Beautiful Alankaram, a Delightful Voyali by Sripatham, Unprecedented crowd and a through the night street procession mark the Kal Garuda Sevai at Thiru Naraiyur Divya Desam
It is just past 4pm on Monday evening and a big day for the young 34 year Mechanical Engineer P Prabhakaran, who is the EO of the Thiru Mangai Azhvaar praised Nachiyar Koil Divya Desam in Thiru Naraiyur. Along with long standing priest Gopinathan Bhattar, Prabhakaran was instrumental in ensuring that the Thiruppani works were completed in a record period of just 9 months and the consecration took place at this historical temple after 18 years.
A big crowd has already gathered around the Dwajasthambam and Prabhakaran expects this to swell in the next hour or so. It is a highly challenging task for the EO to both manage the huge crowd and help them enjoy a good darshan of the popular Kal Garuda procession while at the same assist the Sripatham Thangis to have an smooth path from the moolavar Sannidhi through the steep steps of this first Mada Perumal Koil built by Ko Chenganan Chozhan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2014/12/ko-chenganan-and-nachiyar-koil-divya.html).
வம்பு அவிழும் செண்பகத்தின் வாசம் உண்டு
மணி வண்டு வகுளத்தின் மலர்மேல் வைகு
செம்பியன் கோச் செங்கணான் சேர்ந்த கோயில்
திருநறையூர் மணிமாடம் சேர்மின்களே
While Prasanna Bhattar is decorating Kal Garuda inside the Sannidhi, EO Prabhakaran is having conversations with the police personnel who too have gathered in good numbers to manage the crowd and finalising the plan for the procession from the Garuda Sannidhi to the Vahana Mandapa.
No VIP Tickets- a welcome initiative
From earlier years, he has initiated a big change in plan in terms of crowd presence during the procession. While there was ticketed service (including Rs. 500) that allowed devotees to come up to the Garuda Sannidhi, this EO who has been at this temple for just over a couple of years has done away with paid tickets foregoing the collection for HR & CE on this crowded evening. Instead, he devised a plan whereby only the Ubayadarars, Mutt Kainkarayaparas and high end VIPs were allowed in front of the Garuda Sannidhi. Prabhakaran is seen going up to every devotee inside the Sannidhi to enquire about their well being and comfort on this crowded evening. He is keen for the devotees to have a happy experience despite the seemingly unmanageable crowd inside the temple complex.
An hour ahead of the procession, a few hundred devotees were allowed to stand in front of the Rama Mandapa while the majority of the crowd were stationed in front of the Dwajasthambam to have a long view of Kal Garuda making his down the steps.
A Delightful fast paced voyali
Past 6pm, the District Judge makes his way to the Sannidhi and soon after the Sripatham Thangis dressed in bright yellow shirts make their way to carry Kal Garuda out of the Sannidhi. By 6.30pm, thousands of devotees have made it to the temple. Unlike in the past, the path from Garuda Sannidhi to the Dwajasthambam is clear thanks to the crowd management and the Sripatham personnel stride away majestically carrying the heavy Kal Garuda on their shoulder. And as they near the Dwajasthambam, they present several fast paced voyali much to the delight of the devotees before placing Kal Garuda inside the vahana mandapa.
There is a Nadaswaram Kutcheri and a Namasankeerthanam performance in a specially erected stage opposite the vahana mandapa and devotees spend the next two hours listening to these (wish the volume of the speakers was turned down a bit for it was too loud for one’s liking especially inside a temple complex!!!) while the Bhattars are busy decorating Srinivasa Perumal atop Kal Garuda. Thousands of devotees have also lined up (and this went up past the Raja Gopuram) to have darshan of Moolavar Perumal and Thayar and this goes on till well past 9pm. On this special evening, the temple has organised a sumptuous dinner for the Sripatham Thangis ahead of the long street procession.
It is almost ten pm when Vanjula Valli Thayar on an Anna Pakshi Vahana followed by Srinivasa Perumal atop Kal Garuda make their way out of the vahana mandapa. As is the trend these days, phones and go up for the first pictures and videos of this popular event. The huge crowd has stayed back for the start of this joint procession and it is 10.30pm when they make their way into the Sannidhi street.
End of the street, there is a chapparam waiting and Perumal and Thayar are mounted on to that and the rest of the procession takes place with the divine couple moving around the streets providing darshan on a wheeled chapparam. The procession around the streets of Thiru Naraiyur goes on through the night as the residents stay awake late into the night welcoming the deities to their homes and presenting them with coconuts and flowers.
A sleepless night for EO Prabhakaran
Like with Gopi and Prasanna Bhattar, it is a sleepless night for EO Prabhakaran too. It is an unprecedented decision and one not seen in any other Divya Desam. EOs in the past have not stayed back past the start of the procession. Prabhakaran told his family that he would not be returning home till the deities are safely back at their abode and thus spends the entire night at the temple. Srinivasa Perumal and Vanjula Valli Thayar are foremost in his mind and he credits their blessings for a most successful consecration that took end of 2023, the scale of which has not been seen at this Divya Desam.
Late into the night, he tells this writer about the satisfied feel after having ensured that every single devotee had a happy darshan on this evening. In and around Nachiyar Koil, he has anchored restoration of 25 temples where consecration have taken place in the last year or so.
He is keen to take up next the thiruppani works at the historical Siddanatha temple in Thiru Naraiyur, a temple that is in poor shape.
Engineer Prabhakaran also has a Masters degree in Social Work and in line with that degree, he has passionately involved in the planting of saplings for the last many years. At Nachiyar Koil, he has made it a point to plant one new sapling a day and the huge Nandavanam in the outer prakara wears a beautiful look. He has thus far planted over one lakh saplings in his life including in every temple location in the last seven years where he has been an EO. He sees this environment protection as an integral part of his life and he and his wife have made a separate financial allocation every month for this green exercise.
He also feels blessed that he has had a proactive priest as Gopi Bhattar to work with at Nachiyar Koil as he has been able to implement many of his ideas and initiatives through the experienced and enterprising Bhattar.
As the EO of this historical temple, he has seen as his duty to push for collection from temple lands and over the last couple of years, he has taken it upon himself to visit every lease holder to collect all the pending payment relating to the temple land. And his relentless endeavour on this front has helped boost the income at this temple.
For the moment, Prabhakaran is thankful to Srinivasa Perumal and Vanjula Valli Thayar for having presented him with the opportunity to participate in the huge Thiruppani works and the consecration in 2023 that has seen the crowd swell at this temple. He also feels blessed as an EO to be a tool in helping devotees have a happy darshan on the Kal Garuda Sevai darshan at this Thiru Mangai Azhvaar praised Divya Desam.
Young and energetic EOs like Prabhakaran at HR & CE administered temples offer positive hope to devotees for the future.
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