Sunday, December 13, 2009

Pradoksham trip


 
Visited the following temples
1. Tirukachur
2. Thiru idai chooram
3. Sembakkam Jambukeswarar
4. Sembakkam Guru

Tirukachur - ancient
Ø Tambaram GST road. Near Maramailnagar station (before ford   factory starting), a U turn is there. Take that. MMnagar level crossing will come. Take that road, proceed straight. After 4-5 kms, you will see the temple on the right hand side
Ø The Shiva temple here is is a Thevara Padal petra Sthalam, famous for Girivalam.
Ø Lord Vishnu worshipped Lord Siva in the form of a turtle.
Ø Sundaramurthy Naayanaar when he reached Tirukaachur, got very tired and was hungry. He sat down. At that time, Lord Siva appeared as a brahmin and went to the village asking everyone for biksha. After that, he gave that food to Sundaramurthy Naayanaar.
Ø These temples were built by Kulothunga chozhan I. During those days, there was no concept of Rajagopuram. The concept of Rajagopuram was introduced by Rajaraja Chozhan’ According to mythology, if you worship here, you will be cured of all ailments(if any).




Thiru Idai Churam
Ø Come again to the main road from Tirukachur, proceed straight to Chingleput. Take Chingleput – Tirukazhikundram road, proceed for some time, then take a left turn and ask for Chingleput – Tiruporur road.
Ø We can enjoy the journey, since except road, both side it was nice forest
Ø Devara padal petra sthalam
Ø The village is in a beautiful location between two hills and so the name Idai-churam (churam meaning a place of hills and forests)
Ø Very big Swayambu Maragatha linga known as Idaichuranathar. You can see the reflection of Arathi. But Gurukal Sankar (Mobile no. 09788705873) said, we can see it crystal clearly the green colour when we perform Honey Abhishegam. Asked us to come on another day, since it was Pradhoksham, the temple was slightly crowded.
Ø Goddess Parvathi came here as Kamadhenu (cow) with her brother Lord Vishnu and poured milk on the Shivalingam made of Maragatha stone to do the Shiva worship.
Sembakkam Jambukeswarar – ancient
Ø Built by chola kings during 8 / 9th century
Ø From T I C, take left, proceed again in Chingleput – Tiruporur road. Approx after 8 kms we will find this temple.
Ø Even though it was only 6.30 p.m. it was completely dark. Very poor road, with no street lights
Ø The temple is called Vada Thiruvanaika, since the Lord here is present as Jala Swayambu (Swayambu – being present on its own; Jala – water) in the name of Jumbukeswarar
Ø When Chola King Kochengannan was due for birth, an astrologer informed that if the baby is born late a by few hours, it would rein the whole world. So the mother deliberately delayed the delivery by keeping her legs raised up but died after delivering the baby. Due to this strenuous exercise, the baby was born with red eyes and so was called Chengannan (Chengan means red eyes. Probably slolwly Chengannan might have rechristened as Sembakkam town). Realizing his nature of birth, he became a natural Shiva devotee and later when he was childless, he prayed to Lord Shiva and He told him to make a sacred shivalingam and take it in a ratham (temple car) throughout his regime and wherever the axle of the ratham breaks, install the lingam there and worship to get the boon of a child. So the King did the same and when he neared this place, he became highly excited spiritually and the axle of the ratham broke while crossing the water ditch here. He heard the sacred voice to install the lingam here and thus the King built this temple using mud (bricks) and was blessed with a baby.

Sembakkam Guru
Before proceeding to Jambukeswarar temple itself, we can see this temple in the main road. Construction is under process. Very big and beautiful Guru

We can return to Tambaram via Guduvanchery or proceed to Tiruporur, catch the Kelambakkam road, return to Chennai.

Om Namasivaya

Friday, November 6, 2009

Bairavar Manifestations


Bhairava
("Terrible" or "Frightful"), sometimes known as Bhairo or Bhairon or Bhairadya, is the fierce manifestation of Shiva associated with annihilation.He is one of the most important deities of Nepal, sacred to Hindus alike.

He is depicted ornamented with a range of twisted serpents, which serve as earrings, bracelets, anklets, and sacred thread (yajnopavita). He wears a tiger skin and a ritual apron composed of human bones. Bhairava has a dog as his divine vahana (vehicle).
Bhairava himself has eight manifestations: Kala Bhairava, Asitanga Bhairava, Samhara Bhairava, Ruru Bhairava, Krodha Bhairava, Kapala Bhairava, Rudra Bhirava and Unmatta Bhairava. Kala Bhairava is conceptualized as the Guru of the planetary deity Saturn. Bhairava is known as Vairavar in Tamil where he is often presented as a Grama Devata or folk deity who safeguards the devotee on all eight directions (ettu tikku). Known in Sinhalese as Bahirawa, he protects treasures. Lord Bhairava is the main deity worshipped by the cannibalistic Aghora sect.

The origin of Bhairava can be traced to the conversation between Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu recounted in "Shiv Maha-Purana" where Lord Vishnu asks Lord Brahma who is the supreme creator of the Universe. Arrogantly, Brahma tells Vishnu to worship him because he (Brahma) is the supreme creator. This angered Shiva who in reality is the creator of all. Shiva then incarnated in the form of Bhairava to punish Brahma. Bhairava beheaded one of Brahma's five heads and since then Brahma has only four heads. When depicted as Kala Bhairava, Bhairava is shown carrying the amputated head of Brahma. Cutting off Brahma's fifth head made him guilty of having slain brahma, and as a result, he was forced to carry around the head for years until he had been absolved of the sin.

Another story of the origin of Bhairava is the tale of Sati, wife of Shiva. Sati, the daughter of the king of gods, Daksha, had chosen to marry Shiva. Her father disapproved the alliance because he perceived Shiva as an ascetic associated with a frugal lifestyle, forest animals and ghosts. Eventually, Daksha held a yagna (a ritualistic sacrifice) and invited all the gods, but not Sati and Shiva. Sati came to the yagna alone, where Daksha publicly spoke in a belittling manner about Shiva. Sati could not bear to hear her husband insulted and offered herself to the sacrificial pyre.

When Shiva learned of this, he destroyed the yagna and killed Daksha by beheading him. Shiva carried Sati's corpse on his shoulders and ran uncontrollably all around the world for days. Since this would eventually destroy all creation, Vishnu used his Sudarshan Chakra (divine discus) to cut Sati's body into pieces, which then fell all around. These spots where Sati's body parts fell are now known as Shakti Peethas. In the form of the frightful Bhairava, Shiva is said to be guarding each of these Shaktipeeths. Each Shaktipeeth temple is accompanied by a temple dedicated to Bhairava.

Image1:  Swarnakarshna Bairavar - Danvantri  Temple                                 
Image2:  Swarnakarshna Bairavar
Image3:  Kasi Kala Bairavar
Image4:  Sri Kala Bairavar
Image5:  Bairavar - Tiruvallam
Image6:  Bairavar - Irudayaleeswarar Temple, Tiruninravur
Image7:  Bairavar - Tirupachur
Image8:  Sri Chadurkala Bairavar
Image9:  Chakra Bairavar - Tiruvanamalai
Image10: Bairavar - Marundeeswarar Temple
Image11: Sri Yoga Bairavar - Tiruputhur  
Image12: Yoga Bairavar - Perur
Image13: Bairavar - Somangalam
Image14: Bairavar - Kuberan Temple    

                                                                                       
 


Thursday, November 5, 2009

Kanchi Kailasanathar



Brahmasirakandeeswarar Kailasanathar

The Kailasanath temple is located in the temple town of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu, India. It was built by the Pallavas in the early 8th century CE. It is famous for its splendid vimana. It also contains numerous panels showing lord Siva as Nataraja in various postures.This temple was built by Pallava King Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimhan).
The Chola King Rajaraja Chola I visited this temple and named this temple as kachipettu periya thirukatrali(Stone Tenple of Kachipettu(ancient name of kanchipuram).It is believed by many archeologists that this kailasanathar temple must be the inspiration for Rajaraja Chola I to built the Tanjore Brihadeeswarar temple.

Currently the temple is well maintained by Archaeological Survey of India

It is learnt that the Shiva lingam has the flat stripes inside the temple which is specialty of this lingam. It is 10 feet high and the temple closes by 6 to 630 PM daily. There is a story behind this early closure. Temple priest narrates it to the visitors.

Travel Introduction


I used to travel a lot. Temples, tourist spots with my family. Family - my wife, daughter and my parents. I will try to put my travel experiences, routes in writing with photos which i hopes readers would find interesting. I will try to give routes also for those places since some temples are very interior.I am a staunch devotee of Lord Bairava and it was my ambition for a long time to create a blog for me posted with lot of Bairava photos also . Pray Lord Bairava and he will be with you, protect you from all evils. Some of the photos took personally be me, some where downloaded from other sites, some photos were scanned and uploaded. If anybody have any objection, pls let me know so that i will remove those photos. Sorry for the inconvenience.


Most of my travel are planned for a single day only. Ofcourse i travelled to Haridwar, Risheksh, Simla and other places also. In internet you can find lot of places of tourist interest in and around chennai, india etc., Most of my one day visits are specifically for temples only. Please try to start the journey very early atleast 04.00 a.m. so that we can cover lot of temples. 12-4 mostly you will find all the temples closed and during that time we can have our lunch and relax inside temple praharams, if they permit.

You can find in internet, temples in and around chennai, temples in tamilnadu, temples in cuddalore etc., but i don't think so you can plan your travel like that. Employed people may find it difficult to get leave from their office often. So my travel plans are like (for a single day) if i visit Vellore, choose temples and plan it accordingly. You can try 1/2 a day tour also.
Example, if you are in chennai, for 1/2 a day, you can plan Kuberar temple (Rathnamangalam village. Take a left turn from Vandalur Zoo, proceed straight, after approx 15 mins drive you can find Tagore Engg college, take a immediate left (it is a small mud road) you can reach Kuberan temple. Near Kuberan temple, you can also visit Sri Chakra Kali (you cannot close your eyes at all after seeing her), Shridi Sai temple, Arai kasu amman temple. That is it. Always try to go for a travel with your family, since now-a-days spending time with the family has become less this is a great opportunity to enjoy also. Even if you are a atheist doesn't matter. You can enjoy the journey atleast.

Now I am going to update my blog with only photos whenever time permits I will write a description also.