Madurai trip part 3 -- the sacred Chathuragiri hills

As we continued our journey after Azhagar Kovil, we were going through well laid state or national highway via T Kallupatti to Chathuragiri.

Asking directions here and there, going through the narrow roads with full of bushy trees and greenery we reached the base of the Chathuragiri hills called Thaaniparai.

The forest department has put well read messages, tents and temporary shops have grown around to fulfill the hunger and thirst needs of the pilgrims who will trek the hills.

The above picture captures the distant view of the hills as we go through the narrow road leading to Thaaniparai.

The first spot in the base of the holy hill is the Vana Durga temple and Karupanasami temple who powerfully guards the holy hills and its resources.

Madurai trip part 2 -- The friendly cab driver

Before I continue with my Chathuragiri moments, I need to mention the hospitality and general cordiality of the village people in and around Madurai.

My taxi driver Ganeshan was in his late 20s and showed all interest , enthusiasm in taking me to different temples. It is very difficult to find someone like him in the noisy busy cities like Bangalore. He expressed patience, tolerance and took great care of my every need.  Without the sense of I and mine he was all along happy to see his customers happy.   Anbe sivam.

He was particular that I visit Madurai Pandi Muneeshwaran which is a very famous for villagers and of course goat sacrifice. I will reserve an article for this temple visit.

All through my Chathuragiri expedition, Ganesan was ever fresh, vocal, and communicated with different passers-by  at different instances to finally locate the Thaaniparai , the base of the hill.

He works for Fast Track and his contact number is: +918015512221.

Cab driver Ganesan

He had high difficult time to decode the intermediate place enroute Chathuraigiri which I pronounced Watrap. It looked like an American city and he was so confused until he finally found it out to be vaathuraaphu in tamil. He had a hearty laugh and I was all along feeling stupid of my pronunciation. But to my console I saw a name board which spelt the same in English viz. Watrap. 

My Madurai trip Part I

For few weeks I had vaguely planned in my mind to have a visit to Madurai, its surrounding village temples and a brief visit to the lower slopes of Chathuragiri hills.

The weekend of Aug2 and 3rd I had finally made all hotel , booking arrangements and started from Bangalore on Aug 1st Friday night.

The KSRTC bus reached very late and the taxi driver was made to wait for an hour before I started from my hotel after refreshment.

The weather was cloudy although  there was still radiating heat. So being a AC addict, I burnt energy on Cooling inside the cab throughout the journey.

And taxi driver Ganeshan was very friendly , of my age, with all enthusiasm to serve his one day guest.

My first destination was Azhagar Kovil and Pazhamudhircholai.  The cab goes until the top of the hill Pazhamudhircholai where I had good darshan of Lord Muruga.

Took some snaps of Pazhamudhircholai and the hill view.

Down the hill was the majestic Azhagar Perumal temple and the valorous village deity 18 Padi Karupannnasami temple.

This Karupannasami's temple is always closed and perhaps it opens only once in a year.  There is a small outlet in the closed door which is opened for a charge and shown to devotees.

I bought a special ticket for Rs 54/- for which I was shown the 18 steps and the sickle through that  small doorway.  The highlight of 18 padi karupanasami temple is the large size sickles kept all over the premises outside the closed door.   I asked Poosari and with a smile he gave permission to shoot these pictures.

Please see the photos here.  You could see that the entire closed door is decorated with sandal paste.  Karupannasami  likes sickle and sandal paste very much.

Below is a snap from the outer arena of the Main Tower of Azhagar Kovil.  As you could see the man black in colour with a red turban and bordered dhoti with few articles in his hand is an Oracle trance person called sami aadi.  I suspect he is the trance dancer of Karupanansami but I could not confirm the same.  I did not
speak to him either.

I had told the driver about my entire itinerary while boarding the taxi at the Hotel itself so he made enquires about my next destination Chathuragiri to his friends while he was waiting at the parking at Alagar temple.

We set out to Thanipari from Azhagar Kovil while in the way I encountered the small shrine with the title 'nadana gopala nayaki swamigal'.  I asked the driver to stop and entered the shrine.  Nadana Gopala Nayaki Swamigal was 19th century saint who lived until 1914.  He always dressed himself as Andaal and sang glories of Krishna in a mad Ecstasy of devotion. I knew about this saint and hence wanted to see his shrine.

When I entered, there were two close devotees sitting there in silence.  It turned to be samadhi shrine of Nadana Gopala Nayaki Swamigal.  I took photographs and asked them about any books on the saint.  They gave two small booklets and I donated Rs 100/-.

I rushed back to the taxi as I was conscious of reaching Thaniparai on time.  Driver Ganeshan was a bit surprised with my enthusiasm to enter rare shrines and made kind enquiries on what that small saint shrine is all about.

Below are the snaps of Nadana Gopala Nayaki Swamigal shrine.