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Today I visited this temple. The visit was suggested by a good friend who was also my client. I had the good fortune to meet him through work and we have now become good friends. He came to Singapore from India and has worked very hard, started a successful enterprise and has done well for himself.

I have never heard of this temple but I later found out that this Sivan temple has a history dating back some 3000 years and is considered to be the oldest and most sacred Sivan temples in the world.

There are many legends about how this temple came to be built. It is also said to be sacred because this was where Lord Shiva gave the secrets of the scriptures to Goddess Parvati.

The temple is famous for housing a 6ft tall ancient emerald Nataraja idol. This is covered in sandal paste throughout the year which is only removed during the annual Arudra darshans. On that day, the sandal paste is removed and the deity is paraded around the temple for the public to see. This temple has been revered in various 9th century tamil hymns.

The temple also houses a 3000 year old ilanthai tree.

When I arrived here, the first impression I had was that its a temple in the middle of nowhere. It’s clearly a very old temple and there were not that people here. Perhaps because it was a weekday morning. I performed darshans here and received a garland. I felt the strongest presence of the deity here.

I am glad I came here.

This was a very well known tamil movie released in 1968 starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmimi. It went on to win 2 National Awards and 5 State awards that year.

The movie was based on a book authored by Kothamangalam Subbu. This novel was serialized in the magazine Ananda Vikatan and it ran between 1957 to 1958. The book was very popular when released and therefore unsurprising that everyone was waiting for the release of the movie.

The story is about a Nadaswaram player and a classical barathanatya dancer and all the difficulties they encounter in their relationship.

For me the movie was of course more interesting than the book because you could hear the Nadaswaram playing and see the barathanatya dancing. The glorious music for the movie was provided by K V Mahadevan and lyrics were by Kannadasan.

I have seen the movie when it was released and several times since then. The songs are memorable especially Marainthirunthu Parkum Marmum Enna and Nalanthana.

So I was driving down from Palamuthir Solai on Sunday and passing the Alagar temple when the driver pointed out to me a Mandabham or hall on the other side of the Alagar temple. This hall was built around the 1600s by Thirumalai Nayakar and his brothers. More significantly, this was the place where the filming for the song Marainthirunthu Parkum Marmum Enna took place. Fascinating! Now when I think back, in the movie, the  dancing scene did take place in a small hall with sculptures and carvings on the walls. And in the song itself, the lyrics make reference to the nearby Alagar temple.

I was sad to see the place locked up and run down. This is a historical structure built by Thirumalai Nayakar and his brothers and their own sculptures are part of the carvings inside the hall but no one appears to be maintaining the hall or planning to. Sad fact of India and in particular Tamil Nadu. So much history, historical treasures and monuments which are not maintained, catalogued or properly promoted. Many countries would die for a fraction of what India has in terms of history and monuments! Pity.

Indians eat late.. every meal. Today I was at  breakfast, which is on from 7 to 1030am. I got here at 8 and it was quiet with just a few tables occupied. I stayed on for a bit after eating, reading a book, because I wanted them to finish cleaning my room before I went back up.

Just after 10am,  people started pouring into the restaurant in groups for breakfast when there was just half an hour left. As I gaze around now, the restaurant is buzzing with people walking  around with plates and filling it from the buffet spread. Suddenly so much activity!

It was the same for lunch yesterday. Lunch started at 1230. I was there at 1230 sharp. The restaurant was quite empty till about 2 and then it started filling up.

I suppose if one has a late dinner, (which is typical for Indians), you would need to have a late breakfast too.

Strange..or is it?

Avvayar is a famous Tamil Sangam era poet. It is not entirely clear when she lived or whether there was more than one person with the same name. However we do know that she existed as her works are still with us. Some place her around the time of 100 BCE whilst others place her much later at around 700 to 900 CE. She was an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha.

I remember studying her poems in primary school during my Tamil lessons,  Aathi choodi and kondrai vendhan. Not sure if these are taught anymore to our Singapore Tamil language students.

Why I brought her up is because Avvayar used to feature in many Tamil devotional movies that came out in the 1960s and 1970s. I would watch these movies with my parents and she was always featured as a wise elderly lady who went around singing devotional songs and offering sound advice to all. There was an entire Tamil movie made about her entitled Avvayar which was released in 1953. I have seen this movie and in particular I remember there was a scene where nearly towards the end of the movie, she encounters a young boy sitting atop a naval tree asking her if she wants a sutta palzham or a sudatha palzham. It turns out that it was Lord Murugan who came as the young boy wanting to teach Avvayar a lesson and to finally allow her to leave this world.

Whilst on the way to Palamuthir Solai, the driver pointed me to a tree, which was near the temple, which is supposed to be the very same tree from which Lord Murugan had asked Avvayar that question. The tree was fenced up with a statue of Vinayagar.

Fascinating!

This is a famous Murugan temple in Madurai. Lord Murugan is supposed to have 6 abodes and 2 of them are in Madurai. They are Thiruparamkundram and Palamuthir Solai.

I went there late morning yesterday. This temple is up on a hill and it is a good 8 minutes drive from the base of the hill to the temple. I was amazed to see so many people climbing up that steep hill to reach the temple. It was a warm day and it must be at least a half an hour walk uphill. My driver noted that Indians are the one group of people who will put in lots of effort, energy and work for their religion. Seeing them climb up the hill on a warm day, put up with crowds and the waiting everywhere, I must agree with that view.

The hill is densely forested and there are so many monkeys all over the place on the way up to and at the temple itself.

Again I was fortunate to be able to go right up to the front of the deity and have darshan performed. Right next to the deity Murugan is that of his Vell where  another darshan was  performed.

This is a much smaller temple but it nevertheless attracts many devotees. By the time I was there at about 1030am, there were thousands of people in the temple and many more outside. Lots of people were climbing up and down the hill as well.

At the base of the temple, is another temple, the Alagar temple. This is a big temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

Many Tamil songs from the 1960s, especially from the devotional movies, have featured the name of this place. I listened to them growing up and I have now finally visited this place.

After the temple visit, I had lunch with my mother, sister-in-law and my 2 nieces at the hotel.

It was a Sunday brunch. I think they enjoyed the food and the spread. I couldn’t eat that much and unfortunately the Indian desserts were too sweet for my liking. Still nice to spend some time with them as I see my sister-in-law and her kids only once a year!

This morning I visited this very famous temple in Madurai, kindly arranged for me by a dear friend. It is one of the most famous and iconic temples in India.

This ancient temple has a recorded history going back to about 6 CE in Tamil literature. It is one of the few temples in India dedicated to a goddess.

The ancient temple was built by several kings over the centuries. The present form of the temple was built by a Pandiya king in about 1200 CE. This temple was completely destroyed in the 1400s. The current temple in its present form was constructed in the 14th century and progressively expanded.

The temple complex is spread over a 14 acres site. It has a large water tank (pottramarai kulam) within the temple complex, 14 towers (gopurams) and a famous 1000 pillared hall (ayiramkaal mandavam) and many other fascinating features.

This temple is the most famous landmark in Madurai and tens of thousands of people visit this temple every day.

I could not bring my phone into the temple and had to leave it in the car.

I had permission for the car to drive up to the East Gopuram. I was met at the gate and escorted through the temple to the Meenakshi Amman deity. I was blessed to be able to sit right in front of the deity and receive darshans or blessings.

Then I was escorted to the Sundareswar deity and again I was blessed to be able to sit right in front of the deity and receive darshan.

I was then brought to the main office where another priest blessed me and covered me with a ponnadai.

This was a wonderful day.

The temple itself is massive and filled with beautiful carvings, statues and colourful drawings.

I saw an elephant inside the temple blessing people and a cow to which people were paying respects to.

People were walking around the hallways, queuing for the darshans or simply sitting by the pottramarai kulam.

On the way there, the driver brought me to a big lake called Theppakulam.  It was originally a flat piece of land but it was dug out and the sand from there was used to build the Meenakshi Amman temple. This sand was brought down there by the Vaigai River.

An interesting story I heard is that when they were digging for the sand, they came across a Vinayagar (Ganesha) statue stuck deep in the sand. It is called the Mukuruny Vinayagar. It is carved out of a single stone. No one knows when it was carved or where it came from. That statue is also now in the temple and I am glad I saw that too!

I started off my day at 7am with breakfast at the Grand Madurai.

A wonderful spread at the buffet to which I can do no justice as I am off to the temple at 830am.

Perhaps in the remaining days…

Amazing spread with freshly made dosas, appams and idils.

This is one of the best spreads I have seen in Madurai for breakfast.

I just arrived at this hotel in Madurai. This is the first time I am staying here.

I have previously stayed at the Gateway Madurai, a Taj hotel,  in Pasumalai. That place is rather isolated and on a hill by itself with lots of peacocks. Beautiful, quiet place albeit the place is a bit rundown.

Then I started staying at the Heritage Madurai. This is a more central location and was formerly used by the British as a residence and a club. This was rebuilt as the Madura Club by Geoffrey Bawa, a famous Sri Lankan architect in 1974. It is considered one of his finer works. Later it was converted to a hotel. It is on a sprawling piece of land, lots of trees and greenery with individual houses. Beautiful place but again a bit outdated now.

This present hotel is brand new and up to the international standards with all the amenities. Very nice and comfortable with very clean rooms. I am impressed with this place.

I just had the lunch buffet at the hotel as I was hungry after the flight. Saw these familiar sounding dishes at the buffet spread!

I am accompanying my mother, who is aged 85, to Madurai this morning for her to visit relatives.

My mom is from Aruppukottai, a town which is an hour’s drive from Madurai. She came to Singapore with my grandfather and grandmother sometime in 1952 when she was 12 years old. My grandfather had come to Singapore on his own in 1940 to find work. Unfortunately soon after he arrived, the war broke out and he was stuck here till 1946. During the war he was inspired by Subhas Chandra Bose, saw him at the Padang in Singapore and then fought for the Indian National Army. After the war he went back to India and brought my mother and grandmother here.

They stayed at Lorong Maha, which is off Jalan Ulu Sembawang, a place I remember well with fond memories. My grandmother grew all her vegetables and they had 3 cows which they kept for milk and yogurt.

A long time ago, traveling to India had to be by ship. There used to be 2 vessels I recall which plied that route; SS Rajula and MV Chidambaram. That journey would take 7 days. I remember my grandparents taking those ships. I also recall when they returned to Singapore, they would disembark at Colleyer Quay.

Later when commercial flights started, I would take a flight to the then Madras (now Chennai) and then take the bus to Aruppukottai. It used to be an overnight 13 hour journey, one which I have undertaken many times. At that time it was the Thiruvalluvar bus that we used to take.

Then they started domestic flights from Madras to Madurai, which cut down the 12 hour bus journey from Madras to Madurai. I recall I was once on the flight from Madurai to Chennai and  a famous actor from the 1950s and 60s, Gemini Ganesan was on that flight. He occupied a seat his parrot which was in a cage was on the next seat

There is now a direct flight from Singapore to Madurai! Thank goodness for that.

The earliest picture of my mother.

Madurai is a city that has changed and modernized quite a bit. For eg the hotel I am staying in is really nice. The highways connect the cities and there are good restaurants. But in many ways it still retains its heritage and charm that I remember from the first time I came here in 1986. Driving on the roads you still see cows and goats, cars honking incessantly and road side stalls and of course people everywhere. Quintessentially India and thank goodness for that!