Kapali Temple Panniru Thirumurai Naalvar Festival

The 12 day Panniru Thirumurai Utsavam concluded with a Yaanai Vahana Procession and a Grand Alankaram of Naalvar

Sundarar

Among all the Saivite temples in TN, Kapaleeswarar in Mylapore holds a special place. Some of the festivals are unique to it. There are not many paadal petra sthalams that promote the greatness of the Thirumurai verses as was seen at the Kapaleeswarar Temple this month. Over the last dozen days the Panniru Thirumurai festival, a one of its kind celebration of the famous four Saivite Saint Poets, took place at this historical temple.

பித்தா  பிறைசூடி பெரு மானே  அருளாளா

எத்தால் மற வாதே நினைக்கின்றேன் மனத்துன்னை

வைத்தாய்  பெண்ணைத் தென்பால் 

வெண்ணை நல்லூர் அருட்டுறையுள் 

அத்தா உனக் காளாய் இனி

அல்லேன் எனல் ஆமே- Sundarar

The celebrations of these four great poets begins in Chitrai with Appar and goes on till Aadi Swathi when Navalur's Sundarar is celebrated. For 12 days following Aadi Swathi with the 13th day ending on a Sunday, the Panniru Thirumurai festival is celebrated at the Kapali temple in Mylapore.

Asthana Othuvar of the temple Sathgurunathan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/12/othuvar-sargunathan-kapali-temple.html) brought in Thirumurai scholars from across TN to present the sacred verses between 5pm and 7pm followed by a 90minutes talk on the special features of these sacred verses of the Saivite Saint Poets over this 12 day period.

The Panniru Thirumurai series which began on the Pradosham evening with a Nagaswaram presentation by Mohan Dass, ended on Saturday evening with a big devotee crowd listening to the greatness of Thiru Gnana Sambandar who praised the utsavams at the Kapali temple during his times. In his verses, he  highlights every festival at the Kapali temple that took place over a 1000 years ago.

On the first Sunday (Aug 14) of the utsavam, the Othuvar also roped in three City based children aged below 15years to present the sacred verses of Sundarar from the seventh Thirumurai as a prelude to the evening’s main events.

One of the artistes, Jahnavi was all of 12 years and a class VII student of Sri Sankara School. While she has been learning Carnatic music for many years, she has developed an interest in the Thevaram verses and has been learning Thirumurai for the last two years. She is keen to learn the entire Thirumurai in the coming years. She has already been learning the stories behind each of these sacred verses.

Othuvar Sathgurunathan commended the young artistes for their devotional presentation. “The three young artistes exhibited great confidence and devotion in the way they presented Sundarar’s 7th Thirumurai. To present these sacred verses non stop for 60minutes at their age is great effort” he said.

There was a big  devotee crowd each evening of these 12 days to listen to some great messages of the Naalvar on the way of life that is relevant even today. 

This Sunday (August 21) morning following the completion of the 12 days of the Panniru Thirumurai festival, the legendary Thirumurai book was taken around the four Mada Streets atop the elephant similar to how Vaishnavite Saint Poet Periyazhvaar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/08/periyazhvar-thirumozhi.html) was taken on the top  of an elephant around the streets of Madurai all those centuries ago. 

On Sunday evening, on the only occasion in the year, the four Saint Poets decorated beautifully with colourful vastrams and a crown atop each of them were all set for a grand procession around the Mada Streets but an unexpected heavy downpour that lashed Mylapore led to the cancellation.

கூற்றாயின வாறு விளக்ககிலீர்

கொடுமை பல செய்தன நான் அறியேன்

ஏற்றாயடிகே இரவும் பகலும்

பிரியாது வணங்குவன் எப்பொழுதும்

தொற்றாதென் வயிற்றின் அகம்படியே

குடரோடு துடக்கி முடக்கியிட

அற்றேன் அடியேன் அதி கைக்கெடில

வீரட்டானத்துறை அம்மானே– Appar's First Thevaram Song

Jayakanthan Shivachariar, Hereditary Priest of the temple told this writer that the alankaram was in line with the lifestyle of each of the four Saint Poets “Sundarar was King like and we decorated him in a Raja Alankaram. Thiru Gnana Sambandar was all songs from childhood and he was seen with the Thaalam.  Appar dedicated his life to selfless service and was seen with Uzhavaaram and a Nandi sculpted on it and a Soolam on his hands following the Deekshai. Maanicka Vaachakar is very special and seen with a book.”

Devotees simply could not take their eyes of Achalpuram's Thiru Gnana Sambandar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/06/thiru-gnana-sambandar-mukthi-utsavam.html) seen with a majestic pathakkam on his chest. With colourful garlands around him and a crown that was hidden with the flowers atop his head, his beauty took the devotees by surprise. Jayakanthan Shivachariar was bombarded with questions from multiple devotees if Thiru Gnana Sambandar was Ambal!!!

And then the devotees' attention shifted to the vastram of Manikkavaachakar and the beautiful decoration. The Lord was so pleased with his songs that he himself agreed to write for Manikkavaachakar, which later became the famous verses of Thiruvachakam. Belief is that one who is not moved by the verses of Thiruvachakam cannot be a true devotee of Lord Shiva such is the devotion with which he has rendered.

At a far corner of the temple was regular Kapali devotee Raja, a student of Vilvam Anna Vasudevan reciting Thirumurai verses for over an hour even as he glanced from a distance at the Naalvar enjoying their alankaram. There were other devotees who had gathered to recite the Thirmurai during the procession but with the cancellation, their Sunday dream remained unfulfilled. 

Othuvar Sathgurunathan was devotionally excited all through the 12 days of the Utsavam. He was moved by the talks of the renowned Thirumurai scholars each of whom had decades of experience and rolled out verses one after another as they recalled  with tears of joy the greatness of these messages. he said that S Manivasagan, an entrepreneur from Chennai who is running the Thevaram Patshala in Chidambaram (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/02/thevaram-patshala-chidambaram.html) organised the Sambhavanai for the Thirumurai Scholars who came from different parts of the state. 

The sudden downpour in Mylapore that lasted three hours led to the cancellation of the street procession but 100s of devotees stayed back till well past 9pm to watch the handsome alankaram of the Naalvar. With several outstation devotees too visiting the temple on this Sunday evening, Jayakanthan Shivachariar had a busy evening explaining the greatness of these Saint Poets spreading their messages far and wide.

Such a grand celebration of the Panniru Thirumurai Utsavam at the Kapali temple brought to the city residents the greatness of the sacred verses and its messages that is otherwise likely to be forgotten in this fast paced world.