Neyyi Kulam, or a pond of ghee. We’d seen this presentation darshanam once before, in the Draupadi Amman Koyil – a pond of ghee on a base of chakkara pongal catches the face of the Mother like a mirror, and you see it there. Except the effect there was not so evident or impressive. The Sivan Koyil, as ever, does it differently. Two large vessels of pongal went into the Ambal sannadhi. Arasoo Mama came out to say that they were low on ghee, and could we get 2kgs more from Vijaya Ganapati next door. We did. The line was already long for this darshan. When the doors opened, we realised that there’s no electric light in the garbhagriha, only a line of oil lamps to Ambal’s left. Wait, said Arasoo mama, I’ll take you in later. So, we waited. When the Maniyakkarar and EO went in for darshan, so did we. Waited till they left, and had our moment in solitude with the great Lalita Tripurasundari.
I’m not sure what we expected to see or feel. Was it the darkness? Was it the scent of ghee and camphor? Was it the line of flickering lamps? I was deeply moved. And, indeed, there was Lalita Tripurasundari’s face visible in the neyi kulam. What was the point of seeing her there when she’s there to be seen right in front of you? But the question did not matter. Something about the clarity of that ghee surface in that light, in that closed, still, airless room. Something about seeing differently. Something about moving so that you can see only that face in only that stillness. It was like Arasoo mama had said just moments before. Mani, Mantram, the bell, the mantras, the smells, the sounds, the sights – they all converge, and when they do, in just that way, there are no words left to speak about what it is like.
Yagasala was empty and the kalasas gone, presumably taken to the moolasthanam for a final abhishekam. One lone kalasam remained, but sans a coconut. Navaratri clearly about to come to its end.
Arun went back for the Ambu event in the evening, while I was still at Nandhikeswara. Chandrasekara and Uma were coming out from the utsava mandapa, came around to the corner where the naalvar mandapam is. Guru mama did a puja to the banana plant there – took kalasam sprinkled water onto it, went to Chandrasekara, took the ambu (a vel in this case) from his hand, and stabbed the vazhai maram a few times. Then the tree was pulled forward and made to fall down. He took a few more jabs at it once it was done – ambu returned to Sivan’s hand, and they carried on.
By the time I got there, Chandrasekara and Uma were on their way back to the utsava mandapam. Quick quick aradhanai there, and the door locked. Time for Parashakti to return, too. She came out of the golu mandapam and went back to her chamber. Golu kalachuffied. Done.