This was an unplanned trip. I hardly had the time to do any research on the place nor did I get any driving directions.
Last week I decided to visit the Narasimha Swamy and Namavalli Thayar shrine in Namakkal a small town near Salem (Tamilnadu, India). I wanted to buy Vastrams for the presiding deities and went to Mani Sunker's near the erstwhile Flower Bazaar with a colleague. (He's now a co-blogger on this site, we'll see some posts from him soon). I picked up a saree for Namavalli Thayar, A 10X6 Veshti for Narasimha Swamy and 24x12 Veshti for Anjeneya Swamy. I had doubts if the length of the Veshti would be sufficient for Narasimha Swamy and asked a few people who were familiar to check but then every answer was evasive. Nevertheless I went ahead with the 10x6.
Saturday (30tH jan 2010) morning we left home by 8am filled Diesel and hit the NH 4 at Maduravoil at 9:05. Though the distance is a bit more, I choose to go via Krishnagiri - Salem instead of Dindivanam - Ulundurpet because after you take a detour at Ulundurpet towards Attur the road is being laid and there are trenches on either side of the road and heavy vehicles plying from the opposite direction force you off the road, On the other hand the Krishnagiri route is a NH till Namakkal. The roads are so good that we overshot the Namakkal exit!
At about 10:00 am we stopped by the roadside and had the breakfast that we had packed from a local hotel in Kilpauk. We then hit the road and by 2:35 pm we were at the Golden Palace Hotel in Namakkal. The hotel is on the Namakkal Tiruchy road and is decent. I had made reservations the day before and so check-in was quick. There is a Nala Hotel right opposite to this property but I am not sure about the ambiance inside though I should say the exterior facade is impressive Victorian style strutted columns.
We had a late light lunch (extremely spicy) and some tea, freshened up and left the for the temples. The temples is about 2kms from the hotel and right opposite each other. We first visited Namavalli Thayar shrine and after Archana and Deepa Aarathi visited Narasimha Swamy Shrine. Narasimha Swamy here has a red tint on his right ring finger and as legend has it is the blood stain from slaying Hiranyakashipu. As is my practice I read the Shri Suktam and the Vishnusahasranamam before leaving to see Anjeneya.
One thing disappointing about the place is that there are no good garlands available at any of the shops in the vicinity of the temple the Thulasi garlands that sell for Rs. 20 hardly have an Thulasi leaves, only the stalks and stems are prominent. So I bought a betel leaf garland for Anjeneya Swamy. That costed me about Rs. 60 after hard bargaining.
The Anjeneya Swamy shrine is right opposite the Narasimha Swamy shrine. The belief is that the idol is still growing in height hence though there is a proper building around Anjeneya Swamy there is no roof over his head! We had to wait for an hour since there was a Sandanam Kaapu that day for Anjeneya Swamy. So I handed over the Veshti to the chief priest, had darshan and deepa aarathi, prasadam (puliogare) and returned to the hotel by 8pm. As I write this I have just realised that my visits to all Narasimha Swamy temples were on Pournami (Full Moon) day. were tired and so had a quick dinner and called it a day.
The next morning we had the complimentary breakfast and hit the road for Chennai. We stopped for lunch at 1:00 pm at Vellore and reached home by 3:45 pm. My regret is that I couldn't click any snaps since my Sony Cybershot is misbehaving while the camera on my Palm Treo is just a VGA camera. I am still not on cutting edge! Maybe when I am in Namakkal in April 10 I'll use my better half's Nikon Coolpix to capture some snaps. My Grand Punto has now clocked 7695 kms in 4 months!
Last week I decided to visit the Narasimha Swamy and Namavalli Thayar shrine in Namakkal a small town near Salem (Tamilnadu, India). I wanted to buy Vastrams for the presiding deities and went to Mani Sunker's near the erstwhile Flower Bazaar with a colleague. (He's now a co-blogger on this site, we'll see some posts from him soon). I picked up a saree for Namavalli Thayar, A 10X6 Veshti for Narasimha Swamy and 24x12 Veshti for Anjeneya Swamy. I had doubts if the length of the Veshti would be sufficient for Narasimha Swamy and asked a few people who were familiar to check but then every answer was evasive. Nevertheless I went ahead with the 10x6.
Saturday (30tH jan 2010) morning we left home by 8am filled Diesel and hit the NH 4 at Maduravoil at 9:05. Though the distance is a bit more, I choose to go via Krishnagiri - Salem instead of Dindivanam - Ulundurpet because after you take a detour at Ulundurpet towards Attur the road is being laid and there are trenches on either side of the road and heavy vehicles plying from the opposite direction force you off the road, On the other hand the Krishnagiri route is a NH till Namakkal. The roads are so good that we overshot the Namakkal exit!
At about 10:00 am we stopped by the roadside and had the breakfast that we had packed from a local hotel in Kilpauk. We then hit the road and by 2:35 pm we were at the Golden Palace Hotel in Namakkal. The hotel is on the Namakkal Tiruchy road and is decent. I had made reservations the day before and so check-in was quick. There is a Nala Hotel right opposite to this property but I am not sure about the ambiance inside though I should say the exterior facade is impressive Victorian style strutted columns.
We had a late light lunch (extremely spicy) and some tea, freshened up and left the for the temples. The temples is about 2kms from the hotel and right opposite each other. We first visited Namavalli Thayar shrine and after Archana and Deepa Aarathi visited Narasimha Swamy Shrine. Narasimha Swamy here has a red tint on his right ring finger and as legend has it is the blood stain from slaying Hiranyakashipu. As is my practice I read the Shri Suktam and the Vishnusahasranamam before leaving to see Anjeneya.
One thing disappointing about the place is that there are no good garlands available at any of the shops in the vicinity of the temple the Thulasi garlands that sell for Rs. 20 hardly have an Thulasi leaves, only the stalks and stems are prominent. So I bought a betel leaf garland for Anjeneya Swamy. That costed me about Rs. 60 after hard bargaining.
The Anjeneya Swamy shrine is right opposite the Narasimha Swamy shrine. The belief is that the idol is still growing in height hence though there is a proper building around Anjeneya Swamy there is no roof over his head! We had to wait for an hour since there was a Sandanam Kaapu that day for Anjeneya Swamy. So I handed over the Veshti to the chief priest, had darshan and deepa aarathi, prasadam (puliogare) and returned to the hotel by 8pm. As I write this I have just realised that my visits to all Narasimha Swamy temples were on Pournami (Full Moon) day. were tired and so had a quick dinner and called it a day.
The next morning we had the complimentary breakfast and hit the road for Chennai. We stopped for lunch at 1:00 pm at Vellore and reached home by 3:45 pm. My regret is that I couldn't click any snaps since my Sony Cybershot is misbehaving while the camera on my Palm Treo is just a VGA camera. I am still not on cutting edge! Maybe when I am in Namakkal in April 10 I'll use my better half's Nikon Coolpix to capture some snaps. My Grand Punto has now clocked 7695 kms in 4 months!
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