Brahmotsavam - Aal Mel Pallakku @ Kanchipuram Varadarajar Kovil

Namaskaram to All,

 

As the saying goes, all good things should come to an end. My short visit to Kanchipuram is over and am heading back to my lowkeem works, of course with a heavy heart. So for the rest of the events of this year's Brahmotsavam it would back to future tense.

 

Tuesday (20^th May) morning would be packed with lot of interesting activities in Perumal Kovil. The events would start with Aal mel pallakku followed by mattayadi mahotsavam and culminates with theerthavari.

 

Let me start with Aal mel pallaku and take your thro' rest of the events in the morning. Perarulalan would leave, alone, from the kovil at around 04:30 on Aal mel pallakku. This type of pallakku is unique as Perarulalan would be carried by 4 dolls. When leaving the kovil, Devathirajan would wear nine silk duppatta / porvai instead of maalais. When Devathirajan reaches gangai kondaan mantapam, he would remove the porvai one by one, this event is known as porvai kalaithal. After this, Perarulalan, would head back to kovil with his regular maalai.

 

All this while our ubhaya naachimaar would be in kannadi arai waiting for their (our) Lord's arrival. As Devathirajan passes the dwajasthambham, the doors would be shut. For the next hour pranaya kalagam utsavam (house hold quarrel between Perarulalan & Naachimaar) would take place to our pleasure. During the whole episode our naachimaar would be standing in the kannadi arai mandapam and Perarulalan would be standing below.

 

The verbal duel between our parents (!) would be an interesting fare. This event would be similar to the one during panguni uthiram in Srirangam but with less fun fare and without Arayar swamigals. After all kanchipuram is Thayaga mantapam and not Bhoga mantapam.

 

Finally once our Naachimaar are convinced of our Perarulalan's affection, they would descend from the mandapam to join our Perumal. Then all of them would proceed to 100 kaal mandapam.

 

Pranaarthihara varadan, nithya thirumanjana moorthy, would come down from thirumalai to join Perumal & Naachimaar in 100 kaal mandapam. Thiruaradhanam would be performed. During thiruaradhanam Naachimaar would not be on either side of Perarulalan but both of them would be on his right side, this sevai is unique to this day of Brahmotsavam.

 

After this mariyadai would be done for the archakar. This would be followed by puniyavajanam & avahanam, invoking of all holy rivers to decend, for Anantha saras (pushkarani). The archakar, who had mariyadai, would have dip in pushkarani with the nithya thirumanjana moorthy. This is unique as in all the other temples theerthavari is done with chakrathalwar.

 

After this Pranaarthihara varadan would head back to thirumalai, while Perarulan along with Naachimaar would go back to kannadi arai.

 

In my next mail I shall touch upon Punniya kodi vimana purappadu.

 

Andavan thiruvadiya charanam

Perundevi sametha Devathirajan thiruvadiya charanam

 

Dhasan,
Kausik Sarathy