TIRUNELVELI TEMPLE VISITS AND PUSHKARAM

TIRUNELVELI TEMPLE VISITS AND PUSHKARAM

I had the Pushkaram snanam in Tamirabarani river at CN village, Tirunelveli on 14th October 2018 thanks to my brother and his friends.  They had chosen this place where comparatively the crowd was less but also within the town limits.  Vehicles have to stop about 100 metres before the padithurai.  Sastrigal were available at this spot for doing the maha sankalpam and the Tharpanam.  Sringeri Mutt had arranged for conducting the pushkaram at this place and the organisers had arranged for a nice lunch and those who like can donate too for the lunch.   Tamirabarani pushkaram is celebrated from 12th to 23rd October 2018.

On Pushkaram:

Pushkaran is the son of Varuna Devan and he controls all water bodies and he sees to it that all the water bodies kept pure and blesses devotees who bathe in the rivers.  He was in contol of 31/2 crore theerthas in all the 14 worlds. He is residing in the Kamandala of Lord Brahma.  Guru Bhagavan (Viyazhan), who always bestows good things to everyone, wanted to possess the Kamandala of Brahma to get the credit of keeping all water bodies holy and pure and also bless everyone who bathe in these rivers duly condoning the Papa of the people.  He meditated on Lord Brahma and pleased with the penance of Guru, Brahma appeared before him and asked Lord Guru what he wanted.  Guru asked for the Kamandala of Lord Brahma, even as Brahma was getting ready to give the Kamandala, Pushkaran thought why Guru bhagavan who was bestowing all good should want the credit for this too and Brahma who could know that through his Gnanathristi, said there are certain conditions for giving the Kamandala.  The Kamandala would be with Guru whenever he moved from one rasi mandala to another, 12 days in the previous rasi and 12 days to the rasi to which he moved.  Thus for 24 days in a year, Guru would be in possession of the Kamandala, thus Pushkaran also would be with him and this period is the Pushkaram and considered as auspicious for bathing.   Guru Bhagavan takes one year to move from one rasi to another and in twelve years he would have crossed 12 rasis and would return back to the rasi  he occupied 12 years before.  Thus Pushkaram takes place every 12 years for a particular rasi.  Now, the rivers in India too belong to a rasi as per the Nakshatiram in which they were born and thus Pushkaram of a particular year is based on the Rasi and thus the river in that rasi in which Guru enters.  This year (2018) Tamirabarani river has the Pushkaram because the star in which this river belongs to is Visakam and that belongs to Viruchiga Rasi in which Guru has entered.  The Mahapushkaram is every 144 years after Guru completes 12 pushkaram cycles.  That was how in 2017, Pushkaram was celebrated for Cavery river, which belongs to Thula rasi.

Tirunelveli and temples
Tirunelveli got its name from the main deity, the Siva who is worshipped here known as Nellaippar.  (Separate posting has been done on Nellaiappar temple).  The ambal here is known as Kanthimathi.   This is one of the Pancha Sabhais of Lord Nataraja, with different dancing forms and this is known as Tamiram (copper) sabha.  Apart from this, there are the temples of Getwell Anjaneyar in the Hospital premises of Arvind Eye Hospital, The Uchchista Ganapathy temple in Manimoortheeswaram (This is also one the padithurais for Pushkaram), Thirupurintheeswaram in Palayamkottai.  With an hour or 11/2 hours journey, one can reach Tiruchendur and also Sankaran Koil on the other side towards Srivilliputhur and also Suchindram and Kanyakumari.   Nava Tirupathi Perumal darshan can be had on a single day here. 

Tirunelveli:

Tirunelveli is a major city, next to Madurai in the Southern Tamilandu and is on the banks of river Tamirabarani.   It is famous for the river Tamirabarani, the Nellaippar/Kanthimathi temple, Pathamadai mat, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University - in fact, Tirunelveli is famous for the various eduacational institutions of repute- Most christian institutions are located in Palayamkottai - The Jesuit St. Xavier's College, and St. John's College (operated by the Church of South India diocese), Sara Tucker college.   The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) operates a regional unit, the Equatorial Geophysical Research Laboratory, conducting research in geomagnetism and atmospheric and space sciences.   The city has a District Science Centre (a satellite unit of Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore) with permanent exhibitions, science shows, interactive self-guided tours, a mini-planetarium and sky observation.  it is one of the districts of Tamilnadu to have higher child labour and action on this regard is closely monitored by the government.

It is famous for the sweet Halwai, made out of wheat, sugar and ghee and a shop known as Iruttukadai (dark businesshouse) with a single bulb and business after 5 pm only and upto 8 pm sells Halwai which is very famous and sent packed all over south and it is opposite to the Nellaippar temple.

It came under the control of East India Company in the year 1790 and British in the year 1801.  British faced a lot of resistance from the area from: Puli thevar, Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Veeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar, V O Chidambaram Pillai, Subramnaia Bharathi, Vanchinathan etc., Subramaniaya Siva who was born in the erstwhile Dindugal district too fought from here associating with VOC.

Kutralam (63Kms) and Agasthiar falls (42 Kms) and Manimuthar Dam (48 Kms) can be reached from Tirunelveli.  

The new bus stand is in veinthankulam and opened in the year 2003.  22 kms east of the City is Thoothukkudi airport with regional connectivity.  Nearest international airport are Madurai at 150 kms and Tiruvananthapuram at 130 kms.  The Railways had opened their line to Sengottai in the year 1903 from here.  Connectivity is to all parts of India with direct trains operating from Kanyakumari/Nagerkoil passing through Tirunelveli.  

Links to various topics on Tirunelveli posted in sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.in will be listed here.

1. Sree Subramanyar (Senthilnathan). Tiruchendur https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2018/10/senthilnathan-tiruchendur.html
2. Sankaranarayanar, Sankaran Koil near Tirunelveli https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2018/10/sankaranarayanar-temple-sankarankoil.html
3. Uchchishta Ganapathy, Manimoortheeswaram, Tirunelveli https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2018/10/ucchishta-ganapathi-manimoortheeswaram.html
4. Kanthimathi sametha Nellaiappar, Tirunelveli https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2018/11/kanthimathi-sametha-nellaippar.html
5. Sree Sanjeevi Varadha Anjaneyar (Getwell Anjaneyar), Tirunelveli https://sarayutoayodhya.blogspot.com/2018/11/getwell-anjaneyar-tirunelveli.html

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