With breakfast at Manoj Bhavan, Madurandhakam and a tea a break near Dindigul we reached Pazhani around 2 PM. Our accommodation was at Pattaiah Palace, which was in a street that connects Dhandayudhapani temple to Thiruavinankudi temple. This street with shops on either side, is the most busiest in Pazhani. On reaching the Thiruavinankudi temple we took assistance from our hotel people to reach their back side parking lot. To get a reservation here we had to pay the full rental of Rs. 1000 through online a week ago.
After parking our vehicle we had to do the formalities at the front desk. An old mansion has been renovated as a hotel. We had pay a Rs. 200 refundable deposit and wrote down details in the register book (are we in 2022?). The room was very modest, clean and neat. A non-ac room with no single item of luxury. Room service helped us with a parcel lunch. We went in for a siesta post lunch but it turned out to a doze owing to our long road trip. Woke up at 6:30 PM, got ready to visit the temple. Sabarimala devotees thronged Pazhani in huge numbers and the Christmas break had pulled in more. Due to this the rope cars and winch had never ending queues. So we resorted to climbing. The yaanai pathai as its called is the way for the ones who climb all the way to the temple.
At the foot hills is the mantap that leads to the Yaanai pathai. Near that we can leave our foot wears at the temple's premise. As we enter the mantap we see more shops and a path leading to the steps. After few steps we see the path dividing into steps only way on the right and a sloppy path to the left. We took the sloppy and reached temple with 20 to 25 mins. As we headed near we were told that the Golden chariot is going to start. Its a daily affair at this temple, the Lords take a rendezvous every day in his golden chariot around 7:30 PM. The final few steps where both the ways converse was literally filled with human heads making us wonder whether we'll make it. We can only wonder its he who decides. Once we climbed and reached the top, a chill breeze hit our face saying here you are.
Thanks to the Lord we reached on time and got the darshan of him in the golden chariot. We next bought the Rs. 100 special darshan ticket and stood in the queue. Like in Tirupati there are few blocks here, the devotees had to go through these blocks but not all. Each block would be opened up on a first come basis. There is just one security guarding this place. A very efficient one. He handles such huge crowd and around 10 blocks single handedly. With in an hour we got the darshan of Lord Dhandayudhapani. Evening time the Lord is in Raja alangaram and in the mornings he is in the Aandi alangaram. Once we came out we got Panchamirdha prasadham. Then sat there for few minutes and came down the same path. This time it was less tedious, the climb up was leaving us longing for breath and a dry throat.
Downstairs there was huge crowd at the Siththanan's shop for Panchamirtham. The temple sold Panchamirtham get over by 8 PM it seems. As we walked to our accommodation we found food being served outside in a mess. We had kal dosa and roast dosa and went back to our room. The non-ac room was pretty comfortable for a December night.
The next day morning we went to the Thiruvaanaikavil temple to worship Murugar. Many believe that this is the Arupadaivedu instead of the Dhandhayudhapani temple. This temple is small but ancient. When we went there locals were having ear-piercing ceremony along with festivities. Came out and had breakfast at the near by hotel Saravana. Here in all restaurants, we had to clear out our banana leaf after eating. Food here was average and not much variety. We bought Panchamirtham at the Kandha vilas and started to check out. The elderly person at the reception gave us the deposit refund and bid us good bye. We were told the devotees strength is high during this time of the season all the way up to May end. From June onwards the crowd will be sparse.
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