Siva Sankara(charya) Vijayam

The title of this month's blog may raise eyebrows of many readers.No better title could be selected when the recent trip to Kanchi covered temples often visited by the Sage of Kanchi,Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, the place where he stayed for a long time and the place where the huge "MahaPeriyavah Mani Mantapam" is being built on the banks of the river Palaar.

The trip started well by visiting Sri Varadaraja Swami Temple. I was accompanied by Mr Mani, my close friend for over three decades.According to him, the temple was not so crowded on that day as it used to receive more buses from nearby states. Yet it took nearly an hour for us to have dharshan of Sri Varadaraja and Sri Perundevi Thaayar. Arrangements were on for the float festival to be conducted that evening.

Then we proceeded to Sri Punyakoteeswarar temple(mentioned in Kanchi Puranam)and saw a board inside the temple saying that the Paramacharya had told that the visit to Sri Varadaraja Temple would be fulfilled only when this Shiva temple was visited.

Later in the evening we visited shrines of Ashtabujam, Thoopul Vedantha desikan, Narasimha Muktheeswara, Yathodkari,
Vazhakkarutheeswara and Nagareeswara at Little Kanchipuram.

When we got up on the next day we heard cracker noise followed by Nadaswaram music outside the house.It was a pleasant surprise to see the procession of Sri Yadhodkari Perumal with the elders reciting Samaveda.

The deity,mounted on Sesha Vahanam was going towards Orikkai, where "Thirumanjanam" would be held in the afternoon on the sands of the river Paalar.We started hurridly to have glimpse of the event at Orikkai. We were told that that the deities are taken to Paalar once in a year and that happened on the day of our visit.

We visited Sri Vedheeswara Temple on the way and reached Sivasthanam,where Kanchi Paramacharya had stayed close to the shrine of Sri Brahmapureeswara in the eighties. A dhyana Mantapam is there which houses the image of the Sage.A veda patasala and a dining hall are also seen inside the campus.

The Mahaperiavah Mani Mandapam which is coming up at Orikkai is a magnificent structure. The sculptors were busy in creating poetry out of stone . A crane was lifting huge granite slabs to the top of the front mantapam. As the work on Rajagopuram and Compound wall is yet to begin,it appears that it may take some years to complete the project. But the organisers are keen to complete it at the earliest. It should n't
be a distant dream as the Acharya's blessings are always there for His devotees.