Parthasarathy Koil Narasimha Swamy Garuda Sevai

In a rare occurence, NamAzhvaar has Garuda Sevai darshan of Narasimha Swamy on the occasion of his Avathara Utsavam that coincided with the 3rd day of the Brahmotsavam

Devotional commitment of Sri Patham Thangis and Divya Prabhandham Ghosti was seen till well past midnight with two successive processions on the evening

A death in one of the sacred streets of Thiruvallikeni just ahead of the Simha Vahana procession on the 2^nd evening of the Narasimha Swamy Brahmotsavam took the service personnel  and the temple staff off guard. Historically, it has been the tradition in the agraharams of Divya Desam that any untoward incidents will be cleared off within the first Naazhigai – 2 ½ hours.

Agama expert and one of the leading Bhattars in Divya Desams in Tamil Nadu Vasan Bhattar of Therazhundur says that there has been historical documentation in the  Aamaruviappan Divya Desam (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/10/therazhundur-divya-desam.html) that has all its residents as signatories wherein the residents have undertaken to clear any obstructions to the Lord’s procession within a couple of hours so as to allow the Lord to pass.  

He says that even the period of an hour and a half is only for the ‘sacred’ activities to be performed after death and scriptures record it that anything after this sacred period, the ‘dead’ body becomes equivalent to that of a dog that lies dead and unattended on the street. Hence, it is the duty of the resident to complete all the sacred formalities within the first couple of hours of death and clear obstructions that will then pave the way for the Lord to go around the streets on the pre slated procession including during the Brahmotsavam. 

In fact for specific lagnam based events such as dwajarohanam and chariot procession, even such untoward events should not stop the pre fixed schedule and the Lord’s events should take place as planned says Vasan Bhattar.

Changing Times and its impact

This was largely followed till a few decades ago in almost all Divya Desams. However, times have changed and the new generation on the back of an anti brahminical wave from the 1960s and 70s (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/09/thenthiruperai-divya-desam.html) have made their way to the West seeking greener pastures in the corporate world. Given this completely changed scenario, even the once most traditional of residents are playing it tough now and making the Lord wait beyond the once acceptable time for clearing such obstructions reasoning that the descendants have to make their way for the event from other destinations.

In the past, the families stayed together in the agraharam, the service personnel to conduct the activities were also residing in the same area and hence it was possible to finish within the stipulated time. And hence rarely did a procession get delayed for such reasons.

However, things have changed dramatically. For example, at the Thiruvallikeni Divya Desam, the streets on which the Lord makes his procession is now full of shops, eat outs and towering apartments in many cases taller than the Vimanam of the temple. There are big cars parked on the Mada and Car streets that many times affect the easy movement of the Lord.  And in many cases these belong to the traditionalists living in these streets ( Last night just after 11pm, one of the former staffers at the  temple Madapalli, in a moment of anger, removed the air from couple of tyres of a car parked opposite the Rama Sannidhi in the  presence of the Police personnel).

Following the death, there were differing views amongst the service personnel and devotees. There were those who wanted to protest as a group demanding the quick removal of the body where as the devotees were a little apprehensive on the rights of the temple considering the sensitivities involved with this.

While much has changed in the decades gone by in terms of the lifestyle of the traditionalists at the temples in Tamil Nadu, it still remains within the powers of the temple to force a clearance of obstructions on the streets where the Lord makes his way on a procession for that is the unwritten  (in some cases even a written undertaking as seen in Therazhundur Divya Desam) code of conduct that the residents agreed to abide by once upon a time in the sacred streets of Divya Desam. Today they are talking a different language forgetting the historical reasons of having taken up residence in these streets and standing firm on such occasions.

Spotlight turns on the Azhvaar 

As it turned out, the Simha Vahanam procession had to be cancelled on the 2^nd evening of the Brahmotsavam as was the popular Garuda Sevai on the 3^rd morning as the resident did not agree to clear till the next morning. The devotees also discussed amongst themselves that this was a way for the greatest of the Azhvaars, NamAzhvaar to show his power,  for the 3^rd day of the Brahmotsavam also co-incided with the annual avathara nakshatram of the Azhvaar.

And thus the focus on most of the 3^rd day of the Brahmotsavam remained with NamAzhvaar with the devotee crowd gathering in large numbers to listen to the Prabhandham recital of the verses of the Azhvaar – Tiruviruttam, Tiruvasaryam and Periya Thiruvanthathi in addition to the 10^th Canto of Tiruvoimozhi.

A Rare Occurence - Azhvaar has Garuda Sevai darshan

Also, the delayed clearance on the previous evening led to another unique feature. For the first time, NamAzhvaar had a Garuda Sevai darshan on the occasion his Avathara Utsavam. As the Garuda Sevai procession at the Brahmotsavam features in the morning and the NamAzhvaar Avathara Utsavam procession takes place in the evening, it is rare for NamAzhvaar to have Garuda Sevai darshan of the Lord of Thiruvallikeni. 

                                          

With the morning Garuda Sevai postponed on the third day (Saturday June 15) of the Brahmotsavam to 4.30 pm and with the Satru Murai of NamAzhvaar having been completed just an hour earlier, it provided an opportunity for NamAzhvaar to have this rare Garuda Sevai darshan of Narasimha Swamy at the Parthasarathy Perumal Divya Desam last evening.

Word was sent around to the devotees from across the city who usually gather in front of the Narasimha Swamy Raja Gopuram from 430 am on the occasion of the third day of the Brahmotsavam about the postponement of the Garuda Sevai to evening. And thus a huge crowd gathered around 4pm with each of the devotees wanting to take a vantage position for a first glimpse of the Lord on the Garuda Vahanam.

Shortly after, Namazhvaar made his way around Narasimha Swamy and positioned himself in front of the Lord to listen to the Moonram Thiruvanthathi recital of the Divya Prabhandham Scholars of Thiruvallikeni

The other debate of the day was whether ‘Eysel’, a prominent event of Garuda Sevai would take place.  While the offerings to the Lord on the street procession was done away with, much to the delight of the devotees Eysel was presented as per the original schedule. It was around 7pm that the Lord returned to his abode through the Western Entrance of the Parthasarathy Koil.

Devotional Commitment of Sri Patham and Divya Prabhandham Ghosti

For the over 100+ Sri Patham Thangis, there was very little time to rest for they had to come back within the next couple of hours to carry the Lord on the Hamsa Vahanam procession that was slated for the 3^rd evening of the Brahmotsavam. It was commendable on the part of the traditional Sri Patham (one that has come to be almost non-existent in most of the Divya Desams in Tamil Nadu) to carry the Lord for over two hours again from 10pm having just undertaken a 2 ½ hour procession from 4.30 pm but they carried out the task with utmost devotion ( they were also back this morning at 6am for the Surya Prabhai procession after just a few hours of sleep on Saturday night).

And when the Lord on the Hamsa Vahanam came to rest at the Vahana Mandapam, it was well past midnight. 

The  Divya Prabhandham and Vedic scholars too had had a very long day having begun the day just around 10am with the postponed procession relating to the 2^nd evening that was followed by Thirumanjanam for Lord Narasimha and Namazhvaar. The extended recital of Namazhvaar’s verses on the occasion of his Avathara Utsavam took almost three hours on this last day of Vaikasi. And then they were back at it in the evening for the two long Vahana processions. It was also a long and tiring day for other service personnel such as the archakas, paricharakas, the madapalli personnel and the nadaswaram players to move from the procession in the morning to the hectic activities that followed during the course of the day.

The two differentiating features of this Divya Desam continues to be the traditional way the Lord is carried, with the extraordinary commitment of the Sri Patham Thangis  like the ones in Srirangam (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/12/sri-patham-thangis-srirangam.html) and the  Divya Prabhandham Ghosti who are seen in large numbers through the entire Brahmotsavam to present the 4000 verses over the 10 days of the festival (http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/07/thiruvallikeni-prabhandham-ghosti.html). 

It was also touching to see the leader of the Divya Prabhandham Ghosti, MA Venkatakrishnan, unmindful of the injury to his leg, standing for over three hours in the afternoon presenting the verses of NamAzhvaar on the occasion of his Avathara Thiru Nakshatram, such is the commitment of the Ghosti at Thiruvallikeni ( http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/05/ma-venkatakrishnan-thiruvallikeni-divya_16.html).

PHOTO COURTESY: SHRI THIRUMALAI VINJIMOOR VENKATESH