Deepam Festival Panthakal

The following photographs were recently taken in front of the Arunachaleswarar Temple Rajagopuram. The Panthakal ceremony occurs three months before Deepam (this year the first night of the lighting of the flame on top of Arunachala is December 1st). The ceremony included blessing the newly renovated Vigneshwarar Chariot which will be used during the Deepam festivities.

Railways and Tiruvannamalai

Today visited Tiruvannamalai Railway Station to check on progress of the current railworks converting tracks from narrow gauge to broad gauge and on expanding track services to include three passenger lines and one goods line. I was surprised at the lack of progress at the railworks including the development of facilities and was also unable to learn an authoritative date for the estimated completion of the railworks and commencement of services at Tiruvannamalai Railway Station.

Even though there are no rail facilities at Tiruvannamalai, the reservation office is open at the Station and one can purchase tickets for Indian Railways.

For those interested in finding out more about rail travel in India, I include an excellent link from The Guardian (U.K.) newspaper, which even though is an overseas paper, contains a comprehensive article of readers tips with numerous links. If you plan on travelling by rail in India, I strongly recommend you check it out.

On the theme of railways, below is a fascinating narrative taken from historical train archives about how Afghani fruit used to arrive in the Indian metros via the railways. Its interesting to learn that during a period that did not have many modern conveniences, trade of even perishable goods seemed to be even more efficient than nowadays. Certainly the narrative seems to portray a gentler and more peaceful time.


Fresh Fruits from Afghanistan to India!

"I fondly remember as a youngster - in late 1940's and as late as early 50's - the repeated shouts of burly, awesome Pathan vendors in our 'mohalla' in Lucknow: "Fresh luscious grapes from Chaman; red juicy pomegranates from Kandahar; "Buy them now, eat them now, lest you repent!"

These Afghani fruit vendors would come to each 'mohalla' daily almost punctually at a time “allotted” by them. And lo the kids and the grown-ups would scamper out of their homes, the first out of curiosity and the latter to strike a hard bargain with the vendors who were notorious about their prices. But whatever the virtues of the vendors, their assertion about the quality of their products was never in doubt. So with this childhood experience when I read the following lines in P.S.A Berridge's old classic, "Couplings to the Khyber: The Story of The North Western Railway" I became really nostalgic about the fruits which are certainly no more:

"Built primarily as a strategic line the Chaman Extension Railway served for many years hundreds of tons of luscious fruits --- grapes, peaches, and nectarines in particular from Afghanistan found their way to the markets of far-away cities in India. Before 1947, in the summer months, there used to run every day a train with its ice-packaged refrigerator vans destined for places as far away as Calcutta and Madras."

But the famed fruits continued to filter into India even after 1947 by road from Pakistan but unfortunately as the situation worsened and even the dribble dried up and we lost the burly Pathans and their products by early 50's.

Reverting to my nostalgia; Berridge's brief remarks led me to 'research' about the fruit traffic from Afghanistan and their train journeys to various stations in the Indian hinterland in days of yore that is before the Partition. That I took to be an unusual, novel subject for the rail fans and more so when it related to a country rated by Robert Young Pelton, the adventure travel writer, as one of the "World's Most Dangerous Places" in his eponymous book.

Let me now construct this interesting rail transportation story which has a human angle too.

Actually the grapes and all the tempting fruits came not from Chaman (4304‘) but from Kandahar (5500‘) and areas nearby some 67 miles away in Afghanistan. Chaman was in India then as the remotest corner station in the North Western Province bordering Afghanistan .It was the terminal of the strategic line viz. Chaman Extension Railway.

It sounds incredible today that adopting a crude cooling technique the perishable fresh fruits always reached the customers in perfect condition at destinations so far away covering a very long distance by road and rail that too through intense summer heat and humidity of various regions of India. The destinations were in Sind, the Punjab, United Provinces (U.P.), Delhi, Bengal, and Madras to name only a few important ones.

The distance covered by rail was itself mind boggling being around 1000 miles (1500 kms) from Chaman to Delhi excluding 67 miles by road from Kandahar in Afghanistan! It was only in 1929 that for the first time motor transport consisting of Chevrolet lorries was used supplementing the conveyance of fresh fruits from growers in Kandahar to the originating station Chaman for onward dispatch by rail to consuming stations. Each lorry carried 40 "kawaras" covering the distance in just 4 hours as against 3 days by animal transportation.

A "Kawara" was a conical shaped basket about 10" wide at the base, opening out to a 18" mouth at the top and was about 16" deep. These were indigenously made by the Afghani women at home as a cottage industry from "pilchi" wood taken from branches of cotton bushes. The "kawaras" were filled with fruits which were packed in layers between wild grass and lavender .Each such basket weighed 33 seers (60 pounds) with 22 seers of fruit. To keep the heat away ice was used in generous quantities to keep the "kawaras” ice cold till they arrived Chaman whether carried by animals or by motor lorries .

This earthy method kept the contents too fresh and unspoilt despite the intense heat in the loading season.

The export of fruits used to begin from Afghanistan to India in May every year. Apricots in "kawaras" used to be cleared from Chaman by the daily mixed train to Quetta, 176 miles away, and onward from there by corresponding connecting trains to stations in the Punjab, U.P. and Sind.

With the advancing fruit season when grapes, peaches, apples and pomegranates were in full bloom a daily fruit train was run comprising Refrigerator Vans and Luggage Vans from Chaman to clear the fresh fruit traffic. The traffic reached its peak of 3000 "kawaras" daily in August. It continued till October after which the dried fruit traffic commenced.

Let us recall how a typical loading day started in Chaman. Till 9 a.m. Chaman would be a calm and peaceful station except few coolies were seen busy filling the bunkers of the Refrigerator Vans with ice to cool them sufficiently well in advance for the evening's loading. As the day progressed caravans of hundreds of heavily laden donkeys and mules travelling from Kandahar via the neighbourly north–western town of Spin Baldek (7 miles) in Afghanistan, each carrying 2 to 4 "kawaras" would arrive on the horizon travelling in batches of 10 to 30. The intermittent clouds of dust raised by them would sometimes give only their hazy silhouettes .

The arriving animals had decorative multicoloured trappings and innumerable bells of varied shapes and sizes around their necks literally giving them a colourful appearance, and the jingle lending a somewhat romantic touch to the otherwise monotonous environment. Reaching the destined allotted shelter (locally called "Gunj") for them near Chaman railway station these beasts of burden would instinctively go to their nominated places for unloading.

Once unburdened again instinctively the animals would leave making a bee-line across the station yard to Caravan Serai in the city. Their rightful temptation was prompted by anticipation of a well-deserved rest and big mouthfuls of welcome fodder. Along with this animal transportation several motor lorries would also arrive bringing fruit consignments in "kawaras'. So Chaman which was quite till a few hours ago would suddenly become a scene of great hustle and bustle with fruit merchants, shouting muleteers, neighing mules, braying donkeys and the noise of aimless bazaar spectators and others. By 1 p.m. the din would die down with the departure of last of the donkeys, mules, their masters and the local shoppers. But the peace was to be short lived as from 3 p.m. the pandemonium would re- surface with the start of auctions of consignments. Customarily before auction at least a couple of "kawaras" of each "kafla' or caravan were opened to test-check the quality of contents.

There were hardly ever any rejections! Then with "ek", "do", "teen" or "one", "two" or "three" the auctioneers would hammer the deals successively duly selling all the consignments. To keep themselves out of boredom and heat the auctioneers and bidders would also chitchat in between and enjoy literally the multi-coloured aerated cold drinks locally sold. By 6 p.m. more ice would be brought in by the loaders from the two local ice factories in Chaman city to replenish the morning ice-fillings in the Refrigerator Vans as most of that would melt by that time. Now labelling and dispatching of the Vans remained to be done. The labelling time was between 6.30 and 7 p.m. After that the "kawaras" would be brought from the nominated shelter, "Gunj" to the loading platform at the station where they were weighed and sorted out for various destinations and loaded in the Vans.The loading would continue till midnight!

The Vans would then be closed, shunted and marshalled destination-station wise to form the special Fruit Train It would contain consignments for many distant markets in India namely Lahore, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Cawnpore (Kanpur), Calcutta, Bombay, Madras etc.

The Train – the flagship of North Western Railway - would punctually leave Chaman daily at 12.50 a.m. for Rohri or farthest to Samarsata depending on the quantum of traffic! These were two important junctions .From either terminal station further clearance of Vans was done by connecting mixed or passenger trains. Delhi, where bulk of this traffic went via Bhatinda as piecemeal parcel traffic in individual Vans was still a long way being 400.44miles (600kms) away from Samarsata –the usual last terminal for this special Fruit Train.

The route of the Train from Chaman was via Gulistan and Bostan through the famous Bolan Pass to Quetta and from there via Sibi, Jacobabad, Sukkur to Rohri and finally ending most of the times at Samarsata. The entire route was steam -hauled and was on B.G. single line except with a few patches of double line as between Gulistan and Shelabagh at the mouth of marvellous Kojak Tunnel short of Chaman and the main line from Rohri to Samarsata. The entire railway system was the part of the main historical North Western Railway, which in 1947 after the Partition, was bifurcated into Pakistan Western Railway (now Pakistan Railway) and Northern Railway of India.

The Partition ended the very nostalgic story of a glorious parcel train (starting through the railways now in Pakistan) of exceptional quality fresh-fruits from Afghanistan.''

Maha Kumbhabhishekam – Arunachaleswarar Temple

As a result of an archive search, I found the below descriptive narrative of the renewal ceremony of Maha Kumbhabhishekam which took place at the Arunachaleswarar Temple in June, 2002. The narrative will be inspirational to both those who already know and love Arunachaleswarar Temple and also to those who hope one day to visit this ancient Shiva Temple. [The photographs accompanying this narrative are from recent times].



“I remember it vividly. it was 9:47 in the morning on June 27, 2002. That moment was perfectly still like a calm before a storm. What followed was a devotional frenzy that all good Tamil Nadu temple-goers know only too well.

Three hundred thousand devotees were packed around a 217-foot rajagopuram (one of four main outer temple towers) at the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai, South India. They had been there all morning some since the night before. Suddenly, as if in response to some orchestrated cue, everyone roared, "Annamalaikku Haro Hara," "Glory to the Lord of Annamalai." Six eagles circled over the Temple's sanctum sanctorum and abhishekams (water ceremonies) were simultaneously performed in nine towers and nine shrines throughout the temple complex. The 1,300-year-old temple was experiencing its fifth known Maha Kumbhabhishekam. It was history in the making. The last such ceremony occurred in 1976. The two before that were in 1944 and 1903.

A Maha Kumbhabhishekam is held either to formally consecrate a new Temple or reconsecrate an old one, which usually occurs at twelve-year intervals, following renovation, extensive cleaning and renewal. The rites culminate with the priests' pouring sanctified water over the temple spires, each of which resembles an inverted pot, or kumbha. Leading up to the consecration, a number of rituals are performed by the sthapati (main temple architect) in charge of the construction or renovation.

The temple at Arunachaleswarar is the second largest in India. Throughout its long history, it has enjoyed extraordinary popularity among wealthy patrons. This remains true today. Just before the Maha Kumbhabhishekam of 2002, more than Rs. 450 Lakhs was spent on Temple renovation and repair. Although a great deal of this money came from affluent donors, much was also solicited through pamphlets, posters and "door stickers" as well as from television.

All nine gopurams were repaired, renovated and repainted. The 1000 - pillared mandapam (main temple hall) was completely cleaned and even outfitted with electricity. The temple's entire collection of ceremonial utensils were scrubbed and polished. And much of the old ornamentation was refurbished with new, intricately designed carvings and designs all gold-plated.

During the ceremony itself, more than five thousand policemen were on hand to keep order. The water and fire rituals commenced in coordination with the conclusion of a nine-day annual festival featuring worship of the Hindu Goddesses Durga, Amman and Pitari. The inaugural puja was held in the newly constructed yagasala (a place of fire worship) on the evening of June 22.





During the next six days, grand homas (fire ceremonies) were conducted at 102 agni kundams (fire pits) built in the yagasala just for this purpose. Each of these homas was dedicated to a God or Goddess. Thirty-three were for Annamalai (a form of Lord Siva), 25 for Amman (a form of Goddess Shakti), and five each for Gods Vinayagar, Murugan, Somaskander and Venugopal. The remaining 24 were committed to the parivara devathas (canonized saints devoted to Lord Siva).

Three hundred Sivacharyas, 15 oduvars (traditional temple singers) and 120 Vedic scholars from all over India orchestrated the homas while 108 tavil players (temple drummers) and nadaswaram masters (temple horn players) provided appropriate festival music. The grand procession around the temple was led by Tyagaraja Gurukkal (69) and Alasyanatha Gurukkal (54), both long-time chief priests at Arunachaleswara Temple.

Doordarshan, Jaya TV and a local television channel beamed the Kumbhabhishekam live as it occurred. All India Radio also broadcast a running commentary. Dina Malar, a renowned Tamil daily, hired seven photographers to cover the event. All in all it was a grand event in Tamil Nadu, a gracious gift of upliftment to its motherland of India, otherwise deeply troubled by the darker events of 2002.

For hundreds of years, the town of Tiruvannamalai and the temple Arunachaleswara have stood foremost among South India's most sought-after spiritual destinations. Successive South Indian kings always gave great importance to them both. They dug ponds and wells—built gopurams, compound walls and prakarams (temple courtyards) and donated jewels and gold. Famous Indian kings down through history—like Rajaraja Chola, Rajendra Chola, Harihara Bukkar, Krishna Deva Rayar, as well as the kings of the Chera, Pallava, Pandya, Rashtrakotta, Hoysala and Naik dynasties—were proud to have Tiruvannamalai as part of their kingdom. Some of them even made it their capital. Even when caught in political crisis, they held onto Tiruvannamalai.

Historical details about the Arunachaleswarar Temple are revealed in stone inscriptions on the prakara walls and copper plates of the temple itself. These inscriptions, which refer to a period of time spanning a thousand years starting from 750 AD, indicate that the greatness of Arunachaleswarar was made known to the kings of the times primarily through important South Indian devotional literature like the Thevaram and Thiruvasagam.

Aruna literally means “force” and achala means “that which cannot be moved.” So, Arunachaleswarar Temple represents Lord Siva as indomitable power. And this famous Temple is now attracting an ever increasing number of pilgrims each year.”

[By Kesav Mallia, Chennai]

I Need A Home

Pooja is a young dog living at the Tiruvannamalai Animal Sanctuary and for whom they are eager to find a calm, peaceful home. She is around a year old and is a Dalmatian mix. Pooja is medium size and slender and has been living at the Sanctuary nearly since birth.She was born blind and was soon thrown out onto the steet as a puppy by the owners of the Mother dog.

On arriving at the Animal Sanctuary, Dr. Raja (the veterinary surgeon) tried treating Pooja’s eyes but soon discovered that there exists no treatment that would restore her sight. At the beginning of her life at the Sanctuary, Pooja lived in a room off the verandah with a high board partition closing off the room. To keep her company some young puppies shared her room. After about a month with developing confidence, the gate closing off her room was opened and Pooja ventured onto the open verandah with many of the other residential dogs.

Leslie Robinson, Director and Founder of The Tiruvannamalai
Animal Sanctuary with young Pooja

To begin with the other dogs were harsh with Pooja but quickly they began to understand that her clumsiness (like stepping on top of their heads whilst sleeping) was due to her blindness. Now all her companion dogs are very patient and loving towards here. The Animal Sanctuary are looking for a sweet home for young, blind Pooja. Perhaps an older settled person with no kids would like to welcome this sweet young dog into their life. Why not come at visit her at the Animal Sanctuary on Chengam Road next to the Arts College – half a kilometre west of Ramana Ashram.



You can really make a difference in the life of a dear animal. Below is my own sweet Victor (one of my six doggies) who I adopted from the Animal Sanctuary some time back. The before photograph was taken soon after he was confiscated from his owners and the next photograph, 18 months later during one of our daily walks and swims at Samudram Erie.

Victor Before

Victor After

Visiting Mooku Podi Swami

Rightclick on all photos to enlarge

Yesterday morning decided it was a good time to visit with Mooku Podi Swami. He is currently residing at the Srinivasan Secondary School on the Girivalam Roadway near Nithyananda Ashram.

I often visit the nearby Rajarajeshwari Temple, a spot that Swami Mooku Podi regularly frequents so have seen him many times. But this time I wished to sit and visit and particularly wanted to take photographs as the ones I previously posted on Arunachala Grace were out-of-date and taken at the time Swami used to spend sitting on the ice-cream fridge, inside the Deepam Hotel on Car Street.

As it was a Sunday the school was on holiday and the compound was very quiet. An absolute ideal time to visit.

Swami was wearing dirty, old rags and his clean, fresh clothes lay next to him in a heap at his side. Instead of his usual stick, he was holding in his hand a fan and other than a clean, white cloth wrapped around his head was otherwise completely naked.

I noticed Swami’s eyes were shining and very twinkling. While there he handed me two thayam stones and urged me to cast them with Arumugam the Srinivasan School watchman. There was also a young man named Prabhu visiting Swami but all through he kept silent.

A photo of thayam -- a gambling game played in Tamil Nadu

Don’t know the exact reason why Swami has chosen Srinivasan School as his present abode. It is a Secondary School started by a Jeevan Mukta at the beginning of the last century. The Samadhi of this Jeevan Mukta (i.e. Srinivasanlu) is inside the school compound.

Srinivasanlu -- Jeevan Mukta

From the upstairs verandah, where Swami was sitting, I could see Parvati Hill – which is the only place of the 14 km girivalam roadway around Arunachala, from which you cannot see the flame during Deepam.

I spent about an hour with Swami Mooku Podi and other than his occasional shout, it was a peaceful and enjoyable visit. I hope the above is enough information, for those eager to meet Swami, for them to be able locate him on the hillround roadway.