With the gracious blessings of Acharyan and baghavat anugraha, I would like to share my travel experience here and suggestion for those wish to have the yaatra on their own to various temples in India.
Being a devotee of Lord Vishnu, I started this yatra from the Kattumannar koil of Chidambaram district in Tamilnadu. The vaishanva sambradaya and vishnava siddantha groomed well by the Kainkarryams (services ) rendered by the various Acharyas (Guru) ,who believed to be none other than the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. In this regard, Srimat Nadamunigal & Sri Aalavandar who were considered to be the plillars of Sri Vaishanavism. For this reason it is blissful to start the yaatra from this Kshetram.
It is also very appropriate to start the yatra from this Kshetram , becuase bagavan Vishnu has enlighted Nadamunigal on prabandam in this Kshetra, which is also the avadhara sthalam ( birth place) of Srimat Nadamunigal & Sri Aalavandar.
Before I explain about the Srimat damunugal and about this shetra,let's try to understand what is Divya desam means?. We all know that there were 13 Aalwars in South India who were extreme devotees of Bagahvan Lord Vishnu . Divya desam are the kshetras where these aalwars visited the temples of Lord vishnu in the "Sera "(kerala) , "Chola" (Tamilnadu and Andra) and "Pandiya" (Tamilnadu) regimes and north India selectively and sung the songs about the Kshetras and the perumal.
The temples sung by Aalwaras are called as mangalaa-sasanam in vaishnavite jargon.These mangala sasanams are one of the pasurams (poem) in the Nalayira Divya prabandham (sum of all 4000 poems sung by different alwars in different periods).
This shetra is named as "Kattum" -"mannar" in Tamil. 'Kattum' means showing/enlightening; "mannar" is name of the perumal ,hence the name of the shetra is termed as KATTUMANNAR KOIL.
In the Guru parmpara daniyan (verse on praise of Guru) of "Sri Saila sa daya padram" “ Lakshmi nada samarambam nadaya muna madyamam”, means the sannidhi of srimat Nadamunigal & Sri Alavandar is worshipped with Thayar sannidhi at the centre.
As Srimat Nadmunigal has compiled all the Divya prapandhams & mangalaasasanams in this Kshetra, as enlightended by emberuman (Lord Vishnu).If one who wish to start the Divya desa yatra ,it is appropriate to start from here seeking the gracious blessings of Perumal, Thayar and Achrayas.
Though this is not one among the 108 divya desams, those who are unable to visit all the 108 divya desam , it is enough to worship this kshetra , as it is believed to be equivalent worshiping all 108 divya desam temples for the above said reasons.
It is indeed an important Abhimana sthalams (favourite temple) for Vaishnavites.
Perumal :- Veere Narayana perumal, Thayar:-Maragatha valli thayar
Reach to this temple:-
Travel Base:-Chidamabaram.
Chidambaram-Kattumannar Koil: 24 kms.
Other nearby temples:
1.Thiruchitra koodam -Twenty third divya desam in Chidambaram.One km from chidamabaram Bus stand.
2. Sri Mushnam: 25 kms from Chidamabaram
Planning:-
Day One: Travelled by bus from Chennai to Thirukovilur,then proceed to Chidambaram by bus and worshiped Thiruchitra Koodam.
Day two: Hired a Taxi to go to KattuMannar Koil and from there proceeded to Srimushnam- Back to chidambaram - on the Same day proceeded to Cuddalore by bus and worshiped Thiruvaheenddhi Puram in the evening.
Road map:-
Chennai-Villupuram-Thirukovilur-Panruti-vadalur-sethiyathope-Chidambaram-Cudalore
*The details and distance shown in htis site are for gudance only.Readers are requested to verify the correcteness of the information,publisher will not be responsible for any changes and updations
