Conclusion of Brahmotsavam

Perarulalan then would go in Alwar prakaram followed by Alavanthar prakaram and then proceed to climb Hasthigiri to reach his Moola sthanam.

Once He has reached his asthanam in Sanctum sanatorium, Kumbha prokshanam is done followed by visharjanam of rakshbandanam.

Then Mariyadai is done for the archakar by presenting Perarulalan's silk dupatta, parivattam and malai. The archakar leaves for his house with all the parivaram.

With this the Brahmotsavam for Vkrithi varsham is complete.

Dwaja Avarohanam

Once our Varadar is back in the temple after Vettiver purappadu, He proceeds to dwajasthambham to oversee Dwajaavarohanam followed by Vedai sathithal.

During Dwaja avarohanam the garudan flag that was hoisted on the first day of the Brahmotsavam is lowered. The lowered flag is placed on Perarulalan's Thiruvadi.

Next event is Vedai Sathithal, in which all the devathaas are informed about the conclusion of the Brahmotsavam and are thanked for their presence and are seen off. Then Perarulalan reaches Vahana mandapam. Here he get off the chapparam and removes all the maalai's and abharnams. He now wears a new vastharam and has only Thirumaal Nachiyar, yagnopaveetham and a very simple chain. Have a look at the picture, it would be apparent that all the while it was Perarulalan who was adding beauty to the abharnams and not the other way around.

Vettiver Chapparam

In the evening, on the tenth day of Brahmotsavam, Perarulalan is decked in Thanga Thiru abishekam and gets on the Vettiver Chapparam. The chapparam is decked with Vettiver and is beautifully decorated with flowers which is treat to our senses.
In this purappadu our Perarulalan does not go till Gangai kondan mandapam but just comes round the temple only.

Dwadhasa Arathanam

In all the days during Brahmotsavam, Perarulalan had to leave the kannadi arai early in the morning by 3:00, some occasions even early, to get ready in appropriate alankaram as per the days purappadu. Dwadhasa arathanam is performed, on the last day of Brahmotsavam in the morning, to remove any ThiruvaArathana lobham during the utsavam.

In brief ThiruvaArathanam is performed 12 times. During the 12th ThiruvaArathanam pushpa yagam is performed. During Dwadhasa arathanam, Vedaparayanam is followed by rendering of Thiruvaimozhi. The event is concluded by Veda parayana sathumarai and Thiruvaimozhi sathumarai in melodious tunes to Perarulalan's pleasure.

Punyakoti Vimanam

After all the hectic festivities in the morning, Perarulalan got ready to bless us all in PunyaKoti Vimanam in the evening.

We are all blessed to have dharshan of Perarulalan in this Punyakoti Vimanam as this is the same way our lord gave dharshan during his avirbhavam at the culmination of aswamedha yagam performed by Brahma. Sometimes we wonder if the famous thamizh saying "Gopura darishanam kodi punyam" would have been coined after this wonderful vahana purappadu.

The Thiruabharnam during this purappadu is called Thanga Thiru Abishekam. The ninth day of the Brahmotsavam coincides with sharvanam star, which is the birth star of Swamy Vedantha Desikan, who is eagerly waiting for his arrival in his sannidhi in thooppul. On reaching thooppul Perarulalan receives dharsana thambulam from Swamy and then honors Swamy with Sathari and Maalai. Then prasadam was distributed to the ghosthi's and after wards Swamy bids reluctant farewell to our Lord. From thoopul Varadar then proceeded towards Gangai kondan mandapam and then back to Kovil.

Varadar's purappadu, during Brahmotsavams, are not confined to mada veedhis, as in other divya desams, but covers approximately 12 kilometers covering most part of Kanchipuram, may be indicate that He is the Lord of the entire Kshethram. Varadar in all his vahanams would go up to Gangai kondan mandapam where ThiruAradhanam is performed before heading back to Kovil. The only exception is the tenth day purappadu in Vettiver Chapparam.

Theerthavari

After the Mattaiadi mahotsavam Perarulalan along with Nachiyar's would proceed to wards the 100 kaal mandapam. By this time the Nithya Thirumanjana moorthy, Pranatharthihara Varadan, would come down from Hasthigiri to join Perarulalan and NAchiyar's. ThiruAradhanam is performed for Perarulalan, Nachiyar's and Pranatharthihara varadan. During ThiruAradhanam, Ubhaya Nachiyar's would not by either side of Perarulalan but both of them would be by his right side, this sevai is quite unique to this day of the Brahmotsavam.

After this mariyadai is done for archakar. followed by punyavajanam for pushkarani. The archakar, who had his mariyadai, would have dip in the pushkarani with the nithya thirumanjana moorthy. This is unique as in all the other temples theertha vari is done with chakrathalwar only.After this Nitya Thirumanjana moorthy would head back to his asthanam on top of Hasthigiri. Perarulalan and Nachiyar's got back to the kannadi arai.

Allmal Pallaku

Ninth day of the Brahmotsavam is a wonderful day packed with lots of activities. The events start with Allmal Pallaku followed by Mattaiadi mahotsavam and culminating with Theerthavari.

Let me briefly describe the events of the day. Perarulalan left the kovil in the morning on Allmal Pallakku, this type of Pallakku is quite unique as Perarulalan is carried on pallaku by four dolls. When leaving the kovil, Perarulalan wears nine silk duppatta instead of malais. When Perarulalan reaches the Gangai kondan mandapam one by one all the duppatta's are removed this event is known as porvai kalaidhal. After this Perarulalan wears malai and heads back to kovil. All the while our Ubhaya Nachiyars are in the kannadi arai mandapam eagerly waiting for their (our) lord's arrival. As Perarulalan passes the dwajasthambham, the doors are shut.For the next hour Pranaya Kalagam utsavam (household quarrel between Perarulalan and the Nachiyars) takes place to our pleasure. During the whole episode our Nachiyar's would be standing in the kannadi arai mandapam and Perarulalan would be standing below.

First Nachiyar's demand the reason for Perarulalan's outing. Perarulalan answers by saying he had gone to rescue of rishis, who were troubled by asuras. Since he was going for battle he went alone.

Nachiyar's are not convinced and demand the answer for the scratch marks on His Thirukkazuthu (neck) and that why His Thirukkangal (eyes) are so red. They also ask why He has kungumappoo (Saffron) and chandanam all over his Thirumeni (body). Perarulalan explains that the rishis prayed for his protection against the asuras, and as Aapathsakan it is his duty to protect devotees in distress. As He left early in the morning so His eyes were red. As He had to pass through thick forest His Thirukkazuthu was scratched by thorns. Finally the kungumappoo and chandanam all over His body is because the rishis praised Him after His victorious campaign.

Even with all this Nachiyar's are not convinced and wanted more proof. Our Lord offers to jump into ocean, jump in to fire or to put his hand in a vessel full of snakes. Nachiyar's instead of being convinced were annoyed and stated that all His claims are unjust. He being the creator of the whole universe would not be harmed by the oceans. His avirbhavam was from the fire of Brahma's aswamedha yagam so fire would not hurt Him. As regard the snakes, as He sleeps on Adhi Seshan, no snake would ever hurt him. Seeing this going nowhere, Perarulalan states that as He is the lord of Sathya Vratha Kshethram all he has said is sathyam. Finally our Nachiyar's are convinced and they step down from the mandapam to join Perarulalan. All the while Archakar swamy on behalf of Nachiyar's threw poo pandhu (flower ball) three time at the Lord.

Varadarajar kovil in Kanchipuram is also known as Thyaga boomi, prasiddham for the sacrifices that our Perarulalan has done for our sampradayam. The Mattaiadi utsavam here is very simple and not as grand as in Srirangam (Bhoga boomi), where Namperumal has the luxuries like Arayars.

Kuthurai Vahanam

After the Thotti Thirumanjanam in the afternoon, our Perarulalan mounted on Kuthurai Vahanam in the evening.

Perarulalan got dressed in pure white vastharam and galloped around the main streets of Kanchipuram. The white vastharam added more beauty to the most beautiful. Perarulalan wore a white thalapa as his head gear, it is different to the sikkuthadai that he worn during his thiru ther.

Thotti Thirumanjanam

On the eigth day of the Brahmotsavam there is purappadu for our Varadar but he has Thotti Thirumanjanam which is a very sampadayic function.

As per shastharam, once we go out side we need to have a bath to a bath to get rid of the theetu. This is the reason our Varadar had his thirumanjanam out side the temple when the ther was completed on the seventh day. Eighth day event is a continuation of the seventh day event.

To restore the sanidhyam, thirumanjanam is performed to our Devathirajan. All the holy rivers are invoked in a silver gangalam (big size thotti) and our Vardar along with Ubhaya Nachiyars have their thirumanjanam. This tradition is very unique to Vardar and is not performed part of Brahmotsavam in any other temple, with the exception of Prahalada Varadar kovil in ahobilam.

Another very rare sight during this thirumanjanam is that Devathirajan would have the Urdhva Pundram prominently displayed. I would not take much of your time, cherish the beauty of our Perarulalan.

Thiruther

On seventh day of the Brahmotsavam our Varadar comes round the main streets of Kanchipuram in the Thiruther.

As per shastharam, perumal should climb on to ther thattu within the same muhurtham of him leaving is asthanam. The ther is parked / stationed very close to the temple, in all the temple so this is condition / clause is not an issue or concern. However, in our kovil the ther is stationed about 3 kilometers from the temple.

This year the muhurtham started at 3 in the morning. Perarulalan left the kannadi aria at three in the morning and came to vahana mandapam. Once the alankaram for his purappadu was complete, he left the vahana mandapam at 03:30. Forget the speed of express train or even the speed of bullet train, you need to define the term speed on the speed at which our Perarulalan proceeds towards the ther. Perarulalan once he leaves the vahana mandapam would stop only when he reached the Hanumar kovil next to the ther. He doesn’t even stop for mounting the kodai or for rest to the sripadam thangies. It is a wonderful sight to watch how the huge kodais are mounted when our Perarulalan is running at this great speed. Even this year he covered the distance of about 3 kilometers in 15 minutes. Hanumar kovil after having upkarams like vastharam and pushpam and mariyadai including ghosti he got on the ther thattu before 4:30.

Thanks to thousands of devotees our Perarulalan finished his thiru veedi ulla and came back to Hanumar kovil.

As per our shastharam, when ever we go out we need to cleanse ourselves before we enter our house. In the same way Perarulalan when he gets down from ther, he proceeds to a mandapam near the Hanumar kovil, where he has his thirumanjanam. After the thirumanjanam, he has his unjal.

The thirumudi alankaram is known as red sikkuthadai, this type of alankaram is quite unique for Perarulalan, and this alankaram is done during all his adventurous trips. The other wonderful abharnam is the Robert Clive khand (necklace), adiyen shall explain later.