Reviving Utsavams and Bringing back the lost Vibrancy
Two longtime devotees of Thiruvallikeni have made their way back to their ancestral home in Thirumazhisai to spend the rest of their lives in Kainkaryam to the Azhvaar
This section has featured many stories on how the original inhabitants had left their ancestral temple towns in large numbers since the 1960s leading to severe challenges in ancient temples. In the recent past, there have been a few instances of those that left earlier returning to these temple towns. On the fifth day of the Thai Avathara Utsavam in Thirumazhisai, there was a twin treat for the devotees late in the evening on Thursday with Jagannathan Perumal providing Garuda Sevai darshan and Thirumazhisai Azhvaar on a Hamsa Vahanam.
From Thiruvallikeni Madapalli to Thirumazhisai
46 year old Aravindan had spent his entire schooling years in Thirumazhisai in the 1980s and had watched the temple activities from close quarters. Into his 20s, he moved to Thiruvallikeni working in the computer hardware space. For 15years, he performed service at the Parthasarathy Perumal Divya Desam where he also built a huge network of friends. While he felt blessed to be performing Paricharaka support kainkaryam, there was an inner feeling to come back to his hereditary location and resume service at the feet of Thirumazhisai Azhvaar. The renovation exercise and the subsequent consecration event at the Jagannatha Perumal temple coincided with the arrival of the Pandemic. The Thiruppani activities required service personnel at Thirumazhisai and Aravindan chose the occasion to head back to his home town “It was a difficult decision to leave Parthasarathy Perumal for performing service there and being with the best friends of my life was one of the most enjoyable experiences. In the period that I was in Thiruvallikeni, there was not a moment of rest. There were round the year utsavams and friends to meet with every hour of the day.”
“For anyone, it would be a dream come true to be offered the opportunity to perform service at Parthasarathy Koil. But for me equally big is this current opportunity to serve at birth place of an Azhvaar, where I grew up.”
At Thiruvallikeni, there was a vibrant atmosphere. He recalls as to how there were so many Aravindans that he came to be called as Azhvaar having come from an Azhvaar’s birth place. He sees as a big task bringing back the vibrancy around this temple “I made 100s of friends there at Thiruvallikeni. Here at Thirumazhisai there are only a few traditional families left, many of the utsavams had stopped and most of the time we were short on service personnel. So it is a completely different challenge here. We want to bring back as many utsavams as possible.”
From the Corporate World to Thirumazhisai
56 year Thirumazhisai RS Kannan had been in the corporate world for three decades having worked in National Panasonic and TTK. He chose the occasion of the marriage of his daughter to take the big call to quit the corporate world and return to his ancestral home in Thirumazhisai to perform service at the Jagannathan Perumal temple. He too had been in Thiruvallikeni for 15years and had also performed service of video recording utsavams and sending it to TTD Channel for telecast. In the past he would always be present for the annual avathara utsavam in Thai but otherwise his entire focus had been on his office work.
Revival of utsavams
He has been in Thirumazhisai for just under 2 years and says that it has been a delightful experience at the temple “We have been able to revive the monthly star celebrations of all the Azhvaars. Thayar procession every Friday had come to a halt decades ago. This has now been revived with the support of devotees.”
This section had featured a story last month of the revival of utsavams in Mangai Madam, where too utsavams had come to a halt decades ago (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/12/mangai-madam-utsavam-revival.html). It is definitely a positive development that utsavams are being revived by like minded devotees in historical temples.
Kannan has been participating in the temple activities in every possible way. He lights the lamp in the sannidhis and presents dhoopam, deepam to the archakas during Thirumanjanam. During the Avathara Utsavam, he has joined hands with a few others in Thirumazhisai to organize Thathiyaarathanai for all devotees visiting the temple over the ten days.
Another new initiative in the recent past has been the special Thaligai every Saturday that is distributed to the devotees who have now increased in numbers.
Sripatham Service
On Thursday evening, both Kannan and Aravindan performed Sripatham service during the Pathi Ulathal carrying Thirumazhisai Azhvaar from the temple to the Alankara Mandapam opposite the Raja Gopuram.
Kannan says that in the initial phase after his return to Thirumazhisai he was apprehensive of the longevity of his stay here after several decades of fast paced city life. But much to his surprise he has found a dramatic positive change in his health “BP and Sugar have all vanished since I began to perform service at this temple” he says of his new found happiness in rendering Kainkaryam at the feet of Thirumazhisai Azhvaar.
Annual Trip to Avathara Sthalam Mandapam
The area around the Avathara Sthalam of Thirumazhisai Azhvaar located under half a km South of the temple had been under the threat of encroachment. Kannan has brought together around 50 devotees to light lamp at the avathara sthalam every Sunday to keep the positive vibration at that sacred location and also to ensure that there are no encroachments around the avathara sthalam.
On the 10th day of the Thai Avathara Utsavam, Thirumazhisai Azhvaar makes a trip to the Avathara Sthalam, where a Thirumanjanam is performed. This will take place next Tuesday.
At Thiruvallikeni, it was competition for Kainkaryam. Here at Thirumazhisai, it is a big responsibility for there is always a shortage of service personnel. The two have renovated and reconstructed their hereditary homes and are here to stay for the long term. They are keen to revive utsavams and attract more devotees to this avathara sthalam of Thirumazhisai Azhvaar. With the network of friends, they are now able to reach out to their friends in the Divya Desam for any support for utsavams.
On Thursday evening, Prabhandham members from Thiruvallikeni were part of the Ghosti that presented the sacred verses and the completion of ‘Muthal Aayiram’.
Garuda Sevai Darshan
Madhava Perumal temple’s young archaka Ashwin Bhattar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/04/madhava-perumal-temple-next-gen-bhattar.html) made a long trip from Mylapore to deck Jagannatha Perumal for the Garuda Sevai. He has taken special interest in alankarams and this was yet another opportunity for him to showcase his skills. His younger brother, Sudarshan, who is now learning the agamas, too joined in for the joint street procession (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/08/madhava-perumal-mylapore-next-gen.html). At last year's Brahmotsavam at the Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore, the bhattar from Thirumazhisai had come all the way and supported the priests there.
Shortly after 7pm, devotees gathered in large numbers near the Raja Gopuram to watch Thirumazhisai Azhvaar’s Pathi Ulathal and Voyali as he made his way from the temple complex to the mandapam opposite the Raja Gopuram where he was mounted onto the Hamsa Vahanam. 40 Sripatham personnel arrived at the temple around 8pm.
Around 50 devotees from Vijayawada were present on the occasion of Garuda Sevai Procession. Bhagavathas presented bhajans for over an hour leading to the procession and they continued their songs during the Mada Veethi purappadu.
The big moment of the fifth evening of the utsavam came when Jagannathan Perumal on Garuda Vahana came face to face with Thirumazhisai Azhvaar on the Hamsa Vahana in front of the new look Raja Gopuram.
The utsavam is seeing devotees turn up in good numbers. At the Moolavar Sannidhi, there was a stead stream of devotees through the evening that kept the archakas busy.
The revered Vasan Bhattar of Therazhundur (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/09/therazhundur-vasan-bhattar.html) has often expressed to this writer that the greatest need in historical temple locations is the presence of traditional devotees in good numbers to participate and support the Bhattars both in their daily activities as well as during the utsavams. The return of this traditional duo from Thiruvallikeni is certainly a step in that direction and will make a big difference to the Jagannatha Perumal temple in Thirumazhisai in the long run. It is hoped that more such devotees will take the big call sooner than later to return to their hereditary locations to help in the return of the vibrancy in the historical temple towns.