My Pilgrimage, North India.

I set on a pilgrimage cum sight seeing tour of some of the North Indian temples and covered Amritsar the Golden temple,  Mathura and  Brindavan, the birth place of Lord Krishna and where he spent his childhood;  Sarnath, the place where Gautham Buddha gave his first sermon , Varanasi, one of the char dhaams where every Hindu devotee likes to visit at least once in his/her life time, Then  to Allahabad, we followed the  Ganges and Yamuna and  met them at the confluence of Triveni Sangam where river Saraswati flows as Gupt Saraswati. Shall be giving details when I post about these places separately. I Could visit colurful Rajasthan -Jaipur and Jodhpur. The Pink city- Jaipur and Jodhpur transported us to the era of great Rajput rulers . The visit to various forts was a great revelation of the life and culture in the days of yore. The workmanship in stone was awe inspiring and the love for precious artifacts still displayed in the great palaces threw some light on the kind of life lead by the then rulers. Among all this we also visited Jalian Walah bagh and  could participate in Wagah - Attari border closing ceremony-  the highly charged atmosphere made me realise how much I worship my motherland, really a great experience.

I shall be posting about the temples, I visited in various cities  and here are a few glimpses of what is in store. It was a well spent vacation and every minute spent was really worth, something to savour for the rest of my life.

There still more to see and that is proposed for yet another trip.

I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated.

Siva temple- Aluva- Kerala

I felt blessed and surprised at the same time as I landed on the sands of Aluva manappuram at  Siva temple, just 2 days ahead of  Mahasivarathri which was celebrated a few days back. Mahasivarathri is celebrated here on a grand scale and Sivarathri fair goes about for a month.

 This temple is situated right inside the river Periyar in Kerala. One can have a glimpse of this temple while travelling by train on Aluva bridge during summer and just  roof of the temple in monsoon as it gets submerged. Though I refer to this as a temple there is no shrine as such where  Lord Shiva is seated. Only temporary shelter is erected during the festival here.

  During the monsoons  Sivalinga remains submerged in water and once the monsoon recedes  the temple gets  accessible  as an island  emerges; the Aluva manappuram.

Elaborate arrangements are made just before Sivarathri and make shift bridges are also made connecting the land and temple grounds for easy movement of pilgrims.

There are shady Peepul trees outside the temple and the surroundings are clean and neat. I also had the opportunity to feel the cool clear water of river Periyar.
the following Link has pictures how the temple appears during and after monsoons..

Here are a few of my captures. As it was an unplanned trip all are mobile uploads.
Aluva is well connected with rail, road and air. this temple is very close to Nedumbassery international airport
I am about to start yet another pilgrimage and would be away for a few weeks. See you all soon.
Will be visiting Varanasi, Allhabad, Mathura..etc. Will post once I am back.

Kalayar koil, kaleeshwarar koil, Sivagangai, Tamilnadu

Kalayar Kovil, is  an ancient temple more than 1000 years old situated in a small village 16 Kms East of Sivaganga and about 63 Kilometers  from the temple city of  Madurai. This temple lies quite close to the temple of   Kannudeya Nayagi temple( 12Kms)

Once inside the village, what one comes across is a huge temple with multiple tiered  Gopurams standing side by side guarding the temple like a fort. There are  fantastic sculptures which would hold anyone  spell bound as it is difficult to believe that such a temple can exist in an obscure place. We came to know about the temple through local people as there was no information available about this temple on the net.

The deity here is Siva known as Swarna Kaleeswarar as well as Kalayar . The temple corridors are long and spacious  lined with granite pillars with finely chiselled work . The temple is designed well to let the sunshine inside and the Sun bathes the interiors with its golden rays. The corridors also opens into an  open courtyard halfway through and one can see temples lined here for  Gods and Goddesses. There is also a separate shrine for Siva's consort  Swarnavalli Amman.

The other major shrine inside the temple complex is that of Someshwarar (Siva)which is situated at an elevation. The Nandi here sits majestically on a tall pedestal and the Sahasra Lingam just outside this shrine is a splendid work of  fine carvings on granite.  (Sahasra Lingam is a Sivalingam with thousands of Sivalingams carved on it).

One can find Madurai Meenakshi Amman and Sundareshwarar shrines here and  I have observed that most  of the  Siva temples I have visited in last few years have all  Sivalingams of  famous temples in India, housed  under one roof like Ramanathar of Rameshwaram, Kalahastheeswar of Kalahasti, Kasi Viswanathar of Varanasi  etc. One would lose count of the Sivalingams lined up in a row around the temple. One can offer worship to all  these famous temples from  one single point . I feel this was done  with the idea  to facilitate pilgrims who cannot travel to distant places as travel was difficult and tedious in the days of yore.

How to reach- One can travel to Sivaganga either from Madurai or Trichy.
 A few clicks!!

Sreekanteshwaram temple, Trivandrum, Kerala

Sreekanteshwaram, is an ancient temple  right in the heart of the city.  This  is also very close to  Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple. The temple is quite  small, constructed in typical Kerala style and wood work here is artistically done  and visible in the images displayed below. This is visited by locals everyday.

Siva  is the main deity here and Lord Vishnu is also worshipped here.

The Sivalinga here, is believed to be a Swayambhu ( self manifestation) and there are sub shrines for Ganesha and Ayyapa.

Please check this link for more details. http://sreekanteswaramtemple.com/

Pazhavangadi Sree Mahaganapathy temple- Trivandrum, Kerala

Sree Maha Ganapathy- Vigneshwara, the remover of all obstacles is the presiding deity of Pazhvangadi temple.  This God grants all the wishes of his devotees and in return coconuts are offered by devotees . Devotees break coconuts in front of this temple and one can hear the continuous cracking sound of coconuts as if fire crackers are being burst. There is small tank in front for breaking coconuts and sack full of coconuts get broken here.

There are two images of Ganesha inside the sanctum -One  made of Granite other  made of gold. Though the temple is very small, there are also shrines for Sasthavu, Bhagavathy and Nagas. A temple, I never miss during my Trivandrum visits and breaking a few coconuts also a routine I follow here.
The temple is situated in East fort and only about 200 meters from Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple.
How to reach- this temple is situated just a kilometer from the Central railway station , Trivandrum.

I wish all my friends a Happy New Year !!