As ManiKantan to See ManiKantan

Firstly, a great round of applause to me.... This is a special blog - My 50th .......... :) :) :). Thanks everyone for bearing with me !!

I made my third trip to Sabarimala starting Dec 8, 2009. Sabarimala trips are special because of the procedure involved. In addition to the 40 day fasting and the Irumudi, swamis (Ayyappa pilgrims) carry other specific stuffs too. As Kanni swami (First timer), one should carry a stick called "Saram" to be offered at a place called "Saramkuthi" as you go atop. The second year swamis will carry a sword made of wood to be offered at the same place. And in the third year, the swamis are called "Manikantan" (Mani = Bell, Kantam = Neck) meaning bell in the neck, as they take a small bell tied to their neck and offer it right at the Sannidhanam (Sanctum). This was special. This was my third trip and hence the title :). Btw, Lord Ayyappa is called ManiKantan as He was found on the banks of Pampa with a bell tied around his neck.

This time was a special experience for me, as we started early (at around 08:30) on Dec 8th. The lunch we had at Dindigul needs a special mention. Superb taste and service at Hotel Saravana Bhavan near the bus stand. We reached Erumeli at 20:00. Had Petta Sastha, Dharma Sastha and Vavuru Swami Darshan as usual and started to Pampa at 22:00. We reached Pampa around 23:30. Took a dip at Pampa in the midnight. Great experience!! Luckily, it was not very cold that time :). We started the ascent at 01:00 on Dec 9th. Reached the top to join a the tail of a 2 km Q :). It was a worthy 8 hr wait and at 09:30 we had the Darshan. Ayyappa, greeted us with His Ghee Abhishekam posture :). Felt happy and tied the bell in the Sannidhanam :) Legend has it that, anyone having this bell at home will get a baby boy. So normally people will snatch the bell even before it's tied. But luckily for me, one swami said he will wait till I tie and then he grabbed it and ran away :)
This time though, we did a lot of moral policing in the Q. We saw people with Irumudi on their head smoking, people running and jumping the Q et all. I think, Sabarimala pilgrimage is all about control and patience. If someone lacks any of these virtues, they are better of not undergoing this rather than spoiling the sanctity of this Holy thing. Well, my personal opinion!!

We had two more darshans of Ayyappa and one of the Malikapuram and started the descent. I had a severe cold and the cetrizine I had in the morning compunded with lack of sleep the whole of previous night made be very drowsy and it was extremely difficult to climb down. In addition to this, the sun was shining bright (no doubt, it will at 13:00 :)) and hence it was hot. It was Ayyappa, who helped me climb down as always :) Well, as said during our moral policing act, we even shouted at some instances and perhaps Ayyappa thought we needed a lesson on patience :) We climbed down safely by 15:00 of course after having our regular Kappa Kanji :)

Of we went to Pattanamthitta, where we took bath in a river around 17:00. Great refreshment and then we reached Kulathupuzha around 20:15 and the darshan was closed for the day. We stayed in the temple mantapam for the second consecutive year :) Had a great sleep.
The opening of the sanctum woke us up at 04:30 on Dec 10th. Had darshan of Kulathupuzha Balakan at 06:00. Of to Ariyankavu and AchanKovil and reached Kuttralam at 12:00. With little funda from Anand and Prasad had the time of my life in a water fall. Went to the 5 falls and it was JUST GREAT. We even had a massage with hibiscus oil and bathed. Of course, all of us got sc***ed with severe cold after that!! Of to Palani to see my favourite God, Subramanya. Special winch and special darshan ticket hepled us to have darshan of the special God in less than an hour :). We left Palani at 21:00 and reached Hosur on Dec 11, 04:30. Swamiye Sharanam Ayyappa!!

This trip is special for one more reason too. After I came back, I went to Trichy and on Dec 20, 2009 - Sunday - something memorable happened which most of you would know :D. Well, I need to change my relationship status to "committed" from "single" in many places!!!
Cheers!!

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

Sabari Mala Trip II

...Contd from Sabari Mala Trip I
While getting down any hill, one needs to be very careful as it's tougher and calls for great caution. But it goes without saying that it will be enjoyable. There won't be any control on one's own legs. Just that we start and go along with the momentum and take great effort to stop. Sabari mala is no different - especially with the 75 degree Appachi Medu and Neeli mala to be treaded down :). It was raining and drizzling in top of that!! Balaji, amounted for the maximum fun yet again - be it scheming against carrying the prasadam container or holding the side bars tightly and taking one step after another or tackling fast runners from behind, providing us with a running commentary through out as to how one has to approach getting down a hill :). At some point, Anand just couldn't stand the comedy anymore that he sat down and laughed and curious on lookers felt he was sick tried to offer help :). Like last year, I had kaapa kanji and kattan chai etc. on the way and signalled our reaching kanni moola ganapathi shrine with a tender coconut :)

When the entire team arrived, again Balaji expressed his anxiety over how to reach Kottayam for catching his train to Mumbai. After huge discussions, it was decided that he will be dropped at Pattanamthitta. Well, we got down after worshipping Kanni Moola Ganapathi and Pampa and praying for the next visit, we boarded a bus to Nilakkal, the place where all vehicles will be parked.

After successfully completing Erumeli and Sabarimala it was time to visit the other three adobes of Ayyappa. So, off we went to Kulathupuzha (It's very close to Pattanamthitta where Balaji got down and we had our dinner), where we were accomodated in the temple mantapa.

Kulathupuzha:

This is one of the adobes of Ayyappa, where He is a Balaka or Child. It's a small temple on the banks of a puzha or river. We had a bath in the river and the water was really good. The temple, had the main deity and shrines for Naga (snake God), Bhagavathi (in a peculiar pose as if She was dancing or saluting) and of course Ganesha. One more interesting thing is the number of varieties of fish in the river (We offered puffed rice (pori), groundnut etc. to the fish). For more on the legends of Kulathupuzha read Prasad's blog.

Ariyankavu:

This is on the Thenmala hills in the Kottayam - Senkottai route. A very picturesque drive with many hair pin bends et all. Here, Lord Ayyappa is in the form of Ayyan - the deity looks very much like the One in Sabarimala. The temple also is on the banks of a water body (I don't know which one) and has shops selling spices and fruits available in the nearby forest.

Achan Kovil:

After Ariyankavu, we were to go to Achan Kovil. We somehow had a great urge from the beginning to visit this temple. The temple is in the midst of a thick forest (20 km ride inside the forest) near Senkottai. The ride was awesome. The driver din't want to take us there but we made sure we go. We started only around 11 AM and we thought that the temple will be
closed from 12 noon till 4 PM. So we were under great tension :). But we reached the temple in roughly 70 min and came to know that the temple closes roughly at 1:30 PM. We had a lot of time and had a great Darshan. Well, in Achan Kovil, Lord Ayyappa is a King, with his consorts - Purna and Pushkala - They are not females but embodiments of completeness and wealth.
The legend says that Here Lord Ayyappa can bestow one with wealth and other earthly needs as he is a King himself while at Sabari mala he can give knowledge and contentment as He is a Yogi/Sanyasi there :) One more legend in Achan Kovil is that the sandal prasadam here can and will cure any venomous snake bite. This link has a good account on Achan kovil and it's legends.

Really happy that I was able to visit all the 5 adobes of Ayyappa.
The remaining part of the trip was in Tamil Nadu and will be covered in the next part of the blog :)
Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa
.... To Be Contd ......

Sabari Mala Trip I

I was blessed with my second Sabari mala trip (Dec 7 - Dec 11). The first part of our trip will be covered in this blog.

We were to have "Irumudi Kattu" and leave on Dec 07, 2008(Sunday) from Hosur. Like last year, my mother had come to Bangalore a day earlier. She along with my aunt and cousin started early morning and reached Hosur on time (Thanks to them!!). This time, the kattu was in a Ganesha temple. Needless to say, the atmosphere was awesome and compelling. All the kattus were over and by 11:30 we had a great lunch (prasadham) and were ready to leave.

We had left Hosur by 11:45. The vehicle was not upto the mark and the driver's attitude was pathetic and that proved to be the only hitch in the otherwise fantastic trip. After all you need something which is not good!! That's life :). On the way, we had a bath in river Bhavani (I guess), between Salem and Karur. This time we had three kanni samis (first timers - last year I was one). One was Vikram (V) and the other one Balaji (B). Both are funny people in their own rights. B was explaining his experience at the Baghu Bali temple and that became a code word for all of us at various instances. We also had a lot of arguments (political / religious / junk) through out which added spice to the travel :). V was sleeping royally, come what may...

We reached Erumeli only at 6 AM on Monday (The van driver had hit a cow / calf / bull not sure what) on the way. He was dozing through out as we were. At Erumeli, we visited the Petta Sastha temple, Vavuru Samadhi and the Dharma Sastha temple (Erumeli is one of the five adobes of Ayyappa swami - I will write in detail in the next blog). V and B were supposed to do
Petta Thullal, but they din't just as I din't in the last year :). Erumeli is the start of the peria padhai, the 50 km ascent to Sabari mala. As we din't take that path (we take the smaller path 8 km from Pampa), we got Sarams (for first timers) and knife (for second timers - me :)) there and we started to Pampa by van.

Pampa, is the holy river at the foots of the Sabari mala ascent (before Neeli mala). Mythology says, that Ayyappa was found in the banks of Pampa with a bell tied around his neck when king of Pandalam, Rajasekara Pandian found him. As is the ritual, we took bath in Pampa, carried the Irumudi and started the ascent. Irumudi is a holy package containing ghee filled coconut and rice (mainly) on the front side and two more coconuts in the back with or without other things that the traveller may require. After Pampa, one will reach the Kanni Moola Ganapathi shrine (where coconut should be broken as an offering), go up Neeli mala, Appachi medu and Sabari peetam. Our team's protocol is that no one should go beyond Subramanya padhai until the entire team reches there. During the ascent, Balaji was lured by pineapple vendors and was pressed by some external force (!!!) not allowing him to climb and he was successful in not carrying the ghee container (giving weird reasons) et all. All these added to our fun quotient.

Once the entire team reached, we were lucky enough to get a by pass and reached the Holy 18 steps and the Sannidhanam in no time and our darshan was over by 5 PM :) :) :). Everyone was emotional at the great Darshan bestowed on us by Him. We got a room to stay. Throghout the evening, we were able to have many Darshans (thanks to Him).

I and Anand had the opportunity of going for the Ghee Abhishekam the same night. The Ghee Abhishekam, starts at 4 AM everyday and goes on till 11 AM, but one has to join the Q, the previous night itself for a early completion next morning. We went to the Q at 10 PM in the night and was shocked to see some 10 layers before us, all sleeping in the Q. We were intelligent enough to define a new end (at the 4th layer) to the existing Q and soon there were people joining after us :) (trend setters). We were in the open and had very less space. Anand made himself into an 'S' and managed to sleep and even snored on top of that (gifted soul). All was well, when suddenly at 00:45 someone in the area shouted "Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa". That was enough for the sleepy members of the Q, who were disoriented in space and time, to think that the Darshan has started and there was a huge commotion. We used the commotion to move to the first layer of the Q :). From 0045 to 0400, the time flew and the next morning we were able to see the Ghee Abhishekam Darshan and back to the room at 5:30 (on Tuesday).

Then we saw many more Darshans, finished darshan of Malikapurathamma (the female deity there), ate Panchamirtham (4 rounds :)) and started getting down.

Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa
.... To Be Contd ......