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.

Margazhi Isai Vizha 2017

Chennaiyil Tiruvaiyaru concert at Kamarajar Arangam, 22-12-2017, Friday, 8.30 AM to 9.30 AM.

Vocal Concert by Ms. Harini Krishnan.

Accomapaniments:
Ms. Ranga Priya - Violin
Mr. Balaji - Mridangam
Mr. Sai Kishore - Kanjira

Theme: Self Realisation (தன்னை அறிதல்) through Music.

Self is made of 3 naadis (ida, pingala and sushumna) and 7 chakras (moolaadhaaram, swadhishtaanam, manipoorakam, anahatam, vishuddhi, aagya and sahasraaram). If we meditate on these points, they will get clensed. As a result, any problems in organs associated with these chakras will vanish away. The songs covered in the concert were on deities who represent these chakras or the quality controlled by these chakras.

I am indeed lucky enough to meet Harini (junior to me in my school Kamakoti Vidayalaya, Trichy) at her concert for Chennaiyil Tiruvaiyaru.

This was her first concert in Chennai. Harini's voice was so sweet and deep. One could feel the strong foundation on listening to her songs.

The way in which she conveyed the raga in very few seconds need to be applauded.

She started the concert by dedicating her actions and fruits to Sri Narayana. With a brief outline of sriranjani she sung the sloka "Karomi yathyath sakalam parasmai" and then headed towards Papanasam Sivan's composition in the raga Sriranjani - Gajavadana Karuna sadana in Adhi taalam.

Vinayaka is the controller of moolaadhara chakra. As said by Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar in Vatapi Ganapathim Bhajeham (moolaadhaara kshetra sthitham).

The next song was Saraswathi Dayainidhi in the raga Saraswathi, in Adhi talam, composed by Sri Papanasam Sivan. Swadhishtanam is the centre for creativity, arts.. And it is totally good to listen to a kriti on the gnana devatha - Saraswathi. Well paced kalpana swaras added beauty to the rendition.

The next song was Maa Ramanan Uma Ramanan, in hindolam, yet another master piece of Sri Papanasam sivan, where he would have mentioned about Vishnu and Shiva in each alternating line. This song (vishnu - manipoorakam and shiva - Anahatam) started with an alapana. Niraval was placed at Thaayin migu dayaparan.. Accompanists too played a vital role in making this song a grand feast.

Violin portions by Rangapriya at alapana, swara sections were good. Tani aavartanam by Balaji and Sai Kishore were pleasing to our ears.

Then came the ever green theeraatha vilaiyaattu pillai of Subramaniya Bharathi in Ragamalika. This song is for vishuddha chakram. The akaara sanchaaram at kuzhalile soottuven enbaan in Khamas raga was beautiful. Due to hectic schedule at the Chennaiyil tiruvaiyaaru and overlap by the previous programme, this song was cut shortened with sindhubhairavi and khamas raga. Missed to listen shanmukapriya and maand raga charanam of this song. Would have been beautiful if those were also sung.

To compromise the missed maand raga in the previous song, Harini sang a short viruttham in maand raga. This viruttham on Aagya chakram focussed on forgiveness.

This was followed by the maand raga tillana by Lalgudi Sri G.Jayaraman. This tillana was on Kanchi Kamakshi. Parasakthi is the devatha for Sahasrara chakram. The pace of the tillana was very well maintained with the able support of percussionists.

Overall it was a good one hour realisation (satisfaction) of oneself through music.

Best wishes for the young artiste and her team to perform more and more in the coming days. They have a Bright future.

Last but not the least, I got an opportunity to enjoy this concert along with my sanskrit teacher at School Ms. G.K.Chandrika. So happy to meet her nearly after 2 decades.

Devi's Naamaa

Today 10-03-2017, Friday morning at 6.15 I had a chance to listen to the speech of Shri P.Swaminathan in Podhigai TV. He was sharing an experience related to Shree Lalitha Sahasranamam. I wanted to share with you the same.

In a village, there lived a scholar who was very well versed in Lalitha Sahsranama and other sanskrit granthaas. He was also so proud of his knowledge and was always asking whoever he meets, some questions related to sahasranamam and will make fun of them as they don't know the answer for the same. This was a routine thing happening over there and the poor people could not do anything. They respected his knowledge. So they remained calm.

Ok. Our Maathaa Lalithamba is Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent. All are her children. If a child does some mischief on his or her siblings, the mother will interfere at some point of time. Lalithamba is not an exception to it. Indeed she loves to play with us, Her child.

The scholar met a man who looks after cows in that village. He has nearly 50 cows with him. He use to feed them, give bath to them and clean the places. He does nothing other than this noble task of Go samrakshana.

The scholar asked the man if he knows to recite Lalitha Sahasranama. The man replied, "I don't know that and all. Also it wont be easy for him to recite. But I have heard it being recited in the temple on Fridays. I have 50 cows with me. I have named them with the names that came in the sloka and also easy for me to call - like Sandhya, Savithri, Gayathri, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Kamala etc.. Daily I use to meet each of that 50 cows atleast 20 times and inquire them like -

'Kamala, did you drink water?'
'Savithri, have you finished eating the hay?'
'Saraswathi, finished eating the fodder?'

so on.

The scholar could realize a sudden blow on his head. From that moment onwards he saw the cattle herd as Lord Krishna. He started to respect people and he stayed away from mocking at people.

What we have to take from this is - we need to be humble. Reciting naamaas with correct pronunciation is important. But reciting them with utmost love to Devi is more important. So let us not stay away from reciting God's naama having we don't know the proper pronunciation as a reason. Start saying. Pronunciation will be coming perfectly in the due course of time with the God's grace.

Saint Valmiki who was a thief in the previous birth, got upadesam from Sage Narada - the word "ma-ra". He kept chanting mara mara mara mara till his death in that birth. Ultimately rama rama rama rama came from his mouth. Then came the Rama avatara and Valmiki wrote the epic Ramayana!

The sound of the bell comes first. Then the Elephant. 

Thirumullaivaayil (Vada Thirumullaivaayil)

This year sankaranthi, was a special one to me. For I had the opportunity to have a darshan of Maasilaamaneeswarar and Kodiyidaiamman, on January 16, 2016 (Maattu pongal day).

Thirumullaivaayil is located some 30 km from chennai, on chennai thiruvallur high way. Reach ambattur and from there on the way to avadi, you will find this place. There is another thirumullaivaayil, called as then thirumullaivaayil or thirumullaivaasal, in choza naadu, on the northern banks of river Cauvery.

This is one of the paadal petra shiva sthalams. Of the 276 temples, sanctified by saiva saint poets, 32 are in Thondai nadu (covering chennai, tiruvallur, tiruvannamalai, kanchi). This temple is 22nd of the 32 thondai naatu sthalam. Sundarar has sung a pathigam in praise of this temple. Sthala vruksham is mullai.

Thirumullaivaayil, was once a forest full of mullai (Jasmine) creepers. The history goes like this.

There were some 3 small kings, who were an ardent devotee of Bhairava. They were so powerful and they tortured the people in the areas ruled by them. King Thondaimaan who is a shiva bhaktha, waged a war against them. With the help of their favourite god, Bhairava, the 3 kurumbars defeated Thondaiman. On his way back, through the dense mullai forest, King Thondaimaan's elephant got stuck in the bushes. The king, cut those bushes with his sword. Alas! Blood started oozing out of the bushes. The king was terrified. He came down and was frightened to see a shiva linga, behind the bushes that he cut. Thondaimaan, prayed to the lord for a solution. 

He heard a voice which asked him to take the linga out, by cleaning the bushes and the king did so. After placing the linga in a separate place, he again heard the voice that said, "although I am with blood stains, I am still pure." Hence the name, Maasilaamaneeswarar. 

Maasu + illaa + mani + easwarar.

Maasu - dirt. 

Illaa- without.

Mani - Gem

Easwarar - shiva.

Shiva is a gem without dirt. This is the direct meaning of the name.

Lord shiva, encouraged the king to go back to the kurumbars and wage a war. The lord also sent his vahana, nandi as a support to the king thondaimaan. King Thondaimaan won his foes and brought 2 erukkam tree, which one can see at the entrance of the garba graham of maasilaamaneesar.

Since the lord has sent, Nandi to assist the king, one can see the unusual position of nandi. In other temples, nandi will be facing siva. But here it is facing the opposite direction.

Also, since the lord maasilaamaneesar and his consort kodiyidaiamman blessed the king thondaimaan, they both face east (same direction). In most of the temples, siva sannidhi will be facing east and ambal sannidhi will be facing south or north.

Kodi idai amman - the one with a lean hip. This temple ambal is kriya sakthi. Iccha sakthi being thiruvudai amman at melur, near minjur, chennai. Gnanasakthi is vadivudaiamman in thiruvotriyur, chennai.

The vimaanam, above shiva's garba graham is called as Gaja brushta vimaanam. Gaja - Elephant, Brushta - Back side. Yes. It looks like back side of the elephant. The front side is flat and the back side has rounded corners. The elevation is like a half-cylinder.

As one enters the temple one can find lord vinayaka, Prasanna Ganapathi. Then we circum ambulate the prakaram. We find Lord subrahmanya with his consorts valli-devasena, We then reach the sannidhi of two lingas - chozhapureeswarar and Kucha-Lava-Pureeswarar. Some chozha king, Lava, kucha (sons of Rama) must have worshipped the respective lingas.

There is also a big size lizard, carved on the compound wall of the temple.

There are shrines for Lord Surya and Lord Bhairava. They too worshipped the Shiva linga here.

Then we enter a common mandapam, housing the separate sannidhis of ambal first and Shiva next. 

Surrounding the Ambal's shrine, there is a Durgai sannidhi.

Surrounding the shiva's shrine, we can find Dakshinamurthi, Vishnu and Brahmma. Since shiva's head was cut by, Thondaimaan's sword, there is a scar on the top of linga. Sandal paste will be applied on all days. Only during Sathayam star falling on Chithirai month every year, this paste is removed and Shiva blesses devotees in his true form.

There is a tank associated with this temple. Thanks to the rains, for it has ample water in it.

There is a mandapam outside the temple, for resting the God on the vahanas during procession. Each pillar has some carvings like Rama, idiyappa chithar etc. There is a small temple for Vishnu, Sri devi Bhoomi devi sametha Swarna Venkatesa perumal, near this mandapam.