Celebrating Raja Raja Chozha
The Legendary Chozha King provided Ethir Sevai to Peruvudayar and Periya Nayaki on Saturday evening
When Babaji Rajah Bhonsle took over the mantle as the Trustee in the mid 1980s, the Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur was in a bad financial state. 1984 and 85 had been two tragic years for the Thanjavur Palace. Babaji Rajah Bhonsle was still in his teens when he first lost his father, and then the very next year his grandfather Rajaram Rajah Saheb, who had been the Prince for over five decades throwing the teenager into the deep end and with the onerous task of managing 88 temples under the Palace’s fold. Unfortunately, for the new Prince, this takeover came during a terrible phase for temples in TN, one when original inhabitants of agraharams in various temple towns had begun leaving their hereditary locations seeking greener pastures in cities. The situation at the 88 temples for which he was the hereditary trustee was grim. There were no devotees in sight, income into the temple was minimal, festivals and their grandeur had come to a halt and the priests lived a financially challenged life. The overall mood among the priests and service personnel was extremely negative with salary not having been paid for over a year.
Exactly 40 years after he took over, what one witnessed on Saturday (Nov 1) bore no resemblance to those bleak dark decades of the 70s and 80s and is a transformation of a monumental proportion. It was Aippasi Sathayam and the day to celebrate the greatness of Raja Raja Chozhan, the King who built the Brihadeeswarar temple. The entire temple complex was packed with several thousands of devotees a far cry from the early years of Babaji Rajah Bhonsle.
Roads leading to the temple had to be blocked on all sides such was the devotee crowd thronging the temple. Inside the temple, there were multiple events with cultural programmes to lectures on the greatness of the legendary Chozha King. The first half of the day was marked by an Abhishekam for Swami. At the Nataraja Mandapam, one set of priests had begun decorating Peruvudayar and Periya Nayaki atop the Silver Rishabha Vahanam while another set worked on the alankaram of birthday boy Raja Raja Chozhan and his wife and their son Rajendra Chozhan.
Political leverage of high profile events
As is the trend these days, politicians try their best to leverage such profile events. Just past 5pm, scores of two wheelers and cars raced past buses at abnormal speeds that left the general public shocked. Shouting slogans in praise of their leaders, young boys carrying flags brought public vehicles to a standstill. Even worse, teenagers stood outside of the car even as it sped at break neck speed towards the Big Temple. And when they reached the temple entrance, they did not make their way for darshan. Instead they went towards the statue of Raja Raja Chozhan, garlanded him and left the place.
The devotee crowd swarmed the temple as the clocked ticked past 6pm. A set of them stood in front of the big Nandi and invoked his blessings. Another group made their way to the long queue to the Moolasthanam for a darshan of Peruvudayar. In the South Prakara, the speakers were extolling the greatness of Raja Raja Chozha and his contribution to Thanjavur. As is the trend these days, the longest queue was for the distribution of food as devotees waited patiently to collect their plate. Unfortunately, on such big days, the beautiful greenery around the temple becomes a mess as people sit in large numbers on the grass undermining the huge effort that goes into creating and maintaining the temple.
A 20 Page Utsavam Invitation!!!
From the time when utsavams had stopped at the temple in the second half of the previous century, the colourful invitation for this two day festival ran into almost 20 pages with acknowledgments for politicians and the like. The procession was to start at 6pm as per the invitation but in such high profile events it is rare that the schedule is adhered to.
The nadaswaram troupe arrived ahead of the deeparathanai but the devotional music for the evening was taken over by the highly devotional udal members. It is past 7.30pm when the screen at the mandapam opens for the big deeparathanai. A huge crowd had gathered in for this moment but once again the focus turned to VIPs and judges with priests having to accord a special mariyathai to them with silk shawls!!!
It is past 8pm when Periya and Periya Nayaki make their way from the mandapam towards the wheeled vehicle that is ready for them. There is non stop clicking of photos and videos that has become the order of the day in such utsavams.
Shiva Adiyar presents Raja Raja's greatness
Raja Raja Chozha and his wife along with their son Rajendra lead the procession providing Ethir Sevai to the divine couple. Another Deeparathanai at the Eastern Gopuram and everything is set for the long procession around the four Raja Veethis of Thanjavur. At the start of the procession, an adiyar read out the historical greatness of Raja Raja Chozha and the reason for this celebration much to the delight of the devotees.
A big transformation in Saivite temples in the last few years has been dominating presence of Shiva Adiyars. They have now become an integral part of utsavams participating in good numbers during the street processions. The udal members have been a revelation. At the Jambukeswarar temple in Thiruvanaikaval, they present the udal during the pancha prakara utsavam, at the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore, they have been out beating the traditional nadaswaram troupe. On this big evening at the Big Temple in Thanjavur, the procession stayed alive thanks to the continuous and non stop presentation of these udal members. An interesting feature of the udal troupe in all these temples is the presence of young girls who are initiated early on into a devotional way of life. This is a very physically demanding activity but when devotion is high the physical pain is forgotten.
The procession around the four Raja Veethis of Thanjavur on this evening of Aippasi Sathayam is a day to remind ourselves of the great contribution of Raja Raja Chozha and how this Chozha region flourished thanks to his initiatives. Unfortunately, on this big celebratory occasion, people paid utter disregard to the great king as they waded through the procession on their two wheelers and cars. The police personnel accompanied the procession but remained mute spectators as the non stop flow of vehicles on both sides of the road disrupted the procession.
The street procession at the Big Temple is around the four Raja Veethis with shops and complexes having a large presence. Hence, there were not too many presentations of thattu and flowers as is the case in festival street processions.
Inside the cars, outstation travellers pointed to the procession of the Great Chozha. Across this historic city that saw its greatness rise to its peak during the Chozha period there are large sized posters of Raja Raja Chozhan reminding one of the contribution he made to his capital city.
Three hours after the start of the procession, Raja Raja Chozha made his way back into the temple. Even as Periya and Periya Nayaki followed him into the eastern entrance with the clock ticking to 11pm, Pattimandram Raja was delivering his verdict on the contribution of Raja Raja Chozha – was it to the people or to the temple!!!
He spoke about the Uyyakondan Canal, the construction of Saivite temple after his victory in Lanka, making huge contribution to the temples after every victory, how he wanted people to participate in the running of the kingdom laying down guidelines on who could contest in the elections and of course how he built this great temple that has left visitors in awe of the construction.
If the Thanjavur region has flourished over the centuries, a lot of the credit must go to Raja Raja Chozhan. And the procession on this Saturday evening was an occasion to celebrate his gigantic contribution to the Chozha kingdom. In his childhood, Babaji Rajah Bhonsle had grown up seeing the dark side of the Big Temple inhabited by bats. There had been no ghee available to even light the lamps in the Sannidhis. On this momentous evening, the entire temple town was lit with colourful light with the entire temple complex basking in brightness bringing a smile to the Prince of Thanjavur. Swami and Ambal were seen glittering jewellary. He is happy that in his four decades at the helm, he has been able to revive the fortunes of the temple so greatly built by Raja Raja Chozha. More importantly, he has been able to orchestrate a two day large scale event to remind devotees worldwide of the legendary contribution of Raja Raja Chozha.
And even as the clock ticked past 11pm late on Saturday evening, devotees continued to stroll into the temple for a final glimpse of Peruvudayar and Periya Nayaki sans the Rishabham. And to thank Raja Raja Chozha for making Thanjavur a global destination with this architectural wonder.
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