Pujya Sri Mahaswamy Divya Charitram Part#66

SriPerumbudur Vijayam

Swamigal visited SriPerumbudur in Chengelput district, the birthplace of Sri Ramanujar. He was given a formal reception by the temple Devasthana committee. Swamigal had darshan of Sri Yathirajavalli and Sri Adikesava Perumal. He later gave an upanyasam on the merits of the kshetra.

Vyasa Puja at Chittur

After completing his yatra in Chengelput district, our Swamigal stayed for a couple of days at Esayanur, a village in the North Arcot district. Gokilamabal, a resident of Esayanur as well as a great devotee of the mutt had invited our Swamigal numerous times to visit this place. From Esayanur, Swamigal arrived at Chittur on July 28th, 1931.

Chittur was also considered to be the home town of the hunter Nambirajan, father-in-law to Sri Subramania. To prove this point, there is also a small hill close by called Vallimalai. A Siva temple and the river Neeva are situated close to this hill. The legend is that the river was situated at a distance from the temple. The priest had to walk quite a distance from the temple to the river to fetch water. He was harassed by a demon and was frightened. Siva in compassion, called the river to come closer (‘Nee Vaa’) and the river came to be called Neeva since then.

Vyasa Mandapam was arranged in the front of the Agastheeswaran temple. Swamigal entered the city of Chittur the day before Vyasa puja and was given a grand welcome by thousands of people who were gathered there to witness the sight of Swamigal taken around in a procession in an ivory palanquin. The Chief Administrator of the mutt, Andhakoor Subramanya Shastrigal and Lawyer C.Venkataraman Iyer welcomed our Swamigal with purna kumbham into the Vyasa mandapam. Thousands of devotees had gathered there hours before the start of the puja.

The puja got over at four in the evening, after which, Vyasa Akshadhai and prasadam were distributed to all the devotees. Swamigal requested the Principal of Sanskrit College, Mylapore, Vedantha Vibhushanam Karungulam Krishna Shastrigal to lead the discussion on Vedanta that evening. Shastraratnakara Thiruvayaru Viswanatha Shastrigal, Polagam Rama Shastrigal, Varagur Venkatarama Shastrial, Patchitheertham T.A.Venkatesa Dikshitar, Madurai K.V.Subramania Shastrigal and mutt’s Asthana Vidwan Lakshminarayana Shastrigal were amongst those gathered there to participate in the vakyartha debate. Brahmasri Venkatesa Dikshithar read aloud the fifteen verses in Sanskrit that he had composed on Swamigal and explained their meaning to those gathered. Representatives of temples from other states all gathered there that day to have darshan of our Swamigal. The whole city of Chittur was in a joyous mood that day.

Swamigal stayed in Chittur for two months and completed his Chaturmasya vratha. On the evening of the last day of the Chaturmasya (26-9-1931), Swamigal left for Muruganpattu in order to take a bath on the occasion of lunar eclipse and also for the convenience of starting the Viswaroopa Yatra the next morning. The citizens of Chittur requested Swamigal to stay in their city for Navarathri and he graciously fulfilled their wishes by returning to Chittur on 12-10-1931 to celebrate Navarathri there. He camped at Chittur for the rest of the month of October.