DIVINEINFORMATION PART 27
Dear friends, While going through one of my external memorydevice, I came across some good information stored from websites. I thought of sharing interestingones from them as a series. In part 27 , I am starting with 96TH item in this posting. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 6-6-21 96 SRIVAIKUNTAM Introduction Srivaikuntarn is in the Tirunelveli District. Because of this temple this placehas become a famous place of pilgrimage. Once an Asuranamed Somuka snatched all the four Vedas from Lord Brahma. So, Brahma came to the earth and began to search for a suitable placeto perform, penance so that he could get back the Vedas with the help of LordVishnu. At last heselected Srivaikuntharn and commenced the austerities. Lord Vishnu who waspleased with them fought the Asura and defeated him. Brahma got back hisVedas. Immediately Lord Vishnu went into, the earth. Through the hole runningfrom the surface of the earth, cows yielded daily the milk that flowed to LordVishnu. Thus the abhisheka with milk was done to Him daily. The king who ruled over that placecame to know about this. The idol was dug out and a beautiful temple was builtfor the Lord (Srivaikunthanatha). Pujas andAbishekam (with milk) are done to the Lord every day. Beautiful paintings onthe walls of the temple depicting some of the important incidents from Puraniclore, and the idols carved out on the pillars in the mandapam are very lovelyand hold our attention. There is a beautiful tank in the temple. It is said that LordVaikunthanatha once took the guise of a robber to help a bhakta.There was a highway robber named Kaladutaka in a forest near Srivaikuntham. Hewas the son of a saint. As a result of the sins committed by him in theprevious births, Kaladutaka became a thief. But he wasvery kind towards the poor. He was the leader of a gang of robbers. Theyburgled and looted vicious people and helped the poor. Kaladutakawas, at the same time, a very pious man and worshipped Lord Vaikunthanathaevery day. He gave half of what he earned to the temple andafter taking what was needed for his subsistence distributed the remainingportion among the poor. Asthe king was not ruling the country properly the poor suffered a lot. SoKaladutaka decided to raid the palace. While doing so, all his fellow-robberswere caught by the King, but Kaladutaka made good his escape, ran tothe temple of Srivaikunthanatha and fell unconscious before the idol. Therobbers were harassed by the King’s men. At his command, they went out insearch of Kaladutaka. LordVaikunthanatha taking pity on the robber, disguised himself as Kaladutaka andsurrendered before them. When the King saw the robber he wasvery much impressed by his appearance and asked him, "Whycan’t you turn a new leaf and live a happy and dignified life?. " There uponLord Vishnu Vaikunthanatha gave darsan to the King, who repented very much forall his sins and vices and becamea good and popular ruler. A big temple was constructed for LordVaikunthanatha and all the necessary arrangements were made by the King forconducting important festivals in the temple. 97 Tamravarni and Papanasam Theriver Tamravarni reaches the plains at Papanasam. Over the Papanasam junction, the Papanasam Hydro, Electric Plant withthe Upper and Lower Dams has been constructed in recent years. Papanasamis at the foot of the mountain ranges, and the bed is rocky. The temple is famous for the absolution ofall sins committed by human beings; hence the name PAPANASAM (or PapaVinasanam). Author: Shri R. K. Das At thefoot of the fall is, as might be expected, a shrine dedicated to Agastis- wara,Rishi Agastya to whom Siva gave darsan in the South while He was married toParvati in Kailas. Agastya isbrought every year from his shrine to witness the marriage of the God andGoddess of the local temple. Thefollowing legend is told about the sacredness of the shrine. To the Hindu thegreat attraction of thewaterfall is its power (as illustrated by many stories) of washing away humansins. Among thebest 'known of these tales is one which relates how at one time there livednear this place a Pandya king. He was converted to Buddhism and oppressed his peopleso severely that many fled the country. My note- Is it during the period people fromTirunelveli/ Amba samudram/Kallidai kuruchi came to Kerala. Learnt members may write. Among thefugitives was a man who had a son and a daughter. Wandering to theChola country, which was then a scene of war, the brother and sister wereseparated, as it seemed, forever. After many years they both chanced toreach Banaras on the same day and halted in the same choultry. Not recognizing eachother, they fell in love and married each other. Discovering later the sin they had committed, they sought the advice ofthe learned men of the place. Biddingthem clothes themselves in black and wander in search of expiation to all thebathing-places of the earth, the wise added that in the place wheretheir black clothes turned white, they would have their salvation. After many years they came to Papanasam andbathed in the river. Their clothes turned white; God appeared and granted themthe blessing of ever-lasting happiness. The chiefdeity of the temple is Papavinaseswarar. There are several mandaparns,(halls) and choultries (resting houses) here. The place is a small village. Theriver runs from Rocky Mountains on big boulders. My note- Good bathing ghats are there for men andwomen. Choultries are not found now. I have visited papanasam temple with family. Fish ofall sizes and of golden hue abound in the water and the pilgrims feed them during their visit to the temple infulfillment of their vows taken for recovery from their illness. Nobodycatches the fish. The story goes that a European, who did not know the holinessof the fish at this sacred place, hooked one of them and, for the violation ofthe sanctity, suffered a lot. It is said that if the fish are caught fromthis river they turn into blood and injure the eye-sight of the persons who eatthem. The fishare quite harmless and they come in shoals very near the bathers as if wishingto be fed by them. Fried peas are readily available iii the shops close by forfeeding them. Monkey,abound here in large numbers. The Lower Dam on Papanasam is a picturesque spot giving a panoramicview of a wide area at the foot of the hill. It is an excellent place for apicnic party. My note- Papanasam is 15 KM fromAmbasamudram and those going to Sadavudayar kovil can have evening darshan in the temple after bath/washing face.The current is very high in the area. We have to step down steep steps to go tothe river. At frequent intervals poojas are arranged in Papanasam in the templeand RIVER and area would be fully crowded. I will continue in next posting. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1815453843.704471.1622989741968%40mail.yahoo.com.
