Shore temple

There are some temples built along the sea coast, but I daresay those on banks of rivers would be more in number. Chennai has a few such, including one that is almost at the mouth of the Cooum. This one is hidden away inside Tholkappiyar Poonga; it appears that there is some arrangement by which worshippers can access it at specific times of the day. 

Angala Parameswari, who is the presiding - and sole - deity here is a kaaval deivam (guardian deity). In this form, the Goddess Parvati had chased down and killed an asura who had taken refuge inside a corpse in a burial ground. Angala Parameswari is therefore depicted with a waist-sash of human bones. 

These days, the Goddess is appeased with a few lemons stabbed on the tines of her trident; and there are at least 5 tridents in front of her sanctum - may those help Her in protecting us all!

Multi-dimensional

We have earlier talked about the importance of the muchhandi Vinayagar - the remover of obstacles at every T-junction on Chennai roads. This one is getting decked up for the beginning of the day, or maybe it is a once-a-week re-decoration.

The owner of this property is probably taking a fail-safe option; as you can see, the Vinayagar here is present in both three- and two-dimensions!

 

Small and white

I don't know enough to recognize which Jain sect has established which temple, but I will hazard a guess that both the Shwetambars and the Digambars would have their shrines in white. This one at the corner of Mathala Narayanan Street in Mylapore, however, declares itself to be a Shwetambar temple. 

Vasupujya Swami was the 12th of the Tirthankaras. The 24th, Mahavira lived in the 6th century CE, so Vasupujya could have been the reigning tirthankara of the 2nd or 3rd century CE. 

Once again, if you thought Mylapore was only for maamas and maamis, here is more proof of the multi-religious makeup of the place!

 

Quiet mosque

When we think about Mylapore, the first images that come to mind are of the traditional maamas  and maamis, along with the temples they visit. We should not forget however that Mylapore has a history of its own, having been known to the Ptolemic world as Millarpha or Meliapore. Therefore it should not be a surprise to learn that Mylapore has within it places of worship belonging to faiths other than Hinduism.

One such is the Jumma Masjid on Kutchery Road, which predates even the much better known Big Mosque of Triplicane. The latter is a late-18th century creation, while the former has been in use since at least 1699, almost a century earlier. Even though some of the walls, and the dome of the mosque has been damaged due to water seepage - and general passage of the years, one assumes, the mosque itself continues to be a hub of action for the area. 

And it would well be a hub these days, as we are well into the month of Ramadan. This photo was taken on a Sunday a few years ago, so it does not give you any sense of the hubbub around this place today!

Replica

Built between 1951 and 1960, this church, Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, Perambur, was designed as a replica of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Haute Pyrenees in France. The Grotto of Massabielle  is the place in Lourdes where Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year old girl, later to become St Bernadette had 18 visions of Mother Mary between February 11 and July 16, 1858. 

It was around 1935 that the parish priest of Perambur, Fr. Michael Murray had the idea of establishing a shrine of significance in the parish. His zeal in collecting funds for this led the then Archbishop of Madras to put his weight behind the project; it seems to have been his suggestion to the architect Chevalier Davies KSG, that the shrine be modelled on the Lourdes church. There is not much to be found about Chevalier Davies, possibly because his first name has been supplanted by the title, which in my fancy was conferred on him for his work on this shrine. 

Fr. Alfred Mariotta, succeeded Fr. Murray in 1947. He seems to have been cut from a slightly different cloth than his predecessor, for the church's website says that Fr. Mariotta used up as much energy as Fr. Murray, but gave off noticeably less heat. The quiet way in which he worked to get land for this church seems to have mystified everyone. The website says, "..with what process of cajolery, reasoning, bargaining or persuasion he secured the different slices of land, no one will ever know!", but one day, the parishioners woke up to find the land was ready. And then the church was built; it echoes the three spires of the Lourdes Sanctuary, but replaces their sharpness with gentle domes. Like the one at Lourdes, this one too has a lower basilica, the Basilica of the Rosary and an upper basilica, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Lourdes also has an underground basilica, the Basilica of St Pius X - as far as I can see, that wasn't built into the design here!

 

Royal devotee

The Vaishnavite tradition of south India has 12 Azhwars, saints whose poetic works were laced with ecstatic devotion to Vishnu. It is believed that these Azhwars are human manifestations - avatars, if you will - of various people or objects beloved of Vishnu. Traditionally, Azhwars are thought to have lived between the 5th and the 3rd century BCE, but the spoilsport of science puts their works as having emerged between the 8th and 9th century CE. 

One such Azhwar was born into a royal family of Cheraman Perumal lineage and ruled as Sthanu Ravi Varma between 844 and 870 CE. Abdicating his kingdom after that long reign, during which his devotion to Vishnu was clearly evident, he composed Perumal Tirumozhi in Tamizh and Mukundamala in Sanskrit. 

This building is a shrine to Venkatesa Perumal, and it was established by the Srimath Kulasekara Azhwar Sabha. Maybe they did not want wild speculation about when the Sabha was formed, and that is why the name board of this Sabha, wedged under the centre gable, says clearly they have been around since 1904!

 

Means, marks

At almost every T-junction in the city, there will be some form of Vinayagar looking out towards the road / path which forms the stem of the T. Someone once told me that it is because having this kind of junction invites trouble / evil eye / whatever coming straight down to the junction of the T and having a powerful deity there will frustrate the evilness barrelling down in a straight line. And who better than Vinayagar, the destroyer of obstacles?

This one is near the Bala Vidya Mandir in Adayar. Most of the 'muchandi Vinayagar's, as the icons at such junctions are called are just an alcove on the wall. This is obviously much more well developed. As I was passing by this morning, I noticed a young lad in his school uniform praying very deeply; apart from being Vinayagar, this is also Ganapathi, the divine amanuensis, so it is good for schoolkids to have Him on their side when they're facing exams. 

But because it was a schoolboy, I mis-read the name of this deity. The red board says it is "Marga Sahaya Vinayagar" or the one who helps you on your path, the means to your end. I was quick to read it as being the students' friend: "Mark-a Sahaya Vinayagar" - the one who helps you get marks! 

Classic

This is one of the first images of Mamallapuram that one encountered as a school-kid a few decades ago. The state-government-supplied school notebooks had a closer view of the two elephants on its cover; I don't remember that series of notebooks as having anything else of 'Mahabs'. And for many years, this was the closest that one got to Mahabalipuram / Mahabs in school. Roughly 60 km south of Chennai, this seashore town was not easy to access in the 70s and early 80s; a visit there meant the whole day would have to be budgeted for. Mahabs has become closer these days. One can set out early in the morning and be back home for lunch. But with so many more dining options available all the way between Chennai and Mamallapuram, it is not easy to get back home for lunch. Somehow, one gets the feeling that such ease of access has made us rather blasé about this - it was among the first in India to be inscribed in UNESCO's List - World Heritage Site. 

This particular structure was commissioned by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman (Mamallan) to celebrate his victory over Pulakesi of the Chalukyas in the late 7th century CE. (The shore temple, also part of the UNESCO list, was built later, in the 8th century). Strangely though, the popular names for this do not have any reference to Mamallan's victory. A natural cleft in the rock, around which most of the figures have been chiseled, allowed water to gush through during the monsoons (There is supposedly a tank at the top of the cleft, but I believe that to be a more modern addition; I'm willing to be corrected, though!), giving this its international name: the Descent of the Ganges. A hermit-like figure, standing on one leg, arms raised in prayer could then be Bhagirata, whose unflinching austerities convinced Ganga to come down to earth. But then, Siva seems to also have the Pashupatastra with him, so that sage might also depict Arjuna supplicating Siva for that weapon; hence, we know this also as Arjuna's Penance. 

Siva, Bhagirata/Arjuna, Ganga, the elephants; these are just few of the images. With over 100 other individual bas-relief sculptures making up this monument, there are possibly a lot of stories that can be extracted from them. The guides at Mamallapuram will happily tell you a whole lot of them - and with a little bit of imagination, you possibly can, too. The presence of a lot of frolicking monkeys nudges me to think of the Tirukutrala Kuravanji, no matter that it came about a millennium later!

Memory remains

In 1718, Arumugam, the son of a Cuddalore merchant, was forced to leave his family and move to Tarangambadi. Arumugam had earlier studied at the Mission School in Cuddalore and had been influenced by books on Christianity; in Tarangambadi, he was baptized by Ziegenbalg, the first Lutheran missionary in India. Arumugam took on the name S. Aaron - the S most likely referencing Savarimuthu, the teacher who introduced him to Christianity. Savarimuthu was also one of the candidates, along with Aaron, who was considered to be ordained as the first native pastor; the teacher withdrew his candidature in favour of his student. Thus, in 1733, Aaron became the first Indian protestant pastor.

Aaron's great-grandson seems to have taken after him. In 1863, we see William Thomas Sathianadhan being assigned to the Chintadripet Church. He established himself in this position, and seems to have done much for the people to remember him by.  After his passing, the Chintadripet Church - by now renamed the Zion Church - constructed a meeting hall in his memory.

Going down the Arunachala Mudali Street in Chintadripet today, you will most likely miss this building; it stands way too close to the road and you would rather pay attention to the traffic than let your eyes wander up this facade. But if you choose to pause, and wonder, I am sure it will be worth your time!

History house

There is a house next to the Parthasarathy Temple at Triplicane which has, by a rough estimate, about 500,000 people pass through it on an annual basis. Actually, most of them go through the front room of the house during the ther (chariot) festival at the temple, because the idol of the deity is taken through this house in to the chariot. While it was once a thatch roof, the front of the house is now properly covered with a concrete roof, thus protecting the devotees much better than before.

This house has not only been associated with religion, but also with the fervour of the freedom struggle. It pre-dates the formation of the Indian National Congress; the house was built in 1877, 8 years before the Congress was founded. The house was built by Thirumalacharya, a descendant of one of the Pradhans of the Mysore Wodeyars. Thirumalacharya was a vakil and probably in that capacity had become close to the Nawab of the Carnatic. The Nawab gifted a set of six carved pillars that even today frame the main corridor of this house.

Thirumalacharya's son was a fan of the Buddha and at his insistence, the house was named Gautamashrama. This plaque in the covered front room of the house is a much later addition, dating to 1984. It proudly proclaims that this is a 'hallowed house', having hosted luminaries like Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Bipin Chandra Pal, as also many others who lived closer to Madras, such as V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, Subramaniam Siva and Subramania Bharati who lived but a few streets away,  Sadly, this house is emptied of its good folk - the current generation has mostly moved away from Triplicane - and may soon be just a page in the book of history!

Chariot at rest

We have read of the Parthasarathy Temple earlier, with its tower in the distance, or about its chariot festival. And we also got to see the chariot's wheels up close. 

So here is the chariot itself, decked out with the thombais and the thoranams, the final touches being put in place by the priests.

I've always felt that, much more than for any chariot festival of other temples, the one at the Triplicane must be special. After all, the deity is Himself a chairoteer, right?

Multi-religious

Just outside the gate of the erstwhile Madras Mint - now the Government Press - is this shrine of sorts. The autorickshaw drivers from the stand nearby must be the ones taking care of it. Fresh flowers,  an awning to keep the rain out... and maybe a box for collecting the donations. If you click on the picture you will see that the iconography covers Christian, Muslim and Hindu symbols. 

Such syncretism is much required in these times... maybe the clock under the awning could be synchronised as well!

Room for worship

When the British - Andrew Cogan and Francis Day - set up the 'factory' on the site where Fort St George stands today, catechisms and prayer books were very far from their thoughts. The Portuguese merchants, further south near Mylapore, already had their San Thome. When some of those merchants moved to the new settlement, they needed a place for their worship. The British allowed them to build their own church, St Andrew's, which has disappeared over the decades. 

Later, the British built their own church, St. Mary's, which continues to be in use today as the 'oldest Anglican church east of the Suez'. There are records of a Church Street, which is supposed to run from just outside St. Mary's to the fort's southern glacis. Maybe that was the road taken by the residents in the fort - the merchants and their families - to access the church. 

Most of the buildings on Church Street are in disrepair today. But among the ones that still stand, is this one with a sign over the door saying "St Marys Church Room"!

Small shop, big deity

According to mythology, Lord Parasurama had to behead his mother on his father's command. Though she was brought back to life immediately after that, the severed head gave rise to the iconography of the representation of Shakti as Renuka. 

In keeping with that tradition, the temple of Renuka Parameshwari depicts the main deity as only the head. There is however, the full-bodied version as well, and also the icons of Kasi Visalakshi along with her consort. 

This temple does not go back very far in history; most accounts talk of it as being just a couple of centuries old. During that period, it has acquired a name that it is more commonly known by - Chinnakadai Mariamman - that I was surprised to find it has more formal name!

Narrow outlook

Yes. That is truly how Kutchery Lane opens into the North Mada Street of the Kapaleeswarar Temple. But as one gets out from this narrowest of lanes, all it takes to get into the temple is to cross the street. That small gopuram is over a door to the temple's administrative office. That door does not open for you or me, it is quite possibly an entrance for only the most privileged of the temple's staff and/or devotees.

For a long while, that was the entrance through with the temple's designated devadasi, would enter the temple. She was an integral part of the temple's rituals, and was accorded a high status in the temple's hierarchy. But over the years, the position of the devadasi was stigmatised, and there were likely enough people within the temple administration who were politicking to cut the devadasis down to size.

It was not just at this temple; all over the Madras Presidency and across India, the desire to abolish the devadasi system led to the passage of legislation such as the Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act in 1947. With that law in their hands, the puritan faction of the temple administrators walked out through the office door, into the Kutchery Lane, to the ex-officio residence of the last of Kapaleeswar devadasis and unceremoniously threw her out into the street. And so ended a tradition, one that gave much of today's Bharatanatyam dance, in obscurity and penury. Would it have been any different had the passage been much broader?

Not a ghost

The Vaishnavaite tradition of south India recognises twelve azhwars as being the foremost of Vishnu's devotees. The earliest of them are believed to have lived in the fourth millennium BCE. The azhwars expressed their devotion mainly through poetry; because most of their verses gained popularity during the Bhakti movements of the 7th and 8th centure CE, it is easier to defend the proposition that they lived during that time and not, as legend would have it, almost 5,000 years earlier.

Because there were only twelve azhwars, it is slightly easier to memorise their names, especially when there are sixythree nayanmars on the Shaivite side of the divide. Even so, in trying to mug up those azhwar names, there was a hurdle; not that they were difficult to remember, but the names would bring to mind other, frightening associations. The second and third azhwars were Bhoodathazhwar and Peyyazhwar, both names being synonymous with ghosts and so were accorded even more respect, and at a different level.

Through all that, the idea of the azhwars were remote, that they were not only temporally but also spatially in a different zone. It was something of a shock to see this gate, leading to a shrine, in the busy Arundale Street in Mylapore. The sign on it says "The site of Peyyazhwar's avatar", indicating his birthplace. But the approach and the shrine, appearing to be largely ignored, indicate Peyyazhwar's presence here in a rather ghostly fashion!

Thrice-born

It is New Year's Day and I'm going to break with the tradition of posting the 'Photo of the Year'* today; I'm going further, to talk about someone who was not merely a dwijan by heritage, but a trijan (if there is such a term), by having had two re-births his career, one that defined his life. That career was born in 1904-5 when a boy of nine performed at a Srikrishna Temple in Palakkad. As the boy grew to adolescence, the voice that had captivated his listeners must have broken in a way that threatened his singing career; there is little detail on how he got past that setback and was re-born into his singing life. Maybe that was how he developed a resonant voice, so striking that he was on occasion referred to as "bronze-voiced". 

More serious was the second occasion. That bronze voice, now belonging to a seasoned and respected singer, was in full flow at a concert; at the end, its owner realised that he had lost it. And he then had to endure six months of suspense, during which period various remedies were tried; finally, the voice came back - thanks to the intervention of Sri Guruvayoorappan, his favourite deity. That was his third life, the one in which every paisa that he made from his concerts went directly to the Srikrishna Temple at Guruvayoor. It is beyond today's imagination to think of performing the Udayasthamana Puja there (bookings are no longer being taken because the current list runs for about forty years or something) even once, but he was able to do it sixty-one times. 

Much of his recognition came from Madras; it was here, from this house on (then) Palace Road, Santhome, that he taught his disciples. Many of them are famous in their own right - P. Leela, the Jaya-Vijaya twins, TV Gopalakrishnan and KJ Yesudas. It was from the thinnai of this house that their careers began. The house itself was given to him by TG Krishna Iyer, a friend who had composed 155 kritis, collectively known as Lalitha Dasar Krithigal. In October of 1974, he went back to perform at Poozhikunnu Srikrishna Temple at Ottapalam, where he had, 70 years ago, had his debut. After that performance, he just slipped off his mortal coils while performing his sandhyavandanam - going the way he always wished to. Srikrishna was kind to him; and why wouldn't he be, for Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar was as close to a saint as any mortal can ever aspire to be!

*The community of City Daily Photographers celebrates Theme Day every month. Go over to this site to see the best pictures from around the world!

Temple of the tortoise

The shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala, in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district, has had its share of misfortunes. One such was a deliberate act of desecration and arson in 1950, that left the stone idol severely damaged. A new panchaloha idol was wrought, and before its consecration, it was taken to several parts of the country. During its perambulations, the idol was brought to this temple on Armenian Street - from where, for one reason or another, it could not be taken out for three days. To recall this incident, a shrine to Ayyappa was added within this temple complex, which has Lord Siva as the main deity. 

The temple - the Kachhaleeswarar temple - was constructed in the 1720s, funded by the dubash Kalavai Chetty, who was a devotee of Siva in the form of Kachhabeswarar, the one worshipped by a tortoise. According to mythology, the tortoise was Lord Vishnu, who had assumed that form during the churning of the ocean of milk. The tortoise also forms one of Siva's five seats in this temple; on account of having these five seats, the deity is also referred to as Pancha Vaahana Sivan. 

In ancient times, there was a federation of castes based on their 'handedness'; those engaged in agriculture and related fields were referred to as the 'right-hand castes', while the metal workers and weavers formed the numerically lesser 'left-hand castes'. These divisions continued into the early 20th century; but in Kalavai Chetty's time, it was common for Madras to be wracked by clashes between these castes. And Kalavai Chetty was himself accused of engineering these clashes; but he is today remembered for this temple, rather than for the divisions he attempted!

Merry Christmas

The Wesley Church on Whites Road survived Cyclone Vardah with little damage to the main building. But outside, almost all the trees along its walls have been uprooted; the wall along Westcott Road has given away completely. 

The walls will be built again. The trees will be re-planted, and will grow big and strong again. But right now, these are minor inconveniences that worshippers will have had to suffer today. And there will be many of them coming here today. Faith will not be buffeted by a cyclone or two, not when it has survived for 2016 years - merry Christmas, everybody!

All the Gods

Tucked away off a side street on Radhakrishnan Salai is a rather unique institution. The Sufi Dar is run by a Trust that was founded in 1971 as a dedication to a Sindhi saint, Puj Shahenshah Baba Nebhraj Sahib. Originally, it functioned from Walltax Road, but moved to Radhakrishnan Salai to cater to the growing band of the Puj Baba's devotees. There is no reason to believe that the Puj Baba had ever come to this part of the world. The founder of the Sufi Dar Trust, Ratanchand Sahib, was himself an accidental visitor to Madras. When he was in Madras, he met Dr. Hariram, another visitor to the city, but one who believed that his presence here was pre-destined so that he could initiate Ratanchand. 

Ratanchand Sahib attained samadhi in 2013. The Sufi Dar Trust continues to carry forward his ideals. They believe that the Puj Baba can be accessed by anyone, not just a follower. But to make any supplicant of the Baba more comfortable, the Sufi Dar accommodates many deities: pictures of Sufi saints, Hindu Gods, the Sikh gurus, Sai Baba, Jesus and Mary, and leaders of various sects, as well as several statues depicting all of these Gods, are all present in the Sufi Dar. 

Haven't been inside yet. When there is so much divinity around, one must be there in a proper frame of mind, so as to not be overwhelmed by their presence!