The splendour of Nallur Kanthan

T.N.P. Ram

The inner shrine of the Temple

The instant I think of the Holy Feet

of the one at Nallur

I shall forget everything, my sweet one

Night and day matters not;

Even if famine and foes or the Earth

is scorched

We shall not dread them all,

Only Arumugam is our refuge, my sweet one!

Just as Chidamparam in India is popularly venerated as the temple of temples, the Sri Nallur Kanthaswami temple is similarly hailed for historical, spiritual and cultural reasons with none to equal or excel it. It has the glory and grandeaur of a centre of immense veneration steeped in mystic splendour.

The history of Nallur and its heritage is rather long and cannot be encapsulated in a few words or pages. Several have delved deep into its origin, growth, decay and ruin during the Portugese and the Dutch times until its restoration in all its pristine purity with the beginning of benevolent British rule.

Today the temple serves as a supreme symbol of divinity attracting millions with its grace and grandeur, unique in many respects proclaiming the sanctity of a Saiva Hindu temple _ an inimitable model with none to equal or excel it.

The credit for the uniqueness of the temple belongs to the Mappana Mudaliyar dynasty, managed as a hereditary institution with no outside interference, free of petty squabbles and prejudices found in most other temples. This phenomenon is due to the unseen, ever-pervading grace of Lord Murugan. The present executive of the temple, a peerless personality, solemn and serene continues the mission and mandate of Lord Murugan.

The majesty of this temple is not found anywhere. It is run on civil service style with clock-like precision.

The daily six services- the first one at 5 a.m. and the final one at 5 p.m. with the speed and accuracy that startles all. The annual high festivals for 25 days are like-wise performed between July and August. Of course all special poojas in the Hindu calendar are strictly observed.

The Chariot and the theertham festivals are a spectacular and magnificent sight, heart rendering and magnetizing, drawing large crowds from all parts of the peninsula as well as from many parts of the country.

Devotees parading the streets carrying the Lord Skandha statue. Pictures by Velmurugan.

Before the ethnic wars special trains and buses were engaged in transporting the devotees. To those in the multitude, in the maddening crowd, peasant or professional, saint or sinner, immersed in ignoble strife, it is much more than an Olympic feat, a mystery of spiritual enlightment.

During the high festival days, a number of pandals come up all along the main roads leading to the temple, voluntary bodies vye with one another to feed the poor, conduct religious talks, recital of devotional songs, bakthi gee, bhajans, kavadies of all kinds, women carrying lighted camphor pots on their heads, many rolling round the temple veethies are a common sight.

The Nallur temple area is hallowed ground, divine and sublime magnetized and made holy by sages like Kadaiyit Swamy, Sri Chellappah Swamy and Sri Sivayoga Swamy. Songs, evocative and sung by Sivayoga Swamy amply illustrates the divine power of the Lord of Nallur. The following songs, one out of the many, he has sung, mesmerized the devotees runs thus:

The Jaffna Municipality does a wonderful job daily in attending to the cleanliness and sanitation of the temple area. Social units like the St.John’s Ambulance and the Scouts aid and Police maintain order and decorum.

In recent years during the car and theertham festivals on the occasion of the penultimate celebrations Air Force helicopters hover the sky and shower flowers on the temple and the shrines.

In short, everything about the Nallur Kantha Swami Temple is solemn, still, and elevates the spiritual feelings of all that words have no power to extol.