A Cottage in Swami Hills- 24 Temples and temple trips

A COTTAGE IN SWAMI HILLS*

24. TEMPLES AND TEMPLE TRIPS

My grandfather was a trustee for KasiViswanatha swami temple and I had the occasion to enjoy the privilege of being the grandson of trustee. One Nayar was the temple watchman and whenever we went, Nayar used to come and take me for a round. he had a parrot. It was very cute and it could speak some words.  I accompanied my grandfather in his tour around all the deities of the temple. He had a special attachment to a Lingam on the outer periphery of the temple. he believed that the Lingam had some powers. it could grow and when it would grow more than the temple wall, the world would perish. I think he was the trustee for three Mahamakams ie 1932, 1944,1956. he resigned from trusteeship in 1956 after he was questioned  by the Executive officer about some hundi collections.

He was the trustee of  Bhagavath Vinayaka swami temple also. After every special alankaram, the tusks and the silver kavacham would be brought to our house for safe upkeep. there was so much trust those days that the costly things were kept in our house without any record what so ever.

 Another religious institution he was connected with was "periya Madam" near mahamkam tank. It was a veerashaiva mtham. We had gone there and witnessed the swamijis performing so many rituals including the ceremonious preparation of vibhuthi. I remember they gave us one big sphere of White shining vibhuthi as a compliment when we visited.

In 1962, my grandfather, as the President of the Bar association organised the Biksha for Kanchi paramacharya when He was staying in Ilaiyaththangudi. All of us started by bus early in the morning and reached Ilaiyathangudi by 10 AM. It was very memorable to have dharshan of both Senior Acharya (Maha Periyava) and then newly appointed Pudhu periyava. About 20 advocates and their families travelled together in the bus.

We had very closely seen both Gudali Sankaracharya and Andavan Swamigal when they came to Kumbakonam. Once we went to Karaikkal and had Dharshan of the Karaikkal Ammaiyar temple. We had been to Swamimalai couple of times. Except these, my grandfather was not much of a temple hopper nor he went to temples every week as some did. Probably, he believed more in his private worship at home.

he used to quite this tirukkural frequently which probably summarised his value system very well,.

 தவம் செய்வார் தன் கருமம்  செய்வார்  மற்றெல்லாம்
அவம் செய்வார் ஆசையுட்பட்டு.

  (Those who do penance are people who do their work. Others (who claim to be doing penance) are doing needless things due to their own desires (to be noticed).
  

*Cottage in swami hills refers to the house in which we lived in Kumbakonam. This phrase was used once by my grandfather when I asked him that as some  people go in summer to Kodaikanal and Ooty where they have a cottage whether we would also be able to go and stay like them one day. My grandfather replied that he already has a cottage near swami Hills (swamimalai) and he referred to his house as the cottage.