Sri Dhabaranyeswarar - Thirunallar

Sri Dharbaranyeswarar is the presiding deity at Thirunallar. But, the Temple is better known as Shaneeswaran Temple. People cursed with Shani's interference in their planetary positions throng the Temple for redemption. Incidentally, Shani plays an important part in the planetary positions of my horoscope. :-)

The route to Thirunallar was long. We slept for a while along the way. Also the cool pleasantness of morning was long gone and the sun began to beat down fiercely.

En route, our car was hailed down by a group of self-proclaimed toll collectors. We could make out that they were frauds, but we couldn't fight with them for fear they would get violent. As a result, we shelled out Rs. 150 for nothing. All the injustice done in the name of the Lord. :-(

At the Temple, there was a long line of devout devotees waiting for a darshan of the Lord. There was a special darshan and a super special darshan. After some thinking, we decided to take the super special darshan for which we had to shell out Rs.600 for five people.

There was a large, clear lake inside the Temple. I carefully went down the steps of the lake and sprinkled the Holy water on my head. We then went inside the temple.

After lugging in a queue for sometime, we finally got the darshan we wanted. We had to see Sri Dharbaranyeswarar and his consort before seeing Lord Shaneeswaran.

Such is the power of Lord Shaneeswaran and fear of His curse that even Christians thronged the temple. One Christian family I saw wiped out the vermillion and ash off their foreheads as soon as they came out of the sanctum. :-)

While we were coming out, prasad was shoved into our hands. It was white rice with a sprinkling of vegetables in it. It was very hot and tasteless. Till date, I am not able to make out if it was curd rice or Pongal. :)

After swallowing the prasad, we had a glass of Orange juice outside the Temple, and proceeded back to our lodge in Mayavaram. We were totally tired out and slept through the journey back.