The Panguni month festival..

This post is in full dedicated to those folks who did their schooling in and around Mylapore with me. For those of you who've been in part or full a Mylaporean, the Panguni month festival would've always been something to look forward to. The buzz in and around the area during those ten days is just magical. The ther, the arubathimoovar, Rishabha vahanam, words synonomous to festivity in the region.

The magic about Mylapore is one simple fact. It has the ability to change colours as per need, requirement and timing. It is as modern a part of Chennai as it is a part of ancient Chennai. The village in Mylapore wakes up during these ten days, and trust me, it gives any village 'thiruvizha' a run for its money.

It starts off with the procession of the local guardian Mundakanni amman on the zeroeth night, from the Mundakanni Amman temple, located a few streets across the main temple to around the main temple and back. The festivities of the main temple are then officially declared open.

Over the next ten days, you have a variety of festivities. I would just recollect a few of them. One of them is the Adhigaara Nandi, where the lord is brought out on a huge Nandi, around the four Mada streets amid much fanfare. Similar is the Rishaba Vahanam, the bull ride, but this happens late into the night on one of the nights, it goes on from around 10 in the night to much later, around 2. When I was a kid, this was one of the chances for me to catch up loads of school friends late into the night.

You have the Punnaivana Nathar procession on one of the nights. Basically, this deals with the story behind the legend of Mylapore. Devi on an occasion insults the Lord in Kailasa, and hence is cursed to spend time on earth as a peacock (Mayil in Tamil). She comes down to this area, and finds this beach temple of Kapaleeshwara (Yes, beach temple. Legend has it that earlier, Kapaleeshwara temple existed where the Santhome church is located presently. Later due to devotees fearing the stealing of the linga by the Chola pirates who attacked the area through the Bay of Bengal in early 1500s, it was shifted to its present location) So, Devi who is a peacock now, makes a small linga in the Kapaleeshwara temple premises, beneath a Punnai maram (a mast wood tree) and prays till the Lord gets appeased. As the Lord gets appeased in this forest of the mast wood trees, he gets to be known as Punnaivana nathar, and it is based on this myth that the procession of the Punnaivana Nathar takes place.

Next is the chariot festival, the well known Theru. Theru is the second most event of the festival. Its a three hour journey of the temple chariot around the main temple, ideally from around 9 to 12 in the morning. In this period, as the chariot is being pulled across the streets, you have screams of Kapali, Kapali, and man, what an experience it is. As one who has been pulling the chariot in my classes 11 and 12, I tell you the experience is fantastic. To battle the beating sun, you have residents of the mada streets, pouring buckets of cold water, and the water reaches the chariot pullers like exilir. The small, small shops near the streets selling glasses of lime juices and rose milks, the shouts of Kapali, divinely intervention of the residents pouring water buckets, the transformation of city-busy Mylapore to a the ultimate village festival, the theru rocks.

Then comes the Arubathimoovar, the festival of the 63 Nayanars. This is the largest part of the festival and all you see is a human sea. Heads everywhere, for around five kilometer radius of the temple. The feeling is one of exhaustion, but at the same time, when you manage to see the procession of the Nayanars followed by the Lord Kapaleeshwara himself and Devi Karpagambal, the eyes just feast on the divinity of the occasion, mindless of what is around you.

The festival is eventually capped with the Bikshanathar festival where the Lord goes in search of donations to get married to the Karpagambal diety of his dreams, which ends with the TiruKalyanam, where the lord gets married to the devi. The beautiful part of this festival being, the Perumal from the Kesava Perumal temple across the Chitrakulam comes to give his sister, the Devi off in marriage to the Lord.

These ten days, form a marked part of every Mylaporean's calendar. These have meant a lot to me over the years, and with every passing year, my love for the entire process has just gone increasing. As a Mylaporean, wherever I go in life, whatever I do with it, I'll definitely take these memories with me, as ones close to my heart, and I'm sure it'll be the same about every other Mylaporean too. :)

P.S: The utsavam for this year has just begin today. So catch it if you want to! :)