Again South - With A New Perspective

[ Should i or should i not write this? This was the mental debate i had for quite a few days. 'Against ' was that it will be a boring subject for many. Not many would like to read someone else's trip to temples and it would be consigned to digital garbage dump. On the other hand, i had plenty of time and i did enjoy the trip. And i do enjoy writing.  So, here goes.]

It just happened that this trip was also to the Southern part of the country.  Initial discussions were on visiting some of the prominent temples in Tamil Nadu that are steeped in history and art. It was a difficult task to short list them as the whole southern part of the Indian peninsula is replete with structures that are centuries old, some of them with history from BCE. 

We (my wife and i) thought we will base ourselves in Madurai, a temple town, and explore the temples around, starting from the resplendent Meenakshi Sudereshwarar temple (dedicated to Parvati and Shiva, built in the 17th Cenury) and zig-zag our way towards Chennai and back to Pune. While shortlisting i realised that we were covering the 'Aarupadai Veedu' of Lord Murugan ( A Tamil term meaning 'The six abodes of Lord Murugan', aka Kartikeya, Skanda and many more), without intending to. With the realization, it became the primary goal.

Visiting all the Aarupadai Veedu is like visiting Char Dham (Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameshwaram) situated in the 4 corners of India or Climbing the Seven Summits (highest mountains - one each in the traditional 7 continents) or winning the Tennis Grand Slam. What began as a random aimless trip turned into a journey with an aim.

The plan to start the trip from Madurai took a hit as the flights from Pune to Madurai were withdrawn, forcing us to tee off at Chennai and re-plan the route resulting in a bit of back-tracking, but who cared!! 

A brief on to Arupadai Veedu

'Aarupadai Veedu' temples are dedicated to Lord Murugan and are numbered following the path of the Lord in his journey to vanquish the evil forces plaguing the world. The order is:

1)     Tiruparankundram        - Tiru-para-kun-drum (Near Madurai)

2)     Tiruchendur                  - Tiru-chen-dur ( About 200 kms South of Madurai)

3)     Palani                           - (About 120 kms North West of Madurai)

4)      Swamimalai                - Swamy-malai ( About 300 kms South of Chennai)

5)     Tiruthani                      - Tiru-Thanni and (About 90 kms North of Chennai)

6)     Pazhamudircholai       - Pazha-mudir-cholai. (Near Madurai)

(A prize for pronouncing the names right!)

Following this order would have resulted in traversing some of the paths twice and travelling nearly 2000 kms. Instead, starting from Chennai, we went in a Southerly direction, hopping from one to the other, out of sequence, and finally returning to Chennai. This saved us around 400 kms of travel.  We also managed to see some of the other temples en route. The re-planned route was:

1. Swamimalai (IV)
2. Palani (III)
3. Tiruparankundram (I)
4. Pazhamudircholai (VI)
5. Tiruchendur (II)
6. Tiruthani (V)

           (Route map)

Some thoughts post trip:

• We did the trip in January after Pongal festival, excellent time to travel in the South. It was the fag-end of festival season, but the crowds had not diminished much. Ayyappa festival was just over and the devotees were still on a temple visit fervour. Wherever we went, there was a groundswell of devotees and consequently crowds in the temples as well as hotels. 
• Food is of good quality in most of the places, though may begin to pall for people not used to Tamil cuisine. There are Marvari and Punjabi restaurants to break the monotony.  One can never go wrong with the Coffee though.
• Taxis that we hired were well maintained and the drivers were friendly and eager to share local information. 
• Tamil becomes more chaste as we go deeper South, a welcome change from Chennai Tamil. It is akin to Hindi spoken in Lucknow and Mumbai.
• Darshan ("darisanam" in Tamil) is generally quicker with a ticket as compared to free darshan.  i used to have an ambivalent feeling about buying a ticket for a quicker darshan, but maybe it helps in reducing the crowd in the free darshan. Or maybe that is just a justification. Don't know.
• When you enter the temple premises, with its large halls, towering pillars, intricate carving, imposing gateways (Gopurams), you feel you have gone back in time. Most temples have dozens of stories on how they were built, plundered by invading armies, stories of sacrifice and divinity
• i have included very few photos of the temples as most of them look similar from the outside and photography inside is prohibited. Most of the temples Photos of the temples are sourced from the net. My photography comes nowhere near capturing the grandeur of the ancient structures.
• Most temples do not insist on a dress code. Tiruchendur temple insists on 'no upper garment' for men and traditional Indian dress for ladies.
• Noticed no restriction on foreigners visiting the temples.  

As usual, i will not spend too much time is describing the places of visit, as the net has more information than i would ever be able to provide. (i think i add this to give an impression that i write frequently😊). And, as usual, i tried to keep this short, and as usual, failed. As P.G.Wodehouse would say 'he will not do with two words when ten will suffice'.

Start of journey to Aurpadai Veedu of Murugan.

Chennai - Day 1 

Left Pune for 5 pm Indigo flight to Chennai. No issues. 2 days in Chennai for mandatory visits to local markets and friends/relatives.

Sirkali, Vaitheeswaran temple - Day 3 

Today was the beginning of  the Aaru Padai Veedu journey. We had also included some other temples that are en route, the first of which was 'Vaitheeswaran' temple (Vai-thee-swaran), which is about 250 kms South of Chennai. 

Left for Sirkali by Chozhan Express from Egmore station. Train left on time at 0715 hrs. Took 4 hour 30 mts to reach Sirkazhi. Took an auto from station to Hotel Clarks , 15 mt ride. Hotel is situated outside the town on the bypass. Checked in and had lunch and rest. 

When i booked the hotel, it was listed as "Hotel Clarks", but turned out to be managed by a local establishment. No complaints about the room and the service, though. We could have stayed in Vaitheeswaran town, but i was not able to identify a good hotel there. Later on, i found plenty of resort like hotels there. Maybe the next time.

Evening went to Vaitheeswaran koil ('ko-ill, meaning temple) by the hotel taxi, at a distance of 7 kms from the hotel, with a steep price of 500/-.  Were expecting big crowds and aggressive vendors of knick-knacks and 'Naadi josyars'. Pleasantly surprised at the absence of both.

The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is said to be more than a 1000 years old. It is a huge edifice with 3 gopurams (Gopurams are pyramid like towers over the entrance gate to the temple precinct). The very long passage leading to the sanctum is lined with 3 columns of huge stone pillars, dwarfing us. Temple not very crowded and we could complete our offerings quickly. We then sat on the temple steps and read Siva Ashtottram Namavali (108 names of Siva) - at peace.

Vaitheeswaran is known for its 'Naadi Josyars'. Naadi josyars are readers of palm leaves  which  contain information about everyone in the world written by ancient seers. We did not experiment.

Back to hotel, a bit of rest. Dinner was 'have whatever you want on the menu, as much as you want' - all for 180/-. Pity, should have been here 20 years ago when i had a decent appetite. The food was worth a large tip.  Even if it were not, the hospitality surely deserved it.

Back to room for a good night's rest. Off to Swamimalai, Srirangam and Trichi tomorrow.

Thus ended the day.

Pillars inside the temple (Courtesy wikipedia.org) 

Swamimalai temple, Srirangam temple, Trichy - Day 4

Left as planned at 0700 hrs by taxi, which was booked for the trip to Swamimalai and then to Trichy, a total distance of about 200 kms towards South West. Indicative cost was 4500/- but turned out more expensive as we made an unexpected detour en route.

Reached Swamimalai at a distance of around 65 kilo meters in a couple of hours. Roads not too bad but it was slow going with just 2 lanes and a lot of traffic of all kinds. Passed Vaideeswaran koil and a number of other hamlets.

Swamimalai is about 10 kms from Kumbakonam town and about 300 kms from Chennai. Plenty of good hotels in Kumbakonam. The temple is believed to be of 2^nd century and has been damaged by wars and rebuilt, as is the case with most temples in the South. In this temple, Lord Murugan is called Swaminatha Swami.

At the bazaar adjoining the temple, bought assorted basket of offerings from the same shop and the same person, as always. Nothing had changed in all these 30 years i have been visiting the temple. I would almost bet that the shop was selling the same products as 30 years ago or even earlier. The only change was that the old dignified shop owner had become older and had more wrinkles and white hair than I remembered from the last time, which was the year 2017 (3 BC -Before Covid). Maybe he thought the same of me, if he remembered me.

Experience in Swami malai was as good as it has always been. The same tranquil atmosphere, no jostling crowds, gentle climb from within the temple premises to the sanctum (about 60  steps of low height, representing the 60 Tamil year cycle) and the priests chanting mantras and performing pujas efficiently, no usher pushing one towards the exit. In short, a pleasant and fulfilling experience as one would wish from a visit to a temple.

Breakfast with the mandatory coffee at a local restaurant costing all of 120/- for two. The waitress greeted us with a huge smile as if she were waiting for us all her life. 

Left for Trichy, about 100 kms away, at about 0945. Nearing Trichi, we decided to take a detour towards Srirangam before halting for the night in Trichi.

Srirangam is an island bound by the rivers Kaveri and Kollidam and is connected to Trichy on the mainland through road bridges. The island occupies 600 acres of which 106 acres are occupied by the temple. It is also the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world. (Angkor Vat, Hindu-Budhist temple, occupying 500 acres, is larger but not functional.)

The presiding deity of the Srirangam temple is Lord Vishnu, called 'Ranganatha Swamy'. 

We reached Srirangam temple just short of afternoon closing time and found a huge queue for darisanam (Darshan). Gave up swamy darshan and walked around the huge temple complex for some time and drove to Trichy.

For more information about the temple see-> Srirangam temple - the largest functioning temple in the world (tirthayatra.org)

 Palani, Madurai - Day 5

A day of self doubt, decision, satisfaction and bone weariness.  After a very satisfying stay in Trichy, we left at 0715 hrs. A bit late but not unduly worried, little realizing its cumulative impact on the day's events.

The drive to Palani from Trichi, a distance of about 160 kms, was quite comfortable and eventless. A brief stop for breakfast on the way. The fun started as we were a few kilo meters from the temple. We saw swarms of people on the road walking towards and away from the temple and bus loads of them in either direction. We looked in awe at the thousands of people moving purposefully and wondered how the darisanam will turn out. We got out of the car at the foothills of the temple and went to the Winch gate.

A bit of background may help. One can get to the temple on the hill using the winch which takes 36 persons at a time, or the rope car which takes 2 at a time or walk up the hill. Walkers can choose one of two routes - 'the steps' route or one with steps interspersed with sloping ground. The latter route is called ‘Yanai Paadhai’ Or ‘Elephant Path’. It is so called because the temple elephant uses the path to and from the temple (triggered a mental vision of General Hannibal's elephant army crossing the alps to Rome). The number of steps is anywhere between 650 and 900 depending on who is giving the information. Not exact, but certainly a frighteningly lot of them.

Coming back, the first bad news was that only 1 out of the 3 winch cars was working. It would take 3 to 4 hrs to get a ride because of the huge queue already formed and getting longer by the minute. Touts were furiously trying to hook fish by offering a quick and easy climb and a 'no wait' darshan. All for 2000/- to 3000/- for the temple and a tiny tip to them. Ignoring them, we waited in the queue. A girl next to us said one can climb the hill in 30 minutes using the ‘Yaanai Padhai’, if reasonably fit. She gave us enough food for thought. Can we actually climb 900 steps? We thought not and decided to wait the few hours for the winch to take us up. After some more encouraging talk with the girl, and the agonizingly slow movement of the queue, we decided to risk the walk and set forth.

There were hundreds ahead of us climbing the hill, and hundreds behind. From very young children to very old persons. The noise was tremendous reaching a crescendo when someone in the crowd shouted the Lord's name.  We tentatively put our foot on the first step, commended our souls to God and started climbing. After a little on, the way split into two, the left one being the ‘Yaanai Paadhai’. After that it was just grunt work putting one step over the other, with brief stops for rest and water. There were frequent resting places that offered seats and drinking water. Huffing ang puffing we reached the top in 30 minutes, just as the girl had said. What a relief to walk on level ground!!

Hundreds were milling around as we looked for signs to show the way to go.  Saw a sign for a 100/- ticket and bought 2. Thanks to UPI (the ubiquitous digital payment system that has transformed the way financial transactions are done in India), the counter had no cash and could not break a 500/- note for us. Got into the 100/- queue leading to the deity and reached ...a cage!! The temple had shut down just then for the afternoon break. Our morning's tardiness catching up!! After 45 mts of twiddling our thumbs and getting hammered by the noise of 200 enthusiastic people talking at the top of their voices in a confined space, we were let out of the cage to form a new line. At last, after the line twisted and turned around numerous corridors, we got to look at the deity for a full 10 seconds, before getting directed to the exit gate. Glancing at the temple for a last look, we began our return journey. Getting down the hill was lesser effort but took a toll on the calf muscles.  I don't remember whether we limped or hopped bare footed on the hot tar road to the car (probably both) and collapsed in it, welcoming the blast of Ac. A brief halt for lunch and we reached Madurai, at a distance of 110 kms, at 5 pm, drained.

10 hours of effort for a 10 second darshan may not sound good, but we felt it was.

A brief about Palani murugan temple. It is the third temple in the Aarupadai Veedu order. Lord Murugan is know as Dandayudha Swami. The temple is situated atop Sivagiri hills, at a height of 1500 feet above msl. It was built in the 7^th century, though the idol is believed to be more than 3000 years old.  There are interesting stories about it easily searchable on the net. 

In the evening, we mustered up the courage to go to Meenakshi Amman koil, which was a walking distance from the hotel (Madurai Residency). One look at the huge line waiting to get inside and we beat a hasty retreat to the hotel. Plan to visit the temple at a later date.

 Tiruchendur - Day 6

Another long day today, trip to Tiruchendur, the 2^nd Abode of Lord Murugan. We left the hotel in Madurai at about 0630 hours for the 400 km up and down trip.  We reached the temple at about 0900 hours and found the place already awash with worshippers.  By now we were seasoned enough not to be dismayed by the crowd.  As seasoned temple visitors would do, we went straight to the darshan ticket counter, which was not long. But by then we had realized, that like the iceberg, only 10% of the worshippers are found at the ticket queue, the rest 90% already in the darshan queue.  This is almost always true if one is not at the temple at the crack of dawn.

It took about an hour for the darshan, which i would say was on par for the course. In all the temples the crowd was more or less well behaved and orderly. Except when they catch sight of the deity in the sanctum. Then they become a bit frenzied and refuse to move along till they are pushed on by the usher, who are employed by almost all the bigger temples.

A brief gaze at the waves lapping the shore of Bay of Bengal and we left. Would have liked to sit around for some time, but the day was getting hot for such an activity.  The last time i was at the temple, i stayed at the TTDC (Tamil Nadu Tourist Development Corporation) hotel which was at a stone's throw away from the temple and the sea. Would recommend that to people going to Tiruchendur.

A brief stop for food, wrong route for about 10 kms, realized, back tracked and back to Madurai by  1500 hrs.

A brief about Tiruchendur murugan temple. It is the second temple in the Aarupadai Veedu order. Lord Murugan is known as Dandayudha Swami.  It was built in the 7^th century, though the idol is believed to be more than 3000 years old.  There are interesting stories about it easily searchable on the net. To my knowledge it is the only Murugan temple that is on a sea shore. 

The temple was occupied by the Dutch for a few years in the 17th century. The temple got caught in the fight between the Dutch and Portuguese. The Dutch withdrew but took the idols from the temple.  The rest of the story is about how the villagers recovered them. Interesting to read. ( Tiruchendur Murugan, Lord of Infinite Grace – Murugan Bhakti )

Courtesy: Holiday.com - Tiruchendur Murugan Temple

In the evening, decided to try our luck again at Madurai Meenakshi Amman koil.  Meenakshi Amman is dedicated to the Goddess Meenakshi, and her consort Sundereswarar ( Shiva). It is not part of the Aarupadai Veedu, but not visiting the temple when in Madurai is unthinkable.

There was a small line outside the temple. Looked for a counter selling entry tickets but found it closed. Thinking that we were in luck, we joined the queue. After the security body check, we realized our mistake. There was a huge crowd inside the temple, which snaked up and down the corridors about 10 times before reaching the sanctum. Talk about luck! As an aberration, the crowd was rather unruly.  The queue was so tightly packed that it was impossible to go back, even if we wanted to. Thus began a 4 hour exercise of shuffle-wait- shuffle for getting to the sanctum.  Got to see the deity in all her splendour at about 2000 hrs.  Getting out of the main temple was easier.

 Other than the main sanctum, the temple has many halls with artifacts and sculptures. We visited the ‘Aayiram Kaal Mandapam’ ('Thousand Pillar Hall'). Someone told me that the actual number of pillars are a bit short of 1000). It was jaw-dropping to see so many intricately carved pillars towering over us – for centuries.

 Tiruparakundram, Pazhamudircholai - Day 7

Today is the day for visiting 2 of the Aarupadai veedu temples, 1st and 6th in the order, both within striking distance from Madurai.  As suggested by the taxi driver, who also donned the mantle of a local guide, we went to the temple in Tiruparankundram ( If you think this is a mouthful, wait till you read the next temple’s name) It was an easy 8 km drive from our hotel with the early morning sum beating gently on us. After the experience at Madurai Meenakshi temple the day earlier, we were rather apprehensively on the lookout for the inevitable queue of visitors but did not find it. The temple was sparsely crowded, and we were able to quickly reach the sanctum. A leisurely darisanam without being asked to move on was the icing.  We then wandered around in the cool corridors and halls of the temple, viewing the ancient carvings. Sat down at one of the many places that had steps and read Swaminatha Ashtothram (108 names of Murugan) and left, feeling good.

Feeling lucky, we then proceeded to the next one on the list, viz. Pazhamudircholai.  A bit of a backtrack towards the hotel and then a gentle 25 km drive up the Alagar Hills. Again, the temple was not crowded and, after the darshan and prayers, we were driving back in 30 mts.

Back to the hotel, an early dinner and bed. Next day, to Chennai by Vaigai Express (named after the river Vaigai that flows past Madurai end empties itself in Bay of Bengal).  The train was on time and covered the distance of about 500 kms in 7.5 hours, an average better than many so-called fast or super fast trains.

A day of rest in Chennai and then to the last port of call, Tiruthani.

 

Tiruthani - Day 9

25^th Jan

Tiruthani Murugan Temple is the 5th in order. It was built during the 9th - 10th CE. It is said Lord Murugan came Tiruthani seeking peace. Other interesting legends abound.

We travelled to Tiruthani by road, a distance of 90 kms. It is on the route from Chennai to Tirupathi / Bangalore. The traffic on the road was horrendous even at the early hours of the day and it took more than 2 hours to pass the halfway mark. We reached the temple in about 3.5 hours. The temple was a short walk from the parking area. As usual, bought a ticket instead of using the free darisanam queue. We simply breezed through the corridors of the temple and stood in front of the deity without being hurried along. It was such a welcome experience. In fact, other visitors who were in the free darshan path looked curiously at us. A small tour of the remaining areas of the temple and we were out in 30 minutes.  Lunch on the way and back to Chennai before heading towards Pune.

End of 'Arupadai Veedu' journey.

Tail piece

It had been hectic days of travel, queues, crowds something we generally try to avoid. But somehow, i did not mind them so much. Even the 4-hour vigil at Madurai Meenakshi temple and the arduous experience in Palani temple did not leave a negative memory. At the end of the trip, we had a feeling of having accomplished something, however tenuous that might be.