Bit of an adventure here. I got myself dropped at Lawspet Murugan temple for Pradosham. A group of women belonging to the Durga Mandali (100 members or so, said Ramanan Gurukkal) were there taking the sankalpam. The lamps and other dravyangal for the abhishekams were getting prepared, largely by a young woman in a pink kurta. I noticed because I’d never seen a woman doing that work in a big(ish) temple before. The utsavar was in the Sivan shrine, and that Pradosha murti was beautiful, so I went over to take photos, knowing well that by the time the abhishekam started, I’d not be able to get any view of him at all. Then was speaking for some time to Ramanan gurukkal about lamps. Here are the names he gave me:
- The maha deepam is also called an adukku arati. It has layers of 5, 7, 9, 11 etc places for wicks. It is also called the alankara deepam.
- There are deepams also named by the number of wicks they hold: Ottha deepam, Retta deepam, Moonru deepam etc.
- Then there are the ones with the specific figures or vahanas in front: Rishabha deepam (with a vrushabha in front), Purusha deepam, Naga deepam, Mayura deepam, Seval (cockerel flag) deepam. There can also be simha and gaja deepams, in different temple traditions.
- The plate deepams are called Pancha thattu.
Ramanan Gurukkal seemed to suggest there is an element of alankara to the deeparadhanai, but I’m not sure I understood him well enough. Deeparadhana is ordinarily a form of upacara (உபசாரம், ritual service or offering), not a form of alankaram.
Before the puja starts, Raghavan Iyer (the main priest’s son) comes over and asks about our photography–in short, he’s never asked us about why we were here before, his father was always aware though, but now he says that someone from the Nirvagam called and asked about my taking photos because there are/have been temple thefts. I promise to wait and talk to the Special Officer, Mr Selvaraj. Once Arun comes, and the pradosham abhishekams are over, we rush home to get my UHCL card so I can make a formal introduction to Selvaraj Sir. We wait until after the Pradosha puja is over and do exactly this. He is a kind man. We explain the project, he asks a few questions, and then visibly tells Raghavan Iyer that we’re good to go. Phew.
There are several abhishekams today, by the way – because Ambal gets one, too, as do both the Nandis outside each of their sannadhis, along with Pradosha nayakar. Siva’s nandi gets a velli kavacham, the gold is reserved for Sivan himself. Ambal has some parts of gold kavacham but not full.
The pradosham itself is a simple, soulful affair. 3 rounds of ul-purappadu, one to music, one to the Iyer’s Sanskrit chanting, one to Periyapuranam, Thiruvasagam and Potri recitations by all present. Someone hands out the script for these, so people walk around and read it together, not always in complete harmonisation, but it creates a nice atmosphere no doubt. I took photos and made a PDF of the sheets.
Once the three pradakshinas were done, the Pradosha murti stopped on the south-west corner, where Venkatesa Gurukkal spoke briefly about “upcoming events” – what a nice idea, to keep people informed that way. He spoke about the pandhakaal muhurtam though for what reason I’m not sure (lots of interfering noise), about the annabhishekam upcoming, gomata puja on pournami, which happens to be the same day, and asked for people to bring vegetables for the special alankaram, including long snake gourds because they resemble serpents. (Sivan in vegetal alankaram!)
Prasadam is sundal, sweet puttu, and a kalanda sadam. We speak for some time to Dandapani sir, who is the one who sings Tevaram, Thiruvasagam etc. at each puja. He tells us that the two Murugan sannadhis at the back contain figures that were the original moola murtis of this temple. Vinayaka came first–therefore he is Adi Vinayaka–then the small Muruga and then the one seated on a peacock – but the Mayilam mathadhipati came and said that the moola murti should be standing to give blessings to all, not seated. So they installed the present Murugan. He spoke at length about his devotion, about having a swelling on his foot, having a dream like experience in which an elder man came into his house with the door all flung open at the deepest of night, rapped him thrice on the foot and told him he would be fine. And he was. Like this many “Adhisayam”-ana experiences.
He also talked about the utsava murtis. The temple has two, one for the Thirukalyanam, and one who is exclusively a Samhara murti, who is present only for the Soora Samharam. These things keep changing, he said, by kaalakattam (period, era). Different people come in different kaalakattam, as the Nayanmars did, each preaching, teaching, adjusting, modifying, continuing, discontinuing–and the temples bear the impressions of all these influences.