Vasantha
Utsavam revived after 50 years
The Entire Story of
Ramayana
One
of the highlights of the Ramaswamy temple is the exquisite depiction in a three
layer format of the entire Ramayana story on the walls of the prakara. Inside
the temple, there are several stone sculptures depicting historical events in a
very artistic form. Some of the sculptures include Trivikrama Avatara, Sugreeva
and Vibheshana Pattabhisheka, Sita Kalyana and Ahalya Saabha Vimochana.
Speciality
of Vasantha Kaalam
Vasantha Kaalam was
said to be a period that brought in a nice breeze in the evenings, flowers were
said to blossom and a time that was neither too hot nor brought rains. It is
believed that this stay amidst the breezy trees gave the divine couple a lot of
happiness. Legend has it that one used to perform Jothista Homam said to help
in attaining moksham, in Vasantha Kaalam. Hence the belief is that one will be liberated
from his curse if he drinks the sacred water of the Lord during the Vasantha
Utsavam. For this reason, it is said that those who visit and offer their
prayers to the divine couple during this festival will find a new sense of
happiness.
Earlier
this month, Soundara Raja Bhattar, who has been at the temple for over three
decades and whose father had performed service here for almost three decades, was
listening to an upanyasam from the Ramayana.
He
jumped up when he heard a reference to the divine couple Rama and Sita enjoying
themselves in Ekantham in the forest amidst the beautiful groves with a cool
breeze sweeping across them and fragrant flowers providing them with a sweet
scent. The words described in the Aranya Kaandam were ‘Vasantha Vihaaram.’ It
struck him that this temple had not seen the Vasantha Utsavam for several
decades even though it had been an integral part of the annual calendar till
1968 and that it could not be continued for paucity of funds in the late 60s
and 70s.
As
is the case with most of the temples these days, the Bhattar had to also find a
donar to fund the entire Utsavam for the HR & CE does not spend on organizing
festivals!!
Soundara
Raja Bhattar approached the auditor, whose inspiring Upanyasam had been the
reason for the revival thought to occur to him. While the devotee agreed to
take care of the entire expenses, an utsavam ‘fee’ had to be paid to the HR
& CE to organize the utsavam.
Revived on the Punarvasu day in
Aani
And
thus after almost five decades, a three day Vasantha Utsavam began on the
Punarvasu day this Aani (Sunday
June 25). Similar to that description in the Aranya Kaandam, the divine couple
came out on a procession, with the tall coconut groves seen on the three sides
of the outer prakara waving their branches as if in happiness of seeing the
divine couple and almost in a welcoming gesture of having once again agreed to
be present beneath the groves through the evening.
Very
few devotees had witnessed the previous Vasantha Utsavam at this temple way
back in the 1960s and they were delighted that they could have darshan of Rama
and Sita out in the open for over two hours. This is the only utsavam at the
Ramaswamy temple where the two are seen amidst the groves for this length of
time.
Kalyana
Kolam/ Rajathi Raja Kolam
On
day two on Monday evening, Rama and Sita came out in a beautiful Kalyana Kolam
while on the final evening ( June 27), it was the ‘Rajathi Raja’ Kolam with Rama
in a majestic posture holding a bow in his left hand and arrow in his right
while sporting a tall crown. The beautiful alankaram of the two presented by
Soundara Raja Bhattar left everyone delighted and 100s of devotees stayed back well
past 9.30 pm to enjoy this devotional experience that they had hitherto not seen
in their life time at this temple.
At
the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, in centuries gone by, people belonging
to the Daasi Community were honoured during the Vasanthotsavam with a garland
of the Lord. They were believed to have lit the lamp and performed a special
dance in front of the Lord at the Vasantha Mandapam.
Here
too, at the Ramaswamy temple, adding to the visual treat on the first evening
of the Vasanthotsavam was a special 90minute Bharatanatyam presentation by a 10
member group. On the 2nd evening was a flute recital by a young boy and
on the final evening, a 10 member Nadaswaram group presented a lively kutcheri.
However,
as has been the case in recent times, the HR & CE that administers the
temple did not contribute a single rupee to the three day utsavam.
Quite
a time we live in!! The bhattar revives, organizes and secures the funding for
the utsavam that had come to a halt after HR & CE came into force. While they should have actually contributed
to the revival, they had to be paid a ‘festival’ fee.
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