PeriyaThiruVizha- Nangam Thirunaal

Nangam thirunaal   (4^th day of Vaikunda Ekadasi utsavam)

As we had arrived only  the day before the 4^th day utsavam,we went into the temple all excited ,as our main purpose in shifting to Srirangam was to enjoy the festivities this month. The day’s activity starts at 6.30am but we went in late at around 10am.the Arayars (5 of them)were singing the pasurams.

The queue was allowed to go near Namperumal and then sit near the arayars in the Arjuna mandapam.

Namperumal was very majestic ,clad in a DOUBLE PETT VESHTI….ORANGE AND PURPLE, RETTAI KARAI.

He had 4 huge padakams, two in rubies, one in uncut diamonds and one in a multi color ,bur most attractive of all was the puli naga maalai…the tiger claws were almost 30 or more, built in gold and formed a malai. He had a slightly bent kondai with diamond studded chains running all over it. There was a delicately worked maanga padakam in his forehead. Thus Namperumal was magnetic in his physical form, as well as his supernatural form…..

The Arayars this time were loud and there was pin drop silence as everyone strained to hear all the pasurams…..this much has to be said about the ladies of Srirangam….they all knew the pasurams and could follow the arayars well, and they accounted for 75% of the crowd there.

The hall where namperumal sits in durbar is Arjuna mandapam. The alwars have all assembled here and the three alwars facing Namperumal are Periyalwar, Nammalwar,Thirumangai Alwar and Ramanujar. The rest of the alwars are positioned to the right and left side of Namperumaal.

The Arayars sing in unison the Nachiyar Thirumozhi, Perumaal Thirumozhi and ThiruchandaVriththam. When the Arayars start the ThiruchandaVriththam ,everyone sits up, with an “AHHHHH” and the rhyme and metre with which they recite it,  is set to the tune and has been sung in this tune and rhythm  for about 1000 years. Come to think of it,  I don’t seem to know of any other poem form that has existed for so long and sung with so much dedication, love and conformation to rituals.

We went back to the temple in the afternoon at around 2pm and the Arayars were there, all 5 of them…..enacting a drama  silently though. This time they did a mime sort of drama of the life of Krishna. It was very quietly done, more like a dumb charade. one of the younger Arayars was chosen to be Krishna, he enacted stealing of butter, killing chakatasura, driving his cattle home, all in mime. There was also the kalyanam of SriKrishna. The same set of ladies were seated  glued to their places and I could see they enjoyed every bit of the drama.

Back at home after a hot cuppa, we set out to attend a kalakshebam of thiruppavai…as we were about to leave our street, fast came a car and a relative lady, just told us to hop in …and we were literally taken in to Namperumal  forcefully…..loving every minute of it we just went along…..we went in where Namperumal comes out to go back in  to his Asthanam and we could see that there were ubayams every inch of his way back. So many devotees are here who wait to have dharshan of Him just for a second and here we were in and out of the temple all the time seeing , relishing Him everytime……and the same thought runs in my mind…… what did we do all these years without all this and what will we do hereafter…….but that’s a tall question and we are mere mortals bound by everyday worries and small details….this small episode is like the Amirtham that we have been granted…so we shall enjoy it every minute.