My first trip to Vaishnodevi was unimpressive. Climbing was hard, and it only served to highlight how badly out of shape I was, while my in-laws managed to cope so much better. Further, I hadn’t quite realized that the cave experience wouldn’t be the same as I had imagined, since the original cave was only opened at certain times a year, and that we only entered a newly created tunnel, one far easier to access, and hence more manageable with the crowds that thronged the mountain shrine. The resulting experience at the shrine, for barely a fraction of a second, hardly compared to what I had expected / imagined / heard about. So, for me, Vaishnodevi was like any other temple, nothing to write home about, something that was reflected (though not explicitly mentioned) in the blog post I wrote then.
Subramanya,
Karthikeya, Muruga. He has many names, and in southern India, especially Tamilnadu, he is
the consummate hero. He is the divine child, born to subdue the demon,
Surapadman, who has enslaved even the Gods. He is born of the sparks from
Shiva’s third eye, and he is carried by Agni, cradled by Ganga, suckled by
celestial nymphs, and finally raised to be a warrior by Parvati. He is but a
young man when he leads his army to victory against the demon. However, he
doesn’t just kill the demon, he vanquishes him, and, accepts his surrender. The
peacock, his vahana, and the rooster, his emblem are the forms last
taken by the demon as he is vanquished. There are stories galore of Muruga – of
his fight with Ganesha, and leaving home, to take up residence at Palani, of
his marriage to Indra’s daughter, Devayanai, and his wooing of the tribal
maiden, Valli. Tamilnadu has so many temples dedicated to Muruga, that it is
impossible to enumerate them! Six of them, however, are special. These are
where his army camped, and where some memorable events in his life occurred.
Together, they are called ‘Arupadai Veedu’ in Tamil.
It is
believed that
the original shrine here was a rock cut temple, which was later built over with
granite. Supporting this belief is the main shrine itself, where Muruga is seen
in a standing posture, and on the wall is carved a Shiva Lingam. Further, just
behind the shrine is a small, cave like structure, which houses 5 lingams,
called the Panchalingam. It is believed that these were originally the
Lingams worshipped by Muruga, and that the Gods still arrive here to offer
their prayers every day.
There
are many stories
related to the temple, which speak of its greatness. It is believed that the
Dutch tried to demolish it, but were unsuccessful. They finally eloped with the
main idol, but their ship sank, and the idol was lost. Eventually, the lord
appeared in a dream to a devotee, and the idol was recovered and reinstalled in
the temple. In more recent times, the 2004 Tsunami, while wreaking havoc in the
surrounding areas, didn’t as much as touch the temple. It was reported that the
temple and the town itself turned into a safe haven during this terrible
period!
Coming
back to our visit,
we arrived at Tiruchendur at lunch time, since the temple is open from 5 AM to
9 PM. Hungry as we were, we decided we could wait till we had seen him, and
headed straight to the temple. Little had we imagined the crowd! It took us a
while to realize that we were looking at hours of waiting, which we didn’t
have, and decided to see if we had any options. At the main entrance, waving
aside the touts, who promised us quick darshan, we headed towards the counter,
where the official seemed happy to see us. He advised us to take the Rs.250
tickets, since the temple was unduly crowded, being a holiday. Taking his advice,
we bought the tickets and headed towards the shrine. Thankfully, our tickets
did ensure a quick darshan, and within a matter of minutes, we were in the
sanctum, feasting our eyes on the Lord. Despite the crowd, we were able to
stand in front of him, admiring him, for quite some time, before we were asked
to move on. Thanking our stars for buying the tickets, we headed to the
Panchalingam shrine before coming out to circumambulate the shrine.
Our
tickets had ensured us a quick darshan, however, as always, there was a catch! Due to the
long queues, the inner prakaram (circumambulatory path) was closed, and
we missed quite a few of the smaller shrines. And on our shorter way out, we
missed some of the shrines in the outer prakaram too.
Our
satisfying darshan more than made up for my disappointment at not being able to see the
temple at leisure, having heard and read so much about it. Next, we headed
towards the beach, but the burning sands made us change our minds, and we
headed off for lunch, and then, back towards Tirunelveli, to continue our
Temple Run!
Information:
- Location: Tiruchendur Temple is located in Tuticorin or Thootukudi District of Tamilnadu, 40 Km from Tuticorin city, 60 Km from Tirunelveli, and 80 Km from Madurai.
- How to reach: The nearest airport is at Madurai, and the nearest railway station is at Tiruchendur, however, there are many more rail options to Tirunelveli and Madurai. There are also plenty of buses available.
- Temple Timings: The temple is open all day, from 5 AM to 9 PM.
- Suggestions:
- Combine a visit to Tiruchendur with the Nava Tirupatis, since all the 9 temples in the circuit are located between Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur.
This post is part of my series on my #summertrip 2015, and I hope to take you along with me as I recount stories from my month long trip, which took me across the country. To get an idea of all the places I visited, and what you can hope to read about, click here.
Related Posts:
- Our Tirunelveli Temple Run
awesome post.
ReplyDeletehttp://crazytravelerblog.blogspot.in/
Thanks for this beautiful post.
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