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July - Sept 2024

Tiruchirappalli (Rockfort Temple) – 2

நன்று உடையானை, தீயது இலானை, நரை-வெள் ஏறு
ஒன்று உடையானை, உமை ஒரு பாகம் உடையானை,
சென்று அடையாத திரு உடையானை, சிராப்பள்ளிக்-
குன்று உடையானை, கூற, என் உள்ளம் குளிருமே.

nanRudaiyAnai theeyadhillAnai narai veLLERu

onRudaiyAnai umai oru bhAgam udaiyAnai

chenR adaiyAdha thiruvudaiyAnai chirAppaLLi

kunRudaiyAnai kooRa en uLLam kuLirummE

So sings, Tirugnanasambandhar in his Tiruchirappalli Pathigam [Thirumurai 1, Pathigam 98, Song 1]

“My heart is filled with happiness on singing the glory of the lord who resides on the hilllock of Tiruchirappalli; He is the one who possess abundant goodness and not even a trace of evilness; He is the one who has a white bull, Devi Parvati on his one side; He is the one who has the ultimate state (mukti or liberation) which is unreachable to many.” Incidentally, nanRudaiyAn, theeyadhillAn are also names of the theerthams of this temple.

In the other songs of this pathigam, Sambandhar has described the natural beauty that he witnessed in this kshetram – like monkeys wandering here and there, holding the fruits picked up from the trees there, gardens bearing variety of flowers at the base of the hill, small waterfalls flowing from the hill, water bodies, bees sucking nectar from the flowers blooming there, instruments played during the Shiva Pooja etc. apart from describing Lord Shiva.

Tirunavukkarasar (Appar) has also sung a pathigam in this temple. But out of the ten songs, just four are available. In the first song, Appar has given the name of Ambal (mattuvArkuzhalaaL).

மட்டு வார்குழலாளொடு மால்விடை
இட்டமா உகந்து ஏறும் இறைவனார்;
கட்டு நீத்தவர்க்கு இன் அருளே செயும்
சிட்டர்போலும்-சிராப்பள்ளிச் செல்வரே.

mattuvArkuzhalALodu maal vidai

ittamAi ugandhERum iRaivanAr

kattu neetthavarkku innaruLE seyum

chittar pOlum chirAppaLLich chelvarE

“The lord of Tiruchirappalli, happily mounts on the rishabam (bull) along with Devi Parvati (mattuvArkuzhali – the one whose hair has fragrance and overflowing nectar, winning over the other flowers and because of that bees get attracted to it), bestows his blessings on those who have conquered the bondage.”

In the third song, Appar says that if we chant the name of the sthalam – Tiruchirappalli, all our evil deeds will get washed away. He emphasizes this strongly by saying out twice. (nadakkum nadakkumE [it will go; it will go]) –

திரிச் சிராப்பள்ளி என்றலும், தீவினை
நரிச்சு இராது நடக்கும் நடக்குமே.

thiruchirAppaLLi enRalum theevinai

narichchirAthu nadakkum nadakkumE

Arunagirinathar, in one of the tiruppugazh sung here, has said that for those who mention just the name of this kshetram – chiraappalli, the lord resides in their mind; for the lord, the devotee’s mind is His own world.

சிராப்பளி என்பார் மன மேதினி நோக்கிய பெருமாளே

[chirApaLi enbAr mana mEdhini nOkkiya perumALE]

In the last song of this pathigam, Appar gives reference to Lord Shiva’s name in this sthalam – thAyumAnavar.

தாயும் ஆய் எனக்கே, தலை கண்ணும் ஆய்

Manickavasagar in Tiruvasagam says, chirAppaLLi mEviya sivanE pOtri [Salutations to Lord Shiva who is in Tiruchirappalli]. Saiva Ellappa Naavalar has written the elaborate history of this temple in his work – sevvanthi puraanam – bearing the name of the lord of this kshetram – sevvanthinaathar (name of the lord before Ratnavathi’s episode).

Let us now enter this temple and have darshan. The one and only entrance of this temple is in the south side, in NSB road. We are greeted by small shops selling pooja items, flowers etc. Then we see the sannidhi of Maanicka Vinayakar. As we come around this sannidhi, we could see some more steps leading up to inner streets of Rockfort (South Street aka Mahavidwan Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai Street).

We see the wider entrance and as we enter, we find the place where the temple elephant is tied up. Opposite to that is the sannidhi of Kalyana Vinayakar. We could see devotees tying up yellow threads to facilitate marriage for their children in his sannidhi. Then comes the hall where vahanams (mounts) meant for deities’ procession during festival times are kept. We see a bigger stretch of steps, leading to hill top.

As we climb up, we see the sannidhi of Muthukumara swami (Lord Subrahmanya here in Tiruchirappalli) and Dharumapuram Aadheenam Mouna Mutt. It is said that this deity, gave the upadesa to Thayumanavar (Poet born out of the grace of Lord Shiva in this kshetram).

Then as we move upwards, we see the 100 pillared hall to our left, where discourses, temple festivals like Chettippen Maruthuvam, Tirukkalyanam etc. take place and opposite this we see the sannidhis of Meenakshi, Sundareswarar and Sahasralingam.

On further climbing up the steps, we find the path bifurcating into two – to the right and to the left. The right side path leads to Uchi Pillayar temple and the left side path leads to Thayumanava Swami temple.

We first take the path to the left – Thayumanava Swami temple. We are greeted by the mandapam hosting the flag post, 63 Nayanmars, Meenakshi Sundareswara, Saptha Kannikas, Navagraham and Vinayaka, Murugan. Navagrahas here have a unique feature. All the eight grahas, face standing Suryan who is at the center.

In between Vinayakar and Murugan sannidhis there are steps leading to inner mandapams. We enter that mandapam and see the sannidhi of Sugandha Kuntalaamba (mattuvAr kuzhali) to our right. We first move to our left and turn towards another set of steps that takes us to the next level. We could notice the multi storied architecture in this temple which was built several centuries ago.

As we climb up the steps, we enter the hall of paintings also known as chitthira mandapam. There are paintings on walls and ceilings, depicting the stories associated with the kshetra puranam, heroic deeds of Lord Shiva and many more. We can have the darshan of Sugandha Kuntalamba Sannidhi Vimanam in the lower level as well as Uchi Pillayar Vimanam above this level from one point in this mandapam. Arunagirinathar sings, சிகர கோபுர சித்திர மண்டப மகர தோரண ரத்ன அலங்க்ருத திரிசிரமாலை (sigara gOpura chitthira maNdapa makara thOraNa rathna alankrutha thirisirAmalai) – meaning Tiruchirappalli is well decorated and beautified by the high towers, the hall of paintings and fish shaped doorway hangings.

After crossing the chitthira mandapam, we enter the corridor where Thaayumanavar sannidhi is located. Originally, the lord was facing the East. After the sand rain showering episode on Uraiyur to punish the King who was not attentive to Saara Muni, the lord turned to the West. So, now we could first see the rear side of the sanctum sanctorum.

We first see the sannidhi of Dakshinamurthy as we circumambulate the corridor. Dakshinamurthy here is very unique as compared to other kshetras. He sits on Darbaasana with eight disciples instead of the usual four. Who are the eight disciples? Tirumular in his Tirumandhiram lists them.

நந்தி அருள் பெற்ற நாதரை நாடிடின்
நந்திகள் நால்வர் சிவயோக மாமுனி
மன்று தொழுத பதஞ்சலி வியாக்கிரமர்
என்றிவர் என்னோடு எண்மருமாமே

nandhi aruL peRRa nAtharai naadidin

nandhigaL naalvar sivayOga maamuni

manRu thozhutha padhanjali viyaakkiramar

enRivar ennOdu eNmarumaamE

Along with Tirumoolar himself, the 4 Sanakaadhi rishis (Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanathana, Sanathkumara), Sivayoga Muni, Patanjali and Vyaghrapada (who worshipped at KanakaSabhai in Chidambaram) are the disciples.

This reminds us of the verses of Arunagirinathar in his tiruppugazh “sakthi paani” written in this sthalam.

தெர்ப்பை ஆசார வேதியர் தம்பிரானே (dharbai aachaara vEdiyar thampirAnE), meaning, the lord of scholars who are practicing Vedas and are holding Darbha, a grass for all their divine works.

We then see the utsava moorthis, Mahishasura Mardini sannidhi. Then comes the sannidhi called sthala vinayaka or Vinayaka of this temple – sevvandhi vinayakar. We then see the Nandikeshwara in front of the Swami sannidhi and move inside to see the majestic Shiva linga image (tirumeni) of Thayumanavar or Matrubhuteswara. We offer our prayers to the supreme who came down to address the need of his devotee as a mother and come back to chitthira mandapam. While coming back to the chitthira mandapam, we see the sannidhis of Durga, Bala Dandayudhapani, Jwarahareswara, Bhairava.

We descend the steps we climbed up and enter the corridor leading to Sugandha Kuntalaamba sannidhi. We first see the sannidhi of Mahalakshmi and as we move around we also offer our prayers to Ayyanar who is at a lower level known as Paataala Ayyanar. We stand in front of Ambal sannidhi. She is the embodiment of grace, showering her blessings on the devotees and standing in a way assuring well being of all in this world. On the walls surrounding Ambal sannidhi we find Soundarya Lahari scripted on the stones in grantham.

We come near the flag post and offer our namaskarams to the Lord and the Goddess and enter the path leading to Uchi Pillayar (the path on our right when we came from the hill base). We see a rock cut cave built during the reign of Mahendra Varma Pallava. These are testimonies to the brilliant architectural skills of Pallavas. There is a clock tower where bell is rung periodically during the temple pooja times. We then see the steps carved out of rock which is twisted like an elephant’s trunk.

These steps lead us to Uchi Pillayar temple whose history is well known to many and is an important reason for arrival of Lord Ranganatha at Srirangam.

After getting crowned as the King of Ayodhya, Lord Rama, gifted the Ranga Vimanam with Ranganatha to Vibhishana. Vibhishana wanted to take the same to Lanka and Rama agreed, but with a condition, that the vimanam should not be kept down anywhere and if it is kept down, it cannot be taken out again. Vibhishana agreed and proceeded towards Lanka. While he came to a place near Kaveri river, he was tempted to take a bath in the river and was searching for someone who could hold this vimanam. Lord Vinayaka appeared in front of Vibhishana as a small boy and offered to help him by keeping the vimanam with him for a while. So Vibhishana gave the same to the boy and went to take a bath. No sooner did Vibhishana had a dip in the river than the boy kept the vimanam on the land in between the rivers Kaveri and Kollidam. That place came to be known as Srirangam. Vibhishana came in search of that boy and found that he was running. So he chased him till the hill top and the boy sat on the rock. Vibhishana hit the boy on his forehead and soon the boy showed his original form as Lord Vinayaka. Understanding this divine will for the Ranga Vimanam to be installed in the place meant for it, Vibhishana offered his prayers to the Lord and left for Lanka. Even today, one could see the mark of Vibhishana hitting Vinayaka in the Uchi Pillayar Vigraha.

One could see the 360 degree picturesque beauty of Tiruchirappalli City from the Uchi Pillayar temple.

Let us visit this temple physically and experience the divine bliss associated with the temple.