Following the recent consecration, Brahmotsavam has been revived this month at the Shiva Loga Thyagaraja temple much to devotees' delight
81 year old Mythili is devotionally excited on Sunday evening for the revival of the Brahmotsavam this week at the Shiva Loga Thyagaraja Swamy temple in Achalpuram, one where Thiru Gnana Sambandar married and attained Mukthi, has evoked happy memories from her childhood years in the 1950s and 60s.
Her family has just come together in good numbers for ten days at the centuries old house on North Car street where they have been celebrating the Rama Navami utsavam. It had been a hut house all through her childhood when she went to school here at Achalpuram. A couple of decades ago, the family decided to build walls inside the house but she was keen for the traditional look to be maintained and thus the beautiful long Thinnai in front of the house was kept as is.
A traditional experience from the past
Sitting on this Thinnai, she recounted her childhood memories to this writer a couple of hours before Thyagesa Swami and Thiru Venneerutru Umaiammai Ambal were to come out on a street procession on the Bootha Vahana. There were a number of Gurukals in those years in the 1950s "I was a young school girl and they would lift me and make me sit in the Chariot as it went around the streets of Achalpuram during the Brahmotsavam. It was a thrilling and unforgettable experience to be amidst the devotees during the Brahmotsavam."
She experienced the Brahmotsavam through the 1950s with the North Street filled with traditional residents. And even as some tears roll down her eyes, she recalls that year in the 1960s when she was blessed to witness the final year of the Brahmotsavam before it came to a halt. She had moved out of Achalpuram in 1962 after her marriage but came back a couple of years later to experience a magical ten days. “I was pregnant with our first child and made my way back to Achalpuram from Chennai. I still remember Thyagesa Swami coming out of the temple providing darshan in a different vahana each day during the Brahmotsavam. Unfortunately, 1964 was the last year the Brahmotsavam took place. The financial situation had deteriorated at the temple and the historic utsavams came to a halt one by one. And finally the Brahmotsavam too was stopped for they could not afford to conduct the utsavam anymore much to my disappointment”, she tells this writer.
And as decades passed by, the original inhabitants left this historic temple town seeking greener pastures in cities. Given the slowdown in temples, the next gen priests too moved away from service at this temple. The income to the temple dwindled. All these meant, the Brahmotsavam did not take place for six decades.
Consecration leads to Brahmotsavam revival
With the return of the devotional wave that is now sweeping temples in TN, a grand consecration took place last year, one that also spurred the revival of the Brahmotsavam. As part of the renovation works, all the vahanas were spruced up. Earlier this year, a call was taken to revive the Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi with one community taking up each day’s utsavam.
Thiru Gnana Sambandhar sang the last of his Thevaram verses on the Lord of this temple. He made 7 long trips from Sirkazhi and back. It was on the 7th trip that he reached Achalpuram. In his verses, he refers to himself as being from Sirkazhi and assures the devotees that their sincere prayers at Nallur Perumanam (the ancient name of this place) will see them being liberated from their sins. In another verse, he specifically refers to the names of both the Lord and Ambal.
கல் ஊர்ப் பெரு மணம்
வேண்டா கழுமலம்
பல் ஊர்ப் பெரு மணம்
பாட்டு மெய் ஆய்த்தில?
சொல் ஊர்ப் பெரு மணம்
சூடலரே! தொண்டர்
நல்லூர்ப்பெருமணம்
மேய நம்பானே! - Thiru Gnana Sambandar
Hearing news of the revival, Octogenarian Mythili has made it to Achalpuram this week specifically to enjoy the experience of the Brahmotsavam, one that has kindled memories from her childhood. She misses the morning procession that used to be an integral part of this utsavam during her schooling years in the 1950s but is happy that Swami and Ambal are providing darshan every evening in a Vahana.
Teenager manages the Yaaga Salai
Back at the temple, a few young patshala students have made it to Achalpuram this week to decorate the Pancha Moorthies atop different vahanas and they have been at work through the evening to get the deities ready for the street procession. 18 year old Ashwin is in his final year of Saiva Agama and Vedic studies and has been here at Achalpuram to put that initiation into practical use taking care of the Yaaga Salai pooja during the utsavam. His appa is a priest at Thiru Kadaiyur and he hopes that one he would be able to continue the archaka service. It is 6pm and he heads to the Yaaga Salai for a couple of hours of pooja in the midst of smoke.
The sripatham personnel numbering 70 have to come from Sirkazhi, about 15kms from here. Balaji Gurukal is now into his 40s and he is the go-to-man for the Atheenam. Through the evening, he gets non stop calls asking for updates at the temple ahead of the street procession and he patiently answers the superintendent each time providing him feedback on the arrival of the flower garlands to the opening of the Sannidhi.
It is a big Sunday evening at Achalpuram for it’s the first weekend in six decades when a Brahmotsavam procession is to take place. Past 6pm, devotees began to trickle in even as the young patshala students were giving the final touches to the alankaram. Huge vessels arrive with different varieties of food that is to be distributed to devotees after the start of the procession.
Anchoring the Overall Management
Mahesh has seen the temple from close quarters through the three decades of his life. He had managed all the activities at the temple in earlier years and then moved to Chennai where he runs a production firm handling advertising, outdoor hoardings and the like. Balaji Gurukal has roped him for support during these ten days and he is the one who is shouldering responsibility for the overall management of the utsavam. The young patshala students have been at alankaram work for several hours and he calls them in one by one for dinner at the Madapalli ahead of the procession.
He is delighted that the Brahmotsavam has been revived this year soon after the consecration and believes that this will lead to a turnaround in the fortunes of the temple. He is confident that the scale of the Brahmotsavam can become bigger and is open to roping in Ubayadarars for different activities if the Atheenam gives him a free hand and that responsibility. He has not had a minute’s rest through this Sunday evening and has been in the thick of action co-ordinating different activities even as Balaji Gurukal ensures that the alankaram is completed in time.
The Ubayadarar on this evening is the Vanniyar community and past 7pm they have arrived in good numbers. It is a big festive occasion at this historic temple where the legendary Saivite Saint Poet married and soon after attained Mukthi by merging with the Lord here. Several hundreds of devotees have gathered at the temple and are ready for the Deeparathanai.
The Nadaswaram artistes have been playing devotional music with devotees sitting around them. The now popular Udal players comprising of highly devoted youngsters enter the temple through the Eastern Raja Gopuram and their entry signifies that the start is around the corner. The rockets go up in the sky and sharp at 8pm, the Gurukal presents the Deeparathanai and the Ubacharam for Thyagaraja Swami.
The Pancha Moorthies begin the procession around the prakara making their way to the Yaaga Salai on the North East corner where there is a pooja and Deeparathanai. Sripatham carry the deities on their shoulders through the Raja Gopuram and mount them on to the wheeled vehicles. Prasadam is distributed in large numbers to the devotees and there are happy faces all around.
It is 9pm and rockets and fire crackers continue to go up. Mythili is ready at the North Car street with her brother to present coconut, fruits and flowers to Shiva Loga Thyagaraja Swamy and Thiru Venneerutru Umaiammai Ambal. It is a big moment in her life for when the Brahmotsavam stopped six decades ago, she did not know if and when it would be revived for things were bleak at the temple that decade. Into her 80s, she is happy that the Vaikasi Brahmotsavam has been revived in her time and that she has been able to witness the vahana processions once again, something that was so integral to her life during her childhood. And after darshan of the divine couple atop the Bootha Vahanas on this late Sunday evening, she heads back home thrilled at this experience of enjoying the Brahmotsavam once again.
This has been a start and going by the response from the devotees on this Sunday evening, this annual Brahmotsavam can only become bigger.
Thiru Gnana Sambandar Mukthi Utsavam
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