Tiruvarur - Nagapattinam - Mannargudi Heritage Experience - Aug 2022
Travelling makes me feel modest. It photographs a memory that reminds me how insignificant a place we occupy in the world and how big and varied the world is. When I travel with people to share what I have seen, experienced and learnt, I feel humbled. Every such travel experience that we curate, as amateur organizers, opens up more scope to stretch our limits.
RATHAM - Road Access to Temples, Heritage And Monument, curated a 2 day trip to Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mannargudi on the 6th and 7th of August. With 32 participants signing in, we had huge responsibility resting on us. This trip wouldn't have been positive without my dear friend Madhavan Veeraraghavan organising it with so much care.
The experience was enhanced big time by the mellifluous music of S Srivathsan, rendering apt songs at the shrines. Extensive video coverage of the experience by Muthukrishnan M framed the memory in us so well.
Day 1
Session 1
We reached Tiruvarur on the early hours of 6th August, 2022. The entire day was dedicated to the shrine of Sri Thyagaraja Swami. We visited the main gopuram, discussed about the King and his guru who has patronised the structure. Thanks to the temple administration, we could walk inside the reverred Devasiriyan Tirukkavanam. The paintings on the ceilings are extremely delicate and portray some rare scenes. We spent the time discussing elaborately the festivals and their impact on the temples. A very intimate darshan of Sri Vanmeekanathar and Sri ThyagarajaSwami was granted by His grace. Several stories and inscriptions were discussed about. The icing on the cake was the Vidangar Abhishekam.
Day 1
Session 2
After a sumptuous lunch and some rest, we headed back to Sri ThyagarajaSwami temple. Several of our first time participants wondered what we are going to do there again now. Well, RATHAM believes in exploring temples to their fullest. Trying to appreciate the shrine through various angles - puranas, traditions, history, epigraphy, art, architecture, festivals, sacred literature etc. A temple like Tiruvarur needs much more than what time we had spent there.
Evening session started with discussing the story of Sundarar-Paravai Nachiyar and how Sri Thyagaraja was a part of this divine relationship. Srivathsan's rendition of Meela Adimai filled the air around with 8th century vibes. A detailed visit to Aaroor Araneri aka Achaleshwaram, another padal petra sthalam inside Tiruvarur temple, helped us understand the concept of the pancha lingams of Tiruvarur temple. We visited Hatakeshwaram, Neelotpalamba's shrine and were blessed to witness the grand Sayaratchai of ThyagarajaSwami.
The day was reverberating with ThyagarajaSwami and Triruvarur. As a fitting conclusion, Srivathsan treated us with a magnificent Ahiri raga Navavarna krithi at Kamalamba's shrine. We signed off discussing the benifits one gets by visiting ThyagarajaSwami.
AroorA!! Thyagesa!!
Day 2
Session 3
After a day overloaded with the thoughts of Tiruvarur and Thyagaraja Swami our second day took us to the ancient port town of Nagapattinam. Our first stop was Sri Soundararaja Perumal Temple. We stopped at the Mahamandapam to discuss about the antiquity of Nagapattinam from the Sangam days. References to this town in ancient works, results of archeological excavations were briefly discussed too. I personally love the Nagapattinam buddha bronzes in our Chennai museum display. Spoke about the Choodamani Viharam and what happened to the buddhist remnants of the good old town.
We started our conversation on The Man of the day, Nagai Azhagiyar. How befitting a name is that. I would fall short of words to describe the ever handsome and graceful Soundararaja Perumal. Sthalapuranam, Dutch's role in development of the town, local devan's and their contributions made the perfect start to the temple. After a thoroughly fulfilling darshan by the generous priest, Sri Sriram Bhattar we settled around a quiet plaza on the corridor. Srivathsan treated us for the next 20 minutes with his grand rendition of Deekshithar's precious gem - Soundararajam Ashraye. The ambience, the sunlight, the weather, the quiet corridor, lamps lit around all added to a treat like never before.
We had to rush to our next stop for the forenoon - Sri Kayarohaneshwara temple. One of the Vidanga Sthalams, I enjoy particularly discussing 3 topics in this temple. 1. The connect between this town and an almost forgotten little town in Gujarat. 2. Sundarar's tevaram with a special list of requirements he had . 3. Kalamega Pulavar's songs on Nagapattinam. All 3 are beautiful stories from the past, on this town, in different layers. We had a special darshan organized by one of our participants and some sumptuous prasadam too. Need I say that Srivathsan again treated us generously with his Kayarohanesham and Amba Neelayadakshi apart from selected thevaram padhigams?
Day 2
Session 4
As we were nearing the last lap of this trip, several participants asked if we could continue the trip for a couple of more days. The comradeship of our participants only boosted our energy for future trips. We left our hotel after an evening coffee and reached Mannargudi around 4.45 PM. The grand Rajagopuram, a Kulothunga I's contribution to this town welcomed us with his warmth. It was a site to see the silhouette of the gopuram with the sun setting down on the west. We were welcomed by the second most attractive person of Mannargudi - Senkamalam, the temple elephant. With her hair falling on her forehead she is a popular star on social media. After some snaps and selfies with her, we started our session. RajaMannargudi, the reason behind the name of the city holds quite a few clues about the temple.
We walked past the grand galleries and tall mandapams of the shrine talking about the contributions testified by the inscriptions and the architecture. I visited Mannargudi first when I was in 2nd year college. A friend of mine who accompanied me prepared and offered navaneetam - fresh butter mixed with sugar candy, elachi powder and saffron. I should say I fell for this offering and made it habitual everytime I visit this temple.
We sat in the Mahamandapam of Thayar Sannidhi and discussed about a special Tiruvaimozhi offered to this Perumal by Sri Manavala Mamunigal. As an extension the tradition of hiring a kattuvichi, a tribal sooth sayer and muthukuri practices were elaborated. Srivathsan's rendition of Tiruvaimozhi and Deekshithar's mohana ragam composition on Rajagopalaswami received audience from the temple priests too. The hereditary melakarar appreciated him and asked him to present a kutcheri during the Brahmothsavam.
After thayar sannidhi, we paraded to the main shrine. Our participants were obviously spellbound by the cuteness of Rajagopalaswami. A brief talk on the 32 vidhya's expounded by Rajagopalaswami for the 2 rishis happened as we walked around the sanctum. We signed off with a thanking session acknowledging the support extended by various resources.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of our participants. With loads of memories we dispersed only to meet again soon in our trip to Navatirupati and Tirunelveli.
எல்லாம் ஸ்ரீ தியாகராஜ மஹாராஜோ விஜயதே
ஸ்ரீ தியாகராஜ மஹாராஜோ விஜயதே
ஆரூரா... தியாகேசா...