Udayarpalaya Vijayam
After spending a year in Pudukottai samasthanam and Nagarathar nadu, Swamigal went to Udayarpalayam via Tiruchi in the month of July, 1926. Traditionally, there was a connection between Kanchi mutt and the Udayarpalayam royalty. When official address of the mutt was moved from Kanchi to Kumbakonam, the then pontiff stayed for a long time at Udayarpalayam. The royalty of Udayarpalayam came under the rule of Tanjore Maharashtra rulers and served as military chiefs under them. They worshipped and were ardent devotees of Sri Kanchi Kamakshi. That is one of the reasons why the samasthanapathis were named Kanchi Chinna Nallappan, Kanchi Yuvarangappan, etc with Kanchi added to their names.
The later years of the first half of the eighteenth century was very confusing and restless in Kanchi. The British East India Company was fighting battles in Karnataka.
Then pontiff of Kanchi mutt, Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal (62nd
Acharya) took the main idols for puja and moved from Kanchi to southern parts along with the mutt officials, after making arrangements for puja of Adi Sankara’s idol in the mutt at Kanchipuram. He also left behind a few officials to take care of a skeleton office of the mutt there. He went to Rameswaram, stayed for some time in Ramanathapuram and Tiruvananthapuram and then stayed for a long time at Udayarpalayam (surrounded by forests, near Tiruchi) at the request of the royalty. Even before he reached
Udayarpalayam, His Holiness had requested the priests of the three main temples in Kanchipuram (Ekambaranathar, Kamakshi and Varadarajaperumal) to secretly bring the Utsava idols from the temples to Udayarpalayam. (Even today, the Siva temple at Udayarpalayam has ‘Kamakshi Mandapam’ and the Perumal temple has ‘Varadaraj Mandapam’). Then king of Tanjore Prathapasimhan came with his Prime Minister Dabeerbandh and requested Kanchi Sankaracharya Swamigal to visit Tanjore. Accepting his invitation, the Swamigal visited Tanjore and stayed there for a few months. He later wished to move to Kumbakonam. Dabeerbandh built a mutt in the southern shores of
Cauveri and houses in the nearby three streets for officials and scholars to stay. (Even today, there are streets in Kumbakonam named ‘Dabeer Street’). Upon the request of the Tanjore king, a temple was built for Bangaru Kamakshi in the north street. It is to be noted that Kanchi Sankaracharya Swamigal is the trustee / Dharmakartha of the Bangaru Kamakshi Ambal temple in Tanjore.
The Udayarpalayam zamindar gave a grand welcome to our Swamigal during his visit to the town in 1926 and made arrangements for his comfortable stay at the palace as well as the temple. He also conducted pada puja, bikshavandanam as well as a procession for our Swamigal. Moreover, he offered a six-month old male elephant, two horses, one camel and a few cows to the mutt as his offering. There were no rains in the district for years together and the people were amazed and pleased to see the rains as well as a bountiful harvest that year.
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