Temples: History, Architecture & Distribution - 2

[ramana]

Hindu, 24 Feb 2010



Temple in Thirucharapalli

What an awesome sight!

Hundreds of devotees offered worship to the gold car made at an outlay of Rs.3 crore for Sri Vekkali Amman temple in Woraiyur. A special shed has been constructed at the temple for the gold car.



Special ‘yagasalai’ had been set up for performing the naalu-kaala puja.



The preliminary pujas, including Anugnai Vinayagar pujai, Punyahavasanam and Ganapathy Homam, were performed on Tuesday morning and the first kaala puja was performed in the evening on Tuesday.



The temple authorities made special arrangements for installing a small idol of Sri Vekkali Amman for use in the gold car.



The panchaloka idol, measuring about 1.75 feet in height, will be used whenever the gold car is pulled by devotees in fulfilment of their vows, S. Krishnan, Executive Officer of the temple, said.



The car, 9.75 feet in height, has been made using 10.5 kg of gold and 25 kg of silver.



Apart from utilising 7 kg of gold belonging to the temple, the authorities purchased 3.5 kg of the metal from the Samayapuram Sri Mariamman temple for making the gold car according to S. Krishnan.



The scheme, which was sanctioned a couple of years ago, comprised converting the gold into ribbons.



The gold foils were fixed on the 303 racks and the work was nearing completion, he said.



The total value of the gold car was about Rs.3 crore, he said.



Special pujas for the new small idol -- Jalathivasam kann thirathal; and Sayanathi vasam, were performed on Wednesday during the course of the second kaala pujai.



Devotees offered paddy to the idol praying for prosperity and development.



The fourth kaala pujai will be performed on Thursday. The ‘gadams’ will be taken from the ‘yagasalai’ at about 7.45 a.m.



The ‘kumbabhishekam’ will be performed at 8.15 a.m. for the gold car and at 8.45 a.m. for the new idol of Sri Vekkali Amman.



The rituals will be performed during the holy transit of the Revathy Nakshatram (star) in the Meena lagnam.



The maiden run of the gold car will commence at 6 p.m.



Arrangements for parking of vehicles



Mr. Krishnan said that special arrangements have been made for parking four-wheelers and other VIP vehicles during the maiden run of the gold car. With Woraiyur accounting for a number of lanes and by-lanes criss-crossing each other, the smooth flow of cars will facilitate the devotees to have the darshan of the gold car.



To ensure this, all four-wheelers will be diverted and parked on the road beyond the Office of the Executive Officer.



The maiden run of the temple car will last for about an hour till 7 p.m.