Sunday, June 28, 2009

A Divine Endeavour- Uzhavaarappani

உழவாரப்பணி

Today (28-06-09), morning a troop of more than 150 devotees descended on our neighbourhood Shiva temple. They are part of the ' Kongu Mandalam ApparadaigaL Sivaneri Vazhipaattu Thirukkoottam ( Association of 'Appar AdigaL' Siva Devotees of Kongu Region ) . They are from Vijayamangalam near Erode and do cleaning of Siva Temples every month on the last Sunday. This is their 335 th temple in their 35 years of such divine work.

By the time I reached the temple , all the members were busy cleaning our temple. Half of them were women and they were from diverse places in Kongu region. Some children also had come. Most of the men were with Rudraksha Mala, bare chested and busy in cleaning the ground and the prakarams.

Oil slime, soot from lamps, and stains of all kinds were being attended to. Look at the following pictures that speak for themselves.

The women had brought the flowers themselves and are engaged in preparing garlands for the deities.


A typical Shiva Devotee (Sivanadiyar) with Rudraksha malas around his neck.
The cleaned Nataraja swamy Vigraha . The temple kurukkaLs are sitting along . The boy is my son.
Food is getting ready for the devotees. This was arranged by our temple management.
The Lord's utensils are being cleaned.

A woman devotee cleans the Gomuki- the outlet port for the Abhisheka water.
The open ground being cleaned.
Each of the above picture can be clicked on and enlarged. Please observe the eagerness of the Bhaktas as they had converged from far off distances. One such volunteer was present as early as 6.00 AM and he came from Bhavani , about 80 KM from Coimbatore !

Witnessing the scene of 'Uzhavarappani' (cleaning of the temple) , I was transported in time back by 1500 years, when the great Appar swamigaL, started cleaning temples as part of his divine work. In fact his only work was cleaning temples and singing the praise of Lord Siva. That work alone revived Saiva Religion in Tamilnadu and paved the way for other great Nayanmars to do divine work.

I stood there moved to the bones on seeing the simple people seriously engaged in their work. They were mostly from the middle class or lower middle class , sacrificing a weekend for the cause of society and the Lord. It became clear that whatever be the missionary onslaught, the core of Hinduism is rock solid and invincible. I just saw one more demonstration of it.

11 comments:

JP said...

Excellent article.

Thanks
Prashant
http://www.prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/

AALAYAM THOZHUVOM said...

great!!!
excellent work !! nalla kaikanryam!!

kailas sundaram said...

still there is sincere bhakthi in our country.regards

Maraboor J Chandrasekaran said...

We at REACH FOUNDATION are making all such Uzavarappani group (heritage wardens) come under one banner and work for the renovation of temple, using the right technology and methods. We conduct symposiums for them. One was held at Chennai and the other in Kumbakonam. We would be interested in taking it up in Kovai with this group. Someone please send their leader's contact number and name, email Id.

Regards
Chandrasekaran
PRO, REACH FOUNDATION
(www.conserveheritage.org)

resubramn said...

A noble work to Lord.
Several does claims but not in order. Pl see www.lokadharma.org
A well organised temple cleaning on last sundays of each month 42 nd was done at Suryan Temple , Kolapakkam, near chennai.Those desire to join call 24760556.
Dr.R.Subramanian
LDSFT

resubramn said...

Can mr. Venkatasubramanian give me his email ID to me at resubramn@yahoo.com
Thanks.
RS

Unknown said...

Great work.This kind of work is what I have been having in my mind for long.My sincere namaskarams to all those involved in this work.

Om Namo Narayanaya,
Regards.
P.K.Ramakrishnan
Sohar, Oman.

Brahmanyan said...

Delighted to read the blog. How true it is that the "Lord knows how to take care of himself". The divine hands have motivated these selfless servants to take up such wonderful work. Namaskaram.

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ddddd said...

Dear Sir,

This is Murugan here. I am a software engineer from Bangalore.
We are doing Kumbabishekam of one ancient Lord Shiva temple in Tamilnadu-near Trichy. Want to share details with you. May i know your contact details? My mail id: jamadagniswararamirtambigai@gmail.com

Simhum said...

I am trying to find out about Uzhavaarappani groups in Bangalore. Can somebody share information or details of where I can find such info