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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00080 Oct 2003

 
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Dear bhagavathas,

pranamams.

On 2nd July after vishvaroopa darshanam of Sri Ranganatha we have 
continued our divya desa yatra. One bhagavatha Sri Varadharajan swami 
who is house owner of our friend Sri Radhakrishnan mama's flat has 
met us in the temple and he volunteered to help us for arranging a 
car to visit Anbil and Thirupper nagar. This happened on 1st July. 
Not only that. On that day evening he met the bhattar of Anbil temple 
in Srirangam who has come for a Janavasam of a marriage about our 
proposed trip to Anbil. As per his suggestion we went to Kattu 
azhagiya singar temple first. Unfortunately we could have darshan 
since there was a huge crowd which came for a marriage in the temple. 
Further the morning pooja was going on at that time. The driver 
reminded that if we delay here then we won't be able to cover the 
other two temples. We seek pardon from Narasimha for waiting for HIS 
darshan, and left for Anbil.

Generally during July month, bus/car journey along the 
Kaveri/kollidam river will be very pleasent with cool breeze striking 
on your face, since there used be good water flow. Alas! The entire 
strech of Kaveri from Srirangam to Anbil and thirupper nagar was dry 
and you could see only barren land. The breeze was hot and 
unbearable. Having born and brought up in the banks of Kaveri river, 
adiyen could not digest this situation. What these farmers will be 
doing now? The rich ones manage the show with borewells although the 
yield is considerably less. The poor ones will for sure are in 
trouble. These are the thoughts in my mind as the car was fast 
approaching the Anbil temple.

The driveway to Anbil from Srirangam is good and one can reach the 
temple in 45 minutes. The bhattar was waiting for us and arranged a 
very good darshan for us. This temple is also not doing well 
financially. There was an article about this temple in The Hindu 2 
years back. adiyen saw a copy of the write up in the temple wall. 
Unfortuantely adiyen could not locate the article in the Archieves 
section of the "The Hindu" web site. The perumal is in reclining 
posture and HIS birth star is Vaikasi Visakam. The bhattar's name is 
Sri Varadharaja bhattar and any one is willing to help this temple 
for nitya aradanam or utsavam can directly contact the bhattar. If 
you need any further information adiyen can assist.

Bhattar told that the easy way to go to Thirupper Nagar is to go by 
foot walking across the kaveri river since there is no water in the 
river. adiyen read in the Lifco book that one can use parisil (ie 
manual boat) to cross the river. See how the things are now. Since it 
was very hot and walking on the sand will be next to impossible for 
my 10 year old daughter we left that idea and decided to go by road 
only. If you know the geographical location of these divya desams, 
you will understand this. Both Anbil and Thirupper nagar are on the 
two opposite banks of Kaveri river and if you want to go by road, we 
have to return to Trichy all the way and take a different route. That 
is why the bhattar was telling us to walk across the river.

By the time we left Anbil it was around 11 AM and the driver was bit 
nervous since it looked difficult to reach Thirupper nagar before 12 
Noon as the temple used to be closed by that time and the evening 
pooja is only at 5 PM. The road leading to Thirupper nagar is in very 
bad condition with lots of throny shrubs protruding on to the tiny 
road. The edges of the road are eroded propably during the last rainy 
season and there is no maintenance for these roads. The jungle on the 
road sides are dense and at the road turns one has to be extremely 
cautious as you can't see the traffic coming opposite to you. As you 
know once the temple is closed for the morning session there is no 
way you can open it again to have darshan. Further we can't get angry 
with Perumal as Thirumangai azhvar did with Thiru indhalur parimala 
rangan. We were all thirsty and hungry and the clock was ticking fast 
as we were far from the temple. My daughter started calculating the 
distance from the road distance markers and it was like a movie 
thriller. The worst part is that we can't continue our yatra to 
Thanjavour via Thirukkattuppalli since the car was hired from 
Srirangam. So if the temple is closed, the entire journey is of waste.

By then we have reached Kallanai and once upon a time it used to be a 
beautiful picnic spot and adiyen has come here during school/college 
days with friends. Now without water in the river, the entire place 
looked like a desert. We have slowly crossed the narrow bridge and 
contiued our journey.

By 12.20 or so we have finally reached the temple and alas it was 
closed. We could see the big entrance doors of the temple in closed 
position from a distance. Driver told that the bhattar is staying 
close to the temple only and we can request him to open. We went 
close to the temple and came out of the car. By then seeing the car, 
the bhattar himself came to the temple and told that generally he 
used to close the sannidhi by 12 Noon but today the sannidhi is still 
open for us to have darshan. Our joy can't be expressed. It's all HIS 
sankalpam.

The bhattar gave an electrifying commentry about the divya desam. All 
of you are aware that this divya desam is special, since Swami 
Nammazhvar sang this divya desam just before his travel thru 
archiradhi margam to Srivaikuntam. It is believed that only this 
divya desa perumal gave salvation to Sri Naamazhvar. In 
Thiruvaymozhi, decad of this divya desam comes as 8th Thirumozhi in 
10th decad just before SuZ visumbu.

In one of the book related to divya desams by a popular publication 
it is written that this divya desa perumal is holding the appakkudam. 
When adiyen said that and wanted to see how the perumal is holding 
the appakkudam, the bhattar almost got wild. He called each and every 
one of us near to the perumal and shown that there is atleast 1 to 
1.5 feet between the appakkudam and perumal's hand. He told that it 
is unfortunate that such leading publishers make such an error in 
their book. Also adiyen was under the wrong impression that appam is 
offered as aravanai prasadam in the night. The bhattar corrected this 
statement telling that the appam is offered only in the evening pooja 
and not during the artha jama as believed by many. His explanations 
of various divya prabandham verses and purushakaram of Thayar etc are 
still fresh in our memory. Sadly this temple don't receive many 
sevarthis as it is very remote. To adiyen's joy this perumal's 
thirunakshatram is also vaikasi visakam same that of Anbil which is 
adiyen's janma nakshatram too.

The bhattar then took us to his home and offered last night's 
aravanai prasadam ie appam and he blessed us with abhaya hasta mudra 
of perumal embossed on hardened sandal paste. He and his wife were 
very kind and he that any time we can come to this temple and stay 
with them and have food in their home. His name is Srinivasa bhattar 
and this divya desam is known as Koviladi. He insisted us to stay and 
have prasadam, but since we were five in number did not want to 
trouble them without prior information. We thanked for their courtesy 
and left for Trichy. It is believed that if anyone do darshan of 
Anbil and Tirupper nagar one after another it is considered to be 
punyam of visiting all the diyva desams. We thanked the perumal for 
giving us darshan although we came late. This temple is also in need 
of financial support and being remote there is little income to the 
bhattar. adiyen has told my father to visit this temple and we are 
planning to offer some small ornaments to Thayar. If any one of you 
are interested, please mail me.

After our lunch at Trichy, we left for Thanjavour and adiyen will 
continue this in my next mail.

regards

dasan venkat






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