Groups of lovers discover Tiruvottiyur and Mylapore, two localities that also retain their quaint allure and have many spiritual places
Groups of lovers discover Tiruvottiyur and Mylapore, two localities that also retain their quaint allure and have many spiritual places
Tiruvottiyur within the north and Mylapore within the south are two historical settlements by the ocean which have witnessed town develop and broaden. Even right now, they preserve a quaint allure and have managed to safeguard temples, church buildings, mosques and samadhis of saints round which the villages of yore thrived. Two walks that explored the saints who patronised these locations of worship have been held not too long ago.
Author and temple chronicler Padmapriya Baskaran and a bunch of lovers from the Great Cholas Heritage Research Group went on a stroll round Mylapore final week, visiting a number of locations worship devoted to saints of every faith with attention-grabbing tales surrounding them.
“The Dargah of Hazrath Syed Badruddin Shaheed in Pallavaram has a connect to Mylapore and Santhome. The saint was a soldier, who had volunteered to be part of the Golconda forces as a horseman in the battle to vanquish the Portuguese at Santhome in 1646. He managed to replace the Portuguese flag with that of the Golconda flag. But a Portuguese soldier is said to have severely injured him when he was climbing down. One legend says his head was almost severed by the enemy. But he managed to get on his horse and reach Pallavaram, where he finally collapsed. A dargah was built at the place where he was buried. Today the dargah is quite popular among the devout,” Ms. Baskaran defined.
The tank of the Kapaleeswarar temple, has a join with Badruddin Saheb. Though it was mentioned to have been constructed by one Muthaiappa Mudaliar within the 16 th Century, a legend says the place belonged to some fakirs.The Nawab of Arcot decreed that each the Hindus and the Muslims might use it. To at the present time, Muslims use the tank on the tenth day of Muharram.
Walkers additionally obtained an outline of the scene from the story of how Saint Thirugnanasambandar introduced again Poompavai, the daughter of Sivanesan Chettiyar, to life from ashes and bones. The Chettiar constructed the gorgeous temple of Virupaksheeswarar as a token of gratitude. A statue of Sivanesan stands knee-deep in granite contained in the temple for Lord Poompavai Nayanar and Goddess Visalakshi, who has a Nandhi in entrance. This quaint temple with a gopuram, has a tank of its personal and two entrances.
Ms. Baskaran had charted a complete of 15 spots, together with the Swethambara Jain temple devoted to Vasupujya Swamy, the Dargah close to the Jumma Mosque and the Santhome Cathedral the place the tomb of Saint Thomas lay. Vasupujya Swamy was the 12 th Jain Tirthankara and was born to King Vasupujya and Queen Jaya Devi within the Ikshvaku dynasty. In historical instances, Mylapore can be mentioned to have had a temple for Neminatha, the 22 nd Jain Tirthankara. This temple has been described in a minimum of two works together with one known as Thirunootrandhadhi by the Avirodhi Alwar.
When Muslims taken care of the tomb of St. Thomas
Ms. Baskaran, who has documented the temples alongside River Cooum, defined that the presence of the tomb of St. Thomas in Santhome was first revealed by Arab chroniclers within the 8 th Century. Subsequently, Marco Polo and Portugese traveler Duarte Barboza, the brother-in-law of Ferdinand Magellan, wrote a couple of Muslim who used to mild a lamp on the tomb.
The group visited extra places together with the delivery place of Peiyalwar on Arundale Street. The Alwar, one of many three Mudhal Alwars of Lord Vishnu, was mentioned to have been born on a pink lotus within the Manikairavam tank, which is now a effectively. A shrine for the saint, who had a imaginative and prescient of the Lord at Thirukoilur on a wet night time, stands on the stunning silent spot in the course of town.
Ancient temple within the north
Several kilometers north of Mylapore, within the Thyagarajaswamy temple, scholar P. Thiruchitrambalam defined to his group of walkers that Tiruvottiyur or Thiruvottriyur was the oldest city related to town. This temple was very particular as solely right here, the three Saivite saints – Sundarar, Thirunavukarasar and Sambandar – have sung verses.
To bear in mind them, the temple has a separate precinct known as ‘Naalvar Sannathi’, housing Sundarar and considered one of his two consorts. The temple has three tales to inform on its ancientness, girls empowerment, and safeguarding the Tamil language.
The heritage stroll in progress on the Thyagarajaswamy temple in Tiruvottiyur.
| Photo Credit: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
Though the temple was mentioned to be over 1,300 years outdated as per the information, Mr. Thiruchitrambalam mentioned its historical historical past could possibly be traced again to a number of hundreds of years. He went on to explain the immense contributions made by the Chola and Pallava kings within the progress of the temple, together with the development of the sanctum sanctorum, which housed the primary deity Lord Shiva known as ‘Padam Pakkanaathar’. The precinct housing the primary deity was constructed by King Rajendra Chola as per the Agamas, with Tamil Grantham inscriptions, he added.
Women Odhuvaars
Mr. Thiruchitrambalam, a professor on the Thiruvavaduthurai Aadheenam, mentioned: “The temple had a history of appointing a line of women Odhuvaars, totally 16, for singing the verses (Pathigams).” Heritage fanatic Sreemathy Mohan, who put collectively the stroll, mentioned because the title of the stroll Tiruvottiyurum Thiruppattum urged, songs from the Thirumurai have been sung by the Odhuvaars proper from the time the deity awakened until the tip of worship for the day.
He additionally mentioned that the singing of pathigams by Odhuvaars helped in protecting Tamil language and traditions alive and safeguarding it from Sanskrit, which was the dominant language in these days. A number of vital hymns (pann) of the Saivite saints have been sung by Oduvaar Manikandan. By the time the members disbursed after a four-hour temple stroll, they have been soaked within the temple’s wealthy historical past.
(With inputs from R. Srikanth)
Source: www.thehindu.com