Urchava Maha Rudrabhishek, Big Temple

Right click on all photographs to view enlargements 

 

Temples have various types of idols. One type of idol is fixed, and are generally referred to as Moola Vigrahams (Moolavars) or primary idols. Another type of idol are known as Urchavars or Urchava Moorthies, and are generally smaller and meant to be taken around the Temple and town in processions during Festivals. Most Urchava Moorthies are crafted in Panchaloha – which is a composite of five types of materials: gold, silver, copper, brass and bronze. 

Below is a series of photographs of an elaborate puja at Arunachaleswarar Temple, which took place this May 2012 Sivaratri (new moon night)  performed on the Urchava Moorthies. 

Indian Railways Vignettes

Below is a selection of humorous vignettes from the Indian Railways, including stories of rats, bulls and pythons and one story of a rather inebriated engine driver!

Have you seen rats who drink tea regularly? I have seen it at Shoranur(Kerala) station Thousands of rats belonging to all generations infest the numerous holes just below PF2 which are made for drainage purpose. 

As soon as a train leaves, these rats virtually scramble hither thither in the PF, and if the tea vendors are away for a smoke and if tea is pouring out drip by drip from the pot, they raise their bodies on hind legs and drink tea fearlessly whilst hundreds of passengers watch the scene. 

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In the late 40s, 4UP Frontier Mail was hauled by an H Class locomotive, driven by Speed King, K. 

An inebriated K was stung by a local train overtaking him. He ripped open the Regulator, and hurtled past Mahalaxmi. Too late, he switched off Power and applied full Emergency brakes. The train crashed into the Platform Dead End, and the Bombay Central station roof caved in. The saloon of the then Regional Mechanical Engineer (RME), H, was attached to the rear of 4 UP. 

K was immediately suspended, and the RME contemplated dismissing K. Somebody whispered into the RMEs ear,”Sir, if you take disciplinary action against K, you are also responsible.” The saloon was equipped with braking equipment. 

The RME was also required to ensure the safety of the train by operating the brakes. The result was that K was permanently demoted to Goods Driver Grade C’ till his retirement. 

Till the end, he retained the awesome notoriety of the Speed King who brought the house, or rather, Bombay Central station roof down.

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The increasing frequency of attacks by some rogue bulls in Varanasi has forced the temple town's Railway authorities to remove them from the Railway station premises. The authorities have received a number of complaints by visitors to the railway station about the bulls' nuisance. 

These bulls have made the Railway platform their abode and will now be removed with the help of the local Municipal corporation workers. They will be rehabilitated in neighbouring forests. 

Vinod Singh, a railway ticket examiner said that the bulls were causing a lot of trouble to passengers on the Railway station. "The bulls snatch food from the passengers and cause difficulty in walking around on the platforms. The passengers face inconvenience as these bulls stay on the platform and make the station dirty. Keeping all this mind the area manager (Railways) has called for drive against the stray bulls," he said. 

The drive, however, has met with adverse reactions from certain residents of the holy city who revere the bull and consider such action as disrespectful. 

"The bull has a lot of importance here as it is Lord Shiva's ride. The administration is sinning against God by behaving so wrongly with them. Bulls are extremely calm animals, they don't harm anyone. They never cause destruction. They do so only if you instigate them," said Badal Jaiswal, a Varanasi dweller. 

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An adult python was found inside an air conditioned compartment of Puri-Guwahati Express today creating panic among the passengers. The snake, which was hanging from a hook near the roof of the compartment, was caught at Balasore station by Railway Protection Force, who were informed about it by the passengers. 

“When the train arrived at Balasore station at about 7 pm today passengers complained to the RPF personnel patrolling the platform and we immediately informed the guard of the train and managed to catch the snake,” said officer-in-charge of RPF at Balasore Amulya Biswal. The snake was found near the toilet and it was suspected that it had escaped while some person was trying to smuggle it, he said.“ 

The Guwahati bound express had to be detained for about half an hour at the platform here to catch the 5 feet-long python,” he added. The local forest officials have been asked to take possession of the snake. 

Indian Railways - Tiruvannamalai Station

In connection with my recent posting on Arunachala Grace about the development of Tiruvannamalai Railway Station, I think it might be interesting to give some history on Indian Railways and information on the conversion of Metre Gauge tracks to Broad Gauge at Tiruvannamalai Station and its surrounds. 

The first railway built in India in 1852 covered a distance

of 34kms between Bombay and Thane and the first passenger

train started to run between these two stations, on April 16, 1853.

Indian Railways, a Department of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Railways, operates the Indian rail network which is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world. Each day it transports 17 million passengers and 2 million tonnes of freight. It is also one of the largest employers in the world with a workforce of 1.6 million employees. 

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1985, steam locomotives were phased out in favour of diesel and electric locomotives. In 1951 the diverse railway systems were nationalized and became one unit with six zonal divisions, which for administrative purposes, were subsequently divided into seventeen zones. 

One of those zones is Southern Railways, which in its present form, came into existence on 14th April 1951 through the merger of three state railways; Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, South Indian Railway, and Mysore State Railway. 

Southern Railway's present network covers 5,235 kms of track and extends over a large area of India's Southern Peninsula. Headquartered at Chennai, the Southern Railway comprises six divisions; Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Palghat, Trivandrum and Salem, and has a total staff strength of approximately 105,000. 

The work recently undertaken at Tiruvannamalai has been the conversion of Metre Gauge tracks to Broad Gauge and the development of Tiruvannamalai Station and its surrounds. Metre gauge is still found on about 17,000 km of the Indian Rail network. It is said that metre gauge was chosen by Lord Mayo (then Viceroy of India) based on calculations to allow four persons to sit comfortably abreast; it would have been 3'3" except that there was a push (at that time) to move to the metric system and so the gauge became one metre. However, the metric system was not adopted until nearly a century later, so the railway track gauge was the only thing in India that was 'metric' for a long time. 

Another reason for narrow gauge railways is that it was substantially cheaper to build, equip, and operate than standard gauge or broad gauge railways, particularly in difficult terrain. However the problem with narrow gauge railroads is they lack room to grow and their cheap construction is bought at the price of being engineered only for initial traffic demands. While a standard or broad gauge railroad could more easily be upgraded to handle heavier, faster traffic, many narrow gauge railroads are impractical to improve. Speeds and loads cannot increase, so traffic density is significantly limited. An additional reason for the conversion of rail tracks to broad gauge is to ensure stability in the face of the cyclonic winds of Indian weather. 

Fires on Arunachala

The summer in 2012, has been bad for fires on Arunachala. The first major fire occurred on April 20th and became particularly serious because of fierce winds fanning the flames. The area of the fire is marked on the below map. 

First Fire

Second Fire

Some two weeks later, after the biggest fire in almost a decade, another large fire broke out, this time on the North Side of Arunachala. See below map. 

 

To read a full report of the fires at Arunachala during this summer and to view photographs showing the devastation they caused,  go to Richard’s narrative at this link here. 

Chitrai Poornima 2012 Photographs

Below in this posting are some more amazing photographs taken yesterday on the day of Chitra Poornima, at functions on Car Street, in front of the Arunachaleswarar Temple. 

One can get a good idea of the size of the crowds from these latest photographs. 

To look at earlier postings on Chitra Poornima postings, with details about the legend of the Festival click on this link here, and to view photographs of Chitra Poornima girivalam, click on this link here. 

Tiruvannamalai Railway Station, May 2012

A dear friend and yearly visitor from Malaysia, asked me to check out the railway timetable for Tiruvannamalai for Deepam 2012. 

I have also had several requests from readers, to post up-to-date photographs of Tiruvannamalai railway station. 

Thus, in order to get information and photographs, I visited Tiruvannamalai railway station yesterday morning. While there I learnt that there will shortly be a new rail timetable schedule for Tiruvannamalai. Thus the schedule below may not be in operation for a long time. In addition a train schedule for Deepam, will only be published a short time prior to the Festival. 

Regular Train 

06842 (North) Villupuram to Katpadi arrives 05.45 departs 05.50 

06841 (South) Katpadi to Villupuram arrives 19.35 departs 19.40 

Weekly Train 

16779 Tirupathi to Madurai - Sunday/Friday arrives 18.25 departs 18.30 

16780 Madurai to Tirupathi - Sunday/Friday arrives 03.55 departs 04.00 

Weekly Train 

22603 Kharagpur to Villupuram - Thursday - arrives 20.25 departs 20.30 

22604 Villupuram to Kharagpur - Monday - arrives 12.10 departs 12.15 

Weekly Train 

22605 Purulia to Villupuram - Tuesday - arrives 20.25 departs 20.30 

22606 Villupuram to Purulia - Saturday - arrives 12.10 departs 12.15 

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The first photograph is the view of Arunachala when coming out of the Tiruvannamalai Railway Station. The road of the second photo, is the driveway up the Railway Station. 

Glad to see in the newly modernised Railway Station, that they kept the name board the same nice bright yellow as before. 

Although there is a brand new bridge connecting the platforms, while I was at the station I saw NO-ONE using the bridge. All seemed to prefer scampering across the tracks. Hope that changes when the tracks are electrified when the next phase of the development of the Railway Station takes place. 

The station is being maintained very well, and it was spotless on the day I visited. They even had a lady walking the tracks picking up the ubiquitous plastic from the lines. 

The new platforms are inordinately long, so glad that there is a helpful sign displayed for the engine driver! 

 Track Maintenance 

 View of the lines and station from 

the railway crossing in town. 

 The railway crossing in town. 

Chitra Poornima Girivalam

To view enlargements of below, right click on individual photographs. 

I was very eager to perform girivalam this month, as Chitra Poornima, the first full moon of the Tamil year is so very special. I set off at 5 p.m. and expected to complete the full round of the Hill by 9.30 p.m. 

Many devotees had arranged the feeding of pilgrims. And the first place I stopped at was a puja being conducted by a group from various spots in South India, on behalf of their Guru (who had attained samadhi). 

A member of the group told me that they had arranged enough provisions so that they could feed 70,000 pilgrims. The provisions included: 4,000 kg of rice, 500 kg of dhal and 1,000 litres of curd. This is the sixth year (during Chitra Poornima) that this group has arranged such a puja and feeding. 

A huge crowd was expected for this poornima, and huge it was. As so many pilgrims had arranged prasad all along the girivalam roadway, many of the roadside restaurants had little business throughout the 24 hour poornima. Though it seems like tea shops did a roaring business.

Roadside artists were in attendance. And there were beautiful coloured drawings throughout the edges of the roadway. 

 

 You could get your palm read and future foretold. 

Or just stop for a moment and enjoy a 

refreshing green coconut. 

Or even a cooling glass of sugarcane water. 

The little boy in the below photograph, is whispering his secrets and wishes into the ear of Nandi, the mount of the great Lord Shiva. By the time I reached the next statue of Nandi, I too was ready to do my own whispering! 

The mood of the pilgrims was happy, and the crowds seemed to be enjoying their girivalam enormously. Many of the pilgrims I spoke with, mentioned that it was their first time at Arunachala. 

In this respect the Arts College Car Park was filled with out-of-State cars, mostly from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

 

It started to get quite dark, and time for me to put away the camera, and continue on my walk. Which did in fact take the expected time and I arrived home almost on the dot of 9.30 p.m. 

Chitra Poornima, 2012

This year, 2012, the date of Chitra Poornima is May 5. Poornima begins 11:50 a.m. tomorrow (May 5) and ends at 09:24 a.m. on May 6 (IST).

Chitra Poornima is dedicated to Chitragupta, the keeper of deeds in the house of Yama, (God of death) and to Indra, the leader of the Devas. This full moon observance of girivalam at Arunachala, is expected to be the most heavily attended of the year (other than the Poornima over Mahadeepam).

Chitra Poornima is a day sacred to Chitra Gupta, the Keeper of Deeds. Lord Brahma created Chitragupta through the Sun God and He is considered as the younger brother of Lord Yama. Chitragupta (Chitra means picture, Gupta means hidden) represents the hidden picture of life that is vital, yet unknown. Chitragupta keeps the good and bad register of every birth and according to ancestral belief, it is he who tallies your positive karma against negative and declares the result to the Judge on High. It is believed to be the right time to gain blessings to wash away sin and accrue virtue.

Legend of Chitra Poornima

Brihaspati was the Guru of Indra, the King of the Gods. Indra disobeyed Brihaspati on one occasion and Brihaspati relinquished his role of instructing and guiding Indra. Consequently during the period of the Guru's absence, Indra committed many evil acts. When the compassionate Guru resumed his role, Indra wanted to know what he should do to expiate the wrongs he had done in his Master’s absence. Brihaspati asked Indra to undertake a pilgrimage.

One day during Indra’s pilgrimage, he had a sudden realisation that he has been redeemed from his sins. He looked around and noticed a Shiva Lingam under a Kadamba tree. Feeling sure that it was Lord Shiva who had helped him in alleviating his sins, he worshipped the Lingam. Suddenly golden lotuses appeared in a nearby pond as a manfiestation of God’s pleasure and blessing. This legend is ascribed to have occurred at Chitra Poornima, at Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

This special day has come to be known in Tamil Nadu as Chitra Poornima. It is advised that during Chitra Poornima one should remember this story. With intense faith and a contrite heart it is believed that if one admits to one’s sins and resolves never to commit such sins in the future and also pledges to always obey the Guru, then one’s previous sins will be forgiven. 

Kodikkavi of Umapathi Sivacharya

The previous posting in Arunachala Grace, narrates the part Umapathi Sivacharya played in the deliverance of a thorny Bush. In addition there are several elements connected with that story that throws light upon the custom of the flag-hoisting ceremony at most Siva Temples. 

Flag Hoisting Ceremony, Arunachaleswarar Temple

Umapathi Sivacharya was put out of caste and banned from the Chidarambaram Temple by the Dikshitars, of whom he was one, for partaking of the remanants of food eaten by his guru, Marai Jnana Sambanthar. 

The time for performing the Brahma Utsavam of the Temple approached, and the Tillai priests tried to hoist the flag on the Dvajastambha; but it could not be tied. God appeared to the Dikshitars in their dream and they were told that the flag would go up only if they brought back Umapathi Sivacharya. 

Upon the request of the priest, Umapathi Sivacharya agreed to come to the Temple and raise the flag. But when he arrived at the Temple, instead of trying to raise the flag manually, he stood beside the flag pole and sang four verses. As soon as he began to sing, the flag spontaneously began to move up the pole. By the time he had finished the fourth verse, the flag had reached the top of the flagpole. These four verses, which form part of the Saiva Siddhanta canon, are known as Kodikkavi (the Flag Verses). 

The Flag Verses 

Light dwells with darkness in same place 

One does conceal the other when strong, 

And yet darkness can’t prevail 

The Light of light of souls though shines 

The soul is plunged in Trimala. 

So that the soul may Grace attain 

I hoist aloft the holy flag 

Which is the Sat of Sat, which Bloom? 

Who is the seer? Which is light 

In darkness sure, which might, Oh Grace! 

In all the earth that owns your sway, 

That Thou mayst know, on Tower’s front, 

I hoist aloft the holy flag 

With speech and mind at any time 

His nature rare is hard to find. 

When seen too close, He dost appear 

As Ananya. His grace to get 

I hoist aloft the holy flag 

The letters five and eight and six 

The letters four and ‘va’ and ‘si’ 

These in the heart well impressed. 

The soundless one and that with sound 

To manifest them without doubt 

I hoist aloft the holy flag. 

At the end of the ceremony Umapati Sivam called all the senkundars (the weavers) and told them, ‘You are the ones who gave food to my Guru and assuaged both his thirst and his hunger. By this act you also enabled me to consume the Guru’s ucchistam. Therefore, out of gratitude, I am going to honour your community by issuing a proclamation that from now on your community will have the exclusive privilege of offering the cloth that is used in the flag-hoisting ceremony.’ 

This tradition is now followed not only in the Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram, but in most other Siva temples including Arunachaleswarar Temple, Tiruvannamalai. 

Deliverance to a Thorny Bush

In reference to my earlier posting Thorny Bush, I came upon this fascinating story recorded by Suri Nagamma of Sri Ramana’s exposition of the liberation (moksha) of a thorn bush. 

In some versions the bush is identified as Mulli (the wild eggplant). 

The story goes like this: 

 “In Chidambaram, there was a jnani by the name of Umapathi Sivacharya. He was a poet and also a pundit. As he was in an extraordinary state of spirituality, he did not pay much attention to the usual Brahmanical practices. Hence, the pundit of the place became angry with him, especially since he was a learned man and knew all the precepts of the Hindu religion and they forbade him from living in the village or even visiting the Temple. He therefore lived in a small hut built on a raised ground outside the village. 

A low caste man called Pethan Samban used to supply him with all that he required and also help him in a general way. As things went on like this, one day, when that Pethan was carrying on his head a bundle of firewood, Iswara Himself met him on the way in the guise of the Dikshita in charge of the Temple, wrote a verse on a Palmyra leaf and gave it to him telling him that it was to be handed over to Umapathi Sivacharya and then disappeared. 

Pethan gave that verse to Sivacharya, who, on opening it, found in the first line the words, ‘Adiyarkkadiyen Chitrambalavanam’ (the servant of the devotees, the Lord of Chidambaram). Immediately, he was overwhelmed with devotion and a thrill passed through his body as he read the letter. The gist of the verse was: A note from Chidambaranathan – the servant of the devotees to the person who has set up a new establishment, namely Sivacharya. It is your duty to give initiation to this Pethan Samban regardless of caste and to the surprise of all people. 

He read the letter and was overwhelmed with joy. In obedience to the orders of the Lord, he initiated Pethan into the order of sannyasi, though he belonged to the lowest caste and in due course he gave nayana diksha (transmission of power through the eyes) to Pethan, immediately after which Pethan vanished into holy light. Sivacharya himself was immensely surprised at this occurrence and only then understood the wisdom of Pethan. 

Enemies of Sivacharya noticed the sacrificial offerings and other things he was having for his initiation and complained to the Government that Sivacharya had burnt Pethan to death for some mistake that Pethan might have committed. When the king visited with his retinue to enquire into the complaint, Sivacharya showed the verse of Lord Nataraja and said that he gave initiation to Pethan and that Pethan vanished thereafter in the form of a divine light (Jyoti). 

The king was surprised and asked Sivacharya if he could likewise give initiation and moksha to the thorn bush nearby. ‘Yes. What doubt is there?’ said Sivacharya. Accordingly he gave nayana diksha to that thorn bush and that too immediately disappeared in Pure Light (Jyoti). The king was still more astonished at that and said, ‘This looks like some black magic. You said this note had been written by Lord Nataraja. Let us go and ask him.’ Sivacharya pointed out that there was a ban on his entering the Temple. The king said that would not matter as he himself was accompanying Sivacharya. Accordingly they started for the temple together. Hearing all this, all the people – the pundits, the common people curious about the whole thing and the enemies of Sivacharya who were sure he would be punished – flocked to the temple to see the strange sight. 

As the two entered the Temple, and out of regard for the king when Arathi (waving of lights) was offered to Lord Nataraja, it was found that on either side of the Lord there stood Pethan and the thorn bush. The pundits were surprised and, out of fear and remorse, fell at the feet of Sivacharya requesting him to pardon them for all their faults. They subsequently brought him back into the village with due honours. [This story is found in Chidambara Mahatmyam].” 

Arunachala Hill Fire

On Friday evening (April 20th) a fire broke out on the Hill slope directly behind Ramana Ashram. Many people had recently remarked on how dry Arunachala was looking. Which was a consequence of very hot days since mid February and the lack of a substantial water table because of the meagre rainfall last season thereby depriving moisture to the plants and trees.

Photograph of Hill Fire night - April 20, 2012

The fire devastated vast tracts of greenery on the Hill, starting on the south slope and spreading eastwards and upwards. A group of volunteers and some forest personnel were on the Hill throughout the night in an effort to beat out the flames with bunches of green plants and tree branches. Although there were fire lines on the Hill created by gaps between the foliage, the fire crossed many of these fire lines because of strong winds. 

Dry lemon grass which caught fire on the Hill was instrumental in the speed and ferocity of the conflagration. Sadly large tracts of greenery planted over the years and also newly planted saplings have been destroyed. 

The Remarkable Pied Kingfisher

One of the most fascinating birds found locally at Tiruvannamalai is the beautiful Pied Kingfisher. One can see these birds around jheels, water tanks and ponds around the Hill. Even now several of the birds visit a small pond of stagnant water on the Samudram Erie. 

To view photographs and find out more about this remarkable agile, hovering bird, please visit my blog Arunachala Birds at this link here.

In the meanwhile take this opportunity to view the below superb BBC Wildlife video of the Pied Kingfisher which demonstrates its unique way of fishing. 

The bird hovers stationary for considerable periods, 10m or so above the water, ‘standing on its tail’, and hurls itself, wings pulled in at the sides, at fish coming up within striking depth. On emergence with the quarry, the bird flies off to a convenient rock where the victim is battered before being swallowed.