India - Day 4 - Thirunalalur

Haiiiii, after Thirukadaiyur we went to Thirunalalur . There is a big Sivan temple which is famous for Saneeswaran. First we had a bath in the teppa kulam there. The steps were sooo slippery as it was covered with algae. The water was icy cold and I was freezing and shivering. This is a pic of me there. After that we went to pray in that temple to the Lingam and the Saneeswaran. They put a malai over me and I felt like a King.

India - Day 4 - Thirukadaiyur

Hey, after Seerkaali we went to Thirukadaiyur. Its a big Amman temple. The story here is about a great amman devotee.Subramaniya Iyer ( Abhirami Pattar )was born to one Amirthalinga Iyer in the village of Thirukadaiyur. Tirukkadaiyur was one of the agraharams established by the Maratha ruler Serfoji I, a great admirer of Brahmin poets and bards, in the early part of the 18th century. The village was famous for its temple to Lord Shiva. Right from his childhood, Subramaniya Iyer was drawn to the temple and the Goddess.As he grew Subramaniya Iyer developed a fanatical devotion to Goddess Abhirami. He would sit in a corner of the temple meditating upon the Goddess and singing her praises. As time passed, he was forever immersed in meditation upon the Goddess that he began to observe the supposed likeliness of the Goddess in the persona of the women around him and often showered them with flowers. According to sources, soon, a particular section of the populace began to regard him as a madman.One day, Raja Serfoji, the Maratha Raja of Thanjavur who ruled over the land, visited the temple to pay homage to Lord Shiva. On noticing the peculiar behavior of Subramaniya Iyer who was a temple priest, he inquired the other priests about the individual. One of them remarked that he was a madman while another rejected this categorization explaining to the king that Subramaniya Iyer was only an ardent devotee of Goddess Abhirami. Seeking to know the truth himself, Serfoji approached the priest and asked him what day of the month it was i.e. whether it was a full-moon day or a new-moon day. Subramaniya Iyer who could see nothing else but the shining luminant form of the Goddess before him wrongly answered that it was a full-moon day while it was in fact a new-moon day. The king rode off informing the former that he would have his head cut off if the moon did not appear on the sky by six in the night.
Immediately realizing his mistake, Subramaniya Iyer supposedly lit a huge fire and erected a platform over it supported by a hundred ropes. He sat upon the platform and prayed to the Goddess Abhirami to save him. He cut off one rope after another in succession on completion of each verse of his prayer. These hymns form the Abhirami Anthadhi. On completion of the 79th hymn,the Goddess Abhirami manifested herself before him and threw her earring over the sky such that it shone with bright light upon the horizon. Overcome with ecstasy, Subramaniya Iyer composed 22 more verses in praise of the Goddess.The king repented his mistake and immediately cancelled the punishment he had awarded Subramaniya Iyer. He also bestowed upon the latter the title of "Abirami Pattar" or "priest of Goddess Abhirami" and supposedly awarded his successors the privilege of using the title "Bharathi".

India - Day 4 - Seerkaali

On day 4 we went to Seerkaali. This is the place where Tirunyanasambanthar got milk from Parvathi. The story goes like this : Nyanasambanthar is waiting for his father on the steps of the teppa kulam. He was only three years old. Suddenly, he cries. This was because he was hungry. Shiva and Parvathi came. Parvathi fed him milk and he stopped crying. Then they went away. After that, his father came out of the teppa kulam and saw milk stains on his son 's mouth. He got angry as nobody should feed him milk. He then threw the container that contained milk onto the wall. He then asks his son who did this. As Nyanasambanthar was only a small boy he could not talk so he sang 'Thodudaiya Seviyan'.

India - Day 3 - Chithambaram

After Tiruvenainallur, we went to Chitambaram. This is my most favouruite temple. This is because it is a big, clean and beatiful. The Thillai Natarajer is so cool looking. Fortunately that day Pradosham and there was a beautiful ceremony going on. The unfortunate part was that it was extremely crowded. In the Pancha Pootham ( the five elements ), this temple is the element of space. OOOOOOO!!!!!!!! There was a big Vishnu statue there too. They say when the saivites and the vaishnavites fought, the saivites threw that Vishnu statue into the sea. Later on, the statue is said to be back. In this temple, Seikilar ( the writer of Periapuranam ) launched the Periapuranam. There he told the story of the 63 nayanar saints one bye one. Further more, Manickavasagar dissapeared at the moolastanam at this place. Okay let me tell you the story. Manickavasagar was in the temple gardens when an old man (Lord Siva) comes and tells him to sing Sivapuranam. So, Manickavasagar sings. The old man writes this down. He gives it to Manickavasagar. Manickavasagar leaves it on the steps and dissapears into the moolastanam.

New Bike ( Awesome!!!!!!!!!!! )

As I got 5A's fort my UPSR, my parents bought me a brand new bicycle. Awesome right!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The bike is white and black with a dash of red. My new bike has a 6 gears so I can go reall really fast. I go cycling every evening with my brother. My mother walks with us . Thank you so much GOD. You are the best.

India - Day 3 - Thiruvenainallur

On day 3, we went to Thiruvenainallur. That is after breakfast. I had 2 humongous tosai. I LOVE TOSAI. Anyway, Thiruvenainallur is where Sunthararmoorthy Nayaynar was supposed to get married when Lord Shiva came in the form of an old man and stopped the wedding and told Suntharar that he cannot get married as he was the old man 's slave. Suntharar got angry called the old man pittan ( crazy). Ignoring Suntharar, the old man took Suntharar to his Home (the temple). When they got there Suntharar asked the old man why he brought him to the temple. The old man simply went into the moolastanam where a sivalaingam was kept and disappeared. Only then Suntharar realised that the old man was GOD. From somewhere, a God 's voice called out to him and told him to sing songs about the great Lord Siva. Suntharar said that he does not how to start. God said " Start with the word Pittan because that is what you called me". At that moment, Suntharar sang 'Pitta pirai soodi' . This is a pic of Lord Siva 's slippers.

India - Day 2 - Thiruvanamalai

On the second day, we went to Thiruvanamalai . There we went for a 14.5 km walk around Mount Thiruvanamalai. Along the walk we stopped at 8 temples . All were Sivan (Lingam) temples. They were called the AshtaLingam . Ashta means eight. Along the walk we never had any difficulty. Even my 72 year old grandmother walked. Well, that is the power of GOD. In the Pancha Pootham ( the five elements ), Thiruvanamalai is the element of fire. Oh well, by for now.