Tamil Nadu Yatra - Part 2

Day 3

Vaitheeshwaran Koil

On the morning of Day 3, we left early for Vaitheeshwaran temple where our co-yatris had booked for abhishekam of all the deities (Lord Shiva, Ambal and Lord Karthikeyan). At that hour there were not many devotees in the temple. We had a lovely darshan of the abhishekam sitting in front of each of the sanctums. We also had darshan of Lord Ganesh and Lord Angarika (Mars - This is one of the Navagraha temples in and around Kumbakonam). Here, Lord Shiva is known as Vaitheeshwaran (which means Lord of Medicines or Doctor). It is believed that people who come here and pray are cured of all illness of the body as well as the mind. Our co-yatri had some rituals to perform like lighting a lamp (made with rice batter) with clarified butter and offering flowers etc. After this, we mixed jaggery, salt and pepper in the temple pond which is the tradition of this temple.

Lighting the ghee lamp

The priest gave us huge amount of prasadam – six small buckets containing medu vadas, lemon rice, tamarind rice, curd rice, salted rice (ven Pongal) and sweet rice (Chakra Pongal). We took all the prasadam to our hotel, packed our bags and then checked out and proceeded towards Chidambaram. Before leaving the hotel, as we had not had any breakfast, we were so hungry that we ate all the vadas from one bucket (approximately 40 vadas between the five of us !!).

Preparation of the lamp

It took us more than an hour to reach Chidambaram although the distance is only about 30 kms. We went straight to the temple where we were met by a known Deekshithar (these are the priests who manage the temple in all aspects). He helped us get a proper darshanam of the Lord and Ambal in the two temples. He also asked us to wait for the afternoon puja after which we would be able to get the darshan of the Chidambaram Rahasyam (CR). Of the pancha butha lingams (Lingams associated with various elements like Water, Earth, Fire, Air and Space), Chidambaram is associated with Akasha or space. There is no Lingam here and all worship is done to the Nataraja idol. The CR is essentially an empty space in the sanctum which is always covered by a curtain and opened only during specific times. In that empty space, one can see a few stings with golden bilwam. The empty space signifies that the Lingam is all encompassing and that the entire Universe is Shiva Himself. We saw the afternoon Abhishekam followed by the aarti accompanied by the sounds of the two large bells of the temple.

Temple Pond VK

We wanted to wait in the temple complex and eat the prasadam collected from VK but we were told that the temple does not allow any devotees to stay in the premises after the noon puja. So, we left the temple and proceeded towards Seergazhi temple. En route, we stopped in the side of the road where we had a good shade of a large tree. There, we ate the prasadam received from VK temple – tamarind rice, lemon rice et all. As we couldn’t finish the prasadam, we gave it away to some labourers on the road who were happy to receive the prasadam.

We reached Seergazhi temple by 3.45 p.m. and as the temple was closed, we waited outside the gate and had lovely fresh coconut water from a vendor outside the temple. At around 4.30 p.m., the temple gates opened, and we went in along with a few other local devotees. The priest took some more time to come and prepare the sanctum for the darshan. This is a huge Shiva temple whose outer walls were very high – approx. 40 feet high. Like all ancient temples of TN, this too has a large area for circumambulation and worship. We had a blissful darshan without any jostling / pushing as there were very few people around at that time. 

Seergazhi Temple outer wall

There are three Shiva temples in three stories here but we couldn’t go to the higher stories as they were closed at that time. There is a huge, beautiful temple pond in the complex. This temple is associated with Saint Gyana Sambandar who was fed milk by Parvati Devi on the banks of the temple tank. After this, this child became a great & eloquent poet who composed innumerable songs about Lord Shiva including the famous Thevaram. Without spending much time here, we proceeded further as we had a long distance to cover after this.

From here, we proceeded towards the famous Thirukadaiyur Shiva temple. It is also known as the Amritaghateshwar – Abirami temple. Although this is a Shiva temple, it also has a Vishnu temple within where one can have darshan of Amrita Narayana and Amrita Valli (Lakshmi). This is one of the holy places of Saivism and legends of Sage Markandeya and Abirami Pattar are associated with this temple. Many people celebrate their Sashtiabdapoorthi (completion of sixty years of age) here.

Temple tank Seergazhi temple

We quickly finished our darshan and proceeded towards the next Navagraha temple in our list - Thiruvengadu Budhan Navagraha temple. This is where the Lord Mercury is worshipped by people by offering white / green coloured clothes. This Lord gives wisdom and helps sharpen the intellect. Like all Navagraha temples in TN, the main Diety is Lord Shiva only. And the planetary Lord will have a smaller sanctum within the complex. Here Lord Shiva is worshipped as Swetharanyeshwar and His consort Parvati is known as Brahmavidyambigai.

Thirukadaiyur Temple

We had a good darshan of the deities and I took the opportunity to do my evening prayers here. After this, we proceeded towards Keezha Perumpallam Ketu Navagraha temple. People affected by Ketu dosham or going through Ketu dasa come here and offer prayers to the Lord to reduce the affliction. Here too Lord Shiva is the main diety and the sanctum of Lord Ketu is within the complex. It was dark when we arrived here. We had a quick darshan of the deities and offered our prayers and prayed for all friends and family to be treated kindly by Ketu. After this, we proceeded towards Kumbakonam.

On the way, we stopped at a good restaurant in Mayiladuthurai called Annamithra. It was on the main road and the food quality was excellent. We reached Kumbakonam around 10 p.m., tired and exhausted. We checked into the Rayas Grand hotel and crashed into the bed for the much-deserved sleep. Thus ended Day 3 of our TN Yatra.

Thirukadaiyur Temple

Thirukadaiyur Temple