired about me, where i was coming from etc. On hearing that i was from chennai and travelling back the same night, he took me to have a darshan of the moolavar. This is one more incident where something happened when i was least expecting it.

The divya desam is known for " kaaya magizh, urangaa puli, thola vazhakku, oora kinaru, thirukkannankudi ". The bhattar gave the legend behind this and it was wonderful to hear the story. After spending an hour in the temple, i finally returned back to nagapattinam and from then onto chennai and reached home the next morning.

This was one trip i will not forget so easily as it happened out of the blue thereby reinforcing my belief that you can visit a temple only when He calls you.

Thiruneermalai

I seem to have slipped into my usual lazy mode. After a long time, back to posting my recent experience.

Thiruneermalai is one of the divya desams which is very close to my heart. This is a divya desam which i have been fortunate to visit on a regular basis over the last 13 years.

To give a background, Thiruneermalai comprises of a temple for Ranganathar on a hillock and a temple for Neervanna perumal at the foot hils. It is about 5 kms from Pallavaram.

I have been very blessed to visit this temple during multiple auspicious occassions - the brahmotsavam for Ranganatha Perumal and Neervanna perumal, the navarathri utsavam of the Thayar, Panguni utsavam, Ther thiruvizha, vijaya dasami, ratha sapthami utsavam, samprokshanai etc.

Neervanna perumal is the sthalathipathi, along with the thayar Animamalarmangai. Thirumangai azhwar has sung 10 pasurams and he starts with "anrayar kulakkodiyodu animamalar mangai udanbalavi..." in praise of the thayar. He described the thayar as one who is decked with ornaments (azhagiya abaranangalai soodikondu..) and hence the name animamalarmangai.  To my limited knowledge, this is one divya desam where thirumangai azhwar has sung about the thayar. The thayar is so beautiful that you will want to come back to the divya desam just for her. The legend says that the azhwar had come to see the Lord and he was surrounded by water and he waited for 6 months for the water to drain before he could get the darshan of the Lord. Hence the name Neervannan. Legend also states that Valmiki did his penance here and Lord Ranganathar appeared before him as Rama.

The Ranganathar temple on the hillock also has separate sannithis for Narasimhar and Thiruvikramar. Thirumangai azhwar sings that by visiting this temple, one gets to visit the 4 divya desams - Thirunaraiyur (Nindran- comparing Neervannar to Thirunaraiyur Nambi), Thiruvali (Irunthan - Narasimhar) , Kumbakonam (kidanthan - comparing Ranganathar to Aravamudhan) and Thirukovilur (Nadanthan -Thiruvikramar). During one of my earlier visits, I thought of the day when i could visit these 4 other divya desams and prayed to the God that I see Him here in Thiruneermalai as the others that the azwar has compared. Over the years, by His grace, I was able to visit all the other 4 divya desams and could only shed tears of joy for the bhaghyam.

Coming to my recent visit, I had the bhaghyam of visting the temple on one of the saturdays of the tamil month of puratasi. It also happened to be the navarathri utsavam for Animamalarmangai thayar. The utsavam started with the thirumanjanam of the thayar, a wonderful sight for the blessed ones. After the thirumanjanam, the thayar was decked in ornaments, garlands and taken in a procession within the temple. The thayar was so beautiful that i lost myself and time came to standstill. The feeling was such a profound and beautiful that cannot be expressed in words. The entire utsavam was held over 3 hours and i did not notice time had passed so quickly that i had to rush to get a darshan of Ranganathar in the hillock. I was visiting the temple for the first time since the samprokshanam and hence had not had the darshan of the moolavar for more than 18 months. I went up the hill and was blessed with a wonderful darshan despite the crowd on the auspicious day. Ranganatha perumal and was without His kavasams and what a wonderful view of His thirumeni. No wonder that Thondaradipodi azhwar mentions that he does not want moksham but rather be in Srirangam to sing praises of Lord Ranganthar.

Every time I visit this temple, i get a special feeling, as if i am coming home, probably because my father's native was close to this divya desam.

Sri Animamalarmangai thayar sametha Sri Neervanna Perumal thiruvadigale saranam

Sri Ranganayaki thayar sametha Sri Ranganatha Perumal thiruvadigale saranam