A century of members, strong camaraderie & team work and devotional commitment come to the fore as the Sripatham personnel celebrate yet another edition of the now popular Kal Garuda Sevai
It is one of the two big days in the year at the Thiru Mangai Azhvaar praised Nachiyar Koil Divya Desam in Thiru Naraiyur. The fourth day of the Brahmotsavam in Panguni marks the evening when Moolavar Kal Garuda makes his way from his abode to the Vahana Mandapam from where he carries Srinivasa Perumal around the four streets through the night. In his Periya Thirumozhi, Thiru Mangai Azhvaar as seen in the verse below refers to Thiru Naraiyur as a location of endless festivals. Friday night was definitely one with the procession starting at 6pm and ending with Srinivasa Perumal and Vanjula Valli Nachiyar coming back into the temple well past 3am the next morning.
வாளொன் கண் நல்லார் தாங்கள் மதனன் என்கிறார் தம்மைக்
கேள்மின்கள் ஈளையோடு ஏங்கு கிழவன் என்னாதமுன்
வேள்வும் விழவும் வீதியில் என்றும் அறாத ஊர்
நாளும் நறையூர் நாம் தொழுதும் எழு நெஞ்சமே
While the margazhi Kal Garuda sevai saw unprecedented devotee crowd unmatched anytime in the past, this one on Friday (March 27) evening was a quieter event coming as it did on the back of the annual exams, early vacation of devotees and the upcoming election.
Like Thiru Mangai Azhvaar’s century of verses on Thiru Naraiyur Nambi, the Sripatham Personnel and the Kothanar combo too total a century. It is they who are the heroes on this evening when they carry the large sized and heavy Kal Garuda from his Sannidhi down the steps of this steep Mani Mada Koil built by Ko Chenganan Chozha.
அம்பரமும் பெருநிலனும் திசைகள் எட்டும்
அலைக்கடலும் குலவரையும் உண்டகண்டன்
கொம்பமரும் வடமரத்தின் இலைமேல் பள்ளி கூடினான்
திருவடியே கூடாகிற்பீர்
வம்பவிழும் செண்பகத்தின் வாசம் உண்டு
மணி வண்டு வகுலத்தின் மலர் மேல் வைகு
செம்பியன் கோச் செங்கணன் சேர்ந்த கோயில்
திருநறையூர் மணிமாடம் சேர்மின்களே
Sharp eyed EO Prabhakaran
It is past 1am and the Olai Chapparam housing Srinivasa Perumal atop Kal Garuda and Vanjula Valli Thayar atop Anna Pakshi Vahana has turned on to the West Street. The EO of the temple, Prabhakaran, an Engineer by educational qualification, is walking alongside the deities ensuring that everything is in order. In the three years he has been at this temple, he has not slept on the night of the Kal Garuda Sevai and not gone back home accompanying the deities through the procession keep a close eye on the procession. And alert as he was, he spotted a scorpion right in the middle of the road on the West Street and directed his personnel to carefully move it to the side asking them not to kill it.
Nachiyar Koil EO Prabhakaran
Putting together a strong and united Sripatham team
Chief of the Sripatham team 61 year old C. Kannan is the leader of the Sripatham team and he has been carrying the Lord on his shoulders ever since he was a young boy, quitting school after class VI. He recounts his memories from his childhood days of the Kal Garuda Sevai night “You can see Srinivasa Perumal decked with glittering jewellery and huge flower garlands. It was not so back then. The procession was a simple one. There were no street lights and no houses on this West Street. Perumal was led by Theevatti and Petromax light through the procession. Unlike recent times, the procession used to head back to the temple by midnight.”
Puliyotharai for their sripatham service
8 of them carry Kal Garuda from the Moolavar Sannidhi and then as they go down the steep steps towards the entrance of the Ramar Sannidhi, the sripatham personnel double and as they get to the Dwajasthambam at the Eastern Entrance, over 30 of them carry Garuda to the Vahana Mandapa. He says with a twinkle in his eyes in a cheeky way that during the period of his appa and thatha, half the sripatham used to carry Kal Garuda such was their physical strength given their focus on eating healthy food.
“My appa was paid 50 paise for the sripatham service on each day of the utsavam. We reside in temple land and also have 2 acres each of farming land belonging to the temple. In return for this, we see it as our responsibility to carry the Lord without any fee and consider this twice a year opportunity as a great blessing bestowed on us by Kal Garuda. Those of us in our team who have seen it this way have been prosperous and living a financially healthy life. It has been the experience of most of us in the Sripatham team that sincere prayers to Kal Garuda has never gone unanswered such is his power”, he told this writer even as the procession moved on to the North street.
It has been a tradition for the sripatham personnel to be handed large quantities of Puliyotharai for their service on this Kal Garuda Sevai night.
Kannan says that in the days of his forefathers, they used to spend almost a week getting the Olai Chapparam ready such was the attention paid to minute details. It is past 2am and the Olai Chapparam has made its way well on to the North Street (the Bazaar Road). As experienced in the Margazhi Brahmotsavam a couple of months ago, the branches of a tree extended on to the road obstructing the Chapparam.
Cutting out protruding branches
EO Prabhakaran is a great lover of the eco system and has been planting 100s of saplings around the temple but the cutting of these branches was a necessary evil as it came in the way of the procession and it would have on the day of the Chariot procession as well.
Sripatham Chief Kannan directed his team members to cut out the protruding branches with a sickle. Why did the temple authorities not proactively cut out these branches ahead of the utsavam. Kannan says that they did try but it provided shade to the autos and the stand owners prevented the branches from being cut on the previous day. While the branches were being cut, the Sripatham Personnel took this opportunity to have a ‘Tea Break’.
Past midnight, a couple of devotees from Kumbakonam brought hot coffee/tea from the popular canteen at the railway station and distributed it free to the sripatham personnel in recognition of their devotional service to Nambi.
கிடந்த நம்பி குடந்தை மேவி கேழலாய் உலகை இடந்த நம்பி
எங்கள் நம்பி எறிஞர் அரண் அழியக்
கடந்த நம்பி கடியார் இலங்கை உலகை ஈர் அடியால்
நடந்த நம்பி நாமம் சொல்லி நமோ நாராயணா - 6-10-1
The Kal Garuda Sevai at Nachiyar Koil in Thiru Naraiyur is celebrated twice a year – once four days before Vaikunta Ekadasi in Margazhi and the other on this fourth day of the Panguni Brahmotsavam. It is an evening that brings together thousands of devotees and provides them with a great positive vibration inside the temple as they watch Kal Garuda come down with ease from the Moolavar Sannidhi.
Gopi Bhattar at the forefront of all activities
A story on Nachiyar Koil would not be complete with a mention of Gopinathan Bhattachar, the long standing priest at this Divya Desam. EO Prabhakaran tells this writer on the night that interestingly this time around the Bhattar called him and asked for approval for the Kal Garuda procession to start just after 6pm.
With the clock now almost ticking to 3am, he is distributing Sambhavanai to the Kainkaryaparas who have performed service on the night. When a devotee known to him arrives, he calls him in front and provides him with a close darshan of Srinivasa Perumal and Kal Garuda and presents him with flowers and fruits. His son, who is being initiated into the agama at Senkalipuram, is also present on the night accompanying Vanjula Valli Thayar.
For the Sripatham personnel, it is a great show of strength. It is a night when team work, the camaraderie among the members and the positive spirit with which they manage the procession comes to the fore at Thiru Naraiyur. There are young boys just into their teens out there learning the art of carrying Kal Garuda by watching the elders. There are also seniors in the team who have been integral members of this procession for over two decades. It is a night when devotees and the kainkaryaparas alike forget the negativity in their lives and unite as a group to showcase the greatness of Kal Garuda. Friday night at Thiru Naraiyur marked that celebration of Kal Garuda with him showing his might to the devotee world.
No comments:
Post a Comment