Kapali Temple Pradosham Devotee Love for cats

A devotee spends an entire pradosham evening with the cats at Kapaleeswarar temple

Hopes this will prove an inspiration for others to be loving and caring  

It is Pradosham evening at Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple on the first Monday in Karthigai, a day on which the 108 Sanghabhisekam was performed at noon. There is a big crowd at the temple again in the evening, this time for the pradosham. Commerce Grad Suganthi Srinivasan arrived at the temple just after 4pm with her parents to witness Nandi Abhisekam followed by the procession. However, as soon as she saw the huge number of baby cats and asked her parents to continue with the darshan while she began an hour long caring and loving engagement with these tiny cats.

 

All these cats sat on her lap through the hour and refused to leave, playing with her even as the devotee queue stretched to the Go-Shala. One of the cats after having a playful time with her even took a short nap on her lap.

 

Suganthi told this writer that she has been a devotee of the Kapali temple right from her school days at MCTM “I have always been a lover of animals. My engagement with the Kapali cats has been a long one. Right from my childhood days, I would carry milk whenever I came to the Kapali temple and presented it to these cats.”

 

“Even at home, I feed the neighbourhood cats and dogs with biscuits and milk. Whenever we visit the beach, I carry biscuits to feed the stray dogs.” 

Though she has had a decade long engagement with the Kapali cats, their playful nature on the beautiful Monday evening with a chilly breeze running through surprised her. The five of them refused to leave her and each one took turns to play with her sometimes jumping up and down “On the Pradosham evening, while I missed the Nandi Abhisekam, I felt very good that I could give happiness to these cats and that they enjoyed my presence.”

 

Suganthi expects to land up a job soon with a global management consulting firm but that would not stop her from engaging with these lovable cats at the Sri Kapaleeswarar temple for she has committed herself to caring for them whenever she is at the temple.

Not all at the Kapali like the presence of the huge number of cats but Suganthi hopes that her love for the cats at this temple will inspire others to be loving and caring.