Karnataka – Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru turned 111!
Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru turned 111 on Sunday. Thousands of devotees turned up at the mutt to celebrate the occasion.
The seers of various mutts performed ‘padapuja’ to Shivakumara Swami in the morning. The seer was later brought in a procession. Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami of Suttur Mutt lit 111 lamps to mark the occasion.
Nirmalanandanatha Swami of Adichunchanagiri Mutt and Shivamurthy Sharana of Murugha Mutt in Chitradurga were present. Thousands of devotees thronged the Siddaganga Mutt, located about 70 km from Bengaluru, to celebrate the 111th birthday of the “Walking God” and Lingayat seer Shivakumara Swami on Sunday. The entire city of Tumakuru wore a festive look with flower decked lampposts and buildings.
Siddaganga Mutt seers from across the state performed the padapooja to the seer. Unlike previous years where there were special arrangements made for the visit of VVIPs, this year the Siddaganga Mutt management did not invite any VIPs and only the general public who had gathered to wish the seer and seek his blessings were allowed. Former chief minister and state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa and Channapatna MLA C.P. Yogeshwar attended the event and took the blessing of the swami.
Shivakumara Swamiji who was born on April 1, 1907 in Veerapura village of Ramanagara has been known for his philanthropic activities. In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
Shivakumara Swamiji, who is known for his works towards the upliftment of the poor, runs over 150 educational institutions. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who took to Twitter to send his birthday wishes to the seer, said, “Following the principles of Kayakayogi Basavanna, Shivakumara Swamiji has been working for the upliftment of the poor and needy. Let his service continue.” As part of the celebration, there was the lighting of lamps, chanting of Vedic hymns, recitation of Basava Vachana and other cultural programmes at the mutt.
Meanwhile continuing his temple run in Karnataka Congress Presindent Rahul Gandhi is expected to pay a visit to the seer for blessings.
Tamil Nadu : Car Festival of Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam
Recently Panguni Car festival (Rathotsavam) was held for Namperumal at Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple. The processional deity of Namperumal was brought to the temple car from Panguni Uthiram Mandapam in Thayar Sannidhi where the Serthi Sevai was held.
Amidst religious fervour, hundreds of devotees pulled the car amidst chants of ‘Ranga Ranga’ on Saturday morning. The car was pulled around the Chithrai streets, before being brought to rest. This is one of the important annual car festivals celebrated at the temple, coinciding with the Panguni Uthiram.
Srirangam is the foremost of the eight self-manifested shrines (Swayam Vyakta Kshetras) of Lord Vishnu . It is also considered the first, foremost and the most important of the 108 main Vishnu temples (Divyadesams). This temple is also known as Thiruvaranga Tirupati, Periyakoil, Bhoologa Vaikundam, Bhogamandabam. In the Vaishnava parlance the term “KOIL” signifies this temple only. The temple is enormous in size. The temple complex is 156 acres in extent. It has seven prakaras or enclosures. These enclosures are formed by thick and huge rampart walls which run round the sanctum. There are 21 magnificent towers in all prakaras providing a unique sight to any visitor. this temple lies on an islet formed by the twin rivers Cauvery and Coleroon.
Tamil Nadu : A lemon auctioned at 1.03 lakh at Raathinavel Murugan Temple
In a recent auction at Raathinavel Murugan temple near Ulundurpet, saw nine lemons being sold for Rs 1.03 lakh! Stuck on the vel (spear) in the sanctum of the Raathinavel Murugan temple.
It is believed that the lemons have miraculous powers. The highest price fetched by a lemon was Rs 30,500 and officials said the Rs 1.03 lakh they earned from this year’s auction was the highest ever.
The Raathinavel Murugan temple is situated in the hills at Ottanandhal near Thiruvennainalur at Ulundurpet taluk. The sanctum of the temple does not have an idol of Lord Muruga, but has his spear instead. Every year, in the Tamil month Panguni, an annual festival is held for 11 days. And during the festival, a lemon is placed on the vel on each day for the first nine days. On the eleventh and final day, the lemons are auctioned.
Since there is a widespread belief that childless women will conceive after eating the lemon, many don’t mind shelling out big amounts for the fruits. Last year’s auction saw nine lemons being sold for Rs 68,100.
This year’s festival started on March 21 with a flag hoisting ceremony and every day, a lemon was pierced in the vel and poojas conducted. People from various places, including Villupuram, Cuddalore, Salem, Chennai, Puducherry, Tiruchy, Bengaluru and Coimbatore also took part.
Telangana : Jagadguru Swaroopa Saraswathi asks to worship “Grama Devata’s”
Jagadguru Swaroopananda Saraswathi of Sharada Peeth speaking to the devotees at the Kattamaisamma Temple, urged them to worship “Grama Devata” for timely rains.
At the idol installation in Kattamaisamma temple, along with local MLA N V S S Prabhakar, the Swamiji said there more grama devata temples in Telangana and that there has been good rain when they were worshipped. He recalled visiting the temple ten years back when some persons tried to stall its construction . He noted with happiness that some youngsters are taking keen interest to build the temple.
Among those who attended the installation ceremony were Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, in-charges of the constituency of TRS and Congress Bethi Subash Reddy, Bandari Lakshma Reddy, division president Repaka Kumaraswamy, TRS youth wing circle president Gandham Nageswar Rao, Temple Development Committee chairman Bandaru Venkat Rao, president Parakala Swamy, general secretary Pannala Arjun, Archakas Bhaskar Sarma, Naveen Acharya, representatives of the committee and hundreds of devotees.
Kerala : “Insufficiencies in the current system of Devaswom appointments” – High Court
The existing system of selection of members of the Devaswom boards (temple administration bodies) of Kerala lacked transparency and provided room for favoritism, the High Court observed on Monday.
While considering a petition which argued that the existing method of selection of members of the Devaswom boards, which administer several hundred temples in the State, was unconstitutional, a division bench of the High Court proposed guidelines for making the process more transparent and acceptable to the people.
The court said there were insufficiencies in the current system of Devaswom appointments. Amendments to the present norms for selection of board members were necessary and the opinion of the people should be taken into consideration while selecting members, it said. The petition was filed by TG Mohandas, State convener of the intellectual cell of the BJP.
The Travancore and Cochin Devaswoms are governed by boards comprising one president and two members each. As per the present system, one of the members in each board is selected by the Hindu members of the State Assembly and the second member of each board by the Hindu members of the Cabinet.
In the petition, Mohandas pointed out that the two major political fronts in the State – CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-headed UDF which had been ruling the State alternately – even used to issue whips in connection with the selection of the board members. He alleged that this method was fraught with political interests.
The court observed that there was an element of secrecy in the selection method in which only the Assembly members and Ministers knew about the details of the persons being considered for the posts.
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