Kapali Panguni Utsavam 2023

Kapaleewarar was one of the few temples that saw the annual Panguni Utsavam take place as per plan both in 2021 and 2022 but the seniors and the children had stayed back from the Utsavam in those two years. Over the last ten days, the crowd was back in large numbers and it took Arubathmoovar till midnight to return to the temple. As is the new trend, everything is mega and on a large scale at temples these days. A big and colourfully decorated stage for the Thiru Kalyanam and large screens across the temple complex symbolised the growing nature of annual utsavams.

The first big event leading up to this year’s Panguni Utsavam at Kapaleeswarar temple came just after 8pm on the first of March. At the Moolavar Sannidhi, hereditary priest Balaji Gurukal read out the Lagna Patrikai and the timings for the eagerly awaited Rishabha Vahanam, the start of the Chariot procession and the Thiru Kalyanam. A few days after this event, the new EO R Hariharan ( he took over on temporary deputation following the death of Kaveri) directed the erection of the pandal across the temple complex. The entire temple wore a festive look leading up to the Panguni Utsavam.

In the week leading up to the Utsavam, EO Hariharan anchors two meetings of various teams including the police, fire services, corporation, voluntary organisations and the EB to discuss threadbare the preparatory plans for the utsavam. The meetings set the agenda on the action points to be carried out by different teams during the festival.

At 9pm on March 27, on the eve of the Utsavam, Narthana Pillayar made his way around the Mada Streets on a Velli Mooshika Vahanam as a pre cursor to the festival. One could sense that there was excitement building up to the fest with devotees discussing amongst themselves on the important processions to mark/block in their calendar in the coming week.

It was an early start the next morning (March 28) with several hundreds gathering around the Dwajasthambam for the flag hoisting event. By 8.30am the entire temple reverberated in devotion following the vedic recital. The flag had been hoisted and it was time for the Pancha Moorthy procession. The first morning procession is usually a quiet affair and with year end work and the board examinations still on, it turned out to be so that Thursday morning. 

The big crowd lands up for the procession in the night at 10pm. A devotional roar erupts even as Balaji Gurukal presents the Gopura Vaasal Deeparaathanai. Shortly after, the Sripatham personnel were up with their Voyali which has become popular in recent years. An unwelcome addition has been for the devotees’ hands going up over their heads with the phone both when the screen is lifted in front of the Thiru Kalyana Mandapam for the first glimpse as well as in the Sannidhi Street to shoot the dance. It takes three hours for the Lord to make his way around the Mada Streets on this first night of the Utsavam. That is a question this writer is asking in this story on temple processions going well past midnight each day of the Utsavam when most have gone to sleep. More on this later in the story.

The Thiru Maahaalam Brothers, TS Pandyan and TS Sethuraman (who has been overseas for a long time), come all the way from near Koothanur  to present Nagaswaram through the first night of the procession but for a large part of the early procession their devotional tunes are drowned out by the Periya Udal. 

An early alert to the EO of the temple, R Hariharan, at least a week ahead of the festival to direct the Udal members to move well ahead of the procession has no impact. Subsequent alerts too have no impact as the beating of the drums blanks out the Nagaswaram recital in almost every night procession during the first half of the fest leaving the outstation artistes sad (The EO did assign a team member but it did not have the necessary impact and nothing changed). These are important aspects to the festival and the authorities have to pay attention to these devotional details in addition to getting the mega things correct at the festival. These devotional aspects get sidelined and the artistes are left to themselves to find a solution when the temple authorities should be ensuring that deviations are corrected. Much later, in the 2nd half of the festival Asthana Vidwan Mohan Dass himself went ahead and repeatedly pleaded with the Udal artistes to get them to move forward in the procession.

This has an even more interesting dimension to it. The outstation Nagaswaram roped in from different parts of TN by Mohan Dass is sponsored by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Kapali temple and this is printed prominently on the Utsavam invitation every year!!! One wonders why the Chairman would not initiate corrective action on this (it is likely he does not know for he has almost never been through any part of a procession in the last many years!!!). Most of the outstation artistes return saddened as the pleas to the Udal artistes bear no fruits. Of course seen as a standalone presentation, the devotional play of the Udal artistes along with the Shiva Adiyars is remarkable and the devotees surrounded them all along enjoying the drums but they were insensitive to the fact that the Nagaswaram with its lesser output was being easily out-drummed by their presentation.

On a hot Wednesday (March 29) afternoon on the Northern Prakara, a few minutes after Kapaleesawarar has returned from the first procession of the utsavam, P Murali, who runs a handicrafts shop in Mylapore, is busy providing the finishing polishing touches to the silver adikaara nandi vahanaa that his grandfather Thasai Kumaraswamy Bhaktha had built in 1917.

He tells this writer that his grandfather was a big devotee of Sri Kapaleeswarar and sold 3 houses ( including  the current locations where Raasi Silks and Giri Trading are housed) on Sannidhi Street opposite the temple to build the silver Adikaara Nandi vahana at a cost  of Rs. 40000. Chandru Bhaktha, another descendent, said that it turned out to be so auspicious that his appa was born on the day of the Adikaara Nandi procession in Panguni of 1917.

Every year on the eve of the procession, the family members jointly recite Thirvasagam inside the temple and then present prasadam to the devotees.

For 106 years it's this family that has been maintaining the Adikaara Nandi vahana. In recognition of their contribution the first deeparadhanai on the third morning of the utsavam is shown to them.

The first big moment of the Utsavam takes place on Thursday (March 30) morning with several hundreds of devotees gathering at the Eastern Raja Gopuram for the unveiling of Kapaleeswarar seated atop the tall Adikaara Nandi. The Deeparathanai at 5.45am receives a big devotional roar. For the next hour, the Lord provides darshan at the 16 pillar mandapam as the crowd remains unabated. It is past 8am when Kapaleeswarar is on to the South Mada Street. Late comers have darshan there. Residents of Mylapore and others present milk to devotees in memory of the Gnana Paal episode.  Thiru Gnana Sambandar joins the Pancha Moorthy at the South entrance of the tank for the enactment of this legendary episode.

Later in the afternoon, there is a longish stopover at East end of North Mada Street. On this hot day, it is well past 2pm when Kapaleeswarar is back at the temple – that’s an over 8 hour procession around the Mada Streets. 

The Naga Vahana procession at the start on the 4th evening of the utsavam was disappointing. The oversized crowd meant that that Sripatham could not put up a full show of their dance. The volunteers from SVC did not plan in advance on what was going to be in store outside the Raja Gopuram. While the entire Sannidhi Street was clear just before 9pm, as the Swami made his way to the Raja Gopuram, it was packed in a matter of minutes. And thus clearing people till 8.55pm proved irrelevant. 

S Aparna, who has been at the utsavam for well over a decade and has watched the Voyali on the Sannidhi Street, says that the snake dance on the Naga Vahana evening has not taken place in the last few years and the devotees have had to make do with the standard voyali that one sees on other days of the utsavam (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/03/kapali-devotee-aparna-panguni-utsavam.html).

Unfortunately none in the police department too have a clue of the next steps in the procession and are constantly pushing away the devotees. It would have helped for the police to post personnel with some background experience of different processions and what was likely to happen next.  In most cases, through the utsavam processions, the police personnel are asking devotees to get back to the Pillayar Sannidhi when the idols were at least 10 minutes away from starting from the 16 pillar mandapam. Their sincerity and commitment to the task cannot be questioned but for most part they are simply clueless on processions and the next steps of the Lord.

Another saddening new development at this utsavam has been the Sripatham asking the Nagaswaram to stop playing in front of the Raja Gopuram so they can present Voyali to the tunes of the band music. Are the temple authorities watching such developments and is it not their responsibility to prevent Sripatham from stopping the Aasthana Vidwan’s presentations at the start of the procession.

When the lagna patrikai was read out on March 1, the biggest cheer amongst devotees was the timing of the Rishabham at 9pm on Saturday. One of the devotees from Thiruvallikeni immediately posted a comment that they could spend extra hours with Kapaleeswarar because of the early start (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/04/kapali-panguni-utsavam.html). And that’s how it turned. The Sannidhi Street and East Mada Street was packed with devotees. It was a gala atmosphere that late evening on Saturday. There was huge crowd till mid night. 

Its tradition (agama) for the Rishabham to return to the temple only after sunrise the next morning. When Rishabham typically started out in the past after midnight, it seemed a reasonable timeline of around 5 hours to reach the Raja Gopuram. But with an early start at 9pm, to be stationed on South Mada and West Mada streets with absolutely no additional devotees (except those residents who are waiting to present the thattu in front of their homes) is not devotionally invigorating. The police and service personnel outnumbered the devotees after 1am and it was only during the last phase of the procession the next morning when the Swami turned into the Sannidhi street did the devotees (who went back home) join back for the morning session.

Asthana Othuvar of Kapali temple Sathgurunathan roped in Othuvars from across TN including Sirkazhi, Vriddachalam, Sankaran Koil and Thoothukudi to present the sacred verses through the evening procession. A special highlight of the utsavam was the one hour Ekantha Sevai on Sunday morning as devotees in hundreds enjoyed the Thevaram presentation of the Othuvars led by Sathgurunathan. As Kapaleeswarar turned into the North Prakara, Aadu Mayil Aadu elicited humming from the devotees and the Sripatham presented a terrific dance in line with the song.

Every evening through the utsavam, they presented the Thevaram songs for two hours at the Navarathri Mandapam and then through the Mada Streets procession.

Later that morning, Kapaleeswarar goes out on a procession in the simplest of alankarams, in a simple white vastram. It is the day of the Yaanai Vahanam later in the evening and a day of 'simple whites' for all.

The Chariot and Arubathumoovar processions were very well managed by the authorities. It was broadly well thought out and the crowd was under control. The young 32 year old DCP Rajat Chaturvedi (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/03/mylapore-dcp-rajat-chaturvedi.html), who had experienced the big chariot festival at Nanguneri Divya Desam, later told this writer that he was surprised at the time it took on the turns at every street corner. 

Chariot took 5 ½ hours from start to return to Theradi, while the Arubathumoovar procession last almost 10 hours and reached around midnight. The announcements from SVC played a big role in devotee having a safe darshan. Specifically on both these days as well as on other evenings of the utsavam, the police enforced a strict implementation of restricting vehicles into Mada Streets. This initiative has to be commended for it brought the real Thiruvizha atmosphere into the Mada Streets with small businesses thriving through the festival. For the first time in many years, the Mada Street was shut out to four wheelers well ahead of the procession with police personnel manning the  West end of North and South Mada streets and ensuring that not too many exceptions were made. The Police personnel also handed out safety pins for the women to tie their jewelry to the saree. DCP Rajat told this writer that it was satisfying to have a crime free utsavam with no major reports of chain snatching or thefts at this high profile series of events.

One of the devotionally big moments of the utsavam was the event at the West Tank on Tuesday (April 4) morning a few hours before the start of the Arubathumoovar procession. Saint Poet Thiru Gnana Sambandar came on a joint procession with Sivanesar, Poompaavai’s appa from the temple to the West side of the tank.

Though Sivanesar had not met Thiru Gnana Sambandar, so moved was he with the devotion of the Saint poet that he had made up his mind to give his daughter’s hand to him. However, in the meanwhile, his daughter died of a snake bite. When he heard that Thiru Gnana Sambandar was coming to Mylapore from Thiruvottiyur, he came here to meet him.

It was here in Mylapore that the Saint Poet presented 10 verses praising the utsavams of Kapaleeswarar asking if Poompavai did not want to enjoy each of these utsavams. When he rendered the verse of Panguni uthiram celebrations and asked her if she did not want to have darshan of the wedding of the Divine Couple, much to the joy of the devotees, Poompaavai came back to life. This entire episode was enacted at the West Tank with Othuvar Sathgurunathan presenting these devotional ten verses that had devotees in tears. It was the one event in the utsavam when devotees listened to the rendering in silence.

Unfortunately, on this day, there were two instances that showcased the temple authorities in poor light. Ahead of such an important event, the authorities did not ensure traffic management near the tank on RK Mutt Road and Thiru Gnana Sambandar was caught right in the middle of the road in peak traffic just after 11am on Tuesday with buses and several private vehicles lining up both sides of the road. The police too were caught off guard.

An hour later, inside the temple complex, with all the focus on the Arubathumoovar procession, the temple authorities were once again caught off guard with huge crowd lining up for Moolavar darshan. There were no temple staffers to take charge of the situation and the scene turned chaotic at the North Prakara. The police inspector as well as one of the trustees were helpless and shut their eyes to the situation and moved away. 

While Arubathumoovar was the big occasion on Tuesday, the authorities should have expected the big crowd at the Moolavar Sannidhi and taken appropriate steps to manage the crowd. 

West Mada Street had its hour of glory on Wednesday evening on the 9th day of the Utsavam. Kapaleeswarar in Bikshaandar Thiru Kolam made his way through the South Mada Street to North end of the West Mada Street just after 8pm. Karpagambal in a Mohini Alankaram presented a special dance show from the North end of West Mada Street that thrilled the devotees for over thirty minutes. It is one of the events at this utsavam that has caught the fancy of the modern day youth and has attracted big crowd outside the Mylapore bus stand.

The 10th and final evening was the most challenging for the temple authorities. While the Chariot and Arubathumoovar had to be managed on the public roads, the Thiru Kalyana Utsavam was the biggest event inside the temple complex during this utsavams and the thousands of devotees had to be accommodated inside for those crucial few hours after 5pm on Thursday.

EO Hariharan is busy monitoring the plans and instructing his teammates on the plan of action through the day on Thursday. He and Trustee Arumugham have been the busiest through the ten days of the utsavam. Another Trustee Thirunavukarasu, who works in a Tier 1 IT firm, told this writer late on Thursday evening that Trustee Arumugham had shut his shop for ten days to be full time at the utsavam in an effort to make this a success. Arumugham was visible everywhere from carrying the Lord on his shoulder to presenting the Thattu on behalf of the temple late in the night on each of the processions.

There may soon be a permanent EO at the Kapaleeswarar temple but in the four months that Hariharan has been here he has done his credibility no harm at all. He has been in quite engaging conversations with his team members, even having tea with them (@ Tantea) and has wanted to ensure plan implementation ahead of time leaving nothing to the last minute. A most revealing and stand out feature that the service personnel at the temple have experienced during his short stint here has been his ability to hear out the views of others and to give them the confidence that action would be initiated if their views was on dharmic lines. That is quite commendable for an EO of such a large temple (unfortunately for this writer, he did not respond to any of the messages during the utsavam).

The Thiru Kalyana Utsavam went on well but by 10pm the entire temple complex had been littered with the remains of prasadams that devotees had distributed. On one side, devotees are coming to seek the Swami’s blessings for justice and a fair life but within minutes within the very same temple premises after they have had such a divine darshan they act adharmic throwing juice packets and food plates all around the prakara. The scene had been no different earlier in the week on the Arubathumoovar night when the Mada Streets were full of wastes (kudos to Urabesar for cleaning up the four mada streets well past midnight to get it back in shape the next morning). And many of the food plates contained food half eaten!!!

It was also a surprise as to why the Sripatham personnel would bring out Ravaneswarar Vahana only after 10pm on Thursday when the Divine Couple had already been on the Oonjal for about half hour. By the time they had cleaned up the dust on the vahana and got it ready, it was close to 11pm. It was a silent procession with Kapaleeswarar atop the ten headed Ravana listening peacefully to the sole musical instrument on the night - Ravana's favourite Mukha Veena. When Kapaleeswarar returned to the Raja Gopuram after the final procession of the Panguni Utsavam, it was just past 2am. 

Into the future, the authorities have to sit and discuss on this practice of each of the processions going well past 1am. Centuries ago, the entire life in Mylapore centered around temples and utsavams. Today, people have to get back to schools and colleges the next morning and the seniors to their work place. Rishabham as an exception is probably given that the return into the temple has to be after sunrise. However, would every night procession has to go past 1am? While the Kodiyetram was a high profile event with several hundreds around the Dwajasthambam, the event to bring down the flag began well past 2am with tired looking eyes and withered bodies!!!!

The one man who stood out throughout the festival with an outstanding Kainkaryam was the former World Bank Consultant V Ramkumar(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/07/kapali-v-ramkumar-world-bank-to-sanyasam.html). Previously he was known for handing out the Rudrakasham and devotional books to young devotees to direct them in the dharmic path. Since the last Vasantha Utsavam, he had begun to perform the Theevatti Kainkaryam.

At this Panguni Utsavam, he was probably one of the very few service personnel to have performed from start to finish at every procession over the last ten days having to come from his home in Kodambakkam through the first five days before resting out in Mylapore through the 2nd half of the utsavam. In addition to festival kainkaryam, the priest in charge of the Moolavar Sannidhi also used his services for some of the internal processions. Historically, this was how the devotees participated in utsavams taking a specific Kainkaryam and seeing it through the end. In a fast paced world, it has become a trend in recent years for most of the devotees to leave after the Swami has made his way to the end of the Sannidhi Street. Ramkumar, who is getting away from the Corporate World (in the not too distant past, he had four top cars at his household!!!), showcased as to how one could take up and perform selfless kainkaryam at temple utsavams.