QUESANSW DIVINE 2022- 15 Dear friends,
Wish you all a happy Pongal and Makara Sankranthi. These are informationposted by members compiled as QA by me in 1998’s-2004’s and stored in mycomputer. At this date I have no information of the members posted. BEING COMPILATION THERE MAY BE ERRORS. Sincerely, R. Gopalakrishnan, 78, Former ITS ( AGM TelecomTrivandrum) dated 14-01-2022 Q1What are the attributes of Tiruporur temple? A1 situated 25-km away from Chingleput and 45-kmfrom Chennai, Tirrupporur is an ancient temple dating back to the Pallava period. It isbelieved that after vanquishing Soorapadman at Tiruchendur, Skanda destroyedthe rest of the demons at Tirupporur. Inscriptionsdating back to the early 10th century as well as from the period of VikramaChola of the 12th century can bee seen in the temple. Chidambara Swamigal is said to have discovered theimage of 'Skanda' in the anthill, and then rebuilt the temple and reinstalledthe image. The image of the lord in the anthill is covered with Kavacha and otherjewels .No Abhishekam is performed for this deity. Q2 Whatare the attributes of Rameswaram island and the Ramanathaswamy temple there? A2. A magnificent railway bridge, over a kilometrelong and re-constructed at the beginning of the twentieth century, connects itwith the mainland. Behind the Sri Ramanatha shrine, and between thesecond and third prakaras, there is a sanctum for Lord Vishnu as "Sethumadhava". Strictly speaking, the name should be "SvethaMadhava". The first word is Sanskrit for "white". The namederives from the factthat the image is of white marble. According to time-honoured tradition, the pilgrimbathes first in Agni Tirtha, as the sea to the east of the temple is called ,and finally in the Kodi tirtha, which is within the temple Regardingthe stone structures that all these stones must have been transported here overlong distances and across the sea by a causeway. In Nayaktimes there was a kind of ford. How the huge stones could have been carried across a turbulent seais a question the answer to which proves that old Indian engineers werequite advanced in technology. Q3 What are the attributes ofUchipillayar temple? A3The Uchhi Pillayar temple situated on top of a hill is the most prominentlandmark in the city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamilnadu. Theentire Rockfort (Malaikkottai in Tami) temple complex carved into the hill herefeatures two temples. The Manikka Vinayakar temple is situated at the bottom ofthe hill, the famed Uchchi Pillaiyaar temple is on top of the hill . The image of Ganapati who caused theorigin of the Ranganatha shrine at Sree Rangam is worshipped at the UchchiPillaiyaar temple. Q4 What are the details about the Kapaleeswar and karagambal temple at Mylapore? A4 The presiding deities of thetemple are Kapaleeswarar and Karpagambal. The name of the lord is derived from"Kapalam" meaning forehead. It is believed that theLord appeared before his consort Uma holding the Kapalam shaped begging bowl Theshrine of Kapaleeswarafaces the west and that of His consort Karpagambika towards the south Q5 Where is saravanapoigai? A5 The Saravanai Poigai, located atthe foot of the TiruttaniMuruga temple is believed to have been created by Lord Subrahmanyahimself using his Vel. Q6 What are the attributes of Tiruchendur temple? A6 The name Vyazha Kshethram comesafter the worship by Vyazha bhagavan or Jupiter God at this shrine in Tiruchandur Lord Senthil Andavar is believed to haveworshipped lord Shiva at the temple built by Mayan, the sculptor of the Devas, beforeand after the battle. Thus was born the mayilvahanam and the name of MayilVahanan for Muruga himself. The moolavar at Tiruchendur has fourarms holding a rudhraksha malai and his lance or Vel, noticeably missing, as heis known to be worshipping Shiva Lingam. The pictures in the Tiruchendurtemple walls also depict Lord Skandavel being worshipped by the local Collector Washington,one of the European leaders during the foreign rule in India. He generouslydonated silver to the temple. TheKing of Tiruvankoor Samasthanam, Maharaja Marthandavarma of Travancore wasan ardent devotee who donated greatly in kind and cash to this Murugan templeat Tiruchendur. Hepatronized this Senthil Andavar shrine and instituted the "EttukalaPujai". Mynote- The chief priest of the temple is a nampoothiri from Kerala and he isassisted by Brahmins called Mukkaniyur Q7 What is the relations between River Ganga andKiratamarjeswar temple at Gangai konda sozhapuram ? A7 Goddess Ganga represented to LordSiva that persons take bath in her holy waters and dissolve their sins thusmaking her impure day by day. She wanted to get rid of the increasing burden of others'sins. Lord Siva consoled her that if she worshipped Kiratamarjareswarar atGangai konda sozhapuram all the acquired sins would disappear. Muktambikaiis the name of the Goddess in the temple. The story goes that about 100 yearsago, Sri KumaraswamiMudaliar, the then landlord of Chunampet village, was a greatdevotee of Kiratamarjareswarar and his consort Goddess Muktambikai. Q8 Who are the two diciples of Nandikeswara? A8 Nandikeswara had two disciplesnamed Kantha and Mahakantha Q9 What are the attributes of Madurantakam Srirama temple? A9 The temple is situated just below the great Madurantakam AgriculturalReservoir Bund. It is of modest dimensions. The main deities are Sri Rama,Lakshmana and Sita. Sri Karunakara murthy is also in the shrine. Anjaneya (Hanuman) is conspicuously absent herealthough he is generally inseparable from Sri Rama Apparently he did notaccompany Sri Rama here, being away to inform Bharata about the arrival of SriRama When Sri Rama, Lakshmana and Sitawere returning to Ayodhya, after the killing of Ravana, the Pushpaka Vimana, whichwas carrying them, would not move when it reached this place When Rama wantedto know the reason why the Vimana would not move, his consort Sita reminded himof the request of Sage Vibhandaka. At this, Sri Rama clasped the hands of Sita and helpedher to get down the steps of the Pushpaka Vimana. This realistic picture is worshipped in the temple.Nowhere else is this Hastavalam- bana Darsan, i.e., physical appearance of SriRama and Sita holding each other's hands, to be seen The scene has been made so realisticand so vivid that one is spellbound at the sight. For Vaishnavites Madurantakam is animportant centre of pilgrimage because of its association with certainanecdotes in the life history of Ramanuja, the great Vaishnavite saint andphilosopher. Although Ramanuja was born at Sriperumbudur, it was here that hehad his spiritual rebirth When Seth Maganlal Banker of Calcutta wasrenovating the outer walls of the temple in the year 1937, he accidentally came across anunderground cave, to the great surprise of all. Further excavation showed atthe depth of 20 feet a mandaparnhaving the copper image of a small Navaneeta Krishna and Sankham, Chakra, andPooja utensils, all made of copper. At present one can go down to the cave through a flightof 20 steps and have a look at the copper finds. About 150 years ago, during theregime of the East India Company, one Leonald Place happened to be Collector ofChingleput District. Madurantakam bund story….if prayed to with faith and sincerity. "Wellthen", said Mr. Place, "let me make that prayer to your Devi. On the third night when the rainshad somewhat abated, Mr. Place could not resist the temptation to visit theweir with his camp followers. Mr. Place was naturally expecting to see asorrowful sight at the point of the weir. Lord Ramachandra and Lakshmana were giving darsan to Mr.Leonald Place! It is commonly said that Mr. Place could seeKodanda Rama, Lord Rama with his Bow pointing to the breach, which they hadclosed with their arrows. Mr. Place knelt down at the sight and began to pray. What!Don’t you see? See those glorious figures with drawn arrows! How beautiful theyare! They smile at us! Alas! They are gone now!" Mr. Place came out of his room and said: "Thebund is not broken; nor will it ever be. I always believed that God is not themonopoly of the Christian Church. Today I am fully convinced. You may all go;tomorrow shall your Devi's shrine rise." True to hiswords, Mr. Place had Devi's shrine built under his personal supervision.In memory of his services, the people of the town had the following inscriptionmade, which can be seen even today, in Tamil and Telugu, "This act of charity goes to thecredit of the Company Jagirdar Collector, Leonald Place." Q10 What are theattributes of Pakshi theertham? A10 Nine miles southeast ofChingleput is Pakshi Teertham, one of the most visited pilgrim centres ofTamilnad, commonly known as Tirukkazhukkunram, where a pair of kites dailyvisit at 12 noon, have their food and then fly away. The belief that these kites havetheir bath at Banaras, worship at Rameswaram, take their food at PakshiTeertham and rest at Chidambaram, is popular among the people. The legendbehind this is that once upon a time two Rishis named Athi and Sambu who were brothers livednear about. The elder of them Athi was devoted to Siva and the younger Sambu toSakti My note- I read elsewhere the kites are not visiting in the last 8 years or so. Q11 What is the ghost storyassociated with Srirama? A11 It issaid that Sri Rama came to Rameswaram and worshipped the Lord. When Ramareturned to Ayodhya after- killing Ravana and his brother Kumbhakarna, their ghosts followed him. He installed a Siva Lingam in Rameswaram toget rid of the ghosts. Then only the ghost of Ravana vanished and the other still followedhim. So heagain installed another Lingam (Marakata Lingam now known as Nilavindis -warar) in Tiruvanaikkavaland conducted prayers, when the ghost Kumbhakarna also left him. Q12 What is the wisdom ofkalamegham story? A12 Once, there was a cook in Tiruvanaikkaval templenamed Kalamegam. Hewas an ardent devotee of Siva. One day, when he was sleeping within the templepremises, Devi Akhilandeswari appeared before him and spat into his mouth thebetel that she was munching. The cook immediately obtained wisdom and went intopoetic raptures. Later, hebecame a very great Tamil poet and earned a name as Kavi Kalamegam. Q13 Why do Indra wanted to marryhis daughter Deivayani to Subramonia? A13 Indra,the king of the angels, desired to get his daughter Devayanai married toSubrahmanya, as a mark of his gratitude for relieving him and the devas from the depredations of thedemon Surapadma Heexpressed his desire to Brahma and Vishnu who were present there. They wereonly too glad to hear the proposal. When they communicated the desire of Indrato Lord Subrahmanya he readily agreed to it and said: "Devayanai has been praying at SaravanaPoigai in the Himalayas for this happy marriage. Now the time has come for its beingsolemnised." As Subrahmanya agreed to this marriage, Indra sent a messenger tobring his wife Indrani and daughter Devayanai from Meru Mountain. Q14 Where do the marriage of LordSubramonia with Devayani solemnized? A14 All arrangements for marriage were made and the marriage was performed atthe Tirupparankunram temple. All the devas, Siva and Parvatiattended the marriage and blessed Subrahmanya and Devayanai. Since then, thetemple has become a very famous abode of Subrahmanya. Q15 How do Deivayanai got thename so? A15 Theelephant with all love brought her up and affection and she attained the age ofmarriage in course of time. Hence she came to be known as Devayanai, one who wasbrought up by the heavenly elephant of Indra (Yanai means elephant). Q16 Every body know Lordsubramonia advised pranavamanthram to his father Siva at Swamimalai. Question-What was the reason for the same? A16 It issaid that once, as a result of the curselaid on him by Bhrigumuni, Lord Siva forgot the Pranava Mantra. Heimmediately sent for his son Subrahmanya and asked him if he knew the Mantra.The young Subrahmanya smilingly replied: "Yes, I do Know”. If you areprepared to learn the Mantra in a proper manner, I shall teach you".Thereupon, with folded hands and bowed head, Lord Siva stood before his youngGuru (Subrahmanya) with great veneration and learnt the Mantra. As this incident tookplace in this sacred place it came to be known as Swamimalai and the deity asSwaminatha,indicating that the son was superior to his Father To reachthe shrine of Swaminatha one bas to ascend 60 steps from the foot of thehillock. Thesesteps are said to represent the 60 years, Prabhava, Vibhava, etc. At thesummit of the hill there is a shrine dedicated to Vinayaka. In one corner Subrahmanyaunder the name of Sabha has been enshrined with Devayanai.This is the only place where Subrahmanya can be seen with Devayanai alone. Q17 What are the attributesof swamaimalai temple? A17 The pilgrim will be surprised to see Indra's white elephant, Airavatam, infront of Lord Subrahmanya here instead of his vehicle peacock asfound in other shrines of Subrahmanya. It is said that, token of his gratitudetowards Subrahmanya who saved him from the attack of the Asuras, Indra placed his elephantin front of Subrahmanya’s shrine here, apparently at his disposal. Thetemple of Swaminatha is a very ancient one and it is known to have existed evenin the second century B.C. Oncea blind man who came here to pray to Lord Muruga (Subrahmanya) got back hissight when he worshipped first the Vinayaka here, and since then the Vinayakacame to be known as Netra, Vinayaka (Sight-giving Vinayaka- Netmeans eye). Q18 What are the attributes ofpatteeswaram temple? A18 Patteswaramtemple is located at a distance of 4miles from Kumbakonam and is approachable only by a village road. Patteswaram,is a Siva temple of antiquity with many rare specimens of architecture,probably constructed by the Chola princes the great builders of the past. The peculiar name of theSiva Linga is derived from the legendary worshipper called Patti. The story goes to showthat the celestial cow Kamadhenu had four daughters, viz., Patti, Chapali,Vimali and Nandini. 'The eldest daughter Patti worshipped Siva in thistemple and used to make ablution to the Lingam, by discharging milk from herudders. Siva was immensely pleased with the devotional worship of Patti. Sivais also known Dhenu pureeswara. Q19 It is told kamadhenu thedivne cow had for daughters.Name the daughter cows. A19 The celestial cowKamadhenu had four daughters, viz., Patti, Chapali, Vimali and Nandini.Out of these the eldest daughter Patti worshippedSiva and used to make ablution to the Lingam, by discharging milk from herudders in patteswaram temple -- 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]. 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