Tuesday 7 September 2010

REMEMBERING MY MOTHERS NATIVE PLACE -KALLIDAIKURICHI.

 Our mother late Smt. ParvathyAmmal was born in Kallidaikurichi in Tirunelveli Dt. Tamil Nadu. This place is also known as Kalyanapuri, Kubera pattinam,and karandaiyar palayam.

Kallidaikurichi--this name reminds us of the famous  "kambankudi vamsam" which is associated with Lord AYYAPPA. The lord when he went to fetch tigers milk for his ailing Queen mother, came to karandaiyar palayam to the house of a brahmin named Vijayan, had bajra porridge (which we call kambu in tamil) and slept in their house that night with the child less couple. When the couple realised early in the morning that the boy has disappeared from the bed,a divine voice told them that they would be blessed with children, and their next generation - boy or girl. will be blessed by HIM whenever they wish. Since the Lord was offered porridge made of kampu, his next generation would be called kampukody-which later came to be known as kambankudi.

Another important feature of this village is the famous "Sadavidaiyar Temple". It is believed that the god came to earth in the form of a lady with thickened hair[Sadai] to assist a poor girl during her child birth on the way  at midnight on a rainy day . As the girl was poor she could not offer her anything except the mixture of jaggery and rice[which we called kapparisi]. Even today, the deity there is offered this mixture as naivedeyam and ladies are strictly not allowed inside the temple.Sadavidaiyar followers never take neem leaves [veppilai]in any functions in their family. All days are opened for day pooja in the temple and all fridays in THAI month special pooja during night.All families in India & abroad attend the function religiously till date.

Till few years back,18 agraharams of this village had only Brahmin families.Also in this village are born several well known sastrigals and dikshithars - some of whom are carrying on the traditions till date.The next generations in their families is still continuing the noble work.My father in law Late Shri.Adhimoola Vadhyar,was one of the well known Sastrigals in kallidaikuruchi. Now the scenario has changed. This village has produced many big industrialists.To name some of them are Late Shri S.N.Sankaralinga Iyer of India Cements,Late Shri K.R.Sundaram Iyer of Royal Enfield and big estate owner also petrol dealer Late Shri A.Natesa Iyer and Late Shri Easwara Iyer of Easun Group.My father in law was their family sastrigal.They gave good respects to their family Guru.

Kallidaikurichi is also famous for dal appalams,rice appalams,pepper appalams and vadams.The appalams made with urad dals combined with the goodness of Tamaravarni Water,has an excellent taste. This is a household job with more than 90 percent families in the job.The appalams are sold accross the country and also overseas. Now they have expanded their work,by making murukkus,laddoos, and other sweets for marriage purpose.

The holy river Thamaravarni originates from Podigai Mountain with a fragrance of natural medicine. It is flowing near the village and even today the villagers take bath  in the river daily. Shri Adhivarhar Temple is in the middle of the village, and the main entrance is facing the east.The main moolavar is sitting with Laxmi.Utsavar is Shrilaxmibathi with Sridevi and Boodevi. The almighty is fulfilling the devotees needs till today. Garuda Seva  is an important sevas in this temple which is performed in the tamil month of Purattasi satudays in a grant manner.  Parka Kann Kodi Vendum . Everyday water is brought from the river Tamaravarni for Abishekam to the Lord "Lakshmipathi", which is called Thirumanjanam. All utsavams are performed through out the year & brahmotsavam is celebrated during Chitra Pournami.

There is only one higher secondary school in this village called Tilak Vidyalaya,which is going to celebrate its centenary. The school is having excellent coaching till date. Proud to say that my wife had her schooling here and had been the topper. Her teachers family still remembers her. .Her friend Revathi presently known as Kalaimamani Revathi Muthuswamy was the topper in SSLC. Her mother Smt Alamelu gave her good studies alongwith intensive training in Bharata Natyam . After marriage she set up "Srirangam Bharatanatyalaya" at Srirangam, Trichy. She has staged Dance-drama in more than 1000 stages in different places in India and Abroad. She has been awarded "KALAIMAMANI" by the Govt of TamilNadu. Though my wife and Revathi lost touch with each other after their marriages God made them come together after 25 long yrs. We fulfilled her wishes of performing in the national capital of Delhi in the presence of the then President Late Shri.R.Venkatraman, about 15 years ago. Revathi Muthuswamy is among one of the people who have made "KALLIDAIKURICHI" very proud.

Another interesting aspect of this village is the interest they show in maintaing our culture and traditions."Kolatta Pallakku" is celebrating in the month of makaram A few aged ladies and young children use to participate. Mud is taken from the nearest agricultural land and a small cow pasuvan is made from that.A few children made to dress Lord Krishna and Radha and they come out to the entire area with a procession. with a decorated pictures of Radha ande Krishna. All the ladies and children go round all the streets and perform the kolattam. Finally the doll mud cow is submerged in the "vayal" and the function ends. The ladies were given thamboolam and dinner.

I recollect that in my young age my mother used to take us to the Thamiravarni River and after taking bath she use to feed us with curd rice. Imagine in those days we had no plates for so many children of the family. Instead she use to wash the stone (rock) on the bank,and put the rice on that. As side dish,we ate NARTHANGAI pickle. This is said to be good reliever of stomach ailments. This village is famous for this pickle also.

To fulfill my mothers wish to marry a girl from her native place,I got married to Ganga.With my mothers blessings both of us have been married for 39 yrs (completing 39 yrs today) and my children and family are well settled. MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF US..

14 comments:

  1. C-Appa, Very touchy and well scripted. Looking forward to hear on Kaladai Mavladoos and Tirrunelvelli Erutu Kadai Halwa in your forth coming blogs....

    Shekar

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  2. Nice write up. A gist of the history of Kallidaikurichi. But I would like to have more from you. About the Chidambareshwarar Temple, the Lakshmipathi temple, the Kasiviswanathar temple (your name sake) that was at the river bed but now converted to a mass dining hall etc. There are I know, 18 temples in all the 18 agraharams. You may write about all of them and the functions celebrated there. Your language style is lucid.

    The prime celebration, face of the ritualistic tradition of Kallidai, Sastha Preethi was not even mentioned here. I hope you would dedicate a separate write up for that. But overall yours was good for a start up.

    On a lighter note, your 39 year old marriage and still-steady wife were mentioned only in the last paragraph. Trust that was not by preference!!!

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  3. Vichu Mama..Super start..Very interesting and informative.

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  4. @shekar & @mridula - Thank you .
    @Arun - Thanks for a detailed comment.

    Sorry for the delay. Will definetly write about other temples soon. One blog post is not enough to write about all the temples.

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  5. Very sentimental...Even my grand parents' native places were kallidaikurichi and they used to tell a lot about the agrahaaram.... Feeling like missing it...Very happy to have found this article...

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  6. dear sir,
    I plan to visit kallidaikurichi soon, after 28 years, when I had gone there as a child. Can you recommend any comfortable hotel there? Price is not a concern.
    KB Narayanan Aiyer

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  7. any body knows, where Shyamala, daughter of Canara Bank Manager is living??

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  8. dear sir,
    we are writing an article on holy Sabari...would like to speak to u on kambangudi my number is 9176221124. urgent pls

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  9. I am Nalini & my family lived in "Station View" bang opposite the railway station.I also studied in TilakVidyalaya.So did my two other sisters and my brother.Most memorable part of my life !

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  10. Iwill be very happy to meet up with other KICians here who may know our family.

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    1. I am A.Ponnambalam studied 5th 6th 7th at Tilak vidyalaya with Nalini D/of Shri Viswanathan who lived in a big house opposite to Railway station.afterwords due to my father's transfer we have shifted to cuddalore.my classmates are Nanda kumar s/o Headmaster Ranganatha Rao Mahalingam CA who lives in chennai now.Rama Seetha twins came from kottai street.remembering Viswanathan sir Gunasili Madam Natarajan Ponniah Bhanumathiall PET teachers.After long time I am at present stays at chennai villa B 5
      TVS GREEN ACRES PERUNGULATHUR ROAD KOLAPAKKAM CHENNAI after retirement from NTECL .HAPPY TO MEET OLD CLASSMATES 9445002436

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  11. my grand parents were from kallidaikurichi. grand father name is aiyya vathiyar, grand mother lakshmi. They have one girl and one boy. The girl name is meenakshi. the boy name is sharma. After a brief stay they seemed to have moved to kerala. meenakshi was my mother. along with us one named komathi was with us till her death at usilampatti. i am the only son to meenakshi. I wish you pl enquire some one in the age group 80 to 90 to know more details about them. hope you can help me know my roots

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  12. Very interesting and informative posr. Are thetw more on Kallidai?

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  13. Dear friends,
    I am in the process of finding out my kuladeivam. We did prasna poojai in Kerala. We are zeroing in on karandhiyar palayam kambangudi sastha. But we wanted to confirm befibe we freeze that option. We belong to Bharadwaja gothram, saama vedam, vadama. My father Sivaramakrishnan and his father Subramania Iyer were settled in Trivandrum area. Here is the heirarchy of my great great grandfather.

    1.Parasuram
    2. 2.Ramakrishnan ( he became a Saamiyaar and took samaadhi at karamaKar, Trivandrum)
    3. Subramania Iyer (my Thaath. He was working in post office, neyyattinkara)
    4. S.Sivaramakrishnan (my father who retired as a DySP in Trivandrum)

    If you have any information on where Sri. Parasuraman and Sri. Ramakrishnan lived or their place of stay etc is most welcome. Really appreciate if you can help us.
    Namaskaarams
    SREENIVASAN
    9886303337

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