At the main Perumal Koyil, Naresh Bhattacharya whispers thanks for the photos to us. Narasimha Jayanti puja tomorrow 5pm he says. No photos, no video, he says. We nod–it’s a moolasthanam, so of course.
Prasanna is behind a curtain cleaning the Narasimhar shrine & tells us of some pradosham puja today (which Arun never finds), we make our way to the Hanuman shrine where the elderly priest is officiating – he seems chatty, tells us about the connection between the divya desams (Thiruvahindrapuram near Cuddalore and Thirukkoyilur) – Vedanta Desikar came to Thiruvanthipuram & therefore the affinity for him is stronger in this Vadakalai temple.
Ramanan Bhattacharya comes by and is at first wary of us, but when he realises our questions are really simple and quite benign, things start mercifully to shift. Why does Hanuman wear a betel leaf malai? Answer: Ashoka vanam, Hanuman comes with “good news” so she pulls off a bunch of betel leaves from the kodi growing on the Ashoka tree and blesses him for it – hence this human offering.
He shifts from there to sit on the step near the vasanta mandapam, and we follow and he starts to tell us about the 282 days of utsavams and other events at this temple.