The
7th day utsavam or Ezham
thirunaal – 20 12 2012
We went in as
usual and were quite taken aback on seeing the Namperumal look so resplendent
in diamonds, looking on His people as if He was saying …Come unto Me surrender
yourself……Because He looked Graceful and at the same time very very majestic.
Today he wore a
pendant with Mahalakshmi engraved on it……the golden Lakshmi had two elephants
on either side then a few haramas in
gold and diamonds and then the royal pearls
this time the pearls were biggg and the diamond pendant small, His hastham was studded with diamonds and
from His wrist hung, a heart shaped
diamond charm ,the size of a plum.
His head gear
today was an Aandal kondai in pearls and from it hung three strings of pearls.
A mami standing next to me said “ethai pakrathu…ethai vidrathu….intha perumal
ippadi padutharare…?” Honestly speaking
I”m not sure I’ve noted everything
exactly….BUT truth is this is a sight that demands a thousand eyes to
take in everything….from his expression, to His majestic walk into his sleeping
chambers.
The Nadaswaram is
worth mentioning ,here. The Nadaswaram vidwans… 4 of them play brilliantly .No one
pays any attention to them but they play soulfully and clean notes fall out .We
get the feeling of a wedding in progress….. the same feel that one gets when
one enters a wedding hall with so much
pomp , fanfare and kolahalam.
Right through His
walk in and out of His corridors decorated with Pooppandal of about 5 feet wide
and varying lengths right through from Revathy/Arjuna Mandapam and outside
Santhanu mandapam. They are fresh everyday,
decorated with varying lengths of sarams of Mallipoo, Vrikshi, Roja and
Saamandhi
8 Aam thirunaal
This morning
Namperuimal looked very stylish in colours coordinated. If last night He
dazzled us all in his aquamarine blue vastharm, today he appears in a dark bottle green with a red border. To add charm
to his Majic, his jewels are all color coordinated. His head gear today is made
of pearls and rubies and is slightly bent to the left with pearl strings hanging .On His thirumeni
today are harams in rubies one after another but all of them with a green gem
in the center and all of them in different sizes of green from smallest to
biggest. And now the puli naga malai hangs on his back ….decorating his Back
along with another beautiful uncut diamond pendant. One cannot imagine a back
of the hip or the buttocks portion of anyone look so charmingly disposed.
It is notable
that amidst all the rubies And gems and pearls He never forgets to wear a small
bundle of flowers on his kondai…….flowers plucked with great devotion from his
garden , The great Sage Ramanuja has devised all utsavams in such a way that
every one is involved in His kolahalam. Rayars, sathathavrs, the
kaingaryaparas, sripadhamthangis, everyone hails from different strata of
society, it is admirable that even after 1000 years this koil follows Ramanujas
structures and formats and hence is still clocklike in its precision, time
bound, yet open to most people to get
near Him to do ubayams.
What I found very
heartening is that most of the ubayakars come dressed in their Sunday
best….denoting their respect to Him. I can see many ladies turned out in their
best, bejeweled and waiting His darshan with great enthusiasm.
Srirangam wears a clean look
The municipality of Srirangam is
sprucing up its township, cleaning
streets , removing waste fast, putting up temporary toilets on uthara veedhi
which no doubt will last only for a day considering the crowd that is expected
on 23rd,24th,and 25th.
As the schools, colleges are
closed and public holidays from Saturday 22nd till 25th
Dec, unprecedented crowds are expected
to attend this Periya thiruvizha. I am not sure how well equipped this
municipality is to face this. But under some very enthusiastic sponsors there
is a competition for kolam that have been announced and a stage is being put up
in Chithra veedhi for performances of music and dance. So Vaikuntha ekadesi is
being celebrated in a very grand manner
and there is a lot of feeding going on inside and outside the temple. As
part of the election promise by the CM , a roof and pavement is being done from
Amma mandapam to the koil. I guess this is to help pilgrims walk easily.
In the koil we get prasadams of
different kinds…a special being the Sambara dosai…which is very tasty but very
expensive at Rs 50/- for half a dosai and the vadai and selvarappam are very
popular. Only the locals buy all this to eat them as these are available only
for these 20 days of utsavam. The temple itself has changed as barriers are
being put up everywhere making it extra difficult for locals but it is all part
of the game and the Police have taken up the temple administration…as such and
they outnumber the devotees mostly….much to the chagrin of the locals.
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