The 50 year old Bhattar anchors a grand revival of utsavams at this historic Chozha Period Temple
Devotees throng to have darshan of 'Athi Varadar'
Till the turn of the century, the now 50 year old Varadaraja Bhattar was spending time at Tiruvottiyur in North Madras alternating between archaka service in a local temple there and pursuing his astrological interests. And then a phone call from his ancestral temple town transformed his life.
Dilapidated state two decades ago
The historical 12th century AD Chozha Period Vaanamutti Perumal temple in Kozhi Kuthi, 5kms west of Mayiladuthurai had been in a dilapidated state in the second half of the previous century. Except for the tall standing Moolavar idol, most of the temple lay in a damaged condition. There was not much of an income at the temple for the salary to be paid to the then priest who had been taking care of the temple. All the utsavams had come to a halt. Only one time pooja was being performed every day.
Chozha Period Inscriptions
There are three separate inscriptions inside the temple. One of the inscriptions refers to the process of liberation from Sani Dosham detailing the presentation of Anna Dhanam to 10Brahmins on 51 Saturdays. The process details having a head bath, presenting Nallennai in a bronze vessel with four vegetables and one green (Keerai) vegetable.
Relief from Skin Diseases
This temple is a Parikara Sthalam for liberation from Skin Diseases. Belief is that if one visits the temple, has bath at the Vishwa Pushkarani and offers his sincere prayers to Vaanamutti perumal, he will be relieved from any kind of skin disease.
The priest of the time decided to let go of his services and quit the temple. It was then that the services of Varadaraja Bhattar was sought. His forefathers had performed archaka service in the past and his appa was keen for him to return to the temple.
It is Thai Amavasai and Varadaraja Bhattar is at the temple early on Sunday (Jan 18) morning to decorate Abaya Srinivasa Perumal, the utsava deity, atop the Hanumantha Vahana ahead of the street procession on this third day of the Thai Brahmotsavam. After anointing Perumal in the Ramar Thiru Kolam, he sat down to recall that phase when he took the call to return to Kozhukuthi “I had not visualised a life of temple service in this remote town but Vaanamutti Perumal decided otherwise. My appa was keen for me to continue the Vaikanasa Agama Kainkaryam and that led me to return to Kozhi kuthi.”
Restoration Exercise
The temple was being rebuilt from scratch and his first challenge was to rope in devotee donors to complete the construction of the temple. Except for the sanctum, there was work to be done everywhere. A Raja Gopuram was built at the Eastern entrance as was the flag post. A maha mandapam, madapalli and the outer walls too were newly constructed. The restoration exercise had taken a few years and the consecration was performed in 2007.
Having got the basic physical infrastructure of the temple in place, he went about reviving the utsavams. Three day Pavitrotsavam in Avani, five day Brahmotsavam in Thai, Inner Prakara procession on the occasion of Vijayadasami and Vaikunta Ekadasi and Thirumanjanam every Shravanam of the year were all revived.
Varadaraja Bhattar went back to historical donors who had been contributing to some of these utsavams and checked their interest to be part of the revival. He also reached out to new devotee donors for the other utsavams. He built new vahanas for the street processions during the Brahmotsavam.
Darshan of Athi Varadar
The Moolavar, a Mooligai Varna Kala idol, is seen in a gigantic 14 feet standing posture. Over the last two decades, the temple has seen a remarkable transformation. The revival and a new vibrancy was further driven by the renewed interest in Athi Varadar. “Those who could not make it to Kanchipuram came here to have darshan of the one of its Kind Athi Varadar” says Varadaraja Bhattar.
In 2022, he performed another consecration following the laying of a Karungal Prakara and painting of the temple complex.
Legendary Tale
King Nirmalan, who ruled the Kodagu hills, developed a certain skin disease with rashes all over his body. The king moved out of the kingdom to find a solution to his troubles. Narada Rishi took the form of a hunter, met the king and explained the sins of his previous births. In one of his previous births, as a Brahmin, he had not performed the Pitru Karma and had hence developed the 'Go-Hathi' Dosham.
Narada directed the king to undertake penance at the foot of the Kodagu Hills. Later, an invisible voice asked him to move from the foot of the hills to bathe along the banks of the Cauvery.
When he reached Moovalur, 2kms South of here, and had bath in the Cauvery, Lord Shiva provided darshan and asked him to go North and undertake penance to invoke the blessings of Lord Vishnu. As Shiva directed and showed the King the way to cleanse himself from his sins, the Lord at the temple in Moovalur is referred to as Maarga Sahaya Vazhikaattum Nathan.
When King Nirmalan continued his penance here, Pleased with his penance, Lord Vishnu appeared before the king in a form of a fig tree and provided darshan from the middle of the tree on the Shravanam Amavasya day in Thai. The four leaves became the four hands of the Lord and another set of leaves turned into an umbrella with the root of the tree being the feet of the Lord.
With King Nirmalan touching the root of the tree - the feet of the Lord, the place to the East of where the temple is currently turned into a Vishwa Pushkarani, the sacred tank. After having bath here at the Pushkarani, he was liberated from Pitru Sabham and was relieved from his skin disease.
Having had darshan of Lord Vishnu and Mahalakshmi Thaayar, King Nirmalan became a rishi and undertook penance on the banks of the Cauvery. Staying here, Pippalla Maha Rishi composed a sloka on liberation from Sani Graha Dosham
Later he attained Moksham at this place. To this day, in memory of this event, one can see a mandapa of Pippalla Rishi.
The Name of this place
As he was also liberated from Kodi Hathi Dosham, this place came to be referred to as Kodi Hathi Paapa Vimochana puram which in course of time became Kozhi Kuthi, the name by which this place is referred to now.
Rejects lucrative overseas offers
Varadaraja Bhattar had learned the Vaikanasa Agama from Kaladi Bhattar in Tiruvottiyur as well as his appa at Kozhi Kuthi. There had been several lucrative overseas offers over the last two decades of his service at the Vaanamutti Perumal temple but Varadaraja Bhattar rejected it all “I did not return to Kozhu Kuthi for money. It was a Vaikanasa Agama temple and I wanted to continue the kainkaryam when no other priest was ready to take up service at this temple. Hence, I let go off the financial temptations and focused on how I could create an interest for devotees at this temple.”
Given the low salary on offer, the paricharakars and other service people who had been part of the temple in the past too have quit the temple and Varadaraja Bhattar is all alone at the temple doubling up as the priest and the cook at the madapalli. His elder son, who is completing his Class XII this year, has learnt the Vaikanasa Agama and pooja krama from him and supports him at the utsavams. He is particularly interested in decorating Perumal and pays attention to detail in his alankaram as was seen this morning ahead of the Hanumantha Vahana procession.
Thai Brahmotsavam - Hanumantha Vahana
By 11am, the homam for the morning is complete and Abhaya Srinivasa Perumal is ready for the procession around the four sacred streets of Kozhi Kuthi. The sripatham personnel have gathered in good numbers and they mount the perumal on to the wheeled tyres. Residents await in front of their homes with coconuts, fruits and flowers and they present it to Srinivasa Perumal. Varadaraja Bhattar’s two young sons don the role of the archakas during the procession and they present karpoora aarathi at each of these stop overs around the four streets.
After an hour’s procession, Srinivasa Perumal is back at the eastern entrance where the sripatham personnel perform the Voiyali much to the delight of the devotees present on the occasion. They present another Voiyali inside the temple complex before the morning’s events come to a close.
Varadaraja Bhattar has a wide variety of prasadams for the devotees, ubayadarars of the day and for the sripatham personnels and this is distributed to all of them. There are happy set of faces all around something that did not seem possible a couple of decades ago when the temple had been in a dilapidated state. But Varadaraja Bhattar’s devotional commitment has led to a grand revival in this remote temple town. From the time, the only vastram for the Lord was torn and there was no oil or ghee to light the lamp, he says that there are silk vastrams for Perumal and he is decked with glittering jewellery during the utsavams. He is also happy that his two sons have shown early interest in Kainkaryam to Perumal. For the moment, his attention shifts back to his service ahead of the Yaanai Vahana procession and Maalai Matral event in the evening.
It is thanks to those like Varadaraja Bhattar that temples in remote towns have survived the test of times.
Tail Piece
For a change, devotees did not pull out their phones on the opening of the screen for photo and video shots of Perumal atop the Hanumantha Vahana (Photo above) and each one of them was seen with folded hands invoking the blessings of Srinivasa Perumal.
The temple is open from 8am-12noon and 430pm-8pm. Contact Varadaraja Bhattar @ 97872 13226
How to reach
From Mayavaram Bus Stand, drive on the Kumbakonam Highway, take a right at Moovalur (2kms from Railway station) and drive North 2kms to reach Vaanamutti Perumal temple in Kozhi Kuthi. Alternately, from Mayavaram take the Poompuhar- Kallanai road (North of Railway station) to take a right at Chozhapettai to reach Vaanamutti. Auto from railway station to the temple will cost Rs. 180.
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