Maasi Magam Kollidam Uthamar Koil Anbil

Purushottamar and Sundararaja Perumal provide joint darshan at the Kollidam banks in Srirangam on Wednesday on the occasion of Maasi Magam                          

Anbil Sundararaja Perumal

It is just 36 hours after the Bandha Katchi procession marking the end of the Maasi Theppotsavam in Srirangam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/02/srirangam-maasi-theppam.html). And devotees are back on Wednesday morning for the Maasi Magam utsavam when twin Divya Desam Lords made it to Kollidam banks in Srirangam.

Unseasonable rains did not deter devotees gathering in good numbers on the Kollidam river banks of Wednesday to have joint darshan of Purushottamar, Uthamar Koil Divya Desam and Sundararaja Perumal, Anbil Divya Desam on the occasion of Maasi Magam.

                                  Purushottamar - Uthamar Koil

Heavy rains led to a postponement on Tuesday evening of the start of the procession of Sundararaja Perumal from Anbil, near Lalgudi and left only on Wednesday morning.

By 10am, both Purushottamar and Sundararaja Perumal had reached almost a dry Kollidam for Theerthavari utsavam. Devotees trickled in through the day to have a darshan of the Divya Desam Lords even as heavy rains flooded the streets of Srirangam.

But devotees began to throng the Kollidam banks in the evening and by 7pm, they were in hundreds for this once in a year joint darshan.

Vararadaraja Bhattar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/06/uthamar-koil-varadaraja-bhattar.html) is past 80 but is as devotionally excited as he was decades ago as he welcomes devotees to have darshan of Purushottamar. 

பேராணை குறுங்குடி எம்பெருமானை

 திருத்தங்காள் ஊரானை

கரம்பணுர் உத்தமனை

முத்திலங்கு காரார் திண்கடலேழும் 

மலையேழ் இவ்வுலகேழுண்டும் 

ஆராதென்றிருந்தானை கண்டது 

தென்னரங்கத்தே -திரு மங்கை ஆழ்வார் 

Anbil Sundararaja Perumal

A few yards away, Bhattars from Thiruvellarai and Koviladi Divya Desam have arrived to support Aravamudhan Bhattar of Anbil who himself is excited at the finalisation of the date of the consecration of the temple, whose restoration has been carried out by TVS' Venu Srinivasan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2024/04/venu-srinivasan-anbil-nambi-temple.html).

நாகத்தனைக் குடந்தை வெஃகா திருஎவ்வுள் 

நாகத்தனை அரங்கம் பேரன்பில் 

நாகத்தனைப் பாற்கடல் கிடக்கும் ஆதி நெடுமால் 

அணைப்பார் கருத்தன் ஆவான் - நான்காம் திருவந்தாதி 

It is past 7pm and the entire South Banks of Kollidam is beautifully lit with colourful lights. The decoration inside the Anbil section is top notch while the Bhattars at the Uthamar Koil section are happy at the devotees who have lined up to have darshan of Purushottamar.

Chakkarai Pongal, Dhadhyonam and Puliyodarai is presented to devotees at the Anbil section while at the nearby Purushottam part, sambar rice is handed out to devotees on the traditional leaf. 

Soon after, Pilot ‘Bharath’ Araiyar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/01/barathwajan-araiyar-srirangam-goair.html) arrives happily announcing that for the 20th year in a row, he has been able to organise special and extra Thaligai from the Srirangam Madapalli for the Divya Desam Lords on the occasion of Maasi Magam. "Unlike Ranganathaswamy temple, the anbil temple may not have access to large quantities of Thaligai on this special occasion and hence I deemed fit to request the Srirangam temple to organise for additional varieties of Thaligai to be brought alongwith Ranganathaswamy's mariyathai for Sundararaja Perumal to Kollidam on this Maasi Magam evening" Araiyar Bharath told this writer on the Kollidam river banks on Wednesday evening even as he buys a toy for his son Aparajithan.

As is the case on such festive occasions, small entrepreneurs are busy selling their wares that range from toys to quick eats. Young boys immediately try out the toys while the elderly are tasting the Makkaa Cholam that has by now become a big hit with the visitors to the utsavam. 

Past 9pm, devotees continued to throng in after the presentation of Thaligai even as trains pass by along the Kollidam bridge and the Anbil temple EO Venkatesan arrives for a darshan. The Srirangam temple Sripatham personnel, who are to carry Sundararaja Perumal to the wheeled vehicle are engaged in a conversation with Aravamudhan Bhattar on the exact time of departure on this late evening and are told that the return procession can start by 9.45pm.

                                                              Purushottamar

After almost 12 hours on this rainy day at the Kollidam banks, Purushottamar began his procession back to Uthamar Koil with the next big utsavam being the Oonjal and Serthi Sevai in the 2nd week of April while Sundararaja Perumal started out on his long procession back to Anbil via Lalgudi on the tyred vehicle even as a happy Aravamudhan Bhattar's thoughts lay centered around the upcoming Samprokshanam in the first week of May.