Kula deivam et. al.

The previous post in this series is here..

We had yet another day where sleep was limited to 6 hours. The hotel in Trichy was not as good as the one in Madurai, but given we were going to just sleep, get up, shower and start it was good enough. 

The new driver showed up on time but the car had no working AC. So it was going to be an issue on a hot day. We could not wait. So we asked him to start towards Ranganathar and figure it out from there. 

Just like the previous day we went into the temple at 6AM and were out in a little over an hour. We made our way then to Thiruvanaikovil. We managed to do a super quick darshan.

By then we got a car with working AC. There was an appointment at our Kula deivam temple, Gunaseelam with the priest. We made it in time for me to take a dip in the river behind the temple and go see perumal. 

This was the third highlight of the whole trip after meeting my dad on his 85th birthday and taking bath in the wells of Rameshwaram.

They were nice enough to take care of the annadhaanam on our behalf as we had to leave right away. The pongal prasadam was great on an empty stomach. 

We were to be dropped off at Tanjore Railway station that evening in same car after a visit to the Big Temple in Tanjore. Given we had time, we visited three more temples.

We saw the Thirupanjali temple (which has a special shrine for Yama, the god of death), Thiruvellarai (a very old temple) and Uttamar Kovil (also known as bikshaandaar kovil). 

We finished all these temple visits and had lunch at Ashwins a local favorite.

We also bought some snacks for the road/Train ride later that night at Ashwins. If you are in the Trichy area, don't miss Ashwins food and snacks!

A short video clip ..

Then we made our way to Tanjore. The ladies dozed off. FIL was working in the car. I was busy finishing off some of the snacks.  The three hours in Tanjore did not disappoint.

That on another post..

Aaavudayaar and Pudukottai

The previous post in this series is here..

When FIL and me were wrapping up the visit to Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal it was almost 2:30PM. It was hot and we were waiting for the driver to come get us. Was asking him about the return trip and he said we were to go by Vaigai express to Trichy. Given the recent train experience to Rameshwaram from Chennai and the associated dead times at the train station, I asked "what if instead of going to Trichy by train from Madurai, what if our driver drove us to Trichy with a few more stops on the way? I have always wanted to visit Aavudayar temple and see Pudukkottai (my father's birthplace) and MIL wanted to visit Bhuvaneshwari amman temple there."

FIL made some frantic last minute arrangements while we went to pick up the ladies and we told them the updated schedule. There was some mixed feelings.. but overall it was welcomed as the ladies got to visit a very old rare temple and a relatively new one.

Aaavudayaar temple is a must see. There is no idol for the deities. Just a pedestal where they pour hot steaming rice near it and offer the steam to the god. The idea is that real god is in many forms and also formless. God is everywhere and in everything is the idea. The temple itself is beautiful.

When you enter the temple you will see an Indian gecko lizzard (udumbu- something that is famous for its grip on any surface) and a monkey.. there is a story behind this and you can wiki it!

This is a really old temple. Sadly no restrooms near it and not many stores either to grab something to eat.

We drank some tea at a roadside stall and started our drive to Pudukkottai.

Pudukkottai was not what I imagined it to be. It has become a big Christian town. Massive state of the art churches everywhere. New names for the stores. A very big change over the years. We managed to go the newly updated Bhuvaneshwari temple. The temple itself is beautiful but the priests and their attitude was a turn off. In any case it was our last stop for the day and we had a two plus hour drive to Trichy.

Made a quick stop to eat. Then I had to rush and get a new Dhoti as all mine were wet from a mixup in the bag from Rameshwaram (yes, we still had wet clothes in the bag). It was finally 9:30 when we reached our hotel in Trichy.

It would have taken us the same time to reach this hotel had we traveled by train. So it was all good!

We said goodbye to our driver. A new person was going to pick us up first thing in the morning for the next days trip.. will get to that post soon! 

The temples of Madurai and a few other stops

The previous post in this series is here..

We had reached our nice hotel in Madurai the previous night from Rameshwaram after a few extra stops by car. FIL had requested that the same driver take us around Madurai the entire day. We got 6 hours of sleep and had to get ready at 5AM. It was going to be a busy day. 

We started by visiting the Madurai Meenakshi temple. I have an interesting blogging history with this temple. You can check out my very first ever post where it starts off as an angry man venting.. have become a lot calmer now, at least on the blog!

This is my visit to this temple after 2005! It was a much better experience. Had sworn never to go near this temple again.. but guess there is always some fate or destiny..

We entered the temple at 6AM and were out in 45 minutes. Then it was time to visit two more temples. First one was Koodal Azhagar temple. There was a wedding party there and we had to rush past the crowd from the wedding to finish seeing the temple and getting darshan.

Then we were to go to Thirupparankundram Murugan temple. Given we were ahead of schedule, we talked to our driver and decided to go Pazhamudhir solai. We went up to the Noopura gangai (MIL decided to stay back given the climb to the top of the hill was steep) and me, San and FIL made a trip to the top and came back. Then we got to see Pazhamudhir solai. The priest was friendly and he was telling us about his cousins in Mumbai and US. 

We made a stop at the Kal azhagar temple which I believe is part of the 108 divya desams. It was a beautiful temple. By now we were cutting it close. 

some of the stuff is in ruins.. but looks like folks are working on preserving these few hundred year old temples. The temples older than these seem to be doing fine!

Once we came out, we drove to the other side of Madurai to Thirupparankundram. We drove past this beautiful church on the way.

The Murugan temple closes at 1PM and we made it to see the deity and deepa aaradhanai at 12:55. It was touch and go. We were also very hungry after that visit. 

We had a quick bite to eat at one of the local Vegetarian hotels. The ladies in their infinite wisdom decided that they will shop for Saris. They had seen the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal (palace) and were not impressed. I had never seen it. So my FIL said he will take me there after we drop the ladies at a Sari store. While they shopped we walked through this massive building and its hallways and took pictures. There is usually a light show in the evening which is the rave, but we were going to miss that anyways.

We drove past the city center and saw the amman temple tank during the day.. our driver was nice enough to park, so I could go get some pics.

We also stopped to get some Madurai famous Jigarthanda.. a sweet drink that has 3850% of your daily required fat and 80000% of the daily required sugar levels. 

After that we decided to change plans.. more on that later..