KALLAZHAGAR-6

HAVE A NICE DAY!

     KALLAZHAGAR 

 KALLAZHAGAR-6
          Sri S.V.Varadarajan   

  The Pandya kingdom flourished in all spheres under the rule of the pandya Queen and she adhered to Dharma as per the manu Code and respected all human beings as her own kith and kin. She was noted for her bravery and she conquered and established her reign in all directions exclusively and hoisted her flag with fish emblem everywhere symbalising her supremacy.


    Lord Vishnu and Brahma having become brothers to Meenakshi, did not like to fight with their sister. Later, the Queen set forth to Kayilai to confront The Three - eyed Lord Siva Peruman. At that time, a surprising thing happened. The female (Queen) set her eyes on Siva and simultneously Siva also pointedly looked at the female figure of the queen and all of a sudden her third breast disappeared and her female qualities surged forth in abundance. She felt shy and nervous. Noticing this strange behaviour on the part of the queen, the minister Sumathi decided to get them married and told her "oh! Madam,the protector of this world, the Easwara is your husband".


     When the marriage was fixed up, Kallazhagar started his 12 mile long trip to Madurai for attending the function . On the chitra pournami day, Azhagar reached the Vaigai river bank in his horse and he was received by 'Sri Veeraragava Perumal' with great respect. This event is celebrated every year as a festival in in the vaigai river. At that time,the vaigai river was in floods and and hence azhagar could not cross the river and consequently could not be on time for the marriage ceremony of Meenakshi.So,the marriage of Meenakshi-Sundareswara went off even without the presence of Azhagar. It is said that in his place, the deceased father of Meenakshi himself appeared there in the guise of of Lord Thirumal and performed the relegious rites for the marriage of Meenakshi.


To be continued


Kallazhagar, Azhaga Kallalaga, Thoonda,


  
















   
















            

KALLAZHAGAR-5

HAVE A NICE DAY!

 KALLAZHAGAR

           KALLAZHAGAR-5 
          Sri S.V.Varadarajan  

    When we say Madurai, two things come to our mind.One is the temple of Meenakshi Amman, the other is the famous ancient Tamil Literature known as "Sanga Tamil" . Let us see the marriage of Meenakshi and its connection with Kallazhagar.


    As already stated,Pandya King Malayadhwajan married the daughter of Chola Celebrity Surasena named Kanchanamala. As the couple did not get a child, they performed puthra 'Kameshti Yagam'. From the sacred fire in the silver, Yaga vessel, a beautiful female child with a golden figure looking like a 3 year old and having three breasts sprang up and settled on the lap of kanchanamalai.Even though he came to know that Annai Para Sakthi herself has birth as this child, Pandya king got unhappy as he was praying for amale child.Furthur the female child was having unusually three breasts and so he began crying for mercy of God. At that time, a heavenly voice from the space addressed him in clear tone and said "Malayadwaja",do not get worried, teach you female child all the arts and skills as you will do for a male child.Complete all rituals also and name her as Thadathagai and celebrate the coronation ceremoney also nicely. When a suitable bride groom is sotted and selected the third breast will vanish". 


   As per the heavenly blessings (utterances), King Malayadwaja performed the Cornation Ceremony for Thadathagai with all fanfare with able of the intelligent minister Sumathi. After this Malayadhvajan attained heavenly abode. The affectionate daughter performed all the last rites for her father. 


To be continued 


    
















   
















  

KALLAZAGAR-4

HAVE A NICE DAY!

 KALLAHGAR

                        

                    KALLAZHAGAR-4 
          Sri S.V.Varadarajan
                  


   Here Bhiravar with long tusks,protruding teeth and trisula appears seated on a dog as vahana. In the script of Vrishabadri Mahatmiyam it is mentioned that Lord Siva came to this temple as kshetra palaka and did penance towards Lord Vishnu.The Sannadhi of this form of Siva is called 'Munaya thrayam thirumandapam' 


    We have a quite a few more Samadhis for deities like Sri Kalyana Sundharavalli, Sri Andal, Sri Sudarhan, Yoga Narasimhar, Parthasarathy, Manduka Maharishi, Ashtabuja Krishna, Nardana Krishna, Saraswathi Devi,Dasavatharam,Thiruppaliyarai Nachiar,Azhwars,Ramanujar etc and all of them bless the devotees with kind grace.


    The important event in this temple is the 'Saligrama Darsanam' which should not be missed by a devotee.There are hundreds of Saligramams here and the abisheka water is distributed as prasadham to the devotees. The 'Karuppannasamy'  in the eighteenth step in the Azhagar mountain is another noteworthy shrine.There is actually no idol for this deity but it is the strong relegious belief that this entity i is guarding the whole area sitting in this step. The main entrance at the Raja Gopuram remains closed always and we have to enter through the entrance on the north side of the Karuppanna Sannadhi.


     The festival of this Azhagar temple lasts for nine days. The glorious celebration of the event in which Azhagar steps into the Vaigai river is a very important function for which the Madurai City is famous. For knowing the Significance of this event, we should have in our mind the story of pandya queen Meenakshi's marriage at Madurai.


To be continued


     


















    

KALLAZAGAR-3

HAVE A NICE DAY!

    

 KALLAZHAGAR

            

                    KALLAZHAGAR-2  
                          Sri S.V.Varadarajan
  


    It is believed that the town and temple were constructed by Dharma Deva and Viswa karma.Later,the Pandyan king Malaydhvaja removed these structures.Malayadhwaja was the son of the Pandya king who first established the pandya rule and dynasty.He married the daughter of the great Surasena named Kanchanamala.This couple had a daughter named 'Angayarkanni' who came to be worshipped later as 'Meenakshi'. She is the empress who ruled the Pandya kingdom after her father.


   The prime deity in the sanctorum in Azhagan koil bears the name Sri Paramaswami 'bearing five weapons in his hands,sitting flanked by his consorts Sri Devi and BhooDevi and blessing the devotees with his with his magnificent graceand charm.The novel feature about this deity is that the 'chakra' in His hand is shown as ready for being aimed at the target. The urchavamoorthy of this deity is known as Azhagar and Sundara Rajan. Abishekam for this idol is done only with the water brought from Noopura ganga.If some other water is used, the idolbecomes dark in colour surprisingly. In Divya Prabandam, this Vigraha is praised as Solaimalalaikkarasan. Another special feature about this idol  is it is made up of a particular type of high quality gold called 'Apranchi'. It is said that apart from this idol,the only other such idol is that in the Thiruvanandhapuram temple as Urchava Murthi.


      In the Prahara Adjacent to the Garbagraha, we find Valampuri Vinayakar Sannadhi. In the northern Prahara, we find Sri Visvaksena seated with Srijaya Devi. Next to him is the Bhairavar Sannathi named as Hemaatha Balakar.


To be continued


  Theendai
Oh Manalae
Kallazhagar
Azhaga Kallalaga
Thoonda
Vaararu Vaararu

KALLAZAGAR-2

HAVE A NICE DAY!

 KALLAZHAGAR

                

                          KALLAZHAGAR-2  
                          Sri S.V.Varadarajan




        Even now, it is believed that the Lord is blessing the devotees and save them from hardships. The river is just about 2 miles from the mountain and is called 'silambaru' and 'Noopura Gangai'. How this river came into existence here is explained by an interesting event in the Puranas.Once, the Pandiyan king Malayadhwaja had conquered all the Kingdoms South of 'Meru' mountain and got his name engraved on the huge mountain. He made Agasthiya as his minister and was ruling over his vast kingdom for 1000 years from Madhurai. With the assistance of Agathiya, the king got a pushpaka Vimana and used to travel on this Vimana daily to the Ganges river, take his holy bath in it and worship Maha Vishnu at Gaya and then return to Madurai. One day, when he was flying in his Vimana over the Vrishabadri mountain, the shadow of the vimana fell on the mountain. The elderly sages who were there pulled down the vimana by tracing the shadow of the vimana with their supernatural powers. At that time, Lord's ethereal voice from from the Heaven told the king "The water from the silambaru which flows from my feet is much more sacred and holier than even the Ganges water and when that is so, why not you also have dip in this holy river and wash off your sins and worship me here and get the benifit. Taking this as the order from the Almighty, the King began worshipping God here itself and was rendering service.


      But as per historic facts, it is observed that the Azhagar koil was here even  when the  pandya rule began and the town called 'Azhaga puri' was also there as a famous place.Inside the Fort of this town, Azhagar temple was situated.


To be continued
 Kallazhagar





























Azhaga Kallalaga

KALLAZAGAR-1

HAVE A NICE DAY!

  KALLAZHAGAR 

  
                            KALLAZHAGAR-1  
                          Sri S.V.Varadarajan
          


       About 12 miles north from Madurai, is the place where the Azhagar koil is located at the foot of a hill with Sundaer Raja Perumal as the main deity. The temple has different names like Thirumaliruncholai, Solai malai,Thirumalirukkum Kunram,Vazha giri, Vrisha Badri and Idabagiri. The mountain range extends to ten miles east to west and is about 1000 feet in height. Many small hills branch off from this range on all sides. On the southern side base is Azhagar malai.The deity in this temple is known popularly as Kallazhagar. The word 'sundaram' means a beautiful person. The deity's name Sundara Raja Perumal signifies that the God present here is attracting devotees with his beautiful figure.


      There is a puranic story which explains the origin of this temple. Once Dharma Deva was visiting all the holy places in this world and was crossing this mountain 'solaimalai'. The natural beauty of this mountain was very pleasing to him and he began doing penance at this place. At the end of the penance, Lord Vishnu appeared before him as Sundara Raja Perumal.As prayed by him, the Lord showered his blessings on him for building a temple near the Noopura Ganga river near by and to worship Him with his consorts Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi.


To be continued


Kallazhagar



















Azhaga Kallalaga,Thoonda,  Vaararu Vaararu, Theendai
Oh Manalae