The VasaviKannikaParameshwari Temple in Vysial Street is quite old. The Navaratri celebrations in this shrine has been legendary. I remember going for the 7th day pooja with the entire family. The priest would read out the gotthram, name & star of each of us.
The VasaviKannikaParameshwari Temple in Vysial Street is quite old. The Navaratri celebrations in this shrine has been legendary. I remember going for the 7th day pooja with the entire family. The priest would read out the gotthram, name & star of each of us.
An old kolu mandapam would have a nice, glazed tile stage for this purpose. These decorated, glazed tiles would be attractive. The set-up would resemble an arch. It would have a window for the purpose of making the deity visible.
The volunteer team including leaders like Subbu mama would work tirelessly for all the days of Navaratri. Vasavi will be decorated in different styles on different days. Our family alankaram was “Thavazh Krishnan Thandha Pushpa Pallaku”.
The face, the outfit & the decorations would be finely done by them. So many traders put in their best. They used to stay celibate, eat satvik foods for the entire festival. The turmeric faced Ambal would be decked with the diamond jewelry from our house. It was an offering of beauty and has been going on for generations. She would wear huge emeralds surrounded by diamonds, diamond nose pins, diamond earrings & a huge row of diamond necklaces. Since the decorations was the ‘crawling Krishna’, devi would be lined up fully with jewelry. Diamond ‘Jadai Billais’& meticulously crafted gold jewelry would make glitter all the more. We must remember the ‘Holy Devi’ does not need all these to look great. In fact, the ornaments get additional value because of her adorning them.
The ornaments would be listed and given to the temple committee & they used to return it safely for decades. The seventh day alankaram was the grander one for decades because of the diamonds & the efforts of the committee. All the utensils used for the pooja were made of silver and this included the bell too.
The Uchikala pooja was the time when my great-grandfather, P. A. Raju Chettiar, my grandfather – Krishnan, Viswanathan, Raghunathan & Damodaran would enter the temple with the rest of us. My grandmother Lalitha Bai, Indrani, Saraswathi & Shantha would be in attendance and they would be dressed in the best of traditional Conjeevarams. My mother, Aravindakumari and other aunts, kids would be in attendance. The priest would do the pooja in an elaborate manner. Later the aarti would be shown one by one. Eka aarti, Tri aarti, Pancha aarti, Atukku aarti, Kumba aarti& then the regular aarti. All the jewelers and the priests would then begin chanting the ‘Mantra Pushpam’ with full gusto. It would be a thrill to watch and hear them. The medium sized kolu madapam would be filled up by our near and dear ones. The aarti would be first offered to the kids, out of town people, Utsava committee members, Kattalai darars & the Mahabhakta janam (not in this order but a protocol was followed). Our people had been good with data analytics.
Crowds would be swarming the place, the prasadam used to be Sarkarai Pongal (Chakkara Pongal in Telugu). Later the deity would be moved to a palanquin done fully with lovely flowers. Goddess Vasavi would then go around in a procession within the temple itself. The old circumambulatory path would go around the shrines of Vasavi, Rama & Raja Rajeswari. Musicians, priests & devotees would accompany the procession. This would be repeated on all the days of Navaratri.
We follow the ‘Chandramana Samvatsaram’ i.e. the lunar calendar. Therefore, one month would be added once in a few years. This month would be known as ‘Adika maasam’. Therefore, this would also make changes in the Navaratri schedule once in a few years.
The Sri Kannika Parameswari Devasthanam (SKPD) had been nurturing a ‘Navaratri Committee’ for the purpose of conducting the festival properly. This ‘Utsava Committee’ would consist of people from all age groups. One generation would train the other. Hygiene was not the only ingredient but also ethics, values & clear cum devoted mind were the additional ingredients. The entire temple would be fully occupied with Navaratri celebrations.A few of our household help would also accompany us in order to help us move through the crowd. There used to be one sponsor per day those days. Increase in affluence due to the grace of Vasavi & Coimbatore becoming a huge jewelry destination necessitated the idea of having many sponsors for each day.
The entire Vasavi temple would be brightly lit up. A huge pandal would be put up on the street. Thousands of people would be fed with ‘prasadam’ on all the days. It was always a moment to share & celebrate. The temple had a set of pictures which depicted the decorations. This has been followed for a long time. Some of the ‘Vahanams’ (vehicle carrying God) are made up of silver.
We must remember that Goddess Parvathi incarnated as ‘Vasavi’ in Penugonda, also known as ‘Vasavi Penugonda’. The town is located in West Godavari district (Andhra Pradesh). This happened around 1000 years ago and after a series of events, Raja Raja Narendra (grandson of Raja Raja Chola through his daughter KundavaiPiratti) played a role in ensuring that the trading community construct a shrine for Vasavi Kannika Parameswari. His son was to later become the Chola emperor, Kulottunga I (1070 – 1120). The connect with Penugonda with our region is quite old. Dubash Kasi Chetty had also contributed in his own way for the Vasavi Kannika Parameswari temple in Coimbatore. We must remember, he had played a soothing role after the capture of Mysore kingdom in 1799. Coimbatore had been part of this ancient kingdom.
The authorities took over this region for the East India Company wanted to have direct link to the Malabar. Eventually this made Coimbatore the District Headquarters on 24/11/1804 & the day is being celebrated as Coimbatore day. All the heritage walks connected with the Navaratri have the Vasavi Temple in route map.
These celebrations began long ago & they perhaps were done in a simple manner. The trader population in the ‘Pettai’ region must have been small. However, the followers of Vasavi were known to set-up a ‘Matam’ temple in each of the villages & cities occupied by them. This was essentially a ‘Matam’ with a shrine within it. The resources required would come from the people directly & voluntarily. The trading public would also be contributing generously for the Navaratri celebrations. The kids and elders alike used to wait for the Navaratri prasadam and darshan year on year.Each of the days were special. A number of devotees including ladies would be ever-present in the temple during Navaratri.