FESTIVALS OF KAPALI

PANGUNI UTHIRAM FESTIVAL of SRI KARPAGAMBAL & SRI KAPALESWARAR TEMPLE, TIRUMYLAI – MARCH 2010

Here is a collection of photos of some important festivals captured in this festival season that drew up huge crowds of men and women of all ages.  The different sevas in the mornings and evenings presented a kaleidoscope of colors and adornments which pleased both the eyes and the mind.

Festival of this nature is generally a mass entertainment event for the public and an occasion for the entire family to visit the temple, its tank and the precincts to witness the festivities. Incidentally, such festivals do promote a sense of participation and involvement among the people. A number of temporary food and drinks shelters of temporary nature were put up on the roads leading to the Kapali temple to provide food and buttermilk for the crowd.

The Arubathumoover festival, the most important event of this series, is a huge crowd puller in several thousands from in and around Mylapore.  Also, the other deities in Mylapore like A/m Kolavizhi Amman, Mundagakanniamman, Draupathi Amman and others joined the procession of the 63 Nayanmars, who had immortalized themselves by their devotion or bhakthi to the Lord.

This collection of photos taken on different days of this festival is sure to provide a delightful peep into the colorful spectacle of what it was!

The flag on the Dwajastambam marks the commencement of the festival

SUN Circle seva

Karpagambal

Murugar with his consorts

Vinayagar on his mount, the Mouse on Adhigara Nandhi Day

ADHIGARA NANDHI

At the Pandal

PURUSHA MIRUGHA VAHANA SEVA

KARPAGAMABL on Lion Vahana on Purushamirugam day

MURUGAR on Tiger mount on Purusha mirugam day

The famous RISHABA vahana seva that starts on the midnight and lasts upto the dawn on the following day

KARPAGAMBAL on Rishaba vahanam

Lord Murugar on Peacock vahanam

THER (car) festival

Beautiful decoration of the Plait of Karpagambal

The colorful Car with its adornments

63-ver festival-the Nayanmars on procession

A long line of 63 Nayanmars before the Lord Siva

Lord Siva in silver Vimanam

Karpagambal on her Silver Vimanam

Murugar with his consorts on 63-ver day

SANDIKESWARAR on 63-ver day

MUNDAGA KANNI AMMAN

PICHADANAR – Lord Siva known for his playful deeds, takes this form and goes round the mada streets alone for collecting money for his marriage!

Tiru Kalyanam of Karpagambal with Kapaleeswarar

A/m KARPAGAMBAL after the marriage with A/m KAPALEESWARAR

The marriage of Siva and Parvathy was celebrated in a grand manner and style from the funds raised by the Pichadanar, the previous day. The blushing newly wed Karpagambal is seen wearing the mangala sutra, the multi strands of golden yellow threads around her neck in the traditional madisar attire.

Kailash Seva

KAILASH SEVA

Ravana with nine heads

You may be wondering at Ravana with only nine heads in this picture. Here is the beautiful story behind it:

The legend has it that Ravana, the mighty emperor of the Rakshasas and an ardent devotee of Lord Siva started lifting Kailash to take it to his mother’s abode  to enable her to worship the Lord, as she was disabled to move on account of her old age. The mountain Kailash started shaking a little and on seeing this, the Lord Siva stamped on Ravana and he was caught crushed beneath the mighty mountains. Later, as a measure of redemption to what he had done, Ravana, who was also a talented celestial  musician, started singing with an improvised Veena as an accompaniment to please the Lord. This veena, in his hands, was made of by clipping one of his heads and other parts of his body.

The awesome Kailash Seva

This Kailash seva was an awesome and inspiring sight with the mighty idols of the demon Ravana carrying Lord Siva, measuring some sixteen feet tall and eight feet wide. It was almost filling the entire doorway of the temple tower. The seva, with tastefully decorated big, colorful, flowing flower garlands was a fitting finale to the Panguni Uthiram festivals at the Kapali temple, Mylapore last night (29/3/10).

A scene on the temple tower depicting Devi Karpagamabal in the peacock-hen form worshiping the Lord Siva

Slide 32

கயிலையே மயிலை

மயிலையே கயிலை

CSG Raju

KAILASANATHAR II

Sri Kailasanathar Temple, Kanchepuram (Part -2)

The sculptures of Sri Kailasanathar temple, Kanchi are exemplarily beautiful and truly masterpieces on stone. The figures portrayed appeal to the eyes and mind as well and no sooner you would realize the stone panels before you are perfectly balanced and poised with expression and body language to bring out the mood of the scenes. They leave a lasting impression in your mind for a very long time, even after leaving the place.

I made my second visit within a year to this wonderful temple of the Pallava period and spent quite some time going through the details of the scenes depicted there with the help of a non-professional guide who explained me with interest for a paltry sum he asked for as his fee.

Please visit also my earlier blog, ‘The splendors of Indian Temples-12’ for more details and photographs of this temple.

The stone panel-relief sculptures are inside small stone sheltered recesses in the inner corridor surrounding the main shrine of Sri Kailasanathar. These sheltered spaces are to a great extent protect them from the direct Sun and rain. There are also some traces of murals over the sculptures which had vanished with the passage of time. From what little remains there, you could well imagine how grand and magnificent they would have been at the time of their creation. The guide explained the colors of the murals were of vegetable origin which is the reason why they had not faded even after centuries of years.

Here are the photos of sculptures with details of what I heard from the guide and if you have any other views or captions you are most welcome to share.

Lord Narasimha

A mural

Lord Siva plucking the 5th head of Lord Brahma

Lord Siva & Arjuna at logger heads over the dispute of who killed the animal?

Siva, Parvathi and Brahma

Sanskrit inscriptions

Lord Dakshinamurthy

Lord Sankara Narayanan ( Siva & Vishnu)

Mural

At the corner of inner Praharam - Lion headed pillars of the Pallava period

Lord Siva

Siva & Parvathi - note the mural

Lord Siva punishing Yama for his disobedience

Lord Siva punishing a demon by cutting his arm with a disc

Pallava Lions

A visit to Sri Kailasanathar temple at Kanchipuram is doubly rewarding as it is a place of worship of Lord Siva as well as a treasure house of stone sculptures which would please your eyes and remind you of the stories you have heard from the scriptures. You would lose yourself in the stream of timelessness amidst those magnificent stone sculptures of the Pallava period, some thirteen centuries old.

CSG Raju