With the blessings of Shri Raghupathi Sir, we, Dhananjay Gogate, Mandar Vaze, Sudhakar, Bhatia Uncle and Mahesh Bhide had a great trip to Kanya Kumari accompanied by Shri Sir himself. We drove from Dapoli all the way to Kanya Kumari and other places on the way back.
Thanks to Bhatia uncle who untiringly drove the car throughout the journey
And thanks to Shri Sir who gave us opportunity to travel with him to holy places.
Here is a short report of the trip.
We started from Dapoli in the morning of February 9 and on the way picked up Mahesh Bhide who joined us at Karhad. It took us 2 days to reach Kanya Kumari.
After reaching Kanyakumari on Feb 10 at around 4 PM, we visited Thanumalayan temple in Suchindram, 13 km from Kanyakumari. This temple is unique in the sense that the linga here represents three gods Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. It is a belief that Lord Indra himself installed this linga after performing severe penance to get rid of the curse on him by Sage Gautama. Because Lord Indra was purified in this place the place got the name Suchi-Indran (Suchi - pure, Indran - Lord Indra) meaning the place where Lord Indra got purified. This temple is famous for its architectural excellence. Another attraction in this temple is 18 feet tall Hanuman idol completely carved in stone.
After getting darshan of Suchindram temple we came back to Kanya Kumari. As everybody knows Kanya Kumari is a south tip of India. Three seas meet at this point - Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Difference of color in the waters in these seas is quite visible.
The major religious attraction in Kanya Kumari is Bhagawathy Temple situated right on beach. This temple along with Suchindram temple mentioned above is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas distributed across India.
The story of the temple goes like this. Goddess Bhagawathy, as an adolescent girl, had an immense devotion towards Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva decided to marry Goddess Bhagawathy. Lord Shiva started his journey for marriage, however in the meantime Sage Narada, realizing that Goddess Bhagawathy had incarnated to kill Bhanasur, skillfully indicated that it was too late for marriage and marriage procession returned. Goddess Bhagawathy waited for long time, but since Lord Shiva never turned, she remained unmarried (Kanya Kumari) and finally chose to be sanyasin forever. She killed Bhanasur and remained in this place forever. That is how this place got its name.
Another attraction here is Swami Vivekananda rock. The story goes like this. On instruction from Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda travelled to Kanya Kumari to seek blessings of Goddess Bhagawathy. He meditated in this place for almost three days before he got a vision of Goddess who made him realize the mission of his life. There is a statue of Swami Vivekananda and Dhyan Mandir below that.
After taking overnight halt in Kanya Kumari, next day we started our journey to Thiruchendur, 55 km north-east of Kanya Kumari. Another place of religious importance. The place is famous for Lord Murugan temple. This temple is one of six abodes of Lord Murugan (Karthikeya Swami), remaining five are Palani, Swamimalai, Thiruthani, Pazhamudircholai, Thirupparamkunram, all in Tamil Nadu. According to Purana this temple is in existence for hundreds of years. The temple is located beside sea. Very recently this temple came into limelight during Tsunami that hit the Indian coast on December 26, 2004. Despite being on the sea shore, the temple remained completely unaffected, though nearby areas were affected by Tsunami.
From Thiruchendur we started our journey to Chennai. On our way we took overnight halt at famous Madurai, known as city of temples, particularly famous for Meenakshi Amman Temple. This temple is considered as a marvel in temple architecture. The temple is humongous. It is spread over 15 acres of land.
The main deity of this temple is Meenakshi, incarnation of Goddess Parvati. The story of the temple goes like this. King Pandya of this land performed Putra Kameshthi Yadnya. During yadnya Goddess Parvati appeared as a little girl. After this girl grew young she got married to Lord Sundareshwara, incarnation of Lord Shiva. It is believed that whole world turned for this marriage. It is also believed that Lord Vishnu performed kanya daan during this marriage. Inside temple the scenes of this marriage are carved in stone.
After taking awesome darshan of Meenakshi Amman temple we started our journey to Chennai and reached Chennai in the evening of Feb 12.
On next day we started our journey to Mosur, native place of Shri Raghupathi Sir and Sudhakar. In this village there are two temples of Lord Shiva. First temple that we visited is believed to be very old. They say that Adi Shakaracharya visited this temple. The priest here showed us Shri Yantra that was presented by Shri Adi Shankaracharya. This yantra is placed beside idol of Shri Dnyanambika, goddess of knowledge. It is believed that this Goddess fulfills demands of the devotee without any condition meaning it is not necessary to promise anything in return (navas). The only condition is that the demand has to come from a mind with no trace of hatred or jealousy.
In the next article we will cover remaining places.