PERUNGALUR-THE ABODE OF OUR KULA DEIVAM

The September weather was bracing, with a few rain clouds building up as we cruised along NH 67 in the little Ford, covering the 217 odd kilometers between the industrial city of Coimbatore and the ancient Chola-Pallava capital of Trichy. A four hour journey brought us to the city, whose skyline is dominated by the famous Rock Fort, the ancient temple sitting atop a massif around which the whole city is centred. After dumping our luggage at the conveniently located Hotel Royal Satyam (had zeroed on the place after a little research on Make My Trip and Trip Advisor) in Singarathope in the heart of the city, took a walk to the famous Rock Fort, which was a stone’s throw away from there. A brisk climb of the 344 steps leads us to the ancient Ucchi Pillayar Temple atop the 87 m tall basalt rock. Thereafter, after an early dinner retired early as we had to leave early next morning (25 September 2014) for Perungalur, the abode of our Kula Deivam or Clan Deity. Kalpana’s dad, a pious and meticulous man had already done a lot of research for us regarding our presumed Kula Deivam- Vamsodhdharakar an avatar of Lord Siva, whose temple was located in Perungalur, a town near Pudukottai.

We took the lovely Trichy-Tanjore 8-laner, NH 67 and branched off at Sanoorapatti on SH 99 onward to Gandharvakottai and thereafter turned right on NH 226 and drove on for about 18 km to reach our destination. The total distance is about 65 km and driving time is about 1 ½ hours.

Entrance of the Vamshodharakar Temple

Perungalur turned out to be a small non-descript town. After seeking directions form a few townsfolk, we turned off on the small road that passed through an arch which led us to the main temple of the town. The most prominent temple here is dedicated to Lord Siva and his consort, known as Vamsodhdharakar and Mangalambikai respectively. We located the disabled vadyar, who stays in a small house just outside the temple. As he led us to the temple, he gave us a brief on the history of the temple, which dates back to the Chola period. One of the rulers of Chola dynasty who did not have children offered prayers for progeny, before Lord Siva for continuance of his dynasty. In response to his prayers Lord told him to install a Siva Linga facing east and another facing west and continue his prayers to them. The Temple where the deity is facing west is in Perungalur. In due course Lord answered his prayers and blessed him with children to continue his dynasty. Thus the Deity here is called "Vamsodhdharakar" meaning "perpetuator of dynasty".

Vannimara Pillayar

The vadyar thereafter proceeded to explain us the method of offering prayers to the Kula Deivam- which was actually pretty complicated. However, he sent a little boy with us to guide us through the procedure. For starters, we were asked to first to take a bath in the temple pond and in our wet dress proceed to the Sri Vannimara Pillaiyar temple and offer our prayers and offerings including paddy grains, dhoti and coconuts. But as we reached the temple pond, to our horror we realized that it had been reduced to a filthy pond with hyacinth infested sewage water. However, to satisfy the priest we just took few drops of the water and sprinkled it on our head before clearing out of the place. The Vannimara Pillaiyar temple is situated below an ancient gnarled banyan tree on the banks of the pond. The idol appeared pretty ancient and was worn with years of offerings and abhishekams.

Lord Vamshodharakar

Scan of visiting card of the Vadyar

Thereafter, we proceeded to the main temple. The Vamsodhdharakar temple is itself poorly maintained and is littered with garbage and refuse. The priest lamented that there were no funds being provided either by the district administration or the Devasthan Committee. But it just struck me; a little daily housekeeping should be possible with the help of town volunteers and from the offerings received in the temple- only probably there was no will to do so. He proceeded to tell us that the two other temples in the town were the Urumanathar Ayyanar Temple (strictly for guys-no women allowed) and an Ayyappan temple. However, since we had not proceeded as per the elaborate rituals told by him (which involved among other things, proceeding to the Ayyanar Temple in wet clothes and thereafter visiting the main Vamsodhdharakar temple) , he told us that we could not visit the other two temples and could leave after visiting the main temple only. 

Goddess Mangalambikai

Bhairava

The main deity is Lord Vamsodhdharakar, who is in the form of a Siva Linga facing West. The sanctum sanctorum, though not well maintained at all, housed a very primordial and bare Siva Linga. After paying our obeisance to the Lord, we proceeded to the sannathi of Mangalambikai, a form of Goddess Parvati, whose ancient idol faces south. However, the sanctum sanctorum is again pretty poorly maintained. In the outer parikrama of the Temple another Ganesha known as "Khshema Pillayar" has a sannathi so do Murugan, Dhakshinamoorthy, Durga, Chandikeswarar and Bhairavar. After paying our respects to all the deities in the temple, we bid farewell to the vadyar and after offering him a ritual dakshina decided to visit the other two temples too.

Ancient Horse at Urumanathar Temple

Urumanathar Sannathi

No women beyond this point!

After checking out from a couple of villagers, we were able to locate Urumunathar temple which is slightly outside the town. This is an Ayyanar temple. Ayyanar is a village god who is primarily worshipped as a guardian deity who protects the village. His priests are usually non-Brahmins, who belong to mostly the potter caste. The temples of Ayyanar are usually flanked by gigantic and colorful statues of him and his companions riding horses or elephants. This temple is no different- a giant horse idol of a long bygone age guards the flank of the temple. Apart from this a large number of stone and horse idols probably erected over a period of hundreds of years cover the complete temple yard. The temple itself is very small and has a non Brahmin priest. The idols are in the form of abstract pindis (something similar to the main deity at Vaishno Devi). Apart from Urumanathar, there is a small temple of shakti some 100 yards ahead. However, no women are allowed beyond the periphery of the complex. Hence, Kalpana had to wait out in the car after coming till the giant Horse statue that I mentioned earlier. As per the priest, the name Urumunathar originates from the fact that Lord Siva changed his appearance or urumam to appease Parvati in the form shakti who in a fit of rage had ridden away with his army of  ganas  and was able to pacify her and hold her at that location along with the army.

Malayamarungar Temple

Inside Malayamarungar Temple

The third temple is that of Ayyapan in the form of Malayamarungar or Malayappan or Hariharaputhra Saastha. As per the vadyar there, Lord Ayyapan came down from the hills of Kerala (malai in this case refers to Sabari Malai) to appease his father Lord Siva (who was angry with him for some reason) and hence is referred to as Malayappan. As per the priest here, he is our kula deivam and not Vamshotharakar as claimed by the vadyar at the latter temple. As per him, this temple is much older than the Vamshotharakar temple (which was apparently built by later kings and got prominence because of royal patronage, whereas the Malayamarungar is an ancient temple of a much older age). He also stated that a large number of Brahmin families of whom Lord Malayamarungar was the Kula Deivam there was a tradition of naming the first born either Malayappan or Hariharan. Considering that these names figure in our family tree more than once, I wondered if this theory is actually correct and Malayamarungar could well be our family deity rather than Vamsodhdharakar. 

It was later confirmed by my eldest Uncle and the Patriarch of our family, Dr H Srinivasan, Padma Shri, that our kula deivam is indeed not Vamsoddharkar but Malayamarungar who had migrated from Kerala, but it is mandatory that whoever in our family visits Malayamarungar should also visit Vamsoddharakar and do the puja there. Interestingly, besides this he also has confirmed that, Srinivasa Perumal of Tirupathi is an additional kula deivam,

Since we had finished our visits to all three temples, we decided to head back to Trichy and onward to Coimbatore. We took the route through Pudukottai this time- 18 km on NH 210 until Pudukottai and thereafter for about 52 km on NH 226 up to Trichy. The road is again very good, though the traffic was certainly heavier than our incoming route.

On the whole it felt very good to go back to the ancient roots of the family and a detailed visit to the kula deivam temples at Perungalur did make us feel a little more spiritually empowered and somewhere closer to our ancestors, many of who had probably stood at the same space and prayed to the same Gods in another age and another time !