From Cooum...

...to Cauvery

Was just wondering what I would write for Ganesh Chaturti. Well I had a lovely time recently
walking up the Kailash of the South, as they call it - the Rock Fort Uchi Pillaiyar Temple in Tiruchirapalli.
From the stagnant waters of the Cooum in Chennai, I travelled by the banks of the gurgling waters of the Cauveri, almost on a temple tour...visiting two ancient Parikara Sthalams at Tiruvedikkudi and Tirunaraiyur in Kumbakonam, the Brihadeeshwara, Kothandarama and Mariamman temples in Thanjavur, Uchi Pillaiyar and Thayumanaswamy temple, silence at the Mouna Swamigal Mandapam in the same hill, the Akhilandeshwari and Jambukeshwarar Temple and finally the Sri Ranganathar temple in Sri Rangam.
In a span of just one and a half days of walking the temples, my mind was filled with the divine images with all their beautiful alankarams. The moment I closed my eyes back home, all I could see in my mind's eye was the reclining, seated or formless presence of all the gods I saw...I felt like I was a member of such a big divine family.
Though the rock looks formidable to climb, the first few steps to the Thayumanaswamy temple were steep. But the two flights of rock stairs leading to Ganesha are simple yet simply superb. The fish eye lens view of the whole temple city of Tiruchi with towering vimanas on all sides, the beautiful Cauveri threading around on one side and the wisp of chill air streaming through the grills from behind the Ganesha's sannidhi where I sat in meditation...hmm...it was simply divine and beyond words. A great prasadam even before Ganesh Chaturti it was for me.