Iss pyar ko Kya Naam Doon?

Iss pyar ko Kya Naam Doon- The incomparable

This is one serial that went viral and still is viral in the world of small screens.I guess this serial was dubbed in every Indian language. Excellent team working on wonderful script, portrayed by the awesome chemistry of the duo made this a great Hit.  It is the rugged stubborn character of the Hero- Arnav and kind, fight for the righteous, unyielding character of the heroine- Khusi, their understanding of one another makes it more interesting. This was not only about the "romance in the air"  but lot more about the true love which was" TRUST and UNDERSTANDING", the importance of family values. One thing I liked about the serial is absence of lot of vengeance. Except for the Villian Shyam who played his role perfectly to give more life to the episodes teaches the goodness cannot be appreciated without the darkness or evil that happens in our lives ;)

Things to learn from IPKKND:

I wanted to write this post for quite a long time. When ever I feel bored or when ever I feel down or depressed the one thing I do is watch Khushi & Arnav ( Arshi, as they are called together). Doing this brings my energy levels back.

Every time I watch the episodes I get to learn a lot of things that one can incorporate in to my life. Apart from the romance that the serial carries beautifully, there are messages in every episode which we can learn as we live with the characters.

Few of which I learnt:

1. Be yourself. Never change yourself for anyone. Its your life, your rules. Never fear and change yourself for the situations that you encounter in your life (From Khushi)

2. Live every moment with Joy. Never worry about the future nor regret the past ( From Khushi)

3. Don't take anything that happens wrong to your heart (Seriously) and don't take the praise and good name that you gain to your head (From Khushi)

4. Try to understand the pain of others. The pain is same whoever undergoes it. Only that when we undergo it we actually feel the pain & think that's the worst part

5. Always have Hope. Think best is yet to come (Khushi tells this by praying to Devi Mayya;))

6. Have a conversation with God regularly ( I love this habit of Khushi). She looks lunatic at times. of course she looks crazy, but she is TRUE. There were reviews like the character is mad. But we people are mad at times too. Aren't we?

7. Stay calm. Never explain yourself to someone who is not ready to listen. There is no use. They will soon realize their mistakes and come back. Silence is the best answer (Things between Arnav & Khushi in the earlier stage)

8. Be confident, strong & have no fear when you know you are correct. Need not bother what others think of you (as Khushi)

9. How to handle your enemy. Sometimes we need to blend with our enemy to know his motives and moves. But stay smarter than your enemy. (Khushi did it to save Arnav)

10. How to value the relationships of the one who truly love you and there may be more. You may add on more in the comments below..!

Thiru Eengoi malai

Thiru Eengoi malai

Thiru Eengoi Malai is yet another temple of Lord Shiva, who is seated on a hill top. After the darshan of Kadambar@ kulithalai in the morning, Ayer Malai Sokkar in the afternoon, we took rest in Gunaseelm in my Uncle's home and it was adhoc plan as we did not plan earlier. I would say it was the wish of the Lord Himself.

As I stated in my earlier post, it is still in practice that people take darshan of Kadambar in the morning, Sokkar of Ayyer malai in the noon and Maragathacheleswarar in the Evening. I was surprised to see that even the pooja happens for these temple in the respective times only. For Sokkar of Ayer malai, we had to wait for the priest who came around 11 am and opened the temple. Like wise the Thirueengoi malai was opened only for the evening darshan.

Thiru Eengoi Malai view from the foothill

The Steps leading to the hill top

Temple:

 The Lord Shiva of this temple is called Maragathachaleswarar and the goddess parvathi is called Maragathambigai.This temple is said be more than 2000 years old. This temple is located near Musiri, Tiruchirappali. All the three temple I mentioned are within 10 km circumference. The Steps of these temple look just like stones simply assembled. They have been painted in red & white. I would say there may be around 400 to 500 steps to the hill top.

The Ambal & Shivan sannadhi Gopurams

The main entrance leading  of the temple

Our trip:

We (Me & my cousins) started from Gunaseelam after a small nap followed by refreshing and a hot tea from my uncle's hotel @ gunaseelam. We left gunaseelam by 4:50 PM. we reached the temple by 5:15 PM. We can have a quick glance of the hill from the main road. There is also Lalithambal Peedam adjacent to the temple which we missed visiting that day.

As soon as we reached the foot of the hill, we parked our car and we could see a Sannidhi of Rishi (supposedly Bogar, correct me if I am wrong). Then starts the steps to climb up the hill. The steps were small unlike the ones in Ayer malai and we could see the hill top, it gave us a small happiness that we would be able to reach the top soon. We carried water with us. Left the slippers in the car.

We halted in between just to feel the breeze and atmosphere. The sight from around 300 steps was nice but it would have been lovely if we had water in the river Kauvery. I really felt sad and something was bothering me since then. I simply closed my eyes and imagined how beautiful it would be if there was water flowing in the river. It will be a feast to the eyes. The sight also had Ayer malai in straight line. The opposite bank had Ayer malai and in this bank of Kauvery is Thiru Engoi malai.

I sincerely prayed Lord Shiva that soon I see water flowing though the river and all green scenery around this place. Now I must not forget mentioning about the 100s of Lorry on the river beds. It looked like toys arranged in a straight line from the hill top. Those were for looting the sand from the River. I mention it as looting because there must be norms for taking sand. Also, why has human race become this greedy that we are ready to fore sake anything(even basic needs) for our Luxury?

The view from half way through the hill top

Water is a basic need, a necessity. Its an elixir of Life. Without water, we all will die. We already have exploited many of the resources. We may leave nothing for the future generations. I request all those who read this blog to save water. Have some social responsibility. We came empty handed in to this world. But we exploit every resource available here and make a mess out of this world before we leave. Remember, we take nothing back... Still, why is that we dance as though everything is ours?
Its all HIS. Thinking deeply, we will definitely get the answers. (I turned Sentimental & of course spiritual)

Getting back to our climb up, we saw few people whom we saw in Ayer malai return back with the prasadam after darshan. Hope they also made the trio darshan on the same day. The Majestic Gopuram invited us and the compound wall was as of those in palaces. entering the sanctum, we gave the fruits for the God and had the darshan of Maragatha Lingeshwarar or the Maragathachaleshwarar. We sang songs in praise of the lord . To left of the God was the goddess Maragathambigai. We also sang songs in praise of the goddess.

I cannot miss mentioning the sannathi of the Tamil God Murugan, who was in the form of Bala Dhandayuthapani as in Pazhani. Still in my eyes, we sang several songs in his praise. Came a round about the temple, got the prasadham, felt the divine bliss and started climbing down the temple. Before we got down, the temple priest got down quickly. As it was dusk, it slowly started becoming dark and there were only few lights that were on the steps down the hill.

Special thanks to the Lord by Whose grace we had a wonderful day!
அவனருளாலே  அவன் தாழ்  வணங்கி !!

A special thanks to my cousins by whose support this trip was possible!

For further details refer:
http://temple.dinamalar.com/en/new_en.php?id=841

Ayer Malai- Madhiyam Sokkar!!

Rathnagirishwarar, at Ayer/ Ayver Malai

Madhiyam Sokkar

I ticked my long time pending to do list after visiting this hill top!  As planned we visited Kadambar in the morning, then Rathnagiriswarar in Avyer Malai in Noon & there is one more...!

A brief about the temple:

Rathinagireeswarar temple at Ayyar Malai is one of the sacred "Saivite" temple and is believed to be more than 1300 years old. The five pandavas were believed to have stayed here briefly during their exile hence it is called as Ayvar (In tamil means 5 people) malai(Means hill). It is also believed that the sage Aghastiya worshipped at this temple on the way to "Podhigai".There are many hymns about this temple in "Thevaram" by thirunavukkarasar (7th Century AD), Appar and Sundarar. Arunagirinadhar has sung about its glory in "Thirupugazh".There are lot of rock inscriptions from the 11th to 16th century AD indicating that the temple received patronage from the Cholas, Pandyas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara kings.

My trip to Ayver Malai

Post our darshan at Kadambar temple in the Morning, (Refer https://valarpirai-ghayathri.blogspot.in/2017/06/kadamba-vana-nathar.html) we started to Ayer malai which is also near by Kulithalai, Karur District of Tamil nadu (Madhiyam Sokkar)in our car. On the way, we stopped under a shady tree for breakfast, opened the packing my uncle gave for our breakfast and finished our breakfast. This gave us enough energy to climb up the hill.

My cousin drove the car and along the road we could see the gigantic hill staring at us, challenging us for a climb!

The view of Ayer Malai from the Kulithalai Road

The road leading to the Hill. The steps are also clearly seen in the left side of the picture.

It was a (Muhurtha) auspicious day for the Hindus and there were lots of marriages happening in the halls at the foot of the hill. We could see average crowd, those who came to attend the marriages also came to visit the temple.

The Trek begins  from here!!

We (Me and my cousins) started trekking up around 8:30 AM.  As we begun the climb, we found lot os villagers worshipping their family deity, the security guard of their families (Kaval Deivam). there was a priest playing the damru or Udukkai and telling things to people, something what the village people believed that the God came in to him and answered their questions.

Ayyanar Temple, the deity of the local Villagers

Crossing this Mandapam, there was a huge rock to the left hand side with deity of Vinayagar. We planned to climb up the hill fast as we sensed that if the sun rises further up, at noon, this being a rocky mountain it will gain heat and we without wearing slippers or shoes, it will be too hot to climb. So we planned not to stop. The initial steps were uneven few of normal height, few longer. There are mandapams built for Shade in between without which climbing the hill is a challenge.

The mandapam with Pillayar

In between you can find the deity of Saptha Kannigaigal, the seven virgins to the left side of your path. The place was cool as the deities were placed between two huge rocks. Felt like walking through natural air conditioner

The SapthaKannnigal/ the seven virgins

One thing you will not miss enjoying is the stunt by the Monkeys in Ayer Malai. please carry a stick for a safer side. There are lots of MOnkeys with their kids. They will travel with you until the hill top looking for food, water. It must be very hard for them as we ourselves felt thirsty in the hot summer

Monkey beating the heat drinking the drops of water from the pipe!

After climbing up, you will have to wait until the priest comes. A main thing to note is that the pooja for Ratnagirishwarar happens only in Noon. We found few people carrying flower, water and milk from down the hill for the God. we reached the hill top slowly around 11. waited for half an hour. The Priest came and opened the Sannidhi/ sanctum by 11:30. All the people waiting entered the sanctum for the darshan of the God and goddess. One cannot miss the beautiful sight from the top of the hill. The breathtaking, awesome site. One thing was clear, if there had been water in Kauvery it would have been even more beautiful sight. The view made my thoughts roaming.

Every time I take off from any airport or land, I like looking down and all I see is lots of buildings arranged closely. The roads with lights which make it look like stars below. This sight is completely different. The plateau is rich brown soil and all I can see around are few hills and land, trees and few buildings here and there.

The View from the hill top! 

The first deity you will come across as you climb is the goddess SurumbarKuzhali, Guess the Goddess have a curly hair. This is said to be Sakthi Peetam. There are inscriptions on the outer walls of the Ambal Sannathi which I am not sure what language they are..! There are neem and other trees around the sanctum.

The Shrine of Devi Parvathi

The walls of the Devi temple have inscriptions. We could identify few tamil letters

   

We had the darshan of the Goddess and also the Lord Shiva as Rathnagirishwarar. We sang few songs in praise of the Lord, sang few Thevaram, few pathigams. The lord shiva is in Long Linga roopam. There is Nandhi in front of him and there a small window which lets in cool breeze in to the sanctum. 

I  was wondering how the kings those days must have deigned and built these temples. You cannot do a pradakshinam of Shiva here. There is no way to come around the God. there are also deity of other gods like Subramanya, Vairava Perumal, and other usual gods of Shiva temple. After Darshan, on the way out of Goddess temple, we walked up the corrider where we enjoyed the breathtaking sights and took a nap for 10 minutes enjoying the atmospehere in the hill. The wind was cool though it was 12 noon. We took some pics together, made some funny poses and enjoyed chatting for some time.

Walking down the hill was the real challenge as now the steps were hot as a stove in full flame. we actually ran down the steps towards every shade.Thank god for the shelters in between and the trees which gave us shade in places in between the steps. Climbing up during this time (post 12 noon) is not advised though we found few people climbing up the hill. We learnt that even the priest will come down around 2 PM.

I would suggest people planning for Darshan of Ayer malai to carry cotton shawls, a stick ( to scare the monkeys), water, a sun screen for your skin, caps and few snacks or glucose for energy.

Few things I realised while climbing up are:
 In Hinduism, climbing up hills are considered sacred. It not only healthy for the body but for also the mind. Its a challenge we take up for ourselves. When we can climb up such hills we learn that we can easily overcome challenges in our day to day life.

I wish every one reading this post visit this temple once and get the blessings of the Lord!

தென்னாடுடைய  சிவனே போற்றி !!
எந்நாட்டவர்க்கும் இறைவா போற்றி !!!

Nagareshu Kanchi..!

Nagareshu Kanchi..!

Incredible India!!

There is a Sanskrit Quote By the renowned poet "Kalidasar" who states, among the Cities(Nagar), the most Beautiful is Kanchi (Kanchipuram). He  from what(the places) he had seen during his period its only Kanchi, the best.

Kanchi or the Kanchipuram is temple city near Chennai. Everywhere you can find lots of temple. In this post I am sharing with you the recent look of the Kanchi Kamakshi Amman, who is the presiding deity of the region, by whom the region is famous, The Kanchi Kamakshi, the goddess Parvathi who did penance to marry the God Shiva (Ekambaranathar) of Kanchi.


The new look after the Kumbabishegam (renewal) is breath taking. Here are few pictures, a feast to your eyes.!

One of the 4 entrance

Music Higher Vocal- DGE exam: Useful information for the Students

Music Higher Vocal- DGE exam: Useful information for the Students

I hope the information below will be useful for the students who apply for the DGE- Vocational exams, Music Higher. I am not sure if this pattern will be same every year. But, I guess there may not be much change.

The Higher Music exam- vocal/ instrument is for 150 Marks. This is conducted as 2 sessions:

Session 1:(Morning)

For 30 Marks out of 150, the students will be given a paper and 5 questions will be asked for which students seated in their respective numbers  in the class room have to write the answers in the paper

1. Raga identification- The examiner sings a song and students have to identify the raga and write the Raga name
2. Thala Identification- The examiner sings a song and students have to identify the thala of the song and write the thala name
3. Eduppu Identification- The examiner sings a song and students have to identify the eduppu of the song and write the same (Sama or Visama (Atheetha or Anagatha))
4. Write the Arohanam & Avarohanam & Janya of Which Mela kartha- The examiner sings a song and students have to identify the raga of the song and write the Arohanam & Avarohanam along with the Kartha name
5. Thala & Gati- The examiner sings a song and students have to identify the raga of the song and write the thalam along with the gati

Session 2 :(Noon)

For  remaining 120 Marks, students will have to sing/ play using the instrument a composition under the headings below:

1. Ata thala Varnam
2. Pancharathnam (Only Gana raga pancharathnam)
3. Swarajathi (Only Swarajathi of Shyama Sasthri)
4. Raga Malika
5. Padam
6. Javali
7. Thillana
8. Daru
9. Krithis
10. Ashtapathi
11. Tharangam
12. Raga Alapanai & Karpanaswaram (Any Raga & Karpana swaram for krithi in same raga)

Each of the above carries 10 marks. In addition, the examiner will also give you a paper with a notation on it. The Raga and Thala will be mentioned. We need to sing the same in the raga mentioned and the thala specified.

All the best to all students appearing for Higher exam and I hope the above information is useful to you!

Kadamba vana nathar

Kalayil Kadambar..!

Kadamba vana nathar

Kadamba vananathar koil Gopuram

On the Southern bank of Kauveri, in the small city of Kulithali, Karur district, we can worship Kadamba vana nathar, the Shivan so called, as he is seated in the forest of Kadamba trees. The sthala Vriksham is Kadamba tree. (Botanical Name: Neolamarckia cadamba). This is an evergreen, tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia. It has scented orange flowers in dense globe-shaped clusters.

Lord Shiva is the main deity of this temple with his wife Parvathi, named as Mutrilla mulaiammai.

Lord Shiva is seated facing North as Swayambu lingam. The Saptha Kinnikaigal (The seven Virgins) are worshipping him from his behind. As usual, we can find the other Gods in the Praharam, or surrounding of Lord Shiva. Vinayagar, Subramanya Swami, Dakshinamurthi, Chandekeshwarar, Durgai Amman, and the Navagrahas.

It is said that Lord Shiva granted Darshan to the Sapta Kannigas in this place, on the banks of the River Kauvery. 

The temple trip:

We (me along with my 4 cousins) went to the temple early in the morning around 7:30 AM. We went by taking my uncle’s car and the drive was good along the banks of the river Cauvery. My  2 cousins drove alternatively. We started from Gunaseelam, a village in Trichy district on the highway of Trichy- Salem. We went via Musiri and took the long bridge crossing the river Cauvery to reach Kulithalai. This temple is in Kulithalai and we easily reached the temple as it is close to the kulithalai bus stand. The compound wall of the temple can be seen from the main road.

We parked our car and went in with the Bananas which our uncle gave for the Lord Shiva. As it was Muhurtha day, auspicious day for the marriage, and there were marriages happening in the temple, the temple was crowded with a couple of wedding couples and their friends and relatives attending the marriage. We had to pierce through them and we did the Namskaram at the Dwajasthambam. We could see the Goddess in the right side before entering the sanctum of Lord Shiva. However, we went in to the sanctum of Lord Shiva first, gave him the Fruit and had the darshan. Me and my cousins sang few Bhajans and songs in praise of the Lord and got the Viboothi Prasadam. There were paintings seen on the walls of the sanctum. The Lord was in small Linga Form facing North. There was this inner praharam around Lord Shiva, were there were 63 Nayanmars, Kala Biravar, SapthaKannis behind Lord shiva, Murugan along with valli deivanai, Durgai, Dakshinamurthy and Chandikeshwarar,Naalvar as well. There was a separate sannidhi for Vinayagar as well.

After the darshan of the Lord shiva, we had to again penetrate through the crowd to visit the Goddess. People were well dressed in traditional Pattu sarees and Pattu Dhothis.:). We had the darshan of the Goddess Mutrilla Mulaiammai and we went through the outer praharam. 

The Shrine of the Goddess Mutrila Mulaiammai

All we can see were trees and plants along the compound wall with the words “Shiva Shiva” written on them. Lots of trees including Kadamba trees were seen. The flowers in few tree were beautiful. We enjoyed the walk in the shadow of those trees and we again found Lord Vinayaka seated in the shade of a big Tree.Its his specialty to sit under trees. You can see that in every corner of tamil nadu and  in every Arasa or Ala tree shade, the Vinayaga is seated. There was also Vilva tree and people were doing pradakshinas. One thing I love about visiting the temples is that I feel so happy and blessed. Not sure if it is the smell or some positive Vibration in the temple or the ambiance that gives me the feeling. We left the temple thanking the God and happily started for the next exciting Climb to Ayyar/Ayver malai, the plan in my to do list for long long time.

Beautiful flowers and buds seen in temple

Marathadi Pillayar

The 5 tier Gopuram as seen from the entrance of the temple

 There is a belief to visit three Shivas in single day.

                                 “Kadambar in the Morning,

                                    Ayer Malai in Noon

                                & Thirueengoinathar in the evening”

So our Step one was complete by around 8:30 AM in the morning.

Will write about the Ayer Malai in my next post.

For further reference:

http://temple.dinamalar.com/en/new_en.php?id=83