Sabari Mala Trip III

Firstly, Happy New Year to all and wish you a Happy Pongal too!

...Contd from Sabari Mala Trip II

Well, after so much of divinity, it was time for some fun!! Yeah, we went to Kuttralam from Achan kovil. For those who do not know, Kuttralam is a water fall near Tenkasi/Senkottai (water source is through the rains in Western Ghats). There are many water falls in the town at different locations and we visited the Main Falls. Awseome!! Superb!! Any interjection / adjective will fit in when I set out to explain the feeling of even being near the fall. The water was COLD and fortunately for us the force was also GREAT!! Great experience, given that this is my first time in Kuttralam. We din't have much time there anyways, otherwise, I would have tried the oil massage and other facilities available there :) After the bath, we were really hungry and had a nice lunch there. There is a Shiva temple (Kuttrala nathar), but we couldn't have a darshan there as it was around 2 PM and the nada will be opened only at 4 PM.

Now back to divinity :)
Srivilliputhur:

For people who've not heard of Andal or Kodhai, She is a lady love (one of the many rather) of MahaVishnu (Vadabadhrasayanar). Srivilliputhur is the place where she belonged to and we visited the same. Typical Tamil style temple with huge Gopuram (The tower features in the Tamil Nadu Govt. state emblem!). Andal was looking awesome in Her shrine.

Adjacent to it is the Vadabadhrasayanar (Sleeping pose facing the North) shrine. The Vishnu here had Brahma on the lotus coming from his navel and fighting a demon!! Great temple and great darshan. I and Anand had some secret prayers!!! :)

In addtion to the temple, Srivilliputhur is famous for milk khoa (sweet made out of milk of course). Packed our bags with kgs of the same :).We decided to stay at Thiruparankunram (near Madurai). When we reached there in the night, we were (not) surprised to see heavy rush and no place to even move leave alone staying, sleeping et all. Cometh the hour, cometh the man (God??). One of our group members had a choultry in Nilackottai (around 40 km from Madurai) and was available for staying taht night. Thanks to him. Off we went there. Stayed and had a good sleep.

Next day we left by around 9 AM to Azhagar koil and Pazhamudhir cholai and then to Meenakshi amman temple. There is already a blog (titled Temples Temples and Temples) about these places and so don't want to tell it again. Needless to say these are all must visit places and we had superb darshan everywhere!! :)
One place that we din't visit during our last visit to Pazhamuthilcholai was "Nupura Gangai". This, as the name suggests, is a continuous water flow from an unknown source!! Researchers have been left confused and the reports are inconclusive. The water of course is considered holy and medicinal (legend says that the water can cure many diseases and also saves against
black magic and other evil forces). There is a Devi shrine (called Rakkayi) near the water source.
We left from Madurai to Hosur at night (8 PM - The reason for the delay is best not discussed!) after dinner.

Reached Hosur by 7 AM (you know the driver anyway) and finished the post Sabari mala formalities and off to office :)

Well, Thanks to Ayyappa once again for making us complete the trip (my second one) and hope to make many more like this.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa