It was an eventful day at three Perumal temples on the occasion of Maasi Magam
Grandeur back at Sarangapani Koil Theppam
It is just past 5am on Thursday (Feb 17). Chakrapani Perumal has already made his way to the East end of the Raja Gopuram and mounted atop the decorated Chariot. Following the Horse Vahana procession that went late into Wednesday night, the priests spent a couple of hours well past mid night decorating the Lord for the Chariot Procession as part of the 10 day Maasi utsavam at the Chakrapani temple in Kumbakonam. Kannan Bhattar and his son Sathyavasan, who has joined the temple recently after Patshala education, welcomed the early morning devotees to the Chariot.
A few hundred yards west of the Chakrapani temple, hereditary priest Kumar Bhattar, who also takes care of the Parthanpalli Divya Desam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/10/parthanpalli-nangur-divya-desam.html) in Thiru Nangur and his son in law Baradwaj Deekshithar are performing the formalities ahead of the Theerthavari utsavam at the Aathi Varaha Perumal temple.
At the Sarangapani Koil, Soundarrajan Bhattar after visiting Chakrapani Perumal atop the Chariot just after 5.30am, is decorating the Lord at the Mandapam North of the Sanctum for the final day of the Theppotsavam, one on which Sarangopani Perumal is inside the Potramarai tank, west of the temple, for almost 12hours, a unique feature for a Divya Desam.
Back at the East Street of the Chakrapani Temple (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/02/kudanthai-chakrapani-koil.html), devotees stream into a final glimpse of the beautifully decorated Chakrapani before the Chariot begins its two trip around the four street just after 8.30am. Several hundreds of devotees have lined up to pull the chariot with the announcer atop the chariot making period announcements on the protocol for the procession and guiding the devotees as they pull the chariot on to the South Street.
Chakrapani Ther
Sarangapani to the Theppam to Koil Periya Thirumozhi Verses
Following the presentation of Thiru Mangai Azhvaar’s Vadinen Vaadi Paasuram, Sarangapani Perumal made his way through the towering Eastern Raja Gopuram for his street procession. Only a handful of devotees were in for the start of the procession. By the time, Sarangapani, led by the Prabhandham members’ recital of Koil Thirumozhi verses, made his way to the entrance of the Theppam just after 10.30am, there were a few more devotees to welcome him but not enough and there were murmurs on whether there would be a good crowd for the Theppam in the evening.
Kumbeswarar on a procession to the Maha Magam
It is a big day for devotees in Thiru Kudanthai with Saivite Lords from over 15 temples making their way to the Maha Magam Kulam for Maasi Magam Utsavam. There were traffic diversions around the popular kulam. While the initial word had been that the devotees would not be allowed entry into the tank for the sacred bath, they were finally allowed much to their delight as several thousands of them witnessed the processions of Saivite Lords from across the temple town.
Just after 11am, with Sarangapani in the float, at the South end, Kumbeswarar made his way to the Maha Magam Kulam. A few devotees moved out making their way for a darshan of the Theerthavari at Aathi Varaha Perumal(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/12/aathi-varaha-perumal-kumbakonam.html). There were also those who were keen on a darshan of Chakrapani at the Chariot.
Aathi Varaha Perumal
After an hour of the float, Sarangapani Perumal took to the Neeraatam Mandapam with Soundarrajan Bhattar presenting Kadamba Saatham and Dhadhyonam to the Lord just after 1pm. If one thought he would return home for a well earned rest on a day that had begun for at 5.30am, he had a different role to play in the next few hours.
It is the duty of the Bhattar of the day to take care of Perumal inside the Neerattam Mandapam. This Magam day, each year, there is the Chariot festival at Chakrapani temple and Theerthavari at Aathi Varaha Perumal. Also, with the Magam Utsavam at Maha Magam Kulam, each of the Perumal Sannidhis are usually crowded on this day and hence no substitutes are available for the Bhattar.
Soundarrajan Bhattar's day out at the Theppam
Having started out at 5.30am, Soundarrajan Bhattar continued to remain all alone inside the Neerattam Mandapam through the 2nd half of the day while all the devotees and other service personnel had left after the morning session. And then after 4pm, he began another hour long Alankaram of Sarangapani for the evening Theppam. At 6pm, the Prabhandham members gathered at the Mandapam and as the screen unveiled, they began their presentation of Thiru Kurunthandakam and Thiru Nedunthaandakam.
Devotee Crowd back again at Temple Fest
While there was minimal crowd in the morning for the traditional one round on the float, the evening crowd took everyone by surprise. Devotees were allowed into the float for a closer darshan of Sarangapani and several hundreds of them queued up for this at 8pm taking the float managers by surprise. For over an hour, the devotees took turns to have darshan and the float did not start on the first of the three rounds till after 9pm on Thursday.
After the unlocking of the temple festival restrictions, it was the first big day of devotee crowd at Sarangapani Koil utsavam. Clock had ticked past 10pm and devotees streamed into the float, unabated. This time for the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the float devotees were allowed to remain inside the float and it was packed with people on all four sides. Soundarrajan Bhattar was kept on his toes presenting prasadam to all the devotees who entered the float.
For those that stayed through the evening, prasadam comprising of Puliyotharai and Dhadhyonam was presented at the Andavan Ashram.
Saivite Lords meet with Sarangapani
On the second round of the float, the Saivite Lords who were making their return trip from the Maha Magam met with Sarangapani with them providing a joint face to face darshan. Devotees were delighted to have darshan of the exchange of garlands between the Saivite Lords from the Kumbesawarar South Street and the Sarangapani inside the Theppam.
The presentation of devotional songs for over 3 hours by the Nagaswaram troupe was much appreciated by the devotees who finally at 11pm made their way out of the temple tank.
A Team Photo - One for the Album
The day was not yet done though for Soundarrajan Bhattar as formalities remained for him. He presented flowers to the float personnel who had worked tirelessly through the day in helping manage a smooth sail. In a great gesture, Soundarrajan Bhattar brought all the priests, many of them from the next gen, who worked along with him through the five days of the Theppotsavam for a photo shoot inside the theppam making it one for the album.
A unique through the day presence at Potramarai Kulam
Unlike most other Divya Desams where the Theppam takes place only in the evening, Sarangapani Perumal stays within the Potramarai Kulam through the day for almost 12hours on the occasion of the Theppotsavam with one round in the float in the morning and three rounds late in the evening. It was almost 11.30pm when Sarangapani began, led by the Prabhandham members in the front and the Vedic recital at the back, his return trip to his abode through the TSR Big Street (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/tsr-co-legendary-enterpreneur_19.html). After the Prabhandham members completed their recital as the clocked ticked past midnight, it took another hour for Soundarrajan Bhattar and his team to finish their kainkaryam and return home bringing to end the five day Theppotsavam at the Sarangapani Koil in Thiru Kudanthai!!! It had been a great team effort on the day and the contribution of the next gen, most of them having joined after completing the Patshala studies, was particularly commendable and augurs well for this historical Divya Desam.