Memories never die
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| Tiruvadanai Shrine |
Tiruvadanai has been the destination earmarked for my stay of at least one year, to start off my career as overseer (professional title for civil engineers during those days). To my case it resembled an auspicious attempt of a squirrel trying to quench the thirst of a religious cause.
I have been there as the term was bestowed to me by HH Maharaja Ramanatha Sethupathi (who headed Ramanathapuram Devasthanam) as local candidate was not available for the post, at that time. I have been there without heeding to the suggestion of friends in Bangalore, insisting on me to skip that post as people countrywide on those days avoided venturing into Ramanathapuram (Ramnad) district for long stays.
People were fear struck as cyclone in that district blew away a portion of the Pamban bridge, that has linked the loveliest island city Dhanushkodi to the mainland of India. Devastation due to cyclone has snatched away the status from Dhanushkodi as it was known as the busiest coastal city in Tamilnadu, and relegated it to be the demon land. According to media, nearly two thousand people (though locals claim the figure as five times more than that) are stated to have lost their lives, including many in a train which too got blown away with the bridge. Basis for such records is first of all the number of bodies recovered after the calamity. Further to that will be the difference in the number of people available before and after the incident. These could have got varied since bodies of a lot of people became unrecoverable due to fury of the cyclonic storms, as well due to census flaws which prevailed during those days.
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Ramalinga Vilasam (Ramnad Palace) Wiki Link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramanatha_Sethupathi |
Ramnad overseer Thiru Srinivasa Iyer was overloaded with the maintenance of a large number of temples, and hence to reduce his burden to certain extent, Tiruvadanai segment was separated and handed over to me. My responsibility began with the compilation of estimates for the AO specified list of works, according to provisions of the Tamilnadu HR & CE (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endovements) Department. I was supposed to wait for those estimates to get approved, and after that to obtain competitive quotes from sthapatis (sculptors). Further to that, my responsibility was to oversee the actual maintenance to be carried out by the most competitive sthapati and his workers.
Overwhelmed by the divine task, I never knew either how the duration of one year got ended, or how it became obligatory to end my Devasthanam career. After handing over responsibility to a local candidate who reported on a fine morning, I thanked Thiru Alagusundaram Pillai for all the administrative guidance I obtained from him during my tenure, and was about to leave. He asked me to stop for a while, introduced me to Thiru Mani Thevar (who too arrived that day to take charge as replacement AO from the former), and spoke high about my good work. As the two requested me to keep coming, I exited with a heavy heart.
Tiruvadanai employment was the first of my career, which has provided me the basic knowledge on how to move forward as a civil engineer.
Without being able to forget that divine stint, I imagined the story of a youth, situations important according to his natural life and religious beliefs, and compiled a novel entitled ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಗತ್ತು (The World of Colours) in Kannada language. I included a large number of rare details related to locations and shrines of Tamilnadu in it. An example is here:
Meaning of Tirunelveli: Wind, water and food are trayadharas (three supports) of life. Food in the term 'Tirunelveli' is respectfully called as Tiru Nel (paddy equivalent to almighty), and the third word in it is Veli (fence). Trisandhi (term formation due to spelling of three words at a time) thus becomes Tirunelveli. Rural scholars (in Kannada they're famous as ಜಾನಪದ ಕವಿ ಸಂಕುಲ) often imagined Trisandhis like this, added those in oral song sequences and recited in group. Most of those are unwritten and hence are difficult to find, in search engines.
Overwhelmed by such appreciation, I said 'no' to a book publisher who kept pestering for my investment of fifty percent to publish ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಗತ್ತು under his banner. On that day I decided that 'no reply' will be my only answer to those who demand money to publish what I write.
I don't know when the publishers in India wake up to the world standards, stop demanding authors to invest at least as a mark of respect to their literary contribution to the community, and start giving them the rightful number of printed copies of the volumes they compile, besides paying them reasonable royalty.
I gave manuscript of ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಗತ್ತು to G G Nagaraja, as he wished to publish it as a series in ವಿಶ್ವ ಪರ್ಯಟನ, without ever imagining that his hands could be unsafe to preserve it. I think he published 5-6 chapters of it as series, and then became silent. I waited till I received a couple of further ವಿಶ್ವ ಪರ್ಯಟನ editions with my contribution missing in those, and then called up. Answering, he said that he felt ashamed to explain what happened, after my manuscript became unseen, untraceable, unexpectedly, in the printing press that he visits regularly. Like that, the original manuscript of ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಗತ್ತು got lost.
As ancestors claim that golden words cannot be repeated, I will not be able to re-imagine, write, and publish ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಗತ್ತು as well as ದ್ವಿದಳಾ. I consider it as a loss to me, though it is not the case for Kannada literature of losing anything due to it. It is though I would soon launch ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಗತ್ತು as a website bearing its English meaning 'The World of Colours' as its title, of course with its contents different from the manuscript I lost. Situation got eased, and authors found it as convenient to save manuscripts in hard discs, only a decade later.
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CA Firm 'Tejus and Ravikiran' |
Tiruvadanai became an unerasable memory in my mind, which I kept sharing with my family members always. Though a memory of my pre-marriage time, it looks like yesterday's happening in front of my inner eyes. Most impressed by it is my son Ravikiran, who partners a busy CA Firm in Jayanagar, Bangalore. He has been telling since last two years that Tiruvadanai will be a sight seeing spot in one of our future tour programs. It became a reality recently.
As my son prepared himself to drive his car throughout the tour, we first went to the polling booth where we were supposed to cast our votes, as it has been the first polling day in Karnataka. After waiting in the que for two hours and fulfilling our responsibility as Indian citizen, we commenced our tour program from Bangalore, and arrived at Madurai first. It was almost night when we did so, on 18th of last month. We stayed at Hotel The Nook, where rooms are okay and car parking facility not up to the mark, while uninterrupted telecast of the holy city's temple festivities deserved appreciation.
April every year is busy due to Chittirai (first Tamil month) festival season in Madurai, celebrated to remember the occasion of Devi Meenakshi (Shakti) wedding Lord uh Sundareshwara (Shiva). In Madurai these days, it's a pleasant scenario to witness everyone offering prayers together in harmony, defeating the olden day battle between Shaivites and Vaishnavites.
So vast is the boundary of Madurai temple, as I found the entry to it through a gate and exit through the same gate after worship impossible, when I used to serve in Tiruvadanai. The process is simplified as of now with indicators put up everywhere, thereby enabling convenience of the time bound movement for the devotees.
After offering our prayers in Madurai temple, we headed towards Rameshwaram on 19th, but stopped to find whether Nellai Mess is still there in Ramnad. It was my favorite eating point while serving as Tiruvadanai overseer, as my frequency between Tiruvadanai and Ramnad HO has been regular, in lieu of the Devasthanam's weekly and other periodical meetings. It's very much there, and its owner even today, is as agile as I could find him four decades ago!
Post lunch journey from Ramnad has enabled us to reach Hotel Ashoka, that we booked for our stay in Rameshwaram, only after the sunset.
Close to the Shrine as well as to Agni Teertha (means Fire Shower in English, spreading the message that devotees burn all their sins if they take bath over there), it has been the best facility we chose for our night halts during the entire tour.
Arches you now witness (in the relevant graphic) at the Agni Teertha point was not at all there when I used to serve as Tiruvadanai overseer. Holy dip at the spot and heading to the Shrine for a Divya Darshan (sacred watch of the main deity, which could enable one to have satisfaction of the Divine Appearance) was much much easier in Rameshwaram at that time.
In my son's opinion, Gandhamadana Parvatam in Rameshwaram is peaceful and ideal for meditation. It is the spot from where Hanuman carried out ಸಾಗರೋಲ್ಲಂಘನ (crossed the distance flying on sea, between the border lines of India and Sri Lanka) to hand over Sri Rama's ಮುದ್ರಿಕೆ (ring) to Devi Seetha.
After our worship in Rameshwaram temple, as pre-planned, we vacated the room in Hotel Ashoka and headed towards Dhanushkodi. Dhanushkodi is the combination of two words. In all languages born from Devanagari Lipi, Dhanush means Bow, while Kodi is the word used to define Overflow, Spring, Confluence etc., according to the situations. Since it is the natural formation of the landscape at the Confluence of Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal bearing the shape of a bow, ancestors fondly named it as Dhanushkodi.
Another description points to the fact that Lord Rama shot an arrow to the location to see that a sweet water spring erupts there, through his divine power. It was to ensure that his army remained jubilant finding ample of water to drink, even at the landscape filled with nothing other than sand, and salt sea water all around.
The location is also identified as the one requiring the shortest length of Rama Sethu (sacred walkway in the form of a stone bridge) across the sea to be constructed, allowing the oceanic waves to lash it from either side. Shape of the motorable road, that touches the shore at Rama Sethu point, resembles the tip of a rice grain, and is hence named by scribes as Arisial Munai (in Tamil, Arisial means rice and Munai means tip).
Buereaucrats argue that it's Arasial, not Arisial Munai. Arasial means Nation or Government. Munai means angular edge protruding in to the sea. Let anything be the prediction, important to note that it has born out of the pure love of our nation, towards the location.
Though Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town, and movement of people in its surrounds is banned after 6pm on all days, sea beach at the confluence of the Indian Ocean (always violent) and the Bay of Bengal (calm most of the time) attracts a very large gathering, following construction of the motorable road two years ago.
Then it was the turn of Tiruvadanai - penultimate leg of our tour. We left Dhanushkodi around lunch time, found boards of Uppoor and Thondi (where civil work of temples belonged to my jurisdiction long back) passing through the highway, and reached Tiruvadanai at 5pm.
Kovil Gurukkal (temple priest), excited by knowing that the overseer who served there long long ago has arrived with family, has took a lot of interest to explain history of the shrine to my wife and son. In this blog post I am avoiding explanation of history and religious importance of the Shrines, due to easy availability of everything regarding those in search engines.
Darshan of Arulmigu Adi Ratneshwarar (Main Deity) and Arulmigu Snehavalli Ambal (Devi) in Tiruvadanai re-kindled my past memories. I found it extremely happy to show to my wife and son the staff quarters in which I stayed while serving.
'Keep coming', was the message to me by everyone in Devasthanam when I left four decades ago. It was a pleasure to receive the same message even from the present incumbents.
After that we began to work on Sri Rangam visit, the last leg of our tour. As it would have been midnight to reach Sri Rangam if we started from Tiruvadanai at that time, we decided to halt at Karaikudi situated at half way through. My visit to Karaikudi too has been regular long ago. It has been amazing to find one or two peacocks on roofs of every house then. But this time when we arrived and stayed in Abirami Residency, Karaikudi, I kept wondering, the city has grown, but where all the peacocks have gone!
Priests informed it as mid-day break to the devotees awaiting for Sri Darshan, by the time we reached Sri Rangam by leaving Karaikudi at around 10am on 21.04.2019.
Sri Rangam island stands apart in comparison to Rameshwaram. While Rameshwaram exists amidst saline sea water surrounding it from all directions, you find Sri Rangam as an amazing landscape amidst river water. A tributary namely Kollidam flows from one direction and merges with Cauvery river flowing from the opposite direction. Island glowing at that confluence spot is Sri Rangam.
We had two hours of spare time till resumption of Sri Darshan in Sri Rangam. We felt it as better to spend some time out of it to meditate near Ramanuja Acharya Sannidhi within the temple premises.
India's approach to preserve bodies is commendable. Body of Ramanuja Acharya is preserved in Sri Rangam temple purely through organic means, whereas elsewhere in the world, including mummification in pyramids of Egypt, application of chemicals is the process followed.
We concluded the tour on that day after Sri Darshan at around 5pm, and drove back to Bangalore by midnight.
As my son prepared himself to drive his car throughout the tour, we first went to the polling booth where we were supposed to cast our votes, as it has been the first polling day in Karnataka. After waiting in the que for two hours and fulfilling our responsibility as Indian citizen, we commenced our tour program from Bangalore, and arrived at Madurai first. It was almost night when we did so, on 18th of last month. We stayed at Hotel The Nook, where rooms are okay and car parking facility not up to the mark, while uninterrupted telecast of the holy city's temple festivities deserved appreciation.
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| Chittirai festival, Madurai |
So vast is the boundary of Madurai temple, as I found the entry to it through a gate and exit through the same gate after worship impossible, when I used to serve in Tiruvadanai. The process is simplified as of now with indicators put up everywhere, thereby enabling convenience of the time bound movement for the devotees.
After offering our prayers in Madurai temple, we headed towards Rameshwaram on 19th, but stopped to find whether Nellai Mess is still there in Ramnad. It was my favorite eating point while serving as Tiruvadanai overseer, as my frequency between Tiruvadanai and Ramnad HO has been regular, in lieu of the Devasthanam's weekly and other periodical meetings. It's very much there, and its owner even today, is as agile as I could find him four decades ago!
Post lunch journey from Ramnad has enabled us to reach Hotel Ashoka, that we booked for our stay in Rameshwaram, only after the sunset.
 |
| Agni Teertha |
Arches you now witness (in the relevant graphic) at the Agni Teertha point was not at all there when I used to serve as Tiruvadanai overseer. Holy dip at the spot and heading to the Shrine for a Divya Darshan (sacred watch of the main deity, which could enable one to have satisfaction of the Divine Appearance) was much much easier in Rameshwaram at that time.
In my son's opinion, Gandhamadana Parvatam in Rameshwaram is peaceful and ideal for meditation. It is the spot from where Hanuman carried out ಸಾಗರೋಲ್ಲಂಘನ (crossed the distance flying on sea, between the border lines of India and Sri Lanka) to hand over Sri Rama's ಮುದ್ರಿಕೆ (ring) to Devi Seetha.
After our worship in Rameshwaram temple, as pre-planned, we vacated the room in Hotel Ashoka and headed towards Dhanushkodi. Dhanushkodi is the combination of two words. In all languages born from Devanagari Lipi, Dhanush means Bow, while Kodi is the word used to define Overflow, Spring, Confluence etc., according to the situations. Since it is the natural formation of the landscape at the Confluence of Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal bearing the shape of a bow, ancestors fondly named it as Dhanushkodi.
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| Rama Sethu point |
The location is also identified as the one requiring the shortest length of Rama Sethu (sacred walkway in the form of a stone bridge) across the sea to be constructed, allowing the oceanic waves to lash it from either side. Shape of the motorable road, that touches the shore at Rama Sethu point, resembles the tip of a rice grain, and is hence named by scribes as Arisial Munai (in Tamil, Arisial means rice and Munai means tip).
Buereaucrats argue that it's Arasial, not Arisial Munai. Arasial means Nation or Government. Munai means angular edge protruding in to the sea. Let anything be the prediction, important to note that it has born out of the pure love of our nation, towards the location.
Though Dhanushkodi is an abandoned town, and movement of people in its surrounds is banned after 6pm on all days, sea beach at the confluence of the Indian Ocean (always violent) and the Bay of Bengal (calm most of the time) attracts a very large gathering, following construction of the motorable road two years ago.
Then it was the turn of Tiruvadanai - penultimate leg of our tour. We left Dhanushkodi around lunch time, found boards of Uppoor and Thondi (where civil work of temples belonged to my jurisdiction long back) passing through the highway, and reached Tiruvadanai at 5pm.
Kovil Gurukkal (temple priest), excited by knowing that the overseer who served there long long ago has arrived with family, has took a lot of interest to explain history of the shrine to my wife and son. In this blog post I am avoiding explanation of history and religious importance of the Shrines, due to easy availability of everything regarding those in search engines.
Darshan of Arulmigu Adi Ratneshwarar (Main Deity) and Arulmigu Snehavalli Ambal (Devi) in Tiruvadanai re-kindled my past memories. I found it extremely happy to show to my wife and son the staff quarters in which I stayed while serving.
'Keep coming', was the message to me by everyone in Devasthanam when I left four decades ago. It was a pleasure to receive the same message even from the present incumbents.
After that we began to work on Sri Rangam visit, the last leg of our tour. As it would have been midnight to reach Sri Rangam if we started from Tiruvadanai at that time, we decided to halt at Karaikudi situated at half way through. My visit to Karaikudi too has been regular long ago. It has been amazing to find one or two peacocks on roofs of every house then. But this time when we arrived and stayed in Abirami Residency, Karaikudi, I kept wondering, the city has grown, but where all the peacocks have gone!
Priests informed it as mid-day break to the devotees awaiting for Sri Darshan, by the time we reached Sri Rangam by leaving Karaikudi at around 10am on 21.04.2019.
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| Sri Rangam amidst Kollidam and Cauvery |
We had two hours of spare time till resumption of Sri Darshan in Sri Rangam. We felt it as better to spend some time out of it to meditate near Ramanuja Acharya Sannidhi within the temple premises.
India's approach to preserve bodies is commendable. Body of Ramanuja Acharya is preserved in Sri Rangam temple purely through organic means, whereas elsewhere in the world, including mummification in pyramids of Egypt, application of chemicals is the process followed.
We concluded the tour on that day after Sri Darshan at around 5pm, and drove back to Bangalore by midnight.
Congratulations on your first anniversary of blog "Catchy"
ReplyDeleteExplanation given over is very informative.
The biography of your life is very touching.
Very nice article.
Good luck
Ramachandran g r
Thank you Ramachandran.
DeleteYou could be able to address masses about more info in the matter, as you're a native of Tamilnadu.