Thiruvaheendirapuram or Thiruvandipuram, is a small temple town outside Cuddalore, my adopted hometown. The main deity of the temple is Lord Devenathar, who is said to be the elder brother of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupathi. The general belief is that if a person is unable to visit Tirupathi, he/ she could visit Thiruvandhipuram instead and that the elder brother would take care of the issues.
There is also a small hillock opposite to the temple. On the top of the hillock is another small temple for Lord Hayagriva (A god with a human body and a horse face). Legend has it that when Hanuman carried the Sanjivani mountain, a small rock fell and that small rock is the hillock in Thiruvandipuram. The hillock is called as the Oushadagiri. Another rock that fell elsewhere in Tamilnadu is called as Marudamalai (Marunthu Malai), which is just ouside Coimbatore.
Thiruvandipuram is one of the 95 Vaishnava sthalams in Tamilnadu. There are 11 more outside Tamilnadu and 1 each in ThiruParamaPaadham and ThiruPaarKadal.
I can never stop thinking about the time I spent in Chidambaram. One of my Physics professors told me once that the readings from our Gravitational study experiment would be close to perfect as some imaginary line passes through Chidambaram/ Annamalai Nagar. (I don't remember the name of the line). According to Hinduism Today, "In 1983 a team of geophysicists mapping the Earth's gravity field told devotees that the town had the highest reading they had so far encountered anywhere on the earth. Objects here are heavier than anywhere else. "
Recently I did some research about the history of Chidambaram. Here are some interesting facts:
Out of the five universal elements, the Lord lives here in the form of the Sky or empty space. Legend has it that Chidambaram was believed to be the axis mundi of the earth. it is said that no other place could sustain the energy of the Lords' cosmic dance. Hence Lord Nataraja chose Tillai as the place for his cosmic dance. (A statue of Lord Nataraja sits in the CERN campus)
In those days, the word 'koyil' simply referred to Chidambaram, which is the holiest place of worship for all Saivaites, though it is one of the few places of worship for both Saivaites and Vaishnavaites. Great tamil poets like Thirunavukarasar, Thirugnanasambandar, Manickavasagar and Sundaramoorthy Nayanar composed most of their famous works in Chidambaram. Their works, which were composed on palm leaves, were lost somewhere in the huge Chidambaram temple and eventually discovered to be buried under an ant hill by the great Nambiandar Nambi. There are so many interesting facts about the Chidambaram temple. Kindly check the links.
Whenever my friends and I used to go to the temple, we always visit the small shrine next to the the Chitrakootam, the shrine dedicated to Thillai Govindarajan. There the different prasadams like puliyodarai, ven pongal, sakkarai pongal and curd rice are served on lotus leaves.
Chidambaram is also home to the great Annamalai University. One of my Maths professors in Annamalai University, Dr. Vairamanickam, told us an interesting story about Annamalai University. This is how it goes:
One night, Lord Siva came in Rajah Annamalai Chettiars dream and asked him to build an educational institution for the poor and the downtrodden. The Rajah, gave the dream some very serious thought and started looking for a place to build a university. He was very particular about building the university in a place that was a famous place of worship of Lord Shiva. He decided on two places - Chidambaram and Thiruvannamalai. For some reason, he couldn't get the land required to build the university in Thiruvannamalai. He then decided to go to Chidambaram. Chidambaram was a very backward place except for the temple.
He went around Chidambaram and almost all places were dry with thorny shrubs and plants. It didn't look like a suitable place for a university. Dejected, the Rajah decided to return and as he turned around his angavastram got stuck in a thorny plant. This to him was like the Lord Himself asking the Raja to stay back and build the university there. At that time when the Rajah looked up into the heavens, a Krishna Parunthu (Kite) was circling in the sky right above the place where he was standing. Taking it as a good sign, the Rajah decided to build the University in that place, which is today known as Annamalainagar. The small park opposite the Administration Building is where he supposedly stood at that time. A statue of Rajah Annamalai Chettiar stands in that place today.
Thanks to Giovanni Chierico (CERN) for letting me use his photo.
லாங்கவுட் தோட்டம்
The main attraction of a small town - Kennett Square, PA is Longwood Gardens. Located at about 70 miles Northwest of Baltimore, the beautiful gardens were once owned by Pierre DuPont. He brought the gardens from one Pierce family to save the gardens from being sold for lumber.
We started with a water fountain show, which wasn't that great. But if you have kids, I'm sure they will love it. Then we walked around the Flower Drive, the Italian Water Garden, the Pierre DuPont house, and a few meadows.
There was another water fountain show at 2:00 pm and it was neither good nor bad. You start to get a feeling that the $16 per person entry fee was not worth it. We then visited the garden Conservatory and that was the best place. Filled with a variety of roses, hibiscus plants, shrubs, palm trees, and a number of other interesting plants, the conservatory gives you the money's worth, if not more.
Here are a few photos:
A beautiful countryside lake, about 85 miles southwest of Washington D.C. - That is where we spent our Saturday.
Lake Anna, a beautiful man-made (the best oxymoron I have used) lake was a wonderful getaway for a weekend break. About 2/3 of the road trip was covered on I-95 and the rest on scenic winding country roads. Ranches, country homes and vineyards dotted the route. After a while we reached a small port at Lake Anna.
We decided to rent Jet-Skis. I had to overcome some initial fear as none of us knew swimming. But thanks to the "wonderful" DVD presentation and the fact that Rajkumar had already decided to rent the Jet-Ski, I decided to do the same. And that was the best part of the day.
The first few minutes were scary. The Jet-Ski was wobbling and I had difficulty in handling the handle-bar. But after a few minutes, the fear slowly 'dissolved in water' thanks to the Life-Vest that we were wearing. It took a few more minutes to control the Jet-Ski. Once in control, we started skiing and boy, it was fun. But I continued to have difficulty in steering the Jet-Ski.
On the other end of the lake, Rajkumar and Pavithra were cruising on their Jet-Ski. It probably reminded Rajkumar of the good old days of his Yamaha riding in Annamalai. By the time I got my ankle wet, he was completely wet. He was just zipping across the lake. Spurred by his showboating, I decided to now hit the top gear and in a short while I was jumping over the waves and did a little bit of showboating myself. As we jumped over the waves, my Red Sox cap flew away (I knew something would happen to it when the rental guy said he was a Yankee).
Being the pillion rider for 40 minutes, Kavitha decided that it was her turn to handle the Jet Ski. We returned to the port and with the help of the rental guys, we switched seats and after the initial hiccups, she started Jet-Skiing. She had fun too.
Overall that was the best part of the day.
The afternoon was spent in the Lake Anna beach. We played Frisbee and throw-ball (where the ladies won in a thrilling match), ate bhel-puri, sat on a pier with our legs in water.
Thanks to Rajkumar - we went to a great place and had some good adventure.