அருள்மிகு ஓதீஸ்வரர் திருக்கோவில், மடிப்பாக்கம்.

Madipakkam is a fast developing Suburb of Chennai.  Situated close to Madipakkam Bus Terminus on the busy main road  is the Odheeswarar Temple -- also known as Vedhapureeswarar Temple. The Goddess here is Arulmigu Vedapureeswari

Mavadibagam is the old name of the place .  It is said that when  Kanchi Maha Periyava was passing through this area,   He stopped when he came near the Sthala Viruksham -அரசு, வேம்பு, வில்வ மரம் இணைந்தது--under which the Sivalinga Thirumeni was seated in the open along with Nandhi.   The rest of what should have been a grand  temple was reduced to rubbles due to neglect over the centuries.  The Maha Swamy  told  the local devotees about the importance of this 1000 year old temple and advised them to rebuild the same.

We are informed that with the Divine Blessings of Maha Periyava, when the renovation work commenced, money started flowing in for the project and the work of temple consecration  was completed in  the late '90s.

Shri Jayaprakash, a Senior Manager in Canara Bank and one of the members of the managing committee of this temple had invited us to do the cleaning and white washing work .  Accordingly we had taken up the uzhavarappani  of this temple on 25.08.2013, with a workforce of more than 60 volunteers.

The inner walls of the temple have been beautifully done with oil painting of the images of the various Gods.  Therefore our work was confined to white-washing the ceiling, a tough task indeed, considering its height of 13 feet.  Besides, we had also used the aluminium paint for the ventilator grills and enamel paint for the Swamy Sannadhi.

The huge tree atop the roof of the praharam had to be trimmed to ensure  that its wild growth did not  create any structural weakness on the roofing and also on the gopurams..  A  group of about thirty volunteers were deployed for this purpose.  Braving thorny growths and  overhanging   television cables, they struggled hard for more than four hours to clear the wild growth.

The usual cleaning of pooja items, polishing the Utsava idols and the Kodi maram , cleaning and water-washing  the praharam with  high pressure compressor was also done.

Initially, we though that the temple being a small one, we could finish all the work by 03.30pm.  How wrong we were!  The work was really huge and we could finish only by 07.00pm.

We started a practice of explaining one Song l from a Thirumurai by any one of our members during each Uzhavarapani. It started in Nungambakkam in June 2013. Then Nemili, SEED and now in Odheeswarar Temple too.   Smt Kalyani explained one Thirumandhiram to our volunteers.

After Maha Deeparadhanai at the end of Sayaratchai pooja, we packed off.

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S E E D

Shri A R Palanisamy, a former colleague to many of us,  is the Secretary of SEED-- Society for Educational and  Economic Development-- a voluntary organisation located at Sriperumbudur.  He took voluntary retirement from Canara Bank, where he was working as an officer,  to look after the activities of SEED full-time    SEED is involved in educating the children of Life convicts, terminally ill patients and orphans.  It is a residential school type project, where everything is provided free to the children, with the ultimate aim of securing a decent life to them.   Here the children are imparted both standard education and vocational training.

Though we have always extended our services only in temples all these years,  an exception was made to accommodate the request of  Shri Palanisamy.  Accordingly we landed at SEED premises on the Independence Day (15 Aug 2013).  As usual our guys did cleaning, grill painting, white washing  et al.  

We were joined by Sam & Ann Bryan, a couple from USA. Sam is an aeronautical engineer from Seattle, now on a special assignment with INS Rajali at Arakkonam.  Like us, this couple too decided to spend their holiday differently and decided to visit SEED.  Upon seeing us, their joy knew no bounds and they participated with more  enthusiasm by mingling with us and offering their services.

Before we left, we presented the children  some play materials like, Carrom Board, Chess sets, Volley ball & net, a football, tennikoit rings  and a few tennis balls. We were very much moved by the joy and gratitude in their eyes over this small gesture. 

In the evening, before we packed of, the inmates of SEED presented each of us with a specially made garland prepared by them as part of their vocational activity, which we carried back  with fond memories.

Additional Photos

புன்னாகேஸ்வரர் திருக்கோவில் , நெமிலி

அருள்மிகு விசாலாக்ஷி அம்மன் சமேத அருள்மிகு புன்னாகேஸ்வரர் திருக்கோவில்  அரக்கோணத்திற்கு அருகே 12 கி.மி தொலைவில் நெமிலி கிராமத்தில் அமைந்துள்ளது.  தேவேந்திரனும்,  நாகேஸ்வரனும் வழிபட்ட தலம்.  சுமார் 4.5 ஏக்கர் பரப்பளவில் அமைந்துள்ள இத்திருக்கோவிலின் கும்பாபிஷேகத் திருவிழா 09.12.2013 அன்று நடைபெற உள்ளது.

As a part of our contribution to the on-going renovation work, we had decided to take up the white washing of the compound walls of this temple.  The temple being situated in a very vast area of land with  equally big compound walls, which were ten feet high, it was a challenging task to be completed in a single day.  Since Balalayam has been done in connection with the renovation, the sanctum itself had remained closed and there were no visiting devotees.

We had scheduled 21 July to do this white washing.  Many of our volunteers, had already reached the place on the night of 20.07.2013 itself and were put up in a local Kalyana Mandapam for their overnight stay.  Others reached on the morning of 21.07.2013.  This time our strength was a little short of fifty,  as many of our regulars did not turn up expecting heavy rains that were lashing the area for about a week.

Over a period of the last one year,   our volunteers have acquired a little  expertise and speed in white washing and painting.  At Nemili, the area to be covered was atleast twice that of Manavur temple and the number of volunteers was just half  the size that we had at Manavur.  Still our guys worked  till 05.30pm and completed the job.  For us it was one more day of our life spent in the service of God. 

Before we left the temple, the  sanctum was opened for our benefit.  As balalayam has been done and no poojas were going on inside the temple, the Gurukkal permitted us to enter the sanctum and showed us the  imprint of a five headed serpent on the back of the big Shivalingham. We are  all indeed  blessed and still carrying some poorva janma punyam to have a darshan  this awesome sight of the  serpent covering the main deity from behind.  

Apart from this  indication that the God was worshiped  here by Nageswaran, it is said that Devendra also worshiped here.  A carved panel on the stone ceiling in the temple, depicts Devendra on his Airavatham.  This temple should have also served as a parihara sthalam as indicated by the carvings of lizard, snake, rahu/kethu etc in the ceiling.  But unfortunately, no other details or  record of the past history of the temple are available.  

The Team -- before leaving Nemili 

In the morning, many of our volunteers visited the abode of  Nemili Bala -- The Child Goddess Bala Thripurasundhari and had a darshan.  The authorities of Nemili Bala Peetam informed us that the image of the Goddess here, which is just about the size of a little finger, is the smallest one to be worshipped anywhere in the world.  More details about Nemili Bala Peetam are available here.

How to Reach:  Take a suburban train from Chennai Central to Arakkonam.  From Arakkonam, buses plying through Nemili are available.  The distance is only about 12 km.  One can also take a share auto from Arakkonam.  

Click here to view additional photos of Nemili Uzhavarappani.

Agatheeswarar Thirukkovil, Nungambakkam

Painting the main door of the Praharam

The annual Brahmotsavam festival is  always celebrated at Nungambakkam Agatheeswarar Temple   in a very grand manner.  In connection with this festival which is going to be held for the current year  from July 07 to 19,  2013, our team of volunteers took up the assignment of giving the Temple a festive look  through white-washing and painting.

After returning from Innambur, our coordinator Shri Ramachandran, visited this temple to make a study of the work requirements.  Accordingly, the Hereditary Trustees of the Temple, Shri Kalyana Raghavan & Shri Radhakrishnan made available all the material required much in advance.

Our team members started assembling from 7.30am onwards and within one hour the number of volunteers swelled to more than 70.  Our work mainly  involved painting and white washing the walls of the main praharam and also the  Sannadhis of  Adhikara Nandhi,  Vinayagar, Balasubramaniar, Durga-Lakshmi-Saraswathi,  Kasi Viswanathar, Annapurneswari, Bairavar, Navagrahams,  besides the Yagasalai and the madapalli.

The painting of grill gates at the entrance and white washing  the entire stretch of wall from the main road to the temple Rajagopuram  was also done.

The usual cleaning of  the inner praharam using water jet was also done.  Besides, lady volunteers cleaned the Pooja Vessels and the Thiruvasi of various Sannadhis to give them a bright look.  By 6 pm we packed up for the day.

On Completion

Shri Madanagopal, Executive Officer of the Temple, was very appreciative of our efforts.  He interacted with all the volunteers  and  gave us quite a  few valuable tips and suggestions for our future uzhavarappani work.  He also duly invited  all of us for the Brahmotsavam function

Mayil Anna with the Temple Gurukkal,Trustees and a few of our volunteers

This time we had a very  popular personality, who visited us during our work, remained with us for about an hour and encouraged us throughout.  He is none other than Shri Mayilsamy, who is well known to the Tamils as a comedy actor.  But not many know that he is very pious and an ardent devotee of Lord Arunachaleswara.  We have seen him involving himself in Annadhanam activities at Thiruvannamalai on all Pournami days.  When we had gone to Thiruvannamalai for the Chitra Pournami festival(Refer our earlier post Chitra Pournami) we had befriended him.  At that time we invited him to visit us during one of our programmes to  have a first hand idea of our field work and  he readily dropped in despite his busy schedule.

We have been regulars at this temple for the last four years.  But this year we were very much pained to see the near-dry condition of the temple tank, which contained very  little water that too only in small puddles. No doubt, the scorching heat in Chennai is continuing for more than a month after the end of Agni Nakshatram and this temple tank, which has been serving as a recharge point for the  wells in the surrounding localities has taken its toll.  We only pray that Varuna Baghawan fills up this tank at least to a reasonable level within the next 10 days so that all the dry patches vanish, when the festivities begin.

A section of our volunteers

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Innambur Uzhavarappani

Temple Priest explaining the Salient Feature of the Temple

When we had planned the uzhavarappani, we were a bit apprehensive for quite a few reasons: ---.  The distance involved being too long most of our time may be spent in travelling.  Not many may turn up because of this.  The area that needed to be white washed / painted was in the region of more than 50000 sq. ft. and we were really worried if we could do it.   With all such doubts, we started our preparations in the month of May.  But, we were really surprised by the   overwhelming  response of our volunteers.  

More than 100 people had volunteered and we had to arrange two buses.  We left Chennai on the evening of 15th and reached Swamimalai around 11.30pm.  After resting for the night in a Kalyana Mandapam, we left by 7.00 am 16.06.2013 and proceeded to Innambur, which is at a distance of about 4 km.   The Kumbabishegam event, as mentioned in our previous post, now stands postponed to the month of August 2013.

Our major work here was only white washing of the inner and outer walls.  The temple contains two praharams.  The  inner praharam walls have a height of more than 18 feet and the outer compound walls are slightly less high.  Initially it appeared as a daunting task.  But all the participants including women and children vied with each other in  taking up the work.  For white washing the higher reaches of these walls, our guys tied a make-shift scaffolding and the brave at heart climbed them without any hesitation to paint the top portion.

 The walls of the Sugandha Kundalambal Amman Sannadhi in the second praharam, were of a lesser height and most of the painting here was done by the women volunteers.

Besides painting the walls, we also painted the grill gates, windows and collapsible gates with aluminium paint.  The sponge-brush method we learnt earlier at Thiruvaiyaru from Shri Venkatesh  came in handy to complete the same at a fast pace.  Besides the usual cleaning of Sannadhis were also done.

Apart from our volunteers, Shri Venkatesh had arranged a team of regular painters and a set of compressors. The inner and outer compound  walls were given a white wash by using these spray guns.

By the evening, we finished whatever work that we could complete and had a Darshan of  அருள்மிகு எழுத்தறிநாதர் before we left.  All the remaining incomplete work was finished by the team of Shri Venkatesh.

From Innambur, we proceeded to Thiruppurambiyam and had a darshan of  பிரளயம் காத்த விநாயகர்  and 

சாட்சிநாத ஸ்வாமி.  We came back to Swamimalai and had a darshan of Lord Subramanya.  

Leaving Swamimalai around 10.pm after finishing our dinner, we reached back Chennai in the early morning of 17th June 2013.

Our expenses for this Uzhavarappani has exceeded 2.00 lakhs.  As the temple was not having any funds and no grant came from the Govt, we had decided to bear all  the cost of material used.  But we have to admit that it exceeded our original estimates, especially in view of the massive size of the walls.  However, Lord Shiva has not let us down.  Many philanthropists have helped us through their  donations.  Our sincere thanks to all of them.  Their timely contributions have helped us to a great extent to tide over a major part of our crisis.

To see additional snaps of Innambur Uzhavarappani :     Click Here

இன்னம்பூர் செல்வோம், வாருங்கள்

Innambur Temple Rajagopuram

Present Condition- A portion of the Compound Wall

சுவாமிமலைக்கு அருகில் ஐந்து கிலோமீட்டர் தொலைவில் அமைந்துள்ள பாடல் பெற்ற தலம் இன்னம்பூர்.  அருள்மிகு எழுத்தறிநாதர் (வடமொழியில்  அட்சரபுரீஸ்வரர்), மற்றும் ஐராவதேஸ்வரர் என்று அழைக்கப்படும் மிகப்பெரிய சுயம்புலிங்க திருமேனி.

Highlights of the temple:  The temple is situated in a massive two acres of land, with two praharams.  The Shivalingam and the entrance to the sanctum are massive.  Goddess Nithyakalyani Amman representing the Kalyana Thirukkolam is to the right of Shiva.  Goddess Sugandha Kundalambal Amman is in the outer praharam.  The rays of the Sun fall directly on the Lord on the 13th , 14th & 15th of Tamil month Panguni(March-April).  Agasthiar.org web site mentions that this holy temple is one of the Aaditya Hridayam Shakthi Temples( http://www.agasthiar.org/a/ah.htm).  Devotees bring their children here on Vijayadasami day and pray for their increased mental faculties.

Legend:  

• The Sun God worshiped  Lord Shiva here.  Innan refers to  Sun.  The name  Innan Nambur got corrupted over the centuries and now called as Innambur.  

•  It is here that the God revealed the Tamil grammar to Sage Agasthiyar.  

•  The mythological white elephant Iravatham worshipped the God here and hence the entrance to the sanctum is a huge one to enable its easy entry.  

•  The Lord appeared in human form( as the temple administrator) and submitted the temple's accounts to the king. 

The Kumbabishegam for this temple has been fixed for 26 Jun 2013.(It is possible that due to paucity of funds, it may get delayed).  Our contribution for this Kumbabishegam will be painting and white- washing.  As the place is a bit far away from Chennai, we have decided to arrange buses for our up and down trip at a cost of Rs. 500/- per person.  So far around 90 people have volunteered.  We are leaving Chennai on 15.06.2013 at 03.30pm.  Night stay at Swamimalai has been arranged.  We plan to leave Innambur in the evening of 16.06.2013 after a day's work.

Philanthropists and devotees  who are interested in participating in this renovation may please contact our coordinator  Shri Ramachandran @ +91-9884080543

திருவண்ணாமலை-- சித்ரா பௌர்ணமி தரிசனம்

With The Divine Grace of  Arunachaleswara, ten of our volunteers who are working in Canara Bank had the opportunity of serving at Thiruvannamalai Temple in connection with the Chitra Pournami festival on 25.04.2013.

It was in the year 2006, a group of Canara Bank employees who had just a few months earlier started doing uzhavarappani in a small way, sat together to discuss ways and methods to strengthen their initiative.  They decide to open a common account and make monthly contributions from their salary to facilitate uzhavarappani activities.  The name of the account was deliberated upon at length and no satisfactory suggestion emerged.  At this point, one of our volunteers Shri Atma Ram suggested: " Today is Chitra Pournami Day.  Let us call ourselves as ANNAMALAIYAR ARAPPANI KUZHU ".  This suggestion was immediatly accepted by everyone present.  Thus Annamalaiyar Arappani Kuzhu came into existence 7 years ago.

Chitra Pournami attracts about 15 to 20 lakh devotees to Holy town of  Thiruvannamalai, next only to the Karthigai Maha Deepam festival in numbers.  The temple authorities had estimated a sale of atleast one lakh special darshan tickets on this day.  Canara Bank - Thiruvannamalai, which is the main banker for the temple accounts,  had gladly accepted the task of handling the sale of these tickets.  As our group has a sizeable presence in Canara Bank and widely known, we were entrusted with handling the sale of tickets.  

Assembling at Koyambedu bus stand, we left on the morning of 24th April itself to avoid the usual rush during the Pournami festivals.  Our group included two lady employees as well.  During our bus journey, Shri Ramachandran, our coordinator, recalled the above incident of 2006 that clinched the name of our group.

We reached Thiruvannamalai by noon.  The Chief Manager of our Thiruvannamalai branch had been kind enough to arrange for our stay and food within the temple complex, another rare opportunity in itself.  We were provided two rooms at the temple guest house and one of them we allotted to the ladies in our team.

After having a Darshan inside the temple, we started handling the ticket sales around 5.00pm, which continued till 10.00pm.   There was not much of a crowd on that day.

On April 25th, we all got up by 3.30 am itself and were ready by 4.30am to handle the counters.  Even at that early hour, there was a steady inflow of pilgrims.  As the day progressed, the number of devotees too increased.  Even to take a special darshan ticket, the pilgrims had to wait in the serpentine queue at least for two hours

We were handling the counters till 5.30pm in the evening, when we were relieved by the officials of Tiruvannamalai branch.  This gave us the opportunity to do a Girivalam on this holy day.  Some of us stayed in the temple premises that night and had a once in a  life-time opportunity of doing mantra japa during the  lunar eclipse at Thiruvannamalai.

A panoramic view of the Gopurams  and the Holy Hill from our place of stay

எதுவும் எங்கள் செயலல்ல. அனைத்தும் உன் திருவருளே !  அருளாளா !! அருணாச்சலா !!!