 The concept of Shakti as the prime moving force is well known to Hinduism.There
was itseems, a debate between the devotees of Lord Shiva and those of Parvathy as to who
was the more potent of the two. In his various "thiruvilayadal"(divine drama)
lord Shiva revealed to his devotees that it was only the synergy of Shivam and Shakti that
constituted the life force.
Parvathy, the consort of Lord Shiva, who is the epitome of
shakti, once playfully closed the eyes of her lord. What ensued was sheer catastrophe. The
playful closing of the lord’s eyes plunged all the fourteen worlds into darkness.
Indra’s court became dingy and his white elephant Iravatham became black.The devas
and the gods panicked and rushed to the abode of Lord Shiva to escape from what they felt
was doom.
Lord Shiva who knew their predicament opened his third and
illuminated the world again.
Realising the enormity of her playful prank, Parvathy fell
at the feet of the lord and begged to be forgiven.The lord raised her and bade her to
undertake a set of austerities aimed at granting the unmatched grace and compassion of
Parvathy to the earthly world.
As per the bidding of the lord, Parvathy had to visit earth
and provide her benign grace at various places such as
Kanchipuram,Thirumullaivayil,Thiruvannamalai and Mangadu. She was to undertake the most
severe of penance and observe the strictest of austerities to atone for her error. In that
form, Shakti’s compassion was overflowing towards suffering mankind.
Parvathy left Kailas and as she approached
Thirumullaivayil, the huge amount of dust raised by her large entourage of devotees
covered the kingdom of Veeramapuri in a cloud of dust. Seeing his capital thus disturbed,
the king of Veeramapuri, Soorakoaman was enraged and despatched his brother with six
doughty warriors to drive back the entourage of Parvathy, who had assumed the form of a
resplendently green woman:Pachaiyamman.
The king’s brother was struck by the luminescent and
dazzling beauty of the goddess and went back to the king to describe what he had seen.
Intrigued the king went forth to see this unique woman
himself. Unfortunately the beauty of the goddess made him mad with evil desire and he
approached her with the intent of making her his wife.
At his audacious advance, Pachaiyamman mounted a roaring
lion, assumed the form of Bhadrakali, raised the trisoolam and uttered the panchatrchara
mantra and immediately the saptarishis arrived on the scene and slayed the evil Soorakoman
and his brother and the other warriors.
Thereafter, Pachaiyamman essayed forth to Thirumullaivayil
and prayed to Lord Masilamaneeswarar and Kodiyidai Nayaki and after bathing in the Chandra
Pushkarani, performed penance seated under Vanni tree directed at Mannadheeswaran.
The temple of Pachaiyamman is situated in Thirumullaivayil,
one of the verdant suburbs of the Chennai metro and is on the way to the Masilamaneeswarar
temple, I had written about last week.
It is believed that devotees visit this temple to get the
boon of beauty and swarga prapthi from the mother.
The forecourt of the temple has the shrines of Gangaiamman
and Vengaiamman who had accompanied Pachyamman from Kailas.
Shiva here is in anthropomorphic form as Mannadheeswaran
with abhaya hasta accompanied by a valampuri Vinayaka. Dakshinamoorthy can be found behind
the sanctum sanctorum facing south.
Valampuri Vinayaka in this temple can be seen with a
writing instrument in his hand and is particularly benign to students.
In the Tamil month of Adi, a very elaborate festival is
conducted for Pachaiamman. Devotees offer the mother, pongal made in milk.
It is very auspicious to have the darshan of Pachaiyamman
and Kodiyidainayaki in the Masilamaneeswarar temple nearby on the same day.
Ambujam Anantharaman
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