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6300 PRINCESS GARDEN PARKWAY, LANHAM, MARYLAND 20706, USA, PH: 301 552-4889 FAX: 301-576-3802 Email: info@murugantemple.org Internet: www.murugantemple.org

MURUGAN TEMPLE OF NORTH AMERICA

The Murugan Temple of North America is a Traditional Saivite Hindu Temple. It has a floor area of 7000 square feet, with main Sannidhi for Lord Murugan (Lord Karthik) and four smaller Sannidhis for God Vinayaka (Lord Ganesha), God Siva, Goddess Meenakshi and God Palani Andavar. We also have an auditorium that is available for the use by the community. Please see our website: http://www.murugantemple.org/ for more detail on the Temple . If you have comments or questions, please contact mtnaeditor@murugantemple.org

Five Siva Temples (Pancha Bhoota Stalams)

Dedicated to the Five Elements — Earth, Wind, Fire, Space, and Water

Reprinted from the Murugan Temple Newsletter Articles by Dr. Manickam Krishnamurthy

Note: TempleNet’s Series on The Pancha Bhoota Stalams was used as a reference. Pictures are provided with permission of Himalayan Academy Press.

© 2006, 2007, Murugan Temple of North America Permission to duplicate text is granted so long as this URL, the author’s name, and copyright notice are

retained. Please contact Himalayan Academy Press for permission to reproduce photos contained herein.

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Lord Sivan where the God in the sanctum is specifically made of sand! That is in Kanchipurum. Kanchipurum or affectionately called Kanchi is near Chennai. It is an ancient city. About two thousand years ago a chieftain named Thondaimaan Ilanthiraiyan, affiliated to Chola kings established a kingdom centered on this town. Since then this area is called Thondai nadu. Later around 6th century A.D. another family called Pallavas ruled from this town. During the early part of their reign they were followers of Janinism. So Sanskrit was their ruling language. There is saying nagareshu Kanchi, (meaning if you want to see a city, you should see Kanchi). Thus the place has been famous. There are several temples in this city. But the most important and biggest of them all is the Ekambareshwarer Temple.

KKKANCHIPURUMANCHIPURUMANCHIPURUM (E (E (EARTHARTHARTH) ) ) ANDANDAND SR SR SREEEEEE KKKALATTHIALATTHIALATTHI (W (W (WINDINDIND)))

By Dr. Manickam Krishnamurthy From January-February 2007 Issue Earlier we reflected about the temples devoted to Lord Sivan in the manifestation of fire, space and water. Here the remaining two temples are considered. Lord Sivan is usually manifested in the form of Lingam, which may be made of granite [and either man-made or natural] in all temples. But in some temples in South India the ant-hill or termite mound called puttru in Tamil is worshiped as the embodiment of Lord Sivan as in Thiruvottriyoor (near Chennai), Thiruvaroor, and Thirupungoor. Even though this ant-hill is made of earth, there is one temple devoted to

Kacnchipurum with permission from Himalayan Academy Press

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Puranas say that once Mother Umai in playful romantic mood came behind Lord Sivan and closed His eyes. But His eyes were the sun and the moon! So the whole world went dark and all life was in chaos! So Sivan got annoyed at Devi for disturbing the living beings and punished Her by sending to earth to do penance. She came to the area currently called Kanchi, made a Lingam using the sand at the kambai river bank and began worshiping the Lord. To show the depth of Her devotion to the devas, asuras and others Sivan made the river to flood and crest threatening the lingam. Without a second thought, Devi hugged the lingam to protect it from the flood. Immediately God presented Himself and appreciated Her devotion and love. As a present, He offered half of Himself to Her. Hence, you seldom see Sivan by Himself. In all the forms, Devi, His consort occupies His left side. Sometimes this incident is depicted by artists making in the same statue left half Devi and the right half Sivan. This form is called Umai-Oru-Pagan or Arthanareeswarar. Other times with a consort in the left side as a complete female and the right side a complete male figure either standing as in Chadrasekarar or sitting as in Somaskandar, Kalyanasundareswarar and Pradoshamurthy etc. Anyway, as a result of this incident, apparently there is a mark of squishing by the cleavage of the Devi and mark of Her bangles in the lingam! Thus the name of the sand lingam is known as Thashuvakkuzhindha nathar (meaning One who melted-on-hugging!) The Devi in Kanchi is called Yelawarkuzhali (meaning one with beautiful hair that smells like yelakkai!) Historically, Nambiaroorar (commonly known as Sundaramoorthy nayanar) got vision in one eye back here. We will learn about this at a later time. Aside from the puranic story, this temple was also famous for the temple tree, which is a mango tree. There was an ancient huge mango tree at this temple spread like an old oak tree. People used to say it born fruits that tasted different depending upon the direction of the branches! Anyway unfortunately for

those who have not seen it, the tree died couple of years ago. I read from the news articles that some one is trying to revive the tree by cloning it or some such thing. I have not been back since that time. In Sanskrit, ekam means one and amrum means mango. Thus this tree gave a name for the Lord: Ekambareswarar. Aside from this 24 acre spread temple, Kanchi is also famous for a Devi temple dedicated to Kamatchi Amman; a Murugan Temple known as Kumarakkotum where the Tamil version of Kantha Puranam debuted; and architecturally oldest brick and mortar Sivan temple known as Kailasanathar temple. Switching briefly to the Sivan temple dedicated to the wind form, this temple is located in a town called Kalahasthi. It is currently in the State of Andhra Pradesh. I had been to this temple only once nearly thirty years ago! You saw how the ancient wise people illustrated fire, water, space, and earth forms of Sivan. This temple is another amazing feat! Here also the sanctum sanctorum, as in any other temple, has just one entrance with no windows. Yet the flame of one oil wick lamp in front of the Siva lingam always flickers while other lamp flames alongside burn calmly indicating the disturbance caused by a draft directed at that one flame! This is the manifestation we are to infer! According to Puranas (may also be historically) this is another old temple. This is where Kannappar worshiped Lord Sivan. There are several Thevaram devoted to this temple. An ancient Tamil poet known as Nakkeerar wrote a book called Kayily pathee Kalaththi pathee. about this temple. When Saint Thirugnanasambandhar visited this temple he felt Kannappar standing at the feet of Lord Sivan! About the devotion Kannappar everyone including Adhi Sankarar have written! The importance of this temple need not be exaggerated! Thus we conclude the tour of the five temple devoted to Lord Sivan in the form the Elements! If time permits we will talk about the five Sabais devoted to Lord Kootharasar (known as Nataraja by you!) and eight temples devoted to eight heroic deeds of Lord Sivan!

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TTTHIRUVANAIKKAVALHIRUVANAIKKAVALHIRUVANAIKKAVAL(W(W(WATERATERATER)))

by Dr. Manickam Krishnamurthy From January-February 2005 Issue Earlier this year, Dr. Krishnamurthy beautifully portrayed two of the five great Siva temples dedicated to the five elements (Pancha Bhoota Stalams): Tiruvannamalai (Fire) in the March-April issue, Chidambaram (Space) in the May-June issue. Here, Dr. Krishnamurthy writes about Thiruvanaikkaval, the Siva temple dedicated to the element of Water. In this issue let us meditate on the temple devoted several centuries go by the genius of devotees to manifest Lord Sivan in the form of water. This sacred place is called Thiruvannakkaval. It is situated in the ancient chola kingdom, lands surrounded by the majestic and sacred river Kaveri and its branch. It is currently a suburb of Thiruchchirappalli, a major train junction in south India. It is also about 1.6 km from Thiruvarangam, a most sacred place for Vaishnavites. Lord Sivan at this temple is known as "Neerththiralnathar" in Tamil and "Jalagandeeswarar" in Sanskrit. The goddess is known as "Akilandeswari" in Sanskrit. Though it is not the intent here to rehash mythology about this place, the name of this place in Tamil means simply a place watched over by an elephant. In the sanctum here, there is natural eternal spring even in a dry season. Once upon a time, around this spring there were woods. A spider made a web canopy to protect the Lord from falling leaves. An elephant that came to worship the Lord saw this web and thought it is desecrating the place and destroyed it. Next day the spider made a new web and the elephant again destroyed it! This incident was repeated a few more times when the spider decided to punish the culprit. When the elephant came to destroy, the spider went into the trunk and bit the elephant. Unable to bear the pain the elephant rolled over in the ground and hit the trunk on the ground to kill the biting insect! In the

process, both the elephant and the spider died. Lord Sivan gave salvation to both these devotees! The Lord made the spider to be born as a chola king. This king had reddish eyes like a spider. Hence he was named Kopperunchenkannan. He ruled the kingdom very honorably and built about seventy temples to Lord Sivan. Many of these temples are said to have many steps and narrow entrances that are hard for the elephants to enter! This king is among the lists of sixty-three saints and he is said to have lived about second century A.D. Every ancient temple in Tamil Nadu is associated with a tree called a temple tree. The tree here is called naaval [it is related to the plum here] It is also called jambu in Sanskrit. The woods that abounded here were mainly of this kind. There is one tree still behind the sanctum here. As usual there is a story about this! Once there was a saint named Jambumadhavan, who offered a fruit of this tree to Lord Sivan. When the Lord spit the pit, the saint swallowed the pit so as no one should step on it [it is desecration to step on anything that adorned or touched by the Lord!] But his pit sprouted in the stomach! On seeing his concern about the sprout, Lord told him to Go and stay in this forest where the Goddess will come to worship me. I will come to see Her in form of water when you will also get your salvation! The saint followed the advice and thus the tree come to be growing around the Lord! Lord Sivan here is also known as Jambukeswarar. In order for the devotees to be able to perform pujai such as abishekam, someone installed a Sivalingam in the sanctum. Many people who go there to worship may look at the temple never realizing that they are standing in the Water, which is Lord Sivan! Another interesting thing about this temple is the sanctum of the Goddess. This temple is spread more than 18 acres of land and consists of five praharams [walled compounds]. The Goddess temple is in the fourth praharam. She is supposed to be very powerful and unforgiving. It seems people would leave the temple

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before dark for fear of Her. An ancient lore here is when Sankara (the original) came to this temple, he was told of Her fury. So he prayed and made the power of Goddess to be contained in two earrings! Those earrings She is wearing to this day. But because the fury was contained in them, people can worship Her without any fear. More people go this temple to worship Her than to see the Sivan! But don't miss going to this temple at noon time. As you know tradition and scriptures require that pujais be performed to Lord Sivan six times a day. The noon time pujai at this temple is supposed to be performed by the Goddess! She also worships a Cow at this time. So the temple employees bring a cow to the sanctum for the noon time pujai. The priest dressed up as Devi in saree and wearing a tiara (called greedam), arrives from the temple of the Goddess with musical accompaniment at the sanctum and performs

the pujai! It is sight to see for in no other temple such a pujai is done! May God Annamalaiyar (also know as Neerththiralnathar and many other Names) accompanied with Unnamulaiammai bless you all!

TTTIRUVANNAMALAIIRUVANNAMALAIIRUVANNAMALAI (F (F (FIREIREIRE) ) ) by Dr. Manickam Krishnamurthy

From the March-April 2004 issue This is the first in a series of articles written by Murugan Temple devotees about Temples they grew up with. Building on our yearly celebration of the Kandasami Temple of Nallur, this series aims bring to life the experience of great temples of South India and Sri Lanka for the next generation. This article by Thiru Manickam Krishnamurthy describes Thiruvannamalai, one of the most revered Saivite Temples in India. In Tamil, the word Thiruvannamalai is made up of

Tiruvanamalai Temple Pool with permission of Himalayan Academy Press

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three words: thiru, Anna, malai. Thiru means beautiful or respectful. Anna means unreachable or unattainable. Malai means mountain. The mountain that you see in the picture above is called Annamalai. Ancient Tamil people worshipped god in the form of nature, so it is not surprising that they worshipped this mountain itself as the embodiment of Lord Sivan. In addition to the mountain there is also a temple at the foothills. The presiding god is named Annamalaiar. His consort is Woonnamulaiar, which means in Tamil "the lady whose breasts have never been suckled"! I am neither qualified nor capable of explaining, how the mother of all beings could be imagined to have breasts that were never suckled, but the beauty of these names lies in (maybe coincidentally) the choice of the first letters of Lord Sivan and Woomai. If you combine 'A' with 'Woo' and the first letter of the mountain 'M' one gets the Most Sacred of all Mantras: AUM! As mentioned earlier the mountain itself has been worshipped for heaven knows how long! In the 6th century AD, when St. Thirugnansambandhar was visiting Thirukkoilur about 20 miles to the south, his followers standing at the shores of Thenpennai River showed him the Annamalai Mountain. He sang ten poems in praise of Annamalaiar. He also sang another ten poems when he visited the site. It is not known how much of the temple existed at that time, but these poems, along with the thirty poems written by St. Thirunavukkarasar, constitutes one of the earliest references to it in the literature. Epigraphically, the earliest reference is to the King Rajendran (ca 1053 AD). Since this epigraph occurs in the outside walls of sanctum sanctorum, one can surmise that the stone temple was built just about this time. Before that time it must have existed as either a brick or wood construction like so many old temples. The temple in the current form must have been built in several stages with latest construction ending in fifteenth century. The walkway around the sanctum is called the praharam. Praharams are usually square in shape. Generally surrounding the praharam there is a wall, like

in a fortress. The sanctum is a room with just one entrance and no windows. The main entry to the third praharam is called the kiligopuram. The main entry in the fourth praharam is a tall tower. You can see it facing the east in the middle of the picture. This is called Vallala maharaja gopuram; this is an important landmark! St. Arunagiri was said to have fallen from the top of this tower when Lord Murugan saved him and mentored him. Surrounding the fifth praharam is a tall fortress wall and five entries. The main entry is a 220 feet tall tower. In this fifth praharam there is hall with 'a thousand- pillars'. Most of these temples served the public in many ways. In the past (even during British rule) this temple served as a fortress. In some temples the thousand-pillar hall served as a hospital or school. Opposite to this hall is a small hall with 16 pillars. In one of these pillars Lord Murugan appeared at the request of St. Arunagiri. The whole area of the temple is about 24 acres, and as you might have noticed there are nine towers in all! Once upon a time Brahma and Vishnu were contending that each of them to be superior and important. To adjudicate this dispute they went to Lord Sivan. He offered a race whereby they will choose to see the Tip of His head or Toe. He took the form of fire. Brahma went to see the tip of the head. Vishnu went to see the toe. After some time Vishnu returned very tired and said that he could not see the Toe however long he dug! But Brahma saw a falling flower petal from the head, and requested the petal to bear false witness for him. When he came back with the lie, Lord Sivan punished him saying that he shall not have any temple in the world! Also he punished the flower for bearing false witness by banishing from any sacred use! Legend has it that fire form of Lord Sivan is the Annamalai! During the Tamil month of Karthigai (during Oct-Nov) on the full moon day a light is lit on the peak of this mountain to commemorate this. This is the only mountain where such a light is lit. Moreover, Lord

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Sivan is worshipped in the form of five elements: earth, wind, water, fire and space. Thiruvannamalai represents the fire form of the Lord. There is another unique festival celebrated at this temple on the second day of the Tamil month Thai (Jan 14 or 15th). It is a 'lover's quarrel' between Lord Sivan and Goddess Woonnamulai, and St. Sundarar mediates this quarrel the next day. It is fun to watch this festival! The Karthigai festival is another major festival, celebrated over ten days with a country fair in the town. Every day Utsava Moorthys were taken in procession in the daytime and in the nighttime.

CCCHIDAMBARAMHIDAMBARAMHIDAMBARAM (S (S (SPACEPACEPACE) ) )

by Dr. Manickam Krishnamurthy From the May-June 2004 issue

The temple occupies about forty acres of land in the center of the eponymous town. Ancient temples are constructed of wood like a shelter on a stone base, and the shrine in this temple is typical of such an architecture. Such a building is called 'ambalam'. Since this ambalam is also covered in gold, it is called 'Ponnambalam'. While there is no way to ascertain the age of this temple, from inscriptions in stone one can surmise the gopurams were constructed beginning about the ninth century. But all four saints have written poems describing this temple and the cosmic Dance of Sivan here. This temple represents the element 'space' or 'nothingness'. In the Ponnambalam there is a room, and at the entry to this room hangs a string of gold-plated leaves. These leaves are covered with a cloth screen. At the request of devotees, the priest opens the screen briefly and offers prayer with a lamp. When one onlooker asks another 'what did you see' the common

Photo of Chidambaram with permission from Himalayan Academy Press

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reply is 'oh! It is nothing!' Of course! That is precisely what is depicted here-'NOTHING'. This is famously called a secret. In Tamilnadu, there are five places that are important for Kooththar (Nataraja). This temple has the golden ambalam (sabai). The shingles of this stage are gold plated. This gold plating took place since tenth century onwards by various kings. The Dance here is called 'Anandha (joyous) Thandavam" (dance). Lord Sivan appears in the well known dancing pose at the request of two saints - Pathanjali and Vyagrapathar (one with the feet of tiger). This place was known as 'Thillai' for a kind of shrub that used to grow wild in the area. The building of the gopurams (entry ways) began in the ninth century. They are about 140 feet tall, and the oldest is the east tower and the youngest the north tower. In the first level of the east tower, the 108 poses of Bharatham, the classical dance, are depicted in stone with a Sanskrit description inscribed below. There are also statues of many beautiful poses of Sivan and many saints displayed in these towers. In addition to the Ponnambalam, there are four other ambalams here. One called 'niruthya sabai' is sculpted in the form of a chariot with stone wheels. There is also a sanctum with a Lingam. The Lord name there is Thirumoolanathar. It is difficult to narrate everything about this temple in such a short space. This temple is unique in many ways! Across from the Ponnambalam, there is a shrine for Perumal (Vishnu) in the 'Lying Pose' apparently installed in the eighth century. Another uniqueness of this temple is it is owned and maintained by the 'families of Dikshidhars'. The members of these families numbered three thousand! Saint Nambiaroorar [Sundaramoorthy Nayanar] refers to all of them to be 'army of Sivan' and worships them as such. Some time in the tenth century the kings entrusted the whole temple to them. Even today, when government controls most all other temples, these families own this temple!

Many saints have written about this temple. Nandhanar and Manickkavachagar merged with God here. One of the teachers of the Saiva Siddhantha School, Umapathy Sivachariar,lived and worshiped here. Thirumaligaiththevar wrote the Thiruvisaippa about the car festival. Sekkizar's Periapuranam debuted here. Two major festivals are observed in this temple, one during the month of July-August and another during December-January. Only on these occasions is the Natarajar taken out in procession. Each of these festivals are ten days long, and tens of thousands throng the temple for these occasions.

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opportunities to volunteer And of course, please visit the Murugan Temple when you are in the Washington D.C. area! We are located at: 6300 Princess Garden Parkway Lanham, Maryland 20706 301 552-4889 Questions or comments? Contact MTNAeditor@murugantemple.org