Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
When
you have a long, long list of temples, and are short of time, it is inevitable that
you miss some of them. And so it was, on our Temple Run. We chose to stick to
the Nava Tirupatis, the Nava Kailasams, and a few other temples we certainly
wanted to visit, and skipped the rest. However, there are times when the Lord
wants you to come and see Him, and it is at such times that you feel truly
blessed. We felt this at many temples, where we made it just as the temple was
closing, but it was most apparent at Karungulam!
We
had passed Karungulam earlier in the day, and my eyes had lingered longingly on the spire
visible atop the hillock, wishing I could visit. I had read of the temple, and
was fascinated by the idea of two sandal wood planks being worshipped as the
deity. However, time was of essence, and we had many temples to visit. And so
we moved on. Later that evening, as we made our way back to Tirunelveli, tired
after a hectic day, drained out by the last, final rush to the Murappanadu
temple, the spire beckoned once again. We looked at our watches. There was
still some time for the temple to close. “Let’s go!” was the unanimous thought,
and we asked the driver to take the turning to the temple.
The twin
temples of Venkatachalapathy and Srinivasa at Karungulam are located atop the Vagulagiri
hill. The hill, it is believed, was once covered with Vagula flowers (probably
Bakul) and thus came to be known as Vagulagiri. According to the temple
legends, this is an extremely ancient site, and a temple to Lord
Venkatachalapathy has existed here since times unknown.
The
story of the Srinivasa temple begins with a king, from the northern parts of the country, who falls
sick. None of his physicians or experts are able to cure him, and he finally
goes to Tirupati, and prays to the Lord, as he is the only one who can cure
him. The Lord obliges, and appears to the king in a dream. He directs him
towards a grove of sandalwood trees, and asks him to build a chariot with the
logs, for Him. When the chariot would be completed, there would only be two
logs left, and in them, the Lord himself would dwell. He further asks the king
to take the two logs further south, to a village called Krishna Thadakam, or
Karungulam (Krishna means dark, and Karu means black; thadagam and kulam are
both lake. The village name thus translates to ‘dark coloured lake’), and
install them at a suitable place there. The king follows the Lord’s
instructions to the letter, and builds a chariot, finding at last, two logs left.
He carries the logs south, and arrives at Vagulagiri, where he finds an old
shrine dedicated to Lord Venkatachalapathy, accompanied by Bhudevi and Sridevi.
Convinced that this is the right place, he installs the two logs near a
tamarind tree, and finds himself finally rid of his disease. Incidentally, the
tamarind tree here is called ‘urungapuli’, the sleepless tamarind, since
its leaves do not close at dusk!
The
two logs stand in the sanctum, worshipped as Srinivasa. It is most interesting to see how the priests
decorate the two logs to resemble the Lord, and how, when fully decorated, and
covered with flowers, it is difficult to realize that there isn’t an idol
underneath, but just two plain logs! The feeling of awe and amazement
contributes in a great degree to the atmosphere and the spiritual feeling in
this temple, and as I stood there, in the sanctum, with no one to distract me,
I found myself spellbound. At that moment, it truly felt like He had drawn us
there!
Karungulam
has another temple too, at the base of the hill. This one is dedicated to Lord Shiva, as
Marthandeswarar. The water in the temple tank is blackish in colour, which is
probably why the town is called Karungulam. The village is also called Marthandam
Karungulam, after the Lord, to distinguish this one from others in Tamilnadu.
This
one is an ancient temple too, and was just about to close when we visited. The most interesting
thing about the temple are the Navagrahas, the nine planets, which appear here
with their wives!
It
seemed somehow appropriate that, after a day spent visiting Nava Tirupatis and Nava Kailasams, we
would wind up the tour with a Shiva and Vishnu temple in the same village, and
one where the Navagrahas stand with their wives!
Karungulam
- Location: Karungulam is about 15 Km from Tirunelveli, towards Tiruchendur.
- Temple Timings: 7 AM to 12 Noon, 5 to 8 PM
- Suggestions: Very near Karungulam is Adichanallur, where prehistoric pottery as well as burial urns have been found. It is believed to be the site of an early settlement, and is an ASI site. I have no idea whether visitors are allowed, or if there is anything on the site presently, but if you are interested, go and see. And let me know too!
These two
days had been hectic, and the temple run had tired us. We had visited 31
temples, the most important ones on our list, near Tirunelveli. We could have
stayed on a day longer, and visited a few more, but having left Samhith behind,
we were eager to return. Therefore, we decided to head over to Sankarankovil,
stay there and visit a few temples nearby before heading back home.
For
those interested, we hired a car at Tirunelveli, through a family member. You
can contact Mr. Shanmughavel on +91 9585966999 to get in touch and hire a
vehicle. The drivers as well as the car he sent us were excellent, and we were
able to visit so many temples in the limited time, thanks to their efforts.
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
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