M4-SRI JAMBUKESWARA TEMPLE--OF AWE INSPIRING PROPORTIONS!

BY    PRAGYANSHARMA POLAVARAPU  (VRS.SOMANCHI)

 

Our visit to the most holy  Srirangam temple was completed  by 11am(1-8-24). After a little rest  we immediately proceeded to the  famous temple of  Jambukeswara  (Lord Shiva temple) which was nearby — just 3 or 4 kilometers distant from Srirangam temple . Since the  forenoon poojas would close by 12 noon ,we hurried to reach in time.I should say a word about the colossal size of the temple towers of all the great ancient temples we were visiting . We were awed by their size,majesty and beauty. When we stepped  into the Jambukeswara  temple complex its vastness  appeared only a little less  than  Srirangam temple. (However Srirangam is far bigger).The gopuram of Jambukeswar temple was very high as at  Srirangam . Inside the  long huge and high roofed temple halls (sculptured mantapams) which were closed except at the front entrance  it was  cool though it was very hot outside. Under the midday sun and we could not walk on the stone slabs which covered the floor everywhere in  the  temple compound.  The temple authorities let water from a big hose flow continuously at one place near the entrance. We could  not only wash our feet before entering the holy temple and cool the feet in the cool flowing water. 

Here too there were giant size pillars of 20 to 25 feet height .  The ceilings had  long rectangular stone slabs bearing sculptures . The cool   mantapams ( built centuries back!)  had  great sculptures of gods. There were long  corridors formed by giant size  pillars each 20 or 25 feet in height. The base of each pillar may  easily be a square of one meter side! The entire interior was a series of long  rectangular halls. One wonders whether angels constructed these huge structures and with such great sophistication and high sense of art . The sculptures were sublime and holy . Outside it was very hot  but inside it was  pleasantly cool.

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There is a very interesting legend. In heaven , among Lord Shiva’s disciples  there were two groups always quarrelling with each other just like college students of present day. In  one of his births one  disciple  was born as spider and another disciple was born as elephant.  The spider had an  uncontrollable inimical  feeling towards the elephant as it was destroying its delicate web house with a whiff of its cyclonic beath. One day the spider entered the trunk of elephant and killed it with its poisoned saliva.

 Lord shiva cursed the spider for being too cruel  and cursed it to be born as a king on earth. However the god  was not too harsh and  told the  disciple  that he  would be released from the curse  after he built a  Shiva temple.  Even after being born as king the disciple could not get rid of enemity towards the elephants. He built the Jambukeswara temple but ordered that the  entrance to sanctum sanctorum should very narrow (just a meter wide) such  that  only one or two humans can enter and no elephant can ever enter and go  near Lord Shiva!  The main entrance is surprisingly narrow . All devotees have to enter only through this narrow entrance and we too went by that way.

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 There is another interesting  story to explain as to why Lord Shiva is called Lord Jambukeswara. The sanctum sanctorum is always  filled with ankle deep  flowing water. Here  goddess Parvathi queen  of Lord Shiva  sits  opposite to Lord Shiva  and not  beside Lord Shiva.It is as if  goddess Parvathi is a student and Lord Shiva is a teacher! The divine statues are so sculpted. The legend says that once  goddess Parvathi made light of  Lord Shiva’s wisdom and vast oceanic spiritual knowledge. Lord Shiva commanded her to do penance in “jambuka” forest and  then  to learn divine wisdom from him. When Lord Shiva  taught the divine knowledge goddess Parvathi  was overawed and realized her mistake. Lord Shiva became known as  Jambukeswara . Goddess Parvathi is also  called here as“Akhilandeswari” meaning “The Great Mother of the Universe”.

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At Jambukeswara temple I saw a great sight which immensely pleased me and gives me great spiritual pleasure whenever  I remember it. There were  hundreds of oranged robed devotees  both men and women all  simple middle class or poor people all immersed in devotion and oblivious of the mundane world. On the day  we visited  there were  a very large number of them. Most of them were  resting in the corridors  on the raised wide stone platforms which were there all along the  walls of the huge  temple mantapams. They were  perhaps involved in hours long prayers and fasts and perhaps walked long distances and now felt a little tired. Seeing So many  orange robed devotees created a holy feeling in heart and gave  me joy. I wanted to enter into a cordial chat with them  but their language was Tamil and we came from Telugu speaking state. Some were perhaps fasting . There were hundreds of them everywhere in every hall.

 

I felt  that they are lucky sitting for hours in  god’s   house.The days when we were there  had religious significance  and were considered very holy. Perhaps this was the reason  why such huge numbers of devotees were present. We could see genuine spirituality and devotion only in such simple folks.