A 17th Century village where Prabhandham and Vedic Chants was a regular feature
A long 60house agraharam was built and donated by Pudukottai Samasthanam to Dwara Bashyas
Located
just under 30kms North East of Pudukottai is the Kothandarama temple in Thuvar,
a traditional village whose history dates back to the 17th Century
AD. The story goes that disciples of Kausika Muni (who was a disciple of
Koorathazhvaan) travelled across to the Pudukottai Samasthanam from Tirupathi
and adjoining areas to take up positions as vedic scholars under the Pudukottai
king.
These
disciples of Koorathazhwaan (who had helped Ramanuja in the compilation of Sri
Bashyam) were referred to as Dwara Bashyas. To this day, many of the scholars
belonging to this village suffix Bashyas to their names. This place where the
Dwara Bashyas stayed came to be referred to as Dwara Bashyakara Puram, which in
course of time became ‘Thuvar’.
The
story goes that the Thanjavur king bought out this village from the Pudukottai
Samasthanam. As an acknowledge of the great services rendered by these scholars
to promote the Vedas and divya prabhandham, this serene village was donated to
them and a long row of houses was built on either side of the street where they
could stay and chant the Vedas and Divya Prabhandham.
In
centuries gone by, the village had a beautiful long agraharam with 30
traditional houses on either side east of the temple. Vedic Chants and Divya
Prabhandham was a distinguishing feature of this village with many Sanskrit
scholars residing here. It is believed that Pongal Thaligai to Lord
Kothandarama along with the recital of Divya Prabhandham and the Vedic Chants
along the banks of the lake brought rain to the Thuvar Village.
These
ancient idols of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were found in a pit near the huge
lake South of the temple during a cleaning operation. These centuries’ old
idols were installed in a Mutt on the banks of the lake. Later, these idols
were moved to and installed at the temple that we currently find west of the
then existing agraharam. The acharya at Poundarikapuram Ashram in Srirangam
directed an Anjaneya idol from Trichy to be installed at the North Eastern
corner at the Thuvar temple and thus the Anjaneya idol became a later period
addition to the temple as were the Utsava Idols of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.
The
temple now has a single prakara with a guest house at the Eastern entrance for
visiting devotees to stay. Shri. Ranganathan has been taking care of the poojas at
the temple for the last four decades. He comes in early in the morning at
around 530am and is there till at least 9am. And he comes back again in the
evening for a couple of hours. It is this kind of dedicated service to the Lord
that has helped revive the temple.
As
one enters the village through the big arch off the Pudukottai- Mazhaiyur-
Pattukottai Highway, one can see the Rama temple from a distance. One is also
able to visualise the agraharam along the long street from east to west leading
to the temple.
Over
50years ago, this village which has had such a rich history was slowly
beginning to get cut off from the bigger towns of Pudukottai and Thanjavur. No
power supply, road transport services, educational institutions meant that
youngsters began to migrate from here to Mazhaiyur and Pudukottai and later to
other bigger cities in Tamil Nadu. The good news though is that the previous
residents of Thuvar who are now living in different parts of the world have
come together in an effort to bring back the village and the temple to life.
The temple now wears a fresh new look.
Over
time, the once beautiful agraharam has become non-existent as has become the
scene with many other traditional temple towns in Tamil Nadu.
It
is also believed that the Utsava idols of Rama temple in Gandharvakottai were
actually found here in Thuvar village.
Festivals
Rama
Navami Utsavam in Chitrai
Thirumanjanam
during Navarathri
Moolavar
Thirumanjanam on No Moon Day
Punar
Poosam Thirumanjanam
Pavitrotsavam
is being planned at the temple
Quick Facts
Moolavar:
Kothandarama flanked by Sita and Lakshmana in an east facing standing posture
Time
: 6am-10am
Contact : Thamarai Kannan Bhattar / Ranganathan @
97865 06471 / 96553 16576
How to reach
Thuvar
is just under 20kms from Gandharvakottai via Kollampatti and Karupatti patti.
From
Pudukottai, Thuvar is just under 30kms on the Mazhaiyur – Karambagudi route.
Buses every 30minutes from Pudukottai. Infrequent buses from Gandharvakottai.
Auto
from Gandharvakottai and back will cost Rs. 500.
7 comments:
Thanks Prabhu for the nice post on this temple. But for your blog, I wouldnt know of this temple and many such temples. How blessed you are to visit so many temples.
The blog posts have details of the temple and how to get there too. So it is very useful. I make sure I go through the sthalapuranam here before visiting a temple.
Thanks and regards
Madhav
Thank You for the kind words.
Prabhu
Thanks Mr. Prabhu for created the great history of Thuvar and the Temples, especially you have added our arch, it was developed by Those are working in Singapore from thuvar,also there are many Temples, Our Singapore thuvar associations are planning for the next projects plantation around the empty lands...
Thanks you
Best regards
Ganesan
+6582862256
Do you mean to see Bhashyam alone can claim ownership? Don't segregate people of land alien. This is not good for development of the temple
Thanks for posting this temple I am one of the archagar of this temple.
The temple in presently upgraded in many angles and each & every day some one is contributing for pooja etc., we had been yesterday and got blessed with sri Ramar and all
I stumbled upon this article while searching for the history of this temple. I am a 3rd generation person of this village and my great grandfather lived in of the 60 houses mentioned. My grandfather was born there and eventually moved to Chennai. My father and his uncle were instrumental in starting the work for what is today the grand temple. I am proud to have been associated to this temple and the village of Thuvar. I have been visiting this temple every year for almost 20 years now and cannot be grateful enough to the patrons who are keeping this village and the temple alive. Jai Sri Ram!
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