A Trip to Panchavati


A trip to Panchavati

I and my friend were discussing on the religious topic and in between the topic went to “Panchavati” where the temple for “Panchamuga Anchaneya” is located. We finally decided to travel to “Panchavati” to see the lord (Sunday – 3rd May 2009). I took my car (Santro) and with me was my friend and we started around 2.30 P.M. On the way we fuelled our car. We didn’t have lunch but took some snacks to fuel our stomach. Then we took the Tambaram highway and the road was very good. We passed thru Tambaram, Chengalpattu, and reached Tindivanam. We started hearing all the Carnatic Music songs in my collection.



On the way we were discussing heavily on the various religious topics we crossed Tindivanam for a few kilometers and realized that we missed the route. Then again we took the diversion and reached Tindivanam and from there we took the diversion route to Pondicherry. Finally we reached the temple around 5 P.M. There we saw the Main Gopuram and the Vimana of the temple which was delight to see. Then we entered the temple after parking our car and procured “Tulasi” and “Tamarai” for the Lord. When we entered the temple we could able to see the Lord who was in a gigantic posture of 36 feet high. The “Panchamuga Anjaneya” is having five heads i.e. Anjaneya, Narasimha on the right, Varaha on the Left, Hayagreeva above the head and Garuda on the back. My friend was telling each head has a significance which will safeguard the devotees.



We went around the temple. There are two sannadhis one for Lord Ganesha and another for Lord Rama along with the all the important consorts in Ramayana i.e. Seetha, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Satrugna, Anjaneya, Sugreeva, Jambavan, and Vibeshana. One important feature of this temple is that they conduct “Seetha” kalyana utsavam daily. We saw the “Thirumanjanam” i.e. abhisekham performed on the lord with Milk and other abhisekhams. The thirumanjanam was excellent as we could sit directly before the lord and see the priests performing the abhisekha from the Top floor. After seeing that we moved around the temple.



On the back of the temple we can see the “Garuda” face of the lord. In the front before the main sannadhi we saw a big vessel wherein a Stone was floating!. It was nothing but the stone used by Rama to cross the sea and they have specially brought this stone from Rameswaram. According to Sri Ramani Anna who was the pioneer in building this Temple this place was worshipped by great rishis some thousands of years ago. Incidentally he was the pioneer in constructing the Nanganallur Temple in Chennai.



We then had the sumptuous prasadam “Sambar Sadam” and our Soul and Stomach was filled. We returned to Chennai by 9.30 P.M.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sri Ranganji

Image
I recently attended a discourse on “Samartha Ramadas” by Sri. Ranganji at West Mambalam. Sri Pandurangan, fondly called Sri Rangan Anna, born in 1977, is the second son of Sri Krishna Premi Swamigal. When Sri Sri Anna completed his Sevai to Sri Pandurangan in Pandaripur on Sivaratri, he came to know of Sri Bhagavan's sankalpam about his birth and hence he named him as Pandurangan. Sri Ranganji's stunning accomplishments include composition of 7000 verses in Sanskrit at the age of 13, translation of Sankara Bhashyam of Bramhasutra at the age of 18 and publication of 6 books on philosophy before the age of 25. He has committed to memory all the eight major Upanishads and most of the slokas of Ramayana at the age of 16. He is a maser story teller of Ramayanam. Please read on to know more about Sri Ranganji. Dr. R.Rangan is a unique man of wisdom and simplicity. He was awarded Yoga-vidya-varidhi (a doctoral degree in Yoga from SVYASA, Bangalore). He also has a master’s degree of ma
Read more

MAHAN SRI APPAYYA DIKSHITAR

Image
Dear Readers, I am glad to present the article on the Great Scholar, Saint, Yogi, Bhakta Mahan Sri Appayya Dikshitar. I have heard about Appayya Dikshitar in some of the forums but was not aware of him till I read the story about him in the Ramakrishna Mission publication “Kathai Malar” which I had bought for my son. The “Kathai Malar” which contains life history of many mahans has come out so far with 20 odd issues which is worth buying and can be taught to the kids as the same is presented nicely in pictorial forms. Mahan Appayya Dikshitar who lived in the 16th Century is considered as an Avatar of Lord Shiva. In the words of Swami Sivananda He is a Genius a Yogi, Bhakta and a Scholar. If you go through his life history you will find he has written many works on Siva-Advaita mainly to counter the negative attacks on Saivaism. Even though his works are based on advaita he is very catholic in his approach and sees both Lord Shiva and Vishnu as one and the same. This is very much felt i
Read more

Kovur Sundareswarar Temple

Image
I happened to visit recently a 1300 year old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at Kovur near Porur (Chennai). The temple is famous due to the visit of Saint Tyagaraja’s who had composed five songs on the temple known as “Kovur Pancharatnam”. Also the Vilva tree in this shrine is having 9/16/27 leaves in every stem instead of the usual 3 leaves. Also this temple is one of the Nava Graha Temple in Chennai meant for parikara sthalam of Bhudan. This is also the place associated with of Saint Poet Sekhizhar who had written Periyapuranam. Also this temple was sung by Thirunavukkarasar (Appar). Sounds interesting please read on to know more about Kovur. Reaching Kovur From Guindy Kathipara Junction one should take the Butt Road leading to Porur Junction. From there take left towards the road leading to Kundrathur and you can reach Kovur in less than 5 KMS from the Porur Junction. The entrance is picturesque with an array of houses and tall Asoka Trees on either side and greets us by 85 ft high t
Read more