Srirangam Panguni Chariot Festival 2024

It is not often that a HR & CE EO is at the temple till midnight for a festival. But Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple’s JC Mariappan is different. Not only is he honest and straight forward, he is also keen for the events to flow smooth and is personally committed to remove all obstacles that obstruct the schedule. 

He was at the temple early on Monday morning to oversee the events on the Panguni Uthiram morning. Amidst his busy schedule, he told this writer at the Thayar Sannidhi as to how he foresaw the next 24 hours “The Chariot is scheduled to start at 8am on Tuesday and I am keen for us to stick to that schedule. Working backwards, I am keen that all the events today (Monday) happen keeping the Chariot procession in mind.”

For the first time in several decades, Namperumal, who started out on a 8 street – Chitrai and Uthirai Veethi - procession at 6am on Monday to collect money from devotees for a new ring (he had presented his ring to Kamalavalli Nachiyar at Uraiyur a couple of days earlier) made his way to the Thayar Sannidhi by 8.30am. 

For many decades, this was a big money collecting exercise for the service personnel at the Srirangam temple and it was no different on Monday morning as well. Devotees were furious at the way the service personnel entered their homes and coerced them to handing them money. This act of the service personnel also led one devotee to shout out that they are poor role models for the next gen who he said are unlikely to be impressed with the way the service personnel and the HRCE staff were demanding money from every resident around the 8 streets.

Given this exercise, typically Namperumal made his way to the Thayar Sannidhi only around 9.30am but this time he was there one hour ahead. Message too had gone out to the Araiyars of the day and Pandaris who were to be involved in a heated debate representing Namperumal and Ranganayaki Thayar on how the Lord had made a secret trip to Uraiyur and handed his ring to his beloved there.

Nam Azhvaar arrived soon in front of the Thayar Sannidhi and the enactment of Ranganayaki Thayar shutting the door on Namperumal’s entry into her Sannidhi was conducted in front of hundreds of devotees. The representatives of Namperumal were seen smeared with butter that was thrown at them by the angry representatives of Thayar. The hour long debate between Thayar and Perumal ended by 11am with the former finally relenting to Nam Azhvaar’s suggestion to permit Namperumal into the Sannidhi. 

JC Mariappan told this writer that he would close down the ticketed entry by 7.30pm for Chinna Perumal to make his for the Theerthavari at Kollidam. It was once again an unprecedented decision for typically the tickets were issued till 10pm in the decades gone by. “We are interested in ticket collections and are keen for the events to go as per schedule and for the Chariot to start at 8am on Tuesday.”

It was a single minded devotional endeavour rarely experienced at this temple from a HRCE EO.

By 1.30pm, both Namperumal and Ranganayaki Thayar had arrived at the Serthi Mandapam and the screen opened to a loud cheer from the large number of devotees who had gathered at the prakara for the a first glimpse of the divine couple. Once again, the JC surprised one and all by being physically present to ensure that the crowd was managed well and no special VIP treatment was being meted out on this crowded afternoon. He directed his staff on the management of the crowd and the opening and closing of the gates at the mandapam. Through the afternoon and evening, he kept every HRCE member on their toes.

Former TN Ranji Trophy winning Captain S Vasudevan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/06/vasudevan-tn-ranji-trophy-retirement.html) was at the Panguni Uthiram festival after many years and he too was taken by surprise at the early darshan of Serthi Sevai "Our idea was to have darshan by 3pm which is the usual time that the first darshan of Serthi Sevai takes place. We arrived just before 1pm by car and came straight to the Sannidhi and were surprised as to how the Divine Couple were almost ready to provide darshan. We were happy that we could have a peaceful and orderly darshan well before 3pm."

As promised in the morning, the ticket sales were closed by 7.30pm and shortly after Chinna Perumal made his way to Kollidam for the Theerthavari event. Rarely had Chinna Perumal made his way before 10pm on this Panguni Uthiram evening. There was not a drop of water on the Southern banks and hence the Vedic Pundits along with the priests  and the service personnel made their way to the Northern Banks of Kollidam to near Nochiyam for the Theerthavari event. Raksha Bandhanam priest Arvind Bhattar who works in an IT firm in Madras, made his way to Srirangam for the Panguni Brahmotsavam. He was the one who performed the Theerthavari at Kollidam on Monday evening. 

The day’s events were so well orchestrated that Maniyakaarar Sridhar had informed the Gadya Trayam Ghosti of the preponement well in advance and the entire Ghosti team was present by 9.30pm. In decades gone by, the Ghosti started well past 11.30pm and there have been years when it had been 1am when the Gadya Trayam Thodakkam took place. But on Monday evening, much to everyone’s surprise, the recital started at 9.30pm and ended by 10.30pm. Even the Ghosti members could not believe the way as to how the Satru Murai had been completed at the Panguni Uthiram mandapam by 11pm.

It was past 11.30pm and JC Mariappan was still at the Thayar Sannidhi. He was visibly happy with the way the day had panned out “I think we are on track for the Chariot procession to start at 8am. Devotees have had a peaceful darshan and those that were present seemed to have enjoyed the Gadya Traya presentation with silence being maintained for a large part.”

This was followed by a five-hour Thirumanjanam when the vastrams were draped on Perumal and Thayar 16 times. It was a long and tiring exercise for the priests but they stuck to their task through the night.

It was 5am on Tuesday morning when the screen finally came down after the Thirumanjanam. Devotees began streaming in large numbers to the Thayar Sannnidhi to have a final darshan of the divine couple and for the return procession of Thayar to her Sannidhi which took place at 7am. Shortly after, Namperumal made his way to the Go Ratham on East Chitrai street. 

At the entrance of the Thayar Sannidhi, a special mariyathai was presented to JC’s assistant Vel Murugan who had planned and anchored the HRCE side of these events over the previous 24 hours. He told this writer that he was delighted that the entire set of events had gone almost fully as per plan and that a 10-15minute delay was understandable and acceptable. 

For Maniyam Sridhar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/03/srirangam-temple-time-keeper.html), it was a tiring 24 hours as he was the one who ensured the timely conduct of the Panguni Uthiram Utsavam but he was happy that the day had gone as per plan. There was still a bit in his bag to be completed and that was to take Namperumal safely to the Chariot and to start the procession as planned. 

The prabhandham ghosti gathered in good numbers just past 7.30am and began their recital of Siriya Thiru Madal as Namperumal made his way through the North Chitrai Street to the Chariot.  JC Mariappan’s face wore a fresh happy look on Tuesday morning as he swarmed by Kainkaryapakas and devotees alike with congratulatory handshakes of how this historical temple town had seen an unprecedented sticking to Panguni Uthiram schedule.

In his parting comment, he told this writer on East Chitrai Street as he walked in front of the Chariot that it had been a very hot week and one had to ensure that devotees and service personnel are not put to hardship during this Chariot procession “We were clear that we wanted this utsavam to be devotee friendly and focused for it to start 8am so the devotees enjoy the procession before the Sun beats down hard.”

He had his wish fulfilled. Namperumal mounted on to the Chariot at 8am and after a sacred pooja, the Go Ratham began its procession around the four Chitrai streets at 8.30am much to the delight of the few hundred devotees who gathered for the start of the procession.