Kumbakonam trip - III

Lalithambigai temple is situated about 1 km from peralam, a small village which is on the way to mayiladudurai. Actually it was past noon and we lost all the hopes of seeing the deity thinking that the temple would be closed from 12 pm - 5 pm. But, my athukkarar wanted to atleast have the gopura darisanam , so we set out to the temple just to catch a glimpse of the temple from outside.

It is amidst a scenic village setup which u normally see in the tamil films. The roads were pretty okay and we heard that it was complete chaos few months before. And finally we reached the temple around 12.45 pm. We had great "kuduppinai" (luck) i suppose, or else how do you account for the temple to be open at that time and that too special pooja with archanais for both the deity. The ambigai there was a mesmeric beauty amidst the old type of temple. I somehow relish the old construction with small praharams but considerably good space outside with lots of trees and garden.

And when old temples are renovated , i feel the basic architecture should not be disturbed. I was in for a surprise and taken back when the "Kasi viswanathar temple" at Easwaran koil street, westmambalam was recently renovated. The temple lost its charm and somehow the new one seemed to be crowded and lost its divinity and seemed more of a mandapam rather than a kovil. I remember playing in the huge space outside the temple and though the praharams were small it gave a sense of peacefulness once you are inside it. With the building and the huge structure it seems to have shrunken rather expand ultimately.

And now back to the trip...

The Peralam village would just have been another in the map if not for the Lalithambigai temple. They have well maintained bath and toilet just situated at 5 min walk from the temple which is under lock and key. You should just have to get the key from the woman at the shop outside the temple and can refresh , but not without a cost which is necessary for them to maintain.Even in the city you cannot imagine restrooms / toilet being maintained at the prominent places. It is more necessary than all the parking places and parks which are being developed .

After the food for the souls , we even had food for our stomachs. As soon as we got the darshan we went towards our car, and were about to start, when two men came rushing towards us. They asked us to come inside and have the prasadhams. At it was around 3.00pm and all we had was the breakfast at chidambaram. It was such a treat with 5 types of prasadhams - puliyodarai, maangai saadam , thayir saadam, chakkarai pongal, and one more sweet - akkara vadisal. While we left we were brimming with gratitude cos we had earlier decided to have grand sweets snacks for lunch and to give the kids bread and jam.

There are few houses outside the temple and please dont hesitate to ask in the first house for home-made food, if you are travelling with a kid. Heard from one of our friends that when you ask them they would serve you with home made food. And mind they would never ask you the money and you can give them as you wish. I donot know whether they follow the practice now also. We came to know about that only after the trip so was unable to check it out.

With the topic revolving around lalithambigai in fullfledge we reached thirukadavur. This is the temple famous for the Aayushomams and the shashtiapthapoorthis. The temple authorities would organise for the decorations and the photos , videos and other requirements for a price.

Lets see about this temple in the next post



P.S - This post had been in the draft for a while.