Sreedhara Ayyavaal……

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From Sridhar’s cupboard

Sreedhara Ayyavaal……

Mahalingaaa…..Mahalingaaaa

We are all aware that Sreedhara Ayyaval of Tiruvisanallur is an ardent devotee of Lord Mahalingam of our temple at Tiruvidaimarudur. Mahalingam is the king of Sivas and that may be the reason,….. called as Maha Lingam. Sree Ayyaval used to pray Mahalingam thrice a day, at ucchi, sayangaalam and Ardhajamam. It was his daily routine, all the way from Tiruvisanallur to Tiruvidaimarudur, irrespective of the climatic conditions. We can easily recollect, one has to cross Periya Cauveri and then Chinna Cauvery (Veeracholan) to reach TDR from Tiruvisanallur. Those days, there were no bridge and one has to travel through circular boat known as parisal to reach the other side of the river

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Our TG’s forefathers and some select families used to operate the parisal.  One fine evening, as usual, Ayyavaal came to the banks of the Cauveri and looked to a parisal. Nobody was there. That was due to inclement weather and flood like situation in the river. It was not safe to operate parisal in that kind of swirling waters. Somehow, he spotted a parisal kaaran on the opposite bank and called him to his side. Parisal man refused to come citing the flood situation and requested Ayyavaal to go back as driving parisal was virtually ruled out. Ayyavaal was shell shocked and without having the darshan of Lord Mahalinga, his day is not complete. Virtually, he was in tears. He was waiting…..waiting….. for an improved situation and hopeful that his MAHALINGAM will not disappoint him.

Unfortunately, the situation turned from bad to worse and the parisal kaaran advocated to Ayyavaal to go back, have a darshan of Karkateswarasamy at Tiruvisanallur for the day. It was not to the delight of Ayyavaal as he was so wedded to Mahalinga and patiently waiting with tears. At that point of time, Ardha jamam reached and he heard the Mahalinga swamy temple bell ringing. He became restless and his legs gave way. With frightened inner voice, he cried…..oh Mahalingaa, today, due to heavy flood,  no parisalkaran is prepared to come from the other bank and  I may miss to see you. But I will not go back without seeing you. I am going to sit here, here itself under this banyan tree and in the early morning, on my own I will cross over the river and see you. It was pinch dark and no body was there except the sound of rain, swirling waters and of course the scream of frogs. At that time, an old man, a familiar voice approached Ayyavaal.  Yes….he is the Sivachhariyar of our Mahalingam temple.

The Sivaacharya asked Ayyaval,…What Ayyaval, standing here now,  temple pooja is already over,  you cannot cross over the river now with this type of flood, take the Prasadam, which I used to give daily to you in the Panneer Leaf to you. Give your flower offerings to me. Go back to your home…... Already it is raining heavily…Let us see tomorrow.

Ayyaval took the Vibhuthy Prasad and in turn he gave his hip towel to the Sivacharyar to close his head from the rain and told that, I will wait for some more time to see any Parisalkaran comes….., you proceed. But nobody came. Ayyaval decided to stay under the banyan tree for the whole night and was determined to have the dharshan of Ushadkalam on the next day morning. On the next morning, due to somewhat improved situation, parisalkaran came and took Ayyaval to the other bank of the river.

Ayyaval was the first person to reach the temple Garphagraham and went along with the Sivacharyar. Immediately, on opening the door of Lord Mahalingasamy …………….

Oh……. What a wonder??????

the towel. which Ayyaval gave to the Sivacharyaa on the previous night to cover his head from the rain was on the forehead of Lord Mahalingasamy. The flower mala  which Ayyaval gave to the Sivacharyar was also on the Avudaiyar  of Lord Mahalingasamy.

He then realized that Lord Mahalinga swamy himself came and gave vibuthi prasadam to Ayyaval in the form of Sivacharyaa on the other bank of Veeracholan river, on the earlier night. Then only…a spark came to his mind…..I was not in a position to reach the other bank….How Sivachaarya at his old age could reach the other side from Mahadana street end. Sivacharyaa also confirmed that he did not turn up and further told ……no body can cross the river on the previous night.  Yes …..It was Lord Mahalingaa….Immediately, he composed and sang a song…..which goes like…..You have given everything to me, you talked to me…..you gave prasadam to me….I have attained everything

The song was Madhyarjuna  dharshanee.

That is Lord Mahalinga….That is Sreedhara Ayyavaal……That is our Tiruvidaimarudur….

We are fortunate and proud enough to spend our school days….yes…the cream of one’s life under the shadow of Lord Mahalinga. Equally, we are thankful to TOSA for having created a solid platform to share and cherish our glories.

Kaathigai Amavaasya falls on December 5 th and it was the day…… Ayyavaal brought GANGA DEVI to his house well at Tiruvisanallur. A fitting coincidence.

Bye….for the time being.

Sridhar

S/O Late Shri Ganesa Iyer.

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