Sani Pradosham overshadows the Rishabha Vahana procession on the final evening of the Chitrai Festival as devotees throng the Brahadeeswarar temple in thousands for the Nandi Abhisekam
40 years ago, when the current Prince Babaji Rajah Bhonsle took over the reigns of the Big Temple in Thanjavur, almost all the utsavams had come to a halt. There was not enough money to take care of the temple expenses and the income from the close to 100 temples under the Prince’s administration had dwindled in the decades gone by. The Periya Koil lay deserted most of the time and the priests were always awaiting the next set of devotees but the wait was to no avail. Pradosham was not an event that had been marketed as has now been over the last decade or so. Even subsequently, the Pradosham abhisekam was performed only for the small nandi and there was not enough milk for the abhisekam!!
On Saturday (May 10) evening, one got a glimpse of the transformational turnaround at the Brahadeeswarar temple. It was Sani Pradosham and against the backdrop of the setting sun and the beautiful lights that lit up the towaring structure, devotees thronged in thousands taking early vantage positions to have darshan of the abhisekam for the Big Nandi.
The trend has been such that Pradosham in general and Sani Pradosham specifically has over shadowed everything else. And this Saturday evening was a prime example of that. It was the final day of the long Chitrai Festival that had begun three weeks ago with Peruvudayar and Periyanayaki set to provide darshan on the Rishabham Vahana. Even as the Nandi Abhisekam was being performed, a set of priests were working on decorating the Pancha Moorthies.
Post 6pm, following the Abhisekam, devotees continued to perform pradakshinam around the Nandi and visit the Swami and Ambal Sannidhi completely unaware of the Rishabha Vahana procession that was to begin shortly. There was a sizeable crowd listening to the Thirumurai presentation of the Othuvar while the flag was brought down shortly after 630pm in the presence of Pillayar marking the end of the Chitrai Festival.
The Big Temple wore a festive look on Saturday evening but not because of the Chitrai Festival but the Sani Pradosham. As the clock ticked past 7pm, 30 year old G Sukumar, who has been blowing the trumpet at the festival procession for over two decades, blew the Ekkalam once again as the Priest presented the big Deeparathanai ahead of the procession.
Sukumar - Ekkalam Kainkaryam
Sukumar told this writer that he has been playing the Ekkalam at the Artha Jaama Pooja and at all the street processions since the time he was a young school boy. He says that in the centuries gone by there had been loads of kainkaryaparas playing different kind of musical instruments at the processions but with the service personnel dwindling in numbers, the instruments too had come down. But he along with a few other college going boys continue to do their bit every evening during the Artha Jaama Pooja and during such important street processions.
Divine Couple around the Prakara on the Rishabham
Shortly after 7.30pm, Swami and Ambal made their way around the prakara on the Rishabham led by young boys playing the Udal. While the divine couple made their way to the entrance, visiting devotees captured photos and videos of the Rishabha Vahana procession but most of them continued with their walk to the Big Nandi.
The traffic jam that had begun early in the evening had not subsided and with Pancha Moorthy purapadu entering the Periya Koil street, it was difficult for the deities to wade through the Saturday evening traffic. It was past 8pm when Swami and Ambal made their way on to the West Street behind the Thanjavur Palace. Once in a while, a couple of devotees picked up the sacred ash from the priest but for a large part the procession on tyred wheels moved fast.
Around the traffic filled streets!!!
At this temple, as with many remote temples in the state, the Sripatham carry the deities on the shoulder and mount it on to the Wheeled Chapparam and the procession on the four streets around the Palace takes place on these Tyred Wheels.
Maathu Sri Kaamatchi Bai Saheb's Rishabham
It is interesting that the final Pancha Moorthy procession of the Chitrai Festival at the Brahadeeswarar temple has Swami and Ambal atop the Velli Rishabham. Prince Babaji Bhonsle told this writer that his great great grand mother had built the Velli Rishabham a couple of centuries ago and in her memory the final procession of this 18 day Chitrai Festival takes place with Swami and Ambal atop the Rishabham (Earlier on Monday, the divine couple had provided darshan on Rishabham in the Olai Chapparam procession around the Palace streets).
This Saturday evening provided yet another indication of where the devotion is headed with Pradosham taking centre stage. All through the evening, road side vendors made brisk business, there was no space to park vehicles anywhere around the temple complex with the huge parking space completely filled up.
As part of the new devotional wave, the belief has been completely ingrained in the devotee that a darshan of the Nandi Abhisekam on the Sani Pradosham will solve one’s problems and this has led them to throng temples on Pradosham evenings. After the 2020 Kumbabhisekam, devotee crowd has grown manifold and during the summer vacation as one witnessed this Saturday evening, the temple is drawing crowds that would have been beyond the Prince's wildest dreams in the 1980s (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/02/thanjavur-big-temple-kumbhabhishekam.html).
For Prince Babaji Rajah Bhonsle (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/thanjavur-palace-babaji-rajah-bhonsle.html), this positive turnaround through a Pradosham event is something he would not have visualised four decades ago when he took over but it is an event that is helping strengthen the finances of the temple and providing a positive vibration that had been missing in the second half of the previous century. From a phase of no devotees and no income, Sani Pradosham is drawing huge crowd to the Big Temple bringing cheer to the Prince for all his hard work through the late 1980s and the 90s is now paying off for him.
Tail Piece: Ramanathan Gurukal, who passed away in January 2022 after serving as an archaka for four decades during the Big Temple's most challenging phase, would be delighted and showering his blessings from high above at such a turnaround in fortunes driven by Sani Pradosham!!! (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/01/thanjavur-big-temple-ramanathan.html)
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