nallur festival
Nallur Kandaswamy Temple…. The famous Nallur Kandaswamy Temple is a Murugan temple, situated in Nallur, Sri Lanka. The chief deity is our charming Lord Murugan who is also called as Kandaswamy and as Kartikeya, who appears in the form of the divine spear (Vel) in the main shrine, and he can also be seen in this temple in other forms also, with his divine consorts Ma Valli and Deivayanai(Devasena).
Kandaswamy Temple was supposed to have been founded in the year 948 AD.
There are also shrines for the deities such as Ganesha, Shiva and Parvati, Palliyarai, Sandana Gopalar, Gajavalli Mahavalli, Vairavar, and Surya with his consorts, and Vairavar.
In the southern part of this temple, the holy pond and Thandayudhapaani shrine can be seen. On the northern side, one finds the ‘Poonthottam’ the holy garden.
The temple is a favourite temple for the Sri Lankan Tamils of Sri Lanka.
The temple festival event consists of Panguni Uthiram, Skanda Shasti, Karthigai Deepam and Tamil New Year Celebration, which usually happens on April 14th of every year.
There is also a Tamil Proverb prevail among the Srilankan Tamils, “NALLURUKKU VAARUNGAL, NALLAVARAI MAARUNGAL”, “Please Visit Nallur Murugan Temple, in order to turn into good”.
The world is like a drama stage, god is the director, and we are all the actors! As per the instructions given by the director (Our great Lord Muruga), we are all playing to his tunes! If god wants us to do a particular task, then it would be done by us, whereas if god doesn’t want us to involve in a certain kind of activity, then we wouldn’t do it!
As per the Holy Skanda Purana, Lord Muruga only is directing us, and we are all just mere actors! This drama activity would be done permanently without leaving any gap. Did god also force us to commit sins? Our marvellous charming boy Muruga would never do like that, but, based on the laid down rules of the god, human beings are supposed to do both good as well as wrongful activities in their life, and it cannot be changed even by Lord Muruga himself! When god creates only good people, then at the end of their life, all of them would go only to the heaven, and no one would again take birth in this earth! That’s why Lord Muruga creates both good as well as bad ones, in order to balance the earth properly. All the happenings in our life are already determined, and there is nothing on our part, however, we have to do our duty, report our problems to our most worshipful Lord Muruga, and then we must keep quiet.
Hence let us try to visit the wonderful Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, at least once in our lifetime, and let us be blessed.
“OM SRI NALLURMURUGA NAMO NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R. HARISHANKAR