kusumakuntalambika of mudgapura

[keerthi]

This deity finds mention in annaswamy Shastry's sahana piece 'InkevarunnAru'.

i surmise the shrine is somewhere in the vicinity of pudukottai, as Subbaraya shastri and Annaswamy were court musicians there.


Any information about the exact location, current name of the temple/ town alluded to here?

[vidya]

Keerthi,

It is udayarpalayam , a center of great patronage for the Syama Sastri family and where both Subbaraya Sastri and Annaswami Sastri were the Samasthana vidvans of. Writings of Mahamaohpadhyaya u.Ve.Saminatha Iyer documents the visits of Ghanam Krishna Iyer and others here.

[keerthi]

thanks.

i remember reading U.Ve. Swaminatha iyer's account; he even gives a song of Krishnayyar dedicated to this deity, but there was no explicit statement connecting U'palayam and K'K'ambika..

any idea about the etymology of udayarpalayam/ uDayarpalayam??

[thanjavooran]

In this village Swarna Kamakshi idol [ presently in Thanjavoor] was kept in safe custody for few months out of fear from Mogal emperor's invasion.

Thanjavooran 28 05 10

[sridhar_ranga]

thanks.

any idea about the etymology of udayarpalayam/ uDayarpalayam??

I have read U Ve Sa's book some time ago but have no idea of how this specific village got its name. However the word uDayAr can mean several things: a caste/ clan among Tamils, a title applied to Kings (I vaguely remember Kalki's ponniyin Selvan using the title for the Chola Kings e.g. sundara chOzha uDayAr when referring to Arunmozhi (Raja Raja Chola)'s father), even for the deity in a temple (rAjarAjEccuram uDayAr referring to the Siva deity in the big temple in Thanjavur).

The word uDayAr literally means "one who possesses/ owns"

Will be interesting to know if Wadiyar (title of Mysore Kings) is in any way a related term.

[rshankar]

Sridhar - the kings of mysUru (or mahiSUra pura) used the title 'oDeyaru' or 'woDeyaru', and the connotation I think is the same - uDayavar.
Going back to Keerthi's original question - doesn't kusuma kuntalam lead to maTTuvAr kuzhal, bhramara alakam, vaNDAr kuzhal etc...?

[sridhar_ranga]

The rulers/ zamindArs of uDayArpALayam were, you guessed it, uDayArs. U Ve Sa mentions a kaccirangappa uDayAr, zameendar of Udayarpalayam, who was the patron of Ghanam Krishnaiyer.

pALayam refers to a village or group of villages given over to a chieftain/ ruler during the Vijayanagar period - the chieftains known as pALaykkArar (poligar in English) were given the land / villages in exchange for military assistance to the empire (or may be the nAyak of Tanjore/ Madurai) in times of war.

So uDayArpALayam was a pALayam ruled by uDayArs!

[keerthi]

doesn't kusuma kuntalam lead to maTTuvAr kuzhal, bhramara alakam, vaNDAr kuzhal etc...?

each of these has a different connotation..

bhramara-alakam = vaNDAr-kuzhal

kusumakuntala = pUn-kuzhal

sugandhikuntala = maTTuvar-kuzhal ?? (is it an approximate translation?)

arAla-kesi = she of the curly (cross-linked with lot of cysteine-cysteine bonds) tresses.


It is clear that while these terms are all generic descriptions of damsels and nymphs and goddesses, in the music of the trinity and their students, they are very specific localised allusions.

i remember kusumakuntala occurring in a padam by the composer from vaitheeswarankoil.. Are vaitheeswaran koil and uDayArpalyam close to each other?

[rshankar]

Keerthi - I meant is as - flowers (kusuma) in the hair (kunntala) would be fragrant (sugandhikuntalam/maTTuvAr kuzhal), attract bees (vaNDAr kuzhal/bhramana alaka) etc...I was being a bit facetious, I guess.

[smala]

Udayarpalayam falls within Ariyalur district. Adjacent to the south is Thanjavur district, where Vaitheeswaran koil is located. Conceivably commutable.

http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/tamilna ... strict.htm

click on districts to enlarge.

[rajeshnat]

Adjacent to the south is Thanjavur district, where Vaitheeswaran koil is located.

Vaitheeswaran koil is in nAgaipattinam district

[smala]

Vaitheeswaran koil is in nAgaipattinam district

You are right, in that case, the district is adjacent and east of ariyalur district. V. Koil shows up just south of sirkazhi, on clicking the naggapattinam dist. on the map link above.

Although I've been to Vaitheeswaran koil long ago, I have no memory of its exact location although I do remember going there from Mayavaram (now, Mayilattudurai).

However, I found this --
wikitravel.org says :

.....
Tirupulliruku Velur, popularly known as Vaitheeswaran Koil, is one of the most important Saivite shrines of Tanjore District. Situated on the northern side of the river Kaveri, Vaitheeswaran Koil is a railway station on the Madras-Mayavaram line. There are several choultries at Vaithee- swaran Koil for the accommodation of pilgrims. This shrine is known under several names like lalayapuri, Vedapuri, Panarapuri, Pathiripuri, Angarakapuram and Ambikapuram. But Vaitheeswaran Koil is the popular name as it is said that God came as a Vaidya and cured Angaraka of his leprosy....

[sridhar_ranga]

There is a dam (a regulator, for flood control purpose) across the koLLiDam river at a place called anaikkarai - and there is a road on top of the dam which connects the two districts. To the south and east of koLLiDam is the composite thanjAvUr dist. Anaikkarai is approachable from Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai or Kumbakonam via manalmedu / pandanallur. The roads are narrow but scenic with swaying paddy fields and banana orchards. Once you cross over to Ariyalur dist on the other side, you are witness to the magnificent temple built by Rajendra Chola at gangaikondacholapuram. In the odlen days people would have needed boats to cross the river when commuting between Vaideeswaran Koil and Udaiyarpalayam. It should take 1 hour or less these days by road, and may have taken a good 8 hours those days by bullock cart + boat.

[harimau]

i remember kusumakuntala occurring in a padam by the composer from vaitheeswarankoil..

Well, the javali "Ini Enna Pechhirukkuthu pom pom" in Sahana contains the lines in the charanam:

"Kusumakunthala Valli manaalare, Subbaraaman Thamizhkkisaintha lolare".

[harimau]

Vaitheeswaran koil is in nAgaipattinam district

Once upon a time, there were only 9 districts in Tamil Nadu. Now there are 30.

Once upon a time, Vaitheeswaran Koil would have been in Tanjore district though it may be in Nagappattinam district now.

PS. Looking at a map, you can see that Nagappattinam is the only district that has two pieces not connected together.... somewhat like East and West Pakistan!

[rajeshnat]

Once upon a time, there were only 9 districts in Tamil Nadu. Now there are 30.

Once upon a time, Vaitheeswaran Koil would have been in Tanjore district though it may be in Nagappattinam district now.

PS. Looking at a map, you can see that Nagappattinam is the only district that has two pieces not connected together.... somewhat like East and West Pakistan!

Harimau,
Initially there were talks to create a mayavaram district instead of nAgai . But since they wanted to created a nAgai Quaid-e-Millet district to appease residents of nAgore (you should know why??)also ,at the same time the cm karunAnidhi also wanted to carve out tiruvArur district being his home town , hence you have mayavaram and sirkazhi taluks all rolled upto nAgai district.

By the way inbetween two portions of nAgai ,there is also kAraikAl which is part of Pondichery.