Kapali Devotee Aparna Panguni Utsavam Rishabha Vahanam

Kapaleeswarar draws true devotees towards him and binds them for life. This section had in 2020 featured a story on a long time devotee and a staffer at Sundaram Finance, S Harini Yogalakshmi, who missed her favourite Rishabha Vahanam for the first time in her life after the Pandemic led to the cancellation of the Panguni Utsavam. As a Mylapore resident during her entire school and college days in the 1990s and the 2000s, she had been devotionally engaged with the Lord each session of the grand annual utsavam.

She had told this writer in April 2020 that for a true Kapali devotee, the Gopura Vaasal darshan each morning and evening during the Panguni Utsavam is pure bliss. Marriage had taken her to Erode and she had been away from the city for 5 years but that did not deter her from being part of the Panguni Utsavam. She would take the Yercaud Express to watch her favourite Lord on the Rishabha Vahanam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/kapali-panguni-utsavam.html).

Like Harini, long time Mylapore resident S Aparna, a first year student at MOP Vaishnav College (Electronic Media), too has been devotee of Kapaleeswarar all her life. Right from the time she was a three year old, her parents, hailing from Mangudi, near Kumbakonam, had initiated her into a devotional way of life. She has been a regular at the annual Panguni Utsavam ever since and has never missed a single Utsavam. Through the early phase of her schooling days, she would be taken to the Kapaleeswarar temple by her appa, and the daily darshan of Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal gave her a devotional bonding with the divine couple and the Panguni Utsavam had become the one utsavam that she did not want to miss. 

This section has also featured stories on remote temples where the Lord is now carried on wheels during the annual utsavams. Aparna recalls with a tinge of sadness as to how that trend has caught up at the Panguni Utsavam as well “In my early schooling days, I remember all the deities being carried by the Sripatham and it was a sight behold. There was a certain devotional charm about it. I remember a few Brazilians visiting the utsavam several years ago and being completely taken over the grandeur of the utsavam and the majestic way the Lord was carried around the Mada Streets. Unfortunately in recent years, the trend has been to carry the deities other than Kapaleeswarar on Wheels and that has caused for a bit of the charm to be lost.”

Like with Harini, for Aparna too, the Naga Vahana holds a special place in her heart and she never misses being at the start on the fourth evening of the utsavam.

During her schooling days, Aparna used to walk along the procession till the end of East Mada Street. Later on, into her teens, she made it to the Western entrance of the North Mada Street on the late evening procession. While she has been an integral part of the Panguni Utsavam as a devotee for over a decade, it had always been at the back of her mind to be part of a procession ‘end to end’, especially on the Rishabha Vahanam night.

Through the night processions are a regular feature in historical temple towns in Tamil Nadu. This year, on April 16, Jambukeswarar and Akilandeswari will go on a night long Pancha Prakara procession at Thiruvanaikaval https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2018/04/thiruvanaikaval-pancha-prakara-utsavam.html). This month will see the handsome Kothandaramar at Vaduvur go on a non stop 15 hour procession as part of the Brahmotsavam  (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/05/vaduvur-rama-navami-utsavam.html). But in the fast paced city life, the processions are run through at a fair clip. The Rishabha Vahana procession at the Kapaleeswarar Temple as part of the fifth day celebrations of the Panguni Utsavam is one where the Pancha Moorthies are there around the Mada Streets all through the night with the procession culminating on the 6th morning with Ekantha Sevai sacred verses recital of the othuvars inside the temple complex.

Last year, in 2021, the Rishabha Vahanam procession began at 12.30am and there were only a handful of devotees at the procession after 2am (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/03/maruvur-vedic-ramesh.html). When Aparna saw Kapaleeswarar atop her favourite Naga Vahana on Saturday evening, she was suddenly inspired to try out the all night procession on the fifth evening of the Utsavam. She recalls those moments on Saturday (March 12) evening “I spoke to my parents on the evening of the Naga Vahana asking for permission to be through the night at the Rishabha Vahanam procession. To my surprise, they immediately agreed. I was quite excited at the prospect of being up through the night with Kapaleeswarar around the Mada Streets for the first time in my life.”

While she spent the Sunday afternoon visualizing Kapaleeswarar on the Rishabha Vahanam, she did not prepare too much ahead of the procession except taking an hour’s nap. It is an interesting that in an age of gadgets leading to devotees’ limited patience in temples, this teenager chose to give this all night presence a try very early on in life. The early start to Rishabham this year meant she had to be around the Mada Streets for well over 8 hours and that could prove to be tiring for anyone.

She was at the Kapaleeswarar temple just after 9pm on Sunday for the Pancha Moorthy procession inside the temple ahead of the Vahana procession. While there were thousands at the start of the procession for the Gopuram Darshan, most had left by the time Kapaleeswarar was on to the Sputh Mada Street. 

12 hours after the Rishabha Vahanam procession, she recounts sitting in a corner of the Kapaleeswarar temple her experience of Sunday night“It was a very different and a devotionally exciting experience. Right from my childhood, it had been a dream to be part of an entire procession. While it would have been normal to have been extremely tired on Monday morning, I found to my surprise that I felt positively energized. I almost felt like I had received a special boost to my devotional spirit. While the real feeling has not still sunk in, it has been an overwhelming experience and very satisfying to the mind. I never knew that I could pull it off. No one in the family has been at a procession all through the night. It feels fulfilling that I could do it this early in my life and has given me renewed confidence that I can do things that don’t necessarily seem easy in life.”

Kapaleeswarar’s walking style, the gala atmosphere with a packed crowd running into thousands, the nagaswaram and the beating of musical instruments of the Shiva Adiyars, the Vedic recital and the Sacred Verses of the Othuvars have made Sunday night very special for Aparna.

Rishabham has always been special to her and this all night experience with Kapaleeswarar has lifted her devotional spirits “While Adhikara Nandi provides a majestic and a dominating look, Rishabham is very close to my heart. I cherish the Rishabham a lot and have a special bonding with him. As you have a close at him from just a few yards away as he arrives on to the Raja Gopuram, the devotional level increases manifold. He is pleasing to the eye and you are suddenly struck with a ‘very calm devotion’. It is something one has to experience to get the real feel. Rishabham’s eyes are so beautiful, ones that you do not find on any other day of the utsavam. And this time having been with him all through the Sunday night, I am on a devotional high with a feeling that he is one with me.”

Her parents have had a big role to play in her devotional way of life. She credits them for her bonding with Kapaleeswarar “Instead of taking me to movies, they created a big interest for me in temples by making this my daily destination. Even the tours that we did outside of Chennai were to temples like Gangai Konda Chola Puram, Sarangapani and Chakrapani (Kumbakonam), Big Temple (Thanjavur) and Swami Malai. Thiru Meyachur Lalithambigai was a special favourite. They never forced me into temples but inculcated the devotional values and bhakthi in my childhood and allowed me to take a call on my way of life.”

For a girl from the new gen, it is pleasing to hear that she is never bored of temples. Through the 10 days of the Panguni Utsavam, she is there every morning and evening at the Kapaleeswarar temple well ahead of the procession. Sunday night saw her devotional dream come true. With this experience behind her, she is now even more devotionally thirsty and longing for more “My next devotional wish is to be part of an all night Aruthra Utsavam and watch the abhisekam after mid night and the Deepaarathanai early in the morning staying inside the temple all through the night.”

Also, she has a few more devotional wishes up her list even at the Panguni Utsavam, things that she has not experienced to date “On the night after Arubathumoovar, I want to be part of the late night Pancha Moorthi procession (2am/3am), one that does not see too many devotees.”

At a time, when the next gen has been moving into what is now fancifully termed a ‘modern way of life’, Aparna has moved the clock back in time and is leading a life that those from the previous generation would be delighted with.  Outside of her educational endeavours, a lot of her life over the last decade or so has revolved around temples and particularly with Kapaleeswarar. "Even when we planned a trip, I preferred a pilgrimage than a vacation to a tourist destination."

As she heads back to take yet another look at her favourite Lord on the Yaanai Vahanam on the sixth day of the Utsavam, one thing is clear - this teenager has been blessed by Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal to have such a close proximity with the divine couple at this young age.