Yet Another Great day

Our sincere attempt to help the long serving Sivacharyars of rural temples was received well and supported by enthusiasists from both within the country and also from abroad. This indeed has motivated us to cover as many Sivacharyars as possible in the coming years. It will give some solace to them as they are in a hopeless situation. To make things worst, the administration has turned a blind eye even after knowing fully well the agony suffered by the Sivacharyars whose life has become miserable.

Five Sivacharyars from different temples were identified and requested to assemble at Thalaignayiru, a tiny village off Vaitheeswaran koil- Manalmedu road. The place is named after "Gyayiru",the Sun God who worshipped Lord Shiva here. It is known as Thirukaruppariyalur in Thevaram Hymns sung by Sambandar and Sundarar. The Lord is also worshipped by Hanuman, who wanted to seek pardon for his act of tying the Sivalingam with his tail on seeing Lord Rama performing Puja to the Lingam made by Sita with sand. Lord Shiva pardoned Hanuman and blessed him. Hence He is known as "Aparadha kshmapaneswarar" (Kutram Poruththa nathar." ) There is another place nearby called "Thirukkurakkukaval" where Hanuman did the Puja. This deity has been sung by Appar in his Thevaram. The temple at Thalaignayiru has three tiers as found in Sirkazhi. The bottom most shrine has the sanctum and the one above has huge deities of Uma Maheswara. The top most tier has "Apathodharana"-Sattainathar,a form of Bhairava murthi for whom special puja is conducted on fridays. The sthala vriksha,"Kogudi Mullai" is on the north Prakara, hence "Kogudik koil". The shrine for the Goddess "Kol Valai Nayaki" faces south.

The sivacharyar of Thalaignayiru is about 85 years old. He has trained and developed his grandson to do the puja strictly as per the guidelines. Both Swami & Ambal Sannidhis were badly leaking due to heavy rain outside. It made the sivacharyars to conduct the function by standing in rain water that accumulated inside. Three other Sivacharyars arrived with their wives from temples located at Thiruchitrambalam, Aathur and Kondal. One Sivachharyar from Kadalangudi could not arrive due to very heavy rain.

The function started by conducting Abhishekam for Swami and Ambal. Sri Rudra Thrisathi archana was conducted with Bilwa leaves by five Sivacharyars by standing near Sri Aparadha Kshamapaneswarar. Archana was also conducted for Ambal followed by deeparadhana. Rudram from Yajur Veda & Sama Veda was recited by Sri Ganesh who came all the way from Bangalore. It was followed by Dravida Veda (Thevaram etc)recital.

Dhampathi Puja was conducted for the four couples by considering them as Shiva and Parvathi of the respective temple. Sowbagya dhraviyam was offered to the wives of the Sivacharyars by applying "nalangu" to their feet. Each Sivacharya dhampathi was presented new clothes and Rs 2000 in cash. Food was arranged for everybody who assembled for the function.

Special mention has to be made for the support rendered by M/S Baskar & Shriram (from U.S.) Ganesh of Bangalore,Gomathinayakam from Hosur , Karthikeyan & Divya Srinivasan of Chennai who stood with us to make our dream journey continue. May God bless them and their families for their selfless service to Sivacharya community. At the end of the day we could see the thanks giving act in the moist eyes of Sivacharyars which moved us a lot. We, in turn, thanked The Almighty for giving yet another opportunity to serve those who serve Him.