கொட்டாப்புளி (kottAppuLi)

நாம் பொதுவாக, குழந்தைகள் தூங்காமல் வெகு நேரம் விழித்திருந்தால் சொல்லும் ஒரு பதம் - அடக் கொட்டாப்புளி!

கொட்டாப்புளி என்பது தச்சர்கள் பயன்படுத்தும் ஒரு வகையான சுத்தியல். மரத்தால் ஆனது. ஆனால் மிருதுவான குழந்தைகளுக்கு எப்படி இப்படி ஒரு பெயர் வந்தது? கண்ணெறி பட்டுவிடுமோ என்று அவ்வாறு கூறுகிறார்களா? எனக்கு அதில் திருப்தி இல்லை.

எங்கிருந்து இந்தக் கொட்டாப்புளி என்ற வார்த்தை வந்தது என்று எனக்குப் பல நாட்களாக ஒரு கேள்வி.

சமீப காலமாக திவ்ய பிரபந்தம் படித்து வருகிறேன். அதனால் அதற்குச் சம்பந்தப் பட்ட கதைகள் படிப்பதில் ஆர்வம் அதிகம் எழுந்தது.

நம்மாழ்வார் பற்றிப் படிக்கையில், பிறந்ததிலிருந்தே கண்களைத் திறக்காது, அழவும் அழாது கிடந்த குழந்தையான நம்மாழ்வாரை, அவரது பெற்றோர்கள், ஆழ்வார் திருநகரி கோயிலில் உள்ள ஒரு புளிய மரத்தின் கீழ் விட்டுவிட்டனர்.

பெருமாள் சந்நிதியில் இருந்தால் குழந்தைக்கு எந்த ஆபத்தும் நெருங்காது, குழந்தையும் சரியாகி விடுவார் என்ற நம்பிக்கையில் ஆதிநாதனிடம் சமர்ப்பித்தனர். ஆனால், குழந்தை, பிறந்ததிலிருந்து பகவத் தியானத்தில் இருந்தது அவர்களுக்குத் தெரியவில்லை. 16 ஆண்டுகள் கழித்தே கண்ணைத் திறந்தார். அது பெரிய கதை.

இப்போது புளிய மரத்திற்கு வருவோம். அந்தப் புளியமரம், ஒரு நாளும் தூங்குவது இல்லை. அதாவது, அதன் இலைகள் எப்போதும் விரிந்த நிலையிலேயே இருக்கும். இம்மரத்தில், பூக்கள் பூக்கும், அவை காயாகும். ஆனால் பழமாக அவை மாறாது.

உறங்காப் புளி என்று இந்த மரத்தைக் கூறுவார்கள். 5100 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு மேல் பழமையானது.

ஆதிசேஷன் (இலக்குவணன்) இம்மரமாக, துர்வாச முனிவரின் சாபத்தால் ஆனார் என்றும், இராமபிரானே, நம்மாழ்வாராய் அங்கே அவதரித்தார் என்றும் கூறுவார்கள்.

உறங்குதல் என்றால் கண் கொட்டல் என்று சொல்வதுண்டு. கண் கொட்டாப் புளி = உறங்காப் புளி.

இதுவே நாளடைவில் கொட்டாப்புளி ஆகிவிட்டது என்று எண்ணுகிறேன்.

அதனால் குழந்தைகளை கொட்டாப்புளி என்று சொன்னால், இனி இந்தப் புளிய மரமும், நம்மாழ்வாரும் நினைவுக்கு வர வேண்டும்.

பி.கு. - இது முற்றிலும் என் சொந்தக் கருத்தே. நம் முன்னோர்கள், இறைவன் சம்பந்தப் பட்ட விஷயங்களைக் குழந்தைகளோடு சேர்ப்பது வழக்கம் என்னும் நம்பிக்கையில் எழுதினேன்.

English Translation:

We (in Tamil Nadu) use to call the children who stays awake for long time as kottAppuLi. I was in search of the reason behind using this word 'kottAppuLi'. KottAppuLi is a hammer made out of wood, used by carpenters. How come tender child are called with this rigid name? Some says to overcome the ill omens (kaN dhrishti) casted by people, they say like this. But I was not satisfied with that answer.

Recently I read a short version of Sri NammAzhwAr's life. It gave me the answer.

NammAzhwAr was born in a place called kurugoor (AzhwAr thiru nagari) near Tirunelveli. From the second he was born, he neither cried nor did he opened his eyes. His parents were so worried and they left him under a tamarind tree (puLiya maram) in the Adhi nadha perumaL temple in kurugoor. They believed that, the Lord will take care of the child and all his problems will be solved. They seldom knew that the child was constantly thinking of the Lord from the moment it was born. After 16 years only NammAzhwAr opened his eyes. Thats a big story.

Let us come to this tamarind tree in the temple.

The history says that Lakshmana prevented Sage Durvasa from meeting Rama when Lord Yama was talking with Lord Rama. So, getting angry with Lakshmana, the sage cursed him to become a tamarind tree. It is said that Lord Rama himself was born as NammAzhwAr and resided under the tamarind tree.

This tree is more than 5110 years old. The speciality of this tree is, it will never sleep. That is, its leaves will always be open. It's leaves won't shrink during sun set as other trees' leaves will do. So it is called as uRangAppuLi or the tamarind tree that will never sleep. One can see flowers blooming in this tree. Raw Tamarind being borne from the flowers. But one cannot spot a single tamarind fruit in this tree.

In Tamil, for sleep, we have another word viz. kaN kottal. So, the tamarind tree without sleep can also be called as kaN kottAp puLi. From this kottAppuLi word should have come.

So if we call a child as kottAppuLi hereafter, we should immediately think of nammAzhwAr and the sacred tamarind tree at AZhwar thiru nagari.

Please note that this is just my view. I have a belief that the words of our ancestors will definitely have some connection with the almighty. So I wrote.

Anbil Vishnu temple

Anbil is the fourth temple out of 108 divyadesams. Sri Tirumazhisai azhwar has sung in praise of this kshetram.

Perumal is known as Sundararaja perumal and thaayaar is Sundaravalli thaayaar. Lord Brahmma and Sage Suthaba worshipped the perumal here. Sage suthaba was cursed by Sage Durvasa to become a frog. So in the form of frog, sage Suthaba worshipped the perumal here and got his curse relieved. This temple is very near to Kollidam river and the river itself is the pushkarani, called as Mandooka Pushkarani. Mandookam means frog.

The lord  appeared infront of Brahmma as a handsome boy and conquered Brahmma's pride that he was responsibile for creating beautiful creatures. So, perumal is known as sundara rajan or vadivazhagiya nambi.

Sundararaja perumal is seen reclining on Aadhi seshan (serpent bed), facing east. Here, Sree devi and Bhoomi devi are seen touching his feet. So one cannot see the lord's feet here. The two consort's darshan is equivalent to Perumal's paada darisanam. Brahmma is seen on a lotus from Perumal's navel region.

Sundara valli thaayar sannidhi is to the right side of Perumal's sannidhi. As we move around the prakaram, we can see the paramapadha vaasal, viswaksena sannidhi too. Very calm and beautiful temple. Moolavar's beauty is beyond explanation. Glittering and mesmerising indeed.

Few photos:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dKHchy26ehw4LGQG_ixf2FeGfh9Q8jdU

Anbil Mariyamman Temple

Next temple to be seen is Mariyamman Temple in Anbil. This temple is located on the main road itself, contrary to Shiva temple, which is some half km interior to the main road.

Right now kumbabhishekam works are going on. Previously there was no compound wall. Now, they have constructed a long compound wall. One can see sannidhis for Ayyanaar, Madhurai veeran and other grama devathaas outside the main temple.

Main temple has a big mandapam, hosting the dwajasthambam, bali peetam. Several devotees come and stay in the temple to get cured of ailments. The ambal in this temple is considered to be the younger sister of Samayapuram Mariyamman.

Ambal is seen as a huge deity, sitting with one leg folded and the other leg let down on the head of an asura. She has eight hands. Trident, Sword, Rope, axe, kunguma container, bow in six hands and other two hands show varada - abhaya mudras.

A swayambu lingam is also seen in the garba griham, in front of ambal.Ganesha and Renuka devi idols are also present before the garbagriham. Very powerful deity, as told by many in and around the place. We could see several devotees on padha yatthirai to Samayapuram offer their prayers to Anbil Mariyamman.

Hope after kumbabhishekam, we can see the temple in a better shape.

Few photos:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=19-AkyP7OuXSOq1_dIVfK8Yg4av2fyy_q

Anbil Sivan Temple

Anbil is a small village near Lalgudi approximately 8 km east from Lalgudi. It is on the banks of River Kollidam, a branch of River Kaveri. The Lord in this temple is called by the names - Sathyavaageesar, Brahmmapureeswarar, Alandhuraiyaar.

This is one of the thevaara paadal petra sthalam. 57th sthalam in kaveri northern bank temples. This temple is called Thiruanbilaalandhurai. Appar and Gnanasambandhar has sung one pathigam each on the lord of this temple.

Ambal is known by the name Soundaranayaki. Sthala vruksham is Banyan tree and Vilva tree. The temple has a raja gopuram, painted in one colour on the east side. Lord Shiva and Parvati face the  east direction.

Banyan tree is found outside the main temple in a Vinayaka temple. The temple has three prakaarams.

There are lot of coconut trees, kondrai trees on the outer prakaram.

Several vilva trees and neem trees on the middle (second) prakaaram.

The inner prakaram has sannidhis of Devathas. While entering the inner prakaram, one could see Gnanasambandhar and Appar worshipping Shiva-Parvathi as sculpture, on the mandapam near dwajasthambam.

As we enter the mandapam to see Lord Shiva, we can see Soorya and Chandra on either side facing the Lord. We can see Appar, Sambandhar, Sundarar and Manickavasagar and Sekkizhaar in a separate sannidhi. As we circumambulate through the inner prakaaram, we see Dakshinamoorthi, Maha Vishnu, Brahmma as koshta moorthams. Lingodhbhavar, Bikshadanaar, Saptha kannikai, Kasi Viswanathar, Visalakshi are also seen as separate devathas in this prakaram.

On the south western corner there is a sannidhi for Vinayakar. There is another vinayakar in this place. The posture is somewhat unique to this temple. One leg down and another leg bent, and head tilted towards His right side, this vinayaka is called as sevi saaittha vinaayagar (lending ears to listen). Tirugnanasambandhar while heading towards this sthalam was made to stand on the opposite bank of Kollidam river due to flood. So he sang the pathigam from that spot, that is on the southern bank of kollidam. So this vinayaka titlted his head/ear in that direction to listen to Sambandhar, singing that pathigam. Hence this name.

On the north western corner, there is a sannidhi for Murugan. Chandikeswara sannidhi is also there in the north side of the main sannidhi.

Then comes the sannidhi for Soundaranayaki. Ambal looks very beautiful, cladded in nine yards saree. She has 4 hands - pasham and angusham on upper hands and varadha - abhaya mudras are seen in the lower 2 hands.

Sculptures on the pillars, walls of the temple are mesmerizing. We can see Brahmma, Vishnu, Sooryan worshipping lord Shiva here on the outer walls of main sannidhi. We can also see, ambal, Banyan tree and shiva linga sculpture there.

Some space is dug along the sides of the main sannidhi, enabling us to see more carvings on the outer walls of the main sannidhi.

Navagraha sannidhi also need a special attention here. All the eight planets face sooryan here. This kind of arrangement is also seen in Thayumanavaswami temple, Trichy.

Sani bhagawan and Bhairavar sannidhi is also seen separately near navagraha sannidhi.

One can feel the calm and serene atmosphere inside the temple. Not many visit this temple. But the Perumal temple (4th one out of 108 divyadesam) and Mariyamman temple seem to be a popular one. I request every one who go to Anbil or Lalgudi to visit this Shiva temple.

Sambandhar Pathigam: 1.033
http://thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=1&Song_idField=1033&padhi=136+&button=%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95

Appar Pathigam: 5.080
http://thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=5&Song_idField=5080&padhi=100+&button=%E0%AE%9A%E0%AF%86%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95

Photos can be viewed here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BV73K4mb98F_oQv0TwONrjIagMlGDYnp

Rajeswarar Temple - Tiruvanaikka

Rajeswari sametha Rajeswarar temple is a small but very pious temple located in the North Ul veethi aka North Car street, off Sankara Mutt, in Tiruvanaikka.

This temple has a small tower at its entrance.

Lord shiva is East facing. There is a bali peetam and a Nandhi once you cross the main entrance. Ambal Rajeswari is south facing. There is another nandhi with its tail and one ear cut off. This was the one before Shiva before muslim invasion. This nandhi was damaged during that invasion and a new nandhi was placed before the Lord. Usually while placing a new one, the old one is buried under the earth. But this was not done here. They have covered the old nandhi with sandal paste.

On entering the artha mandapam, one can have darshan of Rajeswarar and Rajeswari.

There is also a window with 9 holes on the wall opposite to ambal as we go a round outside the sannidhi. We can see Ambal through that hole also.

In the koshtam surrounding the garba griham, there is a sannidhi for Dakshinamurthy on the south side.

To the back side of the garba griha, on the wall there is Lingodhbhavar.

At the south west corner, there is a sannidhi for Ganesha.

As we move further towards right, exactly to the back of garba griha, on the west, there is a sannidhi for Subrahmanya.

Next, in the north west corner is the sannidhi for Gajalakshmi.

As we move further, in the north, there is a sannidhi for ChandikEswarar.

We cross the vimaanam of Ambal and see another mandapam hosting Bhairavar, naga devathaas and few others.

This mandapam has the pancha mukha lingeswarar and Tripurasundari Ambal facing each other. Ambal faces to the west, i.e one of the face (east face) of the pancha mukha lingam.

Pancha mukha lingeswarar has one face facing each direction - east, west, north and south and one face facing upwards. Grand decorations are done to this Shiva linga on Pradosham days, Shivaratri and Karthika month Mondays. Few photos attached.

Outside this temple, there is a temple for Vinayaka called as Vetri MookkaRundha vinayakar. This Vinayaka was inside the main temple (Jambukeswarar), Which after the Muslims invasion, had the trunk cut and thus was shifted to a place outside Aanaikka temple. So the name came as Mookkarundha Vinayakar.

Many thanks to the temple Sivacharyar who was very kind enough to provide me with details of the temple and also shared the photos of the alankarams done to Shiva and Ambal on Kartikai Somavaaram in 2017.

Next time you visit, Tiruvanaikka, dont miss this place.