This is not the truth. It took me out of my country to realise the true divinity in which I was born and I was living. I thaught it's well to note down something to read through whenever I find myself alienated from my beloved country.
The tour started with Mailaduturai Express from Bangalore on evening of 31st October with the whole lot of enthusiasts including my and Alok's family. The train reached early in the morning in Kumbhakonam where I planned to get down, a time little inconvenient to me.
Before visiting the temples of Kumbhakonam town, we planned to visit the Navagraha temples which are scattered around Kumbhakonam in all directions and in different villages. We hired Tavera for transportation. I was amazed to see the connectivity of each of the places. Amazing roads!!!
The Navagraha Temples, each temple dedicated to one of the grahas, with the village locations are:
Surya Navagrahastalam [Tirumangalakkudi]
Chandra Navagrahastalam [Tingaloor]
Mangal Vaitheeswaran Kovil [Sevvai]
Budha Navagrahastalam [Tiruvenkaadu]
Guru Navagrahastalam [Aalangudi]
Sukra Navagrahastalam [Kanjanoor]
Shani Navagrahastalam [Tirunallaar]
Raahu Navagrahastalam [Tirunageswaram]
Ketu Navagrahastalam [Keezhperumpallam]
We started with Mangal Vaitheeswaran Kovil (Mangal Graha Temple) first.
Then we went to visit Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram, where the Ananda Tandavam of Shiva is said to symbolize the five divine acts (pancha krityas) of creation, sustenance, dissolution, concealment and bestowment of grace. This Dance of Bliss is said to have been witnessed by Vishnu, and there is a Govindaraja shrine in the Natarajar temple commemorating this. The dance of bliss of Shiva, is also said to have been enacted upon Shiva's (Bhikshatana) victory over the married ascetics of Daruka Vanam.
After having lunch we decided to visit Ketu, Budh and Shani Grahas. While going to visit Ketu and Budh Grahas temples, we came to a place known as Poompuhar, where river Kavery meets sea. This was an ancient port of the Cholas. This is a scenic place and can be attributed as a very clean sea beach. We enjoyed this place a lot, specially Tulika, Cuty and Princey. Cuty, then 2 years old was found seen in utmost fascination with Nature God here.
After visiting Ketu and Budh Temples we went to visit Shani Temple which is located in Pondichery and to visit that place we needed permit to enter that state. It was a great begining that day. We needed good rest to begin early the next day.
Next Morning was started with the visit of chandra Temple. Subsequently we visited Guru, Rahu, Surya and Shukra Temples. This completed the visit of Navagraha temples. The main Deity in 8 out of 9 Navagraha temples are Lord Shiva. The main deity in Surya temple is Lord Surya.
These temples belong to Chola dynasty dated back to 7th to 12th Century A.D. The peace surrounding these temples make the devotees search for their divine souls.
The evening of this day was dedicated to visit the temples of Kumbhakonam town. We visited
- Kumbheswarar Shiva Temple
- Ramaswami Temple
- SharangPaani Temple
- Nageswar Temple
- Kashi Viswanathar Temple.
Ït was a soul searching day for me and at many of the places I found myself lost. The people devoted in doing daily poojas at these magnificent temples enriched with dravidian architecture by following exact worhiping protocols made my soul thankful towards them to see the Lord the way he through be seen. I was thankful to the Almighty to provide me the opportunity and strength to see him above the materialistic vision.
Next day we have to be at Brihadeswara Temple in Thanjavur. When the next morning we found ourselves in front of Brihadeswara Temple I truely realised why so many times in my dreams I made resolute promises to visit the temple. I stood there magnified. Tranquiluty took control over my senses and I sat down. Thaughts started stirring for sometime realizing the imortance the place is offering to the Indian Heritage. The place is also meant for the people who don't believe in spiritual power. They may find lots of statistics to gather if at all they feel interested. The Temple has the world's largest Shiva Linga. The Linga is grooved 5 feet down the earth and erected 13 feet above the ground. The circumference of Linga is is 54 feets. At that time the temple was getting cleaned chemically, being a UNESCO world Heritage Site.
When I worshipped Lord Shiva in the temple, my soul forgotten the architectural magnificence and statistics the enormous temple presented. The divinity of the place helped me in getting rid of the ego that I was witnessing the biggest shiva linga temple. My soul rested in peace. I prayed Lord to bestow his blessings to the mankind. May God bless me with enough strenghts to contribute even a little towards the mankind form which I inherited so much in abundance.
Cuty enjoyed the company of elephants at the door of temple who gave the blessings to the devotees through their trunks.
Next to Brihadeswara Temple in Thanjavur, we went to see the Palace.
After Lunch we visited to the samaadhi of Saint Thyagaraja at Tiruvaiyaaru at the banks of river Kavery. It was a calm place. The breeze across the river and the cool water of Kavery compelled us to enjoy the mother nature again. Tulika, Cuty and Princey splashed in the water and we relaxed.
The day has come to and end. We retired to take rest for the next day at Hotel Temple Tower.
Next day was supposed to be the last day of our planned tour.
We took a Government Bus to ride to Tiruchirapalli. At around 10 A.M. we found ourselves at the feet of Lord Vishnu in Sri Rangam, a Temple City at the banks of river Kavery.
Sri Rangam is full of countless number of Lord Vishnu Temples. The main Temple has the Lord in relaxed posture. The Idol was given to Vibhishana by Lord Ram but he could not take it to Lanka and got established here.
After that we visited to Jambukeshwar Shiva Temple in Sri Rangam.
We took our lunch that day with Cab Driver. He felt like a family member. When heart becomes pure everybody seems to be the union of one family.
After Lunch we visited to Samaypur Mariyamman Shakti Temple (Durgaa, Devi Mandir).
We visited Rock Fort Temple then. It was built in 7th century. It is the most famous landmark of Trichy. This temple has inside cave rocks where Shiva statues are engraved. It has a lot many steps to ascend. From the top, the view of entire Trichy City and the River Kaveri looks beautiful. Anandmayi cooled herself with cold drinks at the top of the Rock fort and I enjoyed the scenic view of Sri Rangam across Kavery.
It was another great day. The whole tour was coming to an end when we reached Trichy Railway station. Seeing Cuty again enjoying the trains at Trichy Platform, she reminded me of something inherited from me.
