E_Book

Thittai
Temples


By

Tamarapu Sampath Kumaran





About the Author:
Mr T Sampath Kumaran is a freelance writer. He regularly contributes articles on
Management, Business, Ancient Temples, and Temple Architecture to many
leading Dailies and Magazines. His articles are popular in The Young World
section of THE HINDU.

His e-books on nature, environment, festivals and different cultures of people
around the world are educative and of special interest to the young.
His e-books Guide to 108 Divya Desams, Guide to 275 Siva Sthalams, Ganesha,
Muruga, Pilgrimage to Narasimhaswami shetrams, Tirupati Gangamma, Vision of
Sri Madhwacharya and Guru Raghavendra, The Path of Ramanuja, Guide to
Kancheepuram, Hanuman and Hinduism in a nutshell, Puri Jagannath Rathayatra,
have been well received in the religious circle. He was associated in the renovation
and production of two Documentary films on Nava Tirupathi Temples, and
Tirukkurungudi Temple in Tamilnadu.

Acknowledgement:
I wish to express my gratitude to the authors from whose works I gathered the
details for this book, and Courtesy, Google for some of the photographs.
Special thanks to www.scribd.com for hosting my e-books.




From Himalayas to Kanyakumari.a land of intense spirituality and religious faith
reflected in the profusion of temples present in this subcontinent. Temples are
found everywhere in India from large monumental structures to small stone
buildings, each having a certain significance and greatly influencing the lives of
the people who regard the temple as a place where they could be close to God.
Krishna is the eighth incarnation of God Vishnu. Krishna is often described and
portrayed as an infant or young boy playing a flute as in the BhagavataPurana, or
as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavd Gita. The
stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and
theological traditions. They portray him in various perspectives: a God-child, a
prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the supreme being. The principal
scriptures discussing Krishna's story are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, the
BhagavataPurana, and the Vishnu Purana
Krishna, one of the avatars of Vishnu is the most glamorous and talked-of
character in Indian mythology, starting from the tales of his amorous acts with
gopikas and Radha, to his story of valour and wisdom in the battles with Kamsa
and his great preachings to Arjuna in Bhagvad-Gita.

Krishnas childhood reinforces the Hindu concept of Lila, playing for fun and
enjoyment and not for sport or gain. His interaction with the gopis at the rasa dance
orRasa-lila is a great example of this. Krishna played his flute and the gopis came
immediately from whatever they were doing, to the banks of the Yamuna river, and
joined him in singing and dancing. Even those who could not physically be there
joined him through meditation. The story of Krishnas battle with Kaliya also
supports this idea in the sense of him dancing on Kaliyas many hoods. Even
though he is doing battle with the serpent, he is in no real danger and treats it like a
game. He is a protector, but he only appears to be a young boy having fun. This
idea of having a playful god is very important in Hinduism.




The playfulness of Krishna has inspired many celebrations like the Rasa-lila and
the Janmashtami : where they make human pyramids to break open hundis (clay
pots) hung high in the air that spill buttermilk all over the group after being broken
by the person at the top. This is meant to be a fun celebration and it gives the
participants a sense of unity. Many believe that lila being connected with Krishna
gives Hindus a deeper connection to him and thus a deeper connection to Vishnu
also; seeing as Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu. Theologists, like Kristin
Johnston Largen, believe that Krishnas childhood can even inspire other religions
to look for lila in deities so that they have a chance to experience a part of their
faith that they may not have previously seen.
All the gopi friends of Yasoda and Rohini enjoyed the naughty childish activities
of Krishna and Balarama in Vrindavana.
For the sake of a hand full of butter, the Lord
dances before Yasoda -Sri Navaneetha Krishna. When all the other gods dance
before Him, He dances to get a morsel of butter from a woman. After eting the
butter, it seems, the Lord as a Child, would break the empty pot. Significance is
that the Lord takes the butter - soul - into Him, and destroys the pot - body- which
contained the butter.



Formerly, in every household, yogurt and butter were kept for use in emergencies.
But Krishna and Balarama would pile up planks so that they could reach the pots
and would then pick holes in the pots with their hands so that the contents would
leak out and they could drink it.
This was another means for stealing butter and milk.
When the butter and milk were kept in a dark room, Krishna and Balarama would
go there and make the place bright with the valuable jewels on Their bodies. On
the whole, Krishna and Balarama engaged in stealing butter and milk from the
neighborhood houses in many ways.
Many temples depicts Krishna the child holding butter and crawling or dancing,
called Navaneetha Krishna.








Located near Thanjavur, in between the renowned ThanjaiMaa Mani DivyaDesam
on the Vennar Bank and the Punnai Nallur Kothandarama Temple, in the midst of
lush greenery all around is a calm and peaceful village called Thittai




"Thittai", the name of the village means "Thittu" in Tamil, (i-e) a Mound. When
the whole world was surrounded by water because of "Pralayam", Brahma , and
Vishnu worshipped Lord Maheshara for protection. After wandering much for a
safe place, they found this only mound, which did not drown in the Pralaya waters,
where there was a Shiva Lingam.
There is an ancient temple dedicated to Navaneetha Krishnan. The main deity is
RukmaniSathyabamaSametha Krishnan facing east and the Goddess is
HemabjaNayaki. Other deities are Lakshmi Narayan facing south, Garudazhwar
facing west.



The Vimanamis Thuvithala vimanam
The Sthalavruksham is Banyan, Parijatham (Pavazhamalli) and
the Theertham: Jenbakarunya Pushkarani



The moolavar deity, Lord Navaneetha Krishnan, is seen in a special dancing
posture with his left leg slightly bent and placed on a pedestal with the right leg on
a lotus stalk.








His left hand is seen stretched to balance the body weight, while in his right palm
Lord Navaneetha Krishnan is seen holding a ball of fresh butter.

Regular festivals of Sri JayanthiUtsavam, Thirumanjanam every month on Rohini
Star, Hanuman Jayanthi, PanguniUthiram Garuda Seva, and VaikuntaEkadesi by
Thittai Sampath Iyengars family who have been the hereditary trustees of the
temple, and continue to do the Kainkaryam, under the administrative control of the
HR&CE Board.
Swami Desigan has praised Lord Navaneetha Krishnan in his GopalaVimasathy:















Another feature at this temple is the presence of Anjaneya facing the North. The
story goes that there have been several instances of Lord Anjaneya here answering
the prayers of the devotees and fulfilling their wishes after they have offered their
sincere prayers here and presented a coconut to him.He is referred to here as
'Kaarya Siddhi Anjaneya'.












The system of special worship is as follows: You get a set of items from the temple
containing an unpeeled dry coconut (MattaThengai), a jacket cloth piece and other
pooja items for a nominal sum, write your address and the wish to be fulfilled in
separate papers, make a bundle of all these by keeping the wish list inside the
bundle and pasting the address paper outside. You hand over this to the priest who
then submits it to the Anjaneyar deity in meditative pose. While the priest is
submitting your wish to the Anjaneyar, the priest instructs to you the form of
prayer practice (like lighting the deepam in an Anjaneyar temple) you have to take,
the no of weeks you have to continue the practice and the no of days/ weeks it will
take for the wish to get fulfilled. You have to be ready with a pen and paper to note
it down since it will not be repeated. The bundle will be tied to a stick in an
exclusive place within the temple and will remain there for a few months.
After your wish is fulfilled, you are expected to visit the temple again to untie the
bundle and perform an abisheham for the Anjaneyar.
To the North East of the Navaneetha Krishnan temple is a Siva Temple that has
been praised by the Nayanmars. On the full moon day in Chitrai, special donation
from the Navaneetha Krishnan temple is handed to the Siva Temple for the
ThiruKalyanam there that day.
According to the legend, during the great deluge (pralayam), when the entire
Universe was surrounded by water, this place of Thittai stood aloft and Lord Shiva
appeared at this Sthalam as a Swayambu Lingam.
Thittai is one of the holy places, extolled by Sambandar, who hails the sanctity of
the place as more superior even the glory of Lord Shiva Himself.







An unique feature of this temple is a drop of water falls on the Lingam (Main
Diety) exactly every twenty four minutes (1 Naazhigai) from the roof. But for a
small hole, there is no source of water or anything, on the Vimana of the main
diety.
Two stones "Suryagaanthakkal" and "Chandragaanthakkal" which are placed at
strategic points above the Vimana are the reasons for the droplets of water which
falls on the diety. These two stones absorb moisture from the atmosphere, convert
into water droplet, performing a natural Abhishegam to the diety, every 24 minutes
(1 Naazhigai), be it the day or night.
According to legend, Brahma, Vishnu, Subramanya, Bhairavar, Sun God Sooriyan,
Saneeswaran, Yama (the god of death), Parasuramar, Devendiran, Adiseshan, Sage
Vasishtar, Sage Jamadagni are said to have worshipped the Swaymbu Lingam
here.
This east facing temple is situated with an entrance with a 3 tier gopuram. The
temple theertham known as PasuTheertham lies in front of the temple. After
climbing the few steps in front of the main entrance, one enters the first prakaram.



The separate shrine for Guru (Jupiter) is situated in the first prakaram and He
appears in a standing posture as Rajaguru, blessing the devotees with the Abhaya
Hasta. Apart from a shrine for the presiding deity Pasupatheeswarar, the temple
also has shrines for Sivamurti, Devi, Vinayakar and Subramanyar and worshipped
with equal importance
Though the presiding deity is Vasishteswarar, yet many devotees flock to this
temple to propitiate Guru.
"Guru Bhagavan" has a temple inside this temple itself. Even in the
GurusthalamAalangudi, one can see that Dhakshinamurthy facing South in the
Praakaaram is worshipped as Guru.



But this is probably the only place in the world
where Guru Bhagavan has a separate Sannidhi and
separate Vimana between Vasishteswarar and
Loganayaki Sannidhis. This is the only place where
you can see Guru Bhagavan who is the Raja Guru,
in standing posture with 4 hands holding his
weapons and a book. ChitraPournami and Guru
Peyarchi are most important festivals here.













After worshipping Lord Guru ,and Goddess Loganayaki , the devotee is pointed to
the ceiling at the entrance and briefed us about the 12 zodiacal signs engraved in
stone and asked us to stand below our sign from where we could look at the Lord
and the Goddess by just turning our neck to the right.
It is indeed an architectural marvel. One is to make a wish while standing in that
position, and it is believed that the wish would become true soon.