Spiritual getaway – II

An hour drive away from Thanjavur is Kumbakonam.The very first sight and the town comes across as congested, chaotic yet sleepy.Fruit and vegetables vendors, bamboo baskets filled with Jasmine and Kanakambaram along with the steel and brass vessels, the metal art works, the handloom weavers, the Kumbakonam betel leaf and crazy honking cars and buses. The town’s multitude of temples give it a unique linear perspective, while the river banks give it a different topography. That the indomitable Cholas worshipped and wandered around here, gives shivers.The day here begins quite abruptly.That’s why the early morning cup of coffee evokes such strong passions.Many Brahmin families gracefully guard their secret formulation of their version of best kappi. Freshly roasted and powdered coffee beans with chicory makes for an invigorating frothy concoction when accompanied with thickened milk and a day’s quota of sweetness.

Kumbakonam is formidable to most Tamils. Its temples excel in Vedic learning and art. The place has become a center of scholarship and is aptly called the Cambridge of South india. It occupies a unique position in mythology owing to invaluable inscriptions and iconography. Navagraha temples in and around the town are devoted to each of the nine planetary houses in the ancient system of astrology and draw a surge of believers, from the very devout to the just-in-case.To the millions of pilgrims who gather here to meditate and prostrate themselves, Kumbakonam is surely a potent center.

 

There is a mythology behind Kumbakonam being a blessed spot.The story goes that Brahma contained the seeds of creation in a pot or kumbha. When the waters retreated, the pot floated in a pond.Shiva in the form of hunter, with an arrow dispersed the seeds throughout the land and hence the huge number of sacred sites, which came to be known later as Kumbhakonam.The Adi-Kumbeshvara is the largest and most important temple here because Shiva, the god worshipped here, is directly involved with the creation myth of the city. Here he takes a shape of an irregular linga made of sand.The Mahamakam tank is possibly the most sacred place in the city. Praised by the Nay­anmar saint-poets of the seventh century, its divinity has made it a place of pilgrim­age for centuries.The Great Makam, which occurs every 12 years occurs during the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Febru­ary-March). Its climax lasts only a few hours, from early morning to mid-day, when dense crowds of pilgrims wade to bathe in its 20 springs.The purifying power of this tank is such, the sacred rivers of India from the Ganges to the Kaveri, are believed to bathe here over this period in order to purge the sins of all humanity accumu­lated in their waters. The Mahamakam fes­tival is a southern equivalent of the great Kumbh-mela festival.

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There is one that draws many visitors on Sannathi Street near the Sarangapani temple.This street boasts on the map not because it leads to the temple, but because of a miniature house located here – the temple of worship in the world of Mathematics, house of Shri Ramanujam, the man who knew infinity.Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it up inside but had a glance of the museum housed in the home where the boy mathematician lived his life. He has spent considerable years of his life here.

It is said that in 2003,former president of India Late Dr.APJ Abdul kalam inaugurated it as an international monument.Blue round pillars with tiled roof and a rangoli is what we could have a glance at.

Divinity can be studied at leisure here.Foreigners or Indians who do some thesis work regarding ancient philosophies of Hinduism or the likes, stay put here to finish their research.Kumbakonam is slated to have around 200 temples.While talking about architecture, one can’t miss the temple at Darasuram (a Unesco World Heritage Site)which is possibly the most stunning temple in the state and worth an entire day, with a guide if possible.Episodes from Hindu mythology are sculpted on the pillars of the mandapas in front of the sanctorum. There are friezes depicting Lord Shiva in different forms, the battles from the Mahabharata, The“five-in-one” mythical Yaali is supremely depicted, bearing a lion’s trunk, elephant’s tusk, goat’s horns, pig’s ears and cow’s tail.Damsels, musicians,63 Saivite saints or Nayanmars, animals, birds, human figurines – all find a place in the friezes of the walls. 

Outside the temples, an imminent reverence seems to be woven into everything. In the streets around the Sarabeswarar temple live the famed silk weavers of Thirubhuvanam. These families migrated from Saurashtra in different eras, some as far back as the time of Raja Raja Chola I, centuries ago. The whole family is involved in warping, wefting and weaving. People in and around Thanjavur and Kumbakonam prefer the Thirubhuvanam saris, even for weddings. Speciality is the way they are folded. They are pleated, and folded and later when unfolded, the pleats fan out, and hence the name vishiri madippu making it easy for a bride to drape the sari. 

Traversing from Kumbakonam to Thanjavur, we stopped near the Kallanai dam,one of the oldest and sturdiest water regulating structures and got lucky to see dozens of birds and migratory fauna.Kallanai Dam, also known as the Grand Anicut, is one of the oldest water-regulating structures in the world which is still in use.Built almost 2,000 years back across the Cauvery River,the dam was constructed to divert the river to the delta districts for irrigation and avoiding loss of crops due to floods.It is still in excellent condition and is used as a major irrigation dam in Tamil Nadu. Amazing engineering and impressive architecture, the dam attracts tons of tourists every year.

Starting off from there, out of nowhere, comes a wild procession of sweat smeared men, beating drums, jeering out with a bronze idol of Kali on the top of a palanquin.Shoving through alongside a paddy field, they nonchalantly marched onto the highway

Kali, after all, is a deity not often come across, outside east of India, where the cult of this avatar of Shiva’s consort is particularly vehement.There ,she is worshipped as a dark skinned goddess dribbling with blood, her neck garlanded with skulls. This Kali takes on a more sober and compassionate form.Several Red saree clad devotees walk barefoot on the roads and buses to offer fire pots as part of their vow. Many tonsure their heads, perform angapradakshanam and offer mavilakku to the benevolent Mother.

From the temple, turning into the marketplace where we take care not to get run over by buses that roll right up to the edge of the streets, a stretch of lanes and by-lanes can be located near Adi kumbeswarar temple which has an array of small eateries that dish out some genuine brahmin fare.Sri Mangalambiga Vilas eatery could be easily missed in this small town but for a board reading “Since 1914”.It is not easy to remain in the restaurant business for over 100 years serving traditional South Indian dishes but they have some real loyal people who throng this modestly built structure

There is a strong vegetarian tendency in Kumbakonam and there aren’t too many high-end hotels.Shri Sangeetha gives a glimpse of traditional Tamil culture, with its restaurant serving specially curated Thanjavur food hosting Carnatic music soirees.Normal thali might not sound profoundly exciting but as soon as you have picked your food up off your plate, you know you are in for something special.These normal staples take on an almost heavenly form here.An ambrosial conclusion to a heavenly meal would be with Ashoka halwa, the soft and glossy moong dal sweet delicacy of this place.

Exiting the market street, we made our way back.The density of low masonry houses gave an increasing amounts of greenery.  Modest homes contradict the arresting aura of the temples. Kolams is a mandate in front of each house drawn before the sun rise.In midst of an array of modest homes, here and there,we could notice a couple of homes which had a thinnai(verandah) exactly similar to our homestay..the entire ground area was granny’s dominion – giant wooden pillars, the open ended ‘mittam’, the dark pathways, miniature rooms reminiscent of stored grain, herbs and spices, and the huge kitchen beyond.This was the heart of the house, the wood burning ‘aduppu’ (stove) forever seething with appetising food, generously served to an uninterrupted stream of welcome visitors. Carnatic music was sung, and played on the veena — the daughters were all trained in this essential art, a must in Thanjavur Brahmin families.Our host  got nostalgic talking about Agraharams which once used to be a proud feature of this buzzing town.One of the important typological feature of villages found in these parts were the Communities of learnt from the chola times and were referred to as Chaturvedi mangalams…Later,came to be known as  Agraharams which refers to a community of brahmins to the street in which they lived.During Maratha reign,agraharams were attached to the chatrams,established by the rulers.Even today it seems there exists a distinction between villages with and without agraharam.It seems,the younger generation opts to move out seeking greener pastures and the old age generation compelled to move to other place to take care of their old age .Once,these played hosts to temple artistes like nadaswaram dancers and other cultural performing experts…this culture of hosting artistes are also lost with these formats disappearing…There are couple of living Agraharams today who have not lost their people to the march of modernity thankfully.These homes, once been the glory to so many, no wonder she wishes to go back to the roots life which has lots of good natured ribbing among the beings and a past where anyone would love to retire to.

The arc of Tamil history curves directly from the lush green paddy fields and soars up to the vimanas of the temple targeting for the sky.The history that is more than three thousand years old . Here all the places of worship are active centers where the devout perform the rituals of birth and death, and where a tourist can hear chanted Sanskrit hymns first set down a hundred generations ago.