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.
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