Again, the day had started off by a half past 4. Venu, Lekha's brother, had gone to Neduvathur, about 6 km from the house to do the early morning ritual and by 6 o'clock, the 15 of us - the immediate family and the near ones of VO Nair and Ammini Amma, Radhamani - left for Thirunelli. The urn carrying dad's ashes was firmly secured within the confines of the Tempo Traveller that was hired for the purpose.
It was breakfast at Alappuzha, lunch at Ponnani and supper at Mananthavadi with stops for rest room/tea breaks in between. The traffic block - brought about by road work - at Kozhikode delayed us by about an hour and we reached Thirunelli at about 2040 hrs. The night halt was at a home stay. The kids, Anjali and Advait, were there to receive us and without much ado, we hit the sack after chalking out tomorrow's programme.
It would be appropriate to give a small write up of the Thirunelli temple at this juncture and so, here I go.
* It's an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Maha Vishnu and is at an altitude of 900 mts in north
Wayanad, in a valley surrounded by mountains and forests, close to the Kerala-Karnataka border.
* It's the only temple in the world where the devotees can perform all the rituals related to one's
life, from birth to death and even, life after death!
* The temple was built by Lord Brahma, who was travelling around the universe and was attracted
by the beauty of the area, now known as the Brahmagiri Hill. Descending on that spot on the
Sahya(The western ghats) valley, he noticed an idol set in an Amla(Nelli, in Tamil, Malayalam)
tree and recognised that the idol was that of Lord Vishnu.
* Upon Brahma's request, Maha Vishnu promised that the waters of the area would wash away all
sins! Thus the spring and the river near the temple is called the 'Papanasini' meaning, "washes
away all sins."
Tailpiece.
My first trip to the temple, though I'd heard about it many a time before. It's Lekha's dad who finally brought me here!
It was breakfast at Alappuzha, lunch at Ponnani and supper at Mananthavadi with stops for rest room/tea breaks in between. The traffic block - brought about by road work - at Kozhikode delayed us by about an hour and we reached Thirunelli at about 2040 hrs. The night halt was at a home stay. The kids, Anjali and Advait, were there to receive us and without much ado, we hit the sack after chalking out tomorrow's programme.
It would be appropriate to give a small write up of the Thirunelli temple at this juncture and so, here I go.
* It's an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Maha Vishnu and is at an altitude of 900 mts in north
Wayanad, in a valley surrounded by mountains and forests, close to the Kerala-Karnataka border.
* It's the only temple in the world where the devotees can perform all the rituals related to one's
life, from birth to death and even, life after death!
* The temple was built by Lord Brahma, who was travelling around the universe and was attracted
by the beauty of the area, now known as the Brahmagiri Hill. Descending on that spot on the
Sahya(The western ghats) valley, he noticed an idol set in an Amla(Nelli, in Tamil, Malayalam)
tree and recognised that the idol was that of Lord Vishnu.
* Upon Brahma's request, Maha Vishnu promised that the waters of the area would wash away all
sins! Thus the spring and the river near the temple is called the 'Papanasini' meaning, "washes
away all sins."
Tailpiece.
My first trip to the temple, though I'd heard about it many a time before. It's Lekha's dad who finally brought me here!
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