Kaisika Ekadasi & Thirfukkaarthigai

Back at Booloka Vikundam

Back after about a month ,the house was covered in dust but a good Samaritan maid helped clean up quickly and we settled down pretty quickly.

The very solicitous neighbours all visited us to enquire about Rangajis health and his hurt finger.

My husband had a small accident and had his right middle finger tip chopped off and hence had to have an amputation.

A cousin very helpfully called ,to tell us that the last day of thayar oonjal was on that day. So we were up and ready at 5pm, the hurt finger well bandaged and kept at a safe distance……

We tagged along with our neighbour  who took us right into the kolu mandapam from where we had a good dharshan of thayar purappadu for her oonjal.

Having seen that procession and Thayar resplendent in a PATTU PUDAVAI and huge haram with a bigger pendant, and the small kondai with flowers, we headed home to have dinner.

Dinner over, we again went into the thayar sannidhi and had very good dharshan of thayar in the oonjal and returned home feeling very much at peace.

A very funny thought occurred to me , as I play the solitaire card game quite a lot it struck me that we both were like the cards….in the game ,  once a card is put in its home place, it sticks with a nice music, a sort of final music, like…. da dain…..so it seemed to me that we both were now back at our home base and stuck with a nice and loud bang!

It was the 23^rd ,the last day of oonjal for thayar.

The 24 th was Kaisika ekadesi, a day of reckoning so to say for all human beings. the kaisika pann, or raga was sung by a devotee named Nampaduvan at the Thirukurungudi kshetram every ekadesi day.

One day he was confronted by a Brahma rakshasa who wanted to devour him, but Nampaduvan resisted saying he would offer himself up after offering his music to God. He did it and was saved from the Brahma rakshas and God offered him Moksham.

So every year the  day of karthigai ekadesi is celebrated as kaisika ekadesi in honour of Nampaduvan.

This tradition is enacted as a drama in Thirukurungudi.  In Srirangam there is a more sober kind of celebration. Most devotees fast the entire day and spend the day in the temple.

Namperumal leaves in a procession in the morning (purappadu) and settles down in the Arjuna mandapam for thirumanjanam. At 9pm Namperumal gets ready to receive 365 shawls (one for every day) , these shawls are put around his thirumeni   as a mark of atonement for any mistakes committed during the year during puja times. This porvai ceremony lasts for 3 hours and then the Kiasika puranam is sung by the Arayar with a thopi .This goes on until 2pm and the curtains are drawn .

At about 5am Namperumal leaves the Arjuna mandapam for his Asthanam. This time his padiyetham is different . As he enters his Asthanam .’PACHAI KALPOORAM” is sprinkled over him.the entire place smells of pachai kalpooram ,the crowd goes mad shouting Ranga Ranga…..We got to stand in a place very near the padi and so got to see Rangan very close. It was indeed a very good morning for a Dwadesi day, and at home we had an early lunch and slept fitfully.

Today is the 28^th,karthigai the festival of lamps, also the thirunakshatram of Thirumangai alwar.

It will be appropriate to mention  that the Dasavatharam sannidhi here in Srirangam was built by him. We learnt quite a few interesting facts about this sannidhi.

The thirumangai mannan Alwar stayed here in this Dasavathara sannidhi and built a Madhil suvar for Rangan and Rangan to show his pleasure offered him any wish. Thirumangai Alwar asked to be shown all the ten avatars at once and hence here we see huge figures of all 10 avatars, the whale as a whale, the tortoise as a tortoise, and the kalki on a horse, some other interesting features are…… this vimanam is rectangular in shape and has 10 kalasams denoting 10 avatars, there are 10 Moolavars and only 1 utsavar here, the utsavar here is Lakshmi narayanan .It is also believed that there is a suranga padhai going from here to Ranganathar sannidhi, the archaka there says that they tried to go through it but beyond 100 yards were not able to push through and it is said that the bhattar in Rangans sannidhi too tried but in vain. The alwar today looked very handsome with a knife in one hand and vel in the other.

 The Ahobila Madam in Srirangam officiates from --- the Dasavatharam Sannidhi. Since the Alwar built this Sannidhi, the Madam here celebrates his birthstar in a grand way. Early morning the Alwar is taken in a procession around Chithrai veedhi, after this there is Sathumurai offered to him. The vaishnava adiyavargal assembled there sing the verses composed by this Alwar, namely—siriya thirumadal, periya thirumadal, thirunedunthandagam.

This Alwar has composed many verses on Sowriraja perumal,he said “Madal sowrikku, madhil unakku” but Rangan was not satisfied with a mere wall, he wanted this Alwar to sing his praises, but the best of kaliyan  are on Kannapurathu amman.

For the Goshti A good puyliyodharai and kalkandu pongal were served.

After this it was rest time until evening when we headed out to our class with Srivilliputhur Kannan Swamigal, who was kind enough to teach us Amalanadipiran pasuram with sandhai and explanations.

Walking around Chithrai veedhi we could see Thirukarthigai being celebrated with gusto! Despite the power cut the small temple town looked festive with lamps and crackers. We could not but appreciate the spirit of these people.

Into the temple at 8pm found us waiting in a long queue outside the temple just to get in. There was excitement in the air with  everyone talking about the chokkapanai or the sudalai.

In the courtyard between the Chakkarathalwar and Ramanujar Sannidhis a huge tower has been erected, made with dry tree trunks and dry coconut branches. The courtyard is chockfull of people sitting ,standing around, waiting for Namperumal to come out and light the tower.

The Perumal comes out all decked in his usual ornaments      and also as an extra protection against the heat he is covered or rather surrounded by green leaves and flowers which keep off the heat. He is brought out in a procession and goes around the tower thrice and chooses to stand near the Chakkarathalwar sannidhi, outside of it. A long stick is lit near Him symbolically signifying His role in the display and then with the crowd going mad with excitement the tower is lit and immediately a curtain is held covering the Namperumal…….How dear He is to these people here in Srirangam ? They protect Him ,look after Him so well with so much attention to small details. The tower burns with an energy sending out sparks of fire alla round. As the people scatter away and Rangan moves very quickly towards Thayar Sannidhi for a Thiruvandhi Kappu. As we move on we find everyone talking about this thiruvandhikappu and find that it is a sort of Drishti Kazhithal. Not waiting to see that we quickly wind our way into the Aryabattal vassal  into the koil. After a bit of confusion as to where to stand we find ourselves inside the Rs50 queue which offers a wonderful view of the Sandhana mandapam where the perumal is going to be carried by the Archakas hand. (Kaithala Sevai)

A small but very amusing background story says that Thirumangai mannan sent the pallakku to Alwarthirunagari to bring the Nammalwar to Srirangam for the Vaikunta ekadesi utsavam. Hence all the Sripadam thangis  were gone and Rangan was left without a pallakku or men to carry it. The Archaka carry Him by hand and this has been called Kaithala Sevai.

From where we stood inside the Rs50 queue we could see the sandhana mandapam full of people. Namperumal comes up the stairs into his ASTHANAM and is installed inside in a small tent sort of covering in the mandapam.

The Arayars (two of them) come in with their thoppis and shawl around their head in a turban fashion and offer their music to the Lord , there is a hush and silence as everyone strains to hear the soft voices of the Arayars.

The song done, the Arayars leave with mariyadai and are escorted out. Now the crowd awaits the kaithala sevai. the curtains are drawn and after a few minutes raises to  reveal Rangan in the hands of the Archakas. There is general moaning and the sound of Ranga…ranga and SriRanga Vibho resounding and dramatically the Lord is turned 365 degrees to show Himself to everyone. Everyone assembled there get a full view of the Lord ,the Archakas literally carry Him above their shoulder level and as they move forward to the Garbagriha the Lord  turns in every direction as if to bade Good night to everyone and then all of a sudden the Archakar lays Him down and He is gone in a rush to his abode.
The main Archaka in a loud voice rather harshly commands the arayar to repeat the request   that of ....a.greeing to be carried by hand inside.Here the Archaka symbolises the Lord but we come away with wondering if the ever smiling ,aggreeable,sowlabyan Rangn would ever shout like this....but the Archakas are a tired lot  hhhmmmm.,