Punnainallur Mariamman Temple: A place of instant happiness

Few months ago, Adi ji and I hap­pened to vis­it some amaz­ing tem­ples in Than­javur. Some of these tem­ples were built by the Cholas and some by Maha­ras­tri­an kings who ruled the region.

When one looks at these tem­ples, one realis­es that these are not just archi­tec­tur­al mas­ter­pieces but con­se­crat­ed in way that they work direct­ly with the physical,emotional and spir­i­tu­al well-being of the peo­ple who vis­it them. In every part of the tem­ple there is some­thing to see and some­thing to expe­ri­ence. Ok!There is some­thing to eat as well..Let’s not leave out the puliy­o­d­hara prasadam at Sri­rangam.

Let me share about this unique Mari­amman tem­ple we vis­it­ed. The day we went, Pun­nainal­lur Mari­amman tem­ple was decked with beau­ti­ful glow­ing lamps as a koti deepot­savam fes­ti­val was going on there. Mari­amman is a moth­er, guide, friend and God to tamil women. The tem­ple was filled with thou­sands of women in pat­tu saree, girl chil­dren in paavadai and the whole tem­ple was filled with the fra­grance of oil from the lamps and jas­mine flow­ers. A beau­ti­ful­ly dec­o­rat­ed putru was acces­si­ble to all devo­tees.

Source: Maalaimalar

Mahara­ja Venko­ji was on a pil­grim­age to the Samaya­pu­ram Tem­ple. Mari­amma appeared in his dream and said that she was in the midst of the pun­na trees in a for­est. Mahara­ja imme­di­ate­ly went inside the for­est and recov­ered her idol. The Mahara­ja con­struct­ed a tem­ple and installed Mari­amma there. Since she was found amidst the pun­na trees, she came to be known as Pun­nainal­lur Mari­amma.

Long ago, Amman was in the form of a white ant hill- Putru. Sadashi­va Brah­men­dra, the great Avad­hoo­ta gave it a form and con­se­crat­ed a chakra there.

Adi ji and I did a parikra­ma of the tem­ple and sat amidst the glow­ing deep­ams. Both of us simul­ta­ne­ous­ly shared how hap­py we felt the moment we entered the temple..a per­cep­ti­ble hap­pi­ness. It was sur­pris­ing as we had both expe­ri­enced the same thing when we entered the tem­ple (Ok! This is only one of the many sur­pris­es that hap­pen around us). Not that we were unhap­py or any­thing but this was a very per­cep­ti­ble emo­tion. We lat­er came to know from the locals that Mari­amma heals peo­ple suf­fer­ing from neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­ders and restores emo­tion­al bal­ance — direct­ly works with the brain and nerves. Now we know where the hap­pi­ness came from!

Tem­ples are con­se­crat­ed for a rea­son and the archi­tec­ture, rit­u­als and process­es ensure that devo­tees derive ben­e­fits for many many years.

May Mari­amma bestow hap­pi­ness in the lives of thou­sands of peo­ple who vis­it her every­day.