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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00017 Apr 2002

 
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HINDU

Crowning glory for the Tiruvallur deity


Lord Veeraraghava with His Consorts...

SCRIPTURES REFER to Lord Narayana as ``Alankarapriya'' ? one who loves
ornaments, dresses and other finer things and Lord Siva as ``Abishekapriya''
--
one who likes the sacred bath. The deities in the temples of the Tamil land
have
always been adorned with jewels, presented in those days by kings and rulers,
and by lesser mortals in recent times. The idol of Lord Veeraraghava at
Thiruvallur,
44 km west of Chennai, is to be decorated with ``Pandyan Kondai,'' a massive
head dress of gold studded with pearls, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and other
gems. It is a replica of the jewel said to have been dedicated to deitiesby
the
Pandya rulers.

The ``Pandyan Kondai,'' consists of gems with a total weight of 815 carat. The
total number of stones in the crown is 3,015, of which 1,175 are diamond
(weight
127 ct) 1,725 are ruby (weight 614 ct) and 115 are emerald (weight 74 ct). The
precious stones have been embedded in the 24-carat gold crown weighing 2.6 kg.

According to Mr. K. G. Krishnan, secretary of the Pandyan Kondai Kainkarya
Committee, the panel was constituted three years ago and it took them oneyear
to
collect funds. Then they started procuring gems from various sources and the
work was completed this year.

The VBC Jewellery at T. Nagar, Chennai, has made the crest jewel engaging
three
persons for one year without expecting any profit as it was for a divine
purpose.
Similar Kondais adorn the idols of Azhagiamanavalan at Srirangam, and
Malaiyappa Swami (Utsavar) at Tirupati. It is said that the idol of
Devaperumal
(Lord Varadaraja) at Kanchipuram also is adorned with similar crown though it
is
not studded with as many precious stones as that of Lord Veeraraghava.


The crown that will adorn the Lord of Thriuvallur.

The Pandyan Kondai is also known as ``Salihothra Mahirishi Kondai" named after
a
sage, to fulfil whose wish the Lord took the lying posture in this holy place.
``Thirumalir-unjolaimalai Sthala Purana,'' a history of the Kallazhagar Temple
near
Madurai, published over 60 years ago, says that a Pandyan Kondai was
presented for Lord Kallazhagar about 1,000 years ago by the Pandyan monarch.

The ``Pandyan Kondai'' for Lord Veeraraghava, which was on display at various
places in Chennai, will be presented to the deity at Thiruvallur at 2 p.m. on
Sunday
(April 7) by Sri Narayana Yatheerndra Mahadesikan, Jeeyar Swami of the Ahobila
Math. The crown will be taken around in a palanquin at 10 a.m. After
presenting
the crown, the Jeeyar Swami will recite the ``Kshethra Puranam'' or the legend
about Thiruvallur. He will be taken in a procession in a palanquin at 4 p. m.
The
Lord and His consorts will be taken in procession at 6 p.m.

T. A. SRINIVASAN





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