Kamatchi Amman Temple, Theni
The Kamatchi Amman
Temple is located on the banks of the Manjal River, near Devadanapatti. The
doors of the temple are never opened and devotees can only worship from the
portal. Every evening a special puja is performed in the temple. Masi Magam and
Shivrathri are the main festivals celebrated in the temple, during the months
of February and March.
Devadanapatti is a
combination of two Tamil words which are Devadhanam and Patti. The Tamil word
Devadhanam translates as Gifted to Gods and the Tamil word Patti Translates as
Village. The meaning of Devadanapatti is a Village gifted to Gods. Goddess
Parvati is worshipped as Moongilanai Shri Kamakshi Devi.
The Devadanapatti
Kamakshi Amman Temple is an ancient temple situated in a tiny village called
Devadanapatti which is 27 km from Theni. The temple stands by the Manjalar
River. This temple story is described in the Tamil movie "Mahashakti
Mariamman". Nearby this temple, there is a temple for Lord Karupannaswamy.
There is saying
that buttermilk will not be available in this town even it has three time
harvests in a year. A story is behind this saying. It goes like this: Once a
monk visited this village and went on begging. But nobody gave alms. In angry
mood the monk cursed the village as it will not flourish even it has great
natural resources. People here believe it.
As families,
villagers from nearby Genguvarpatti come by 'maattu vandi' during summer every
year, cook at the temple premises, take bath in the nearby falls and then
conduct uchchi kaala pooja at the amman temple and partake common cooked food
for all. At this pooja they pray for rains as well as welfare of all villages
in and around. As soon as the aarthi is done, without fail a 'palli' will
answer the prayers which can be witnessed personally.
Another temple of
Shivan Parvati is located in Muruga Hill. Here God is Swayambu. The festival is
celebrated in the month of December. In the Movie Mahashakti Mariamman, this
temple history is described.
The uniqueness is
that it has no Temple Towers, Doors or Idols. Yes, there are no Idols in the
sacred sanctums here. The main deity here is Kamakshi Amman. The idol is
replaced with a door. Yes, door is worshiped here and it is revered as goddess
Kamakshi. The other difference is that whole coconut and unpeeled bananas are
offered. The coconuts are broken after the Aarthi. In most of the temples,
coconuts are broken in to two first, followed by abishekam and only after that
aarthi is taken.
A lot of rituals
are different. The lamps of this temple are lit only with clarified butter
(ghee). A lamp that was lit some 500 years ago is still burning to this date in
this temple. Devotees offer mainly ghee to the temple. There is a storage room
with no doors and pots of ghee are accumulated. Some of the pots in this storage
are as old has 500 years. The pots do not have coverlids; they are open and
their aroma wafts around the temple complex. The ghee is still fresh, and has
not gone off. They do not attract any insects either. Devotees believe this is
because of Goddess Kamakshi blessings!
There is an
interesting story behind this temple. ‘Amman Macchu’ is the moola-stanam of the
temple. Amman Macchu is located farther away from this temple. When traveled
from Devadanapatti towards the Kodaikanal foothills one can find a Manjalaru
Dam. Once crossed the dam, starts the beginning of a mud trail. While hiking
further, we get two creeks namely olaiaru and majlaru, respectively. The trail
leads to “Amman Macchu’’. This is the place where the goddess Kamakshi did
penance to subdue her anger after killing ‘Asura’ a demon that tormented people
of all lokas.
Goddess came here
and did penance in a bamboo bush. For the love of her devotees, goddess
Kamakshi came here as a newborn baby, she was placed in a huge chest that was
afloat in Manjalaru. She already communicated her arrival to her devotees in
their dreams. As per her instruction devotees waited for her arrival. As the
chest was floating, the bamboo trees of Manjalaru stopped it. The people
understood that the baby inside it is the Kamakshi. Hence the goddess here is
known as ‘Mungil Anai Kamakshi.’
During every temple
festival, the procession being from ‘Amman Macchu’ the temple festival is
celebrated in Maasi (Feb-March) month’s Amavasai (no-moon day) that coincides
with Shiva Rathri. It was goddess's order that the temple should be built away
from Amman Macchu. Devotees throng this temple for both to fulfill their wishes
and to thank the goddess for the offerings received.
Just a few yards
away, on a hill sit the Karupanna Swamy temple. He is the official caretaker of
Mungil Anai Kamakshi Temple. He also considered as the brother of Goddess
Kamakshi. Before visiting the Goddess temple, it is a rule to visit Karpanna
Swamy Temple. It is believed that Karpanna swamy temple was closer to the
Kamakshi temple. However, later he moved away from the temple. Karpanna Swamy
is a staunch non-vegetarian while his sister Kamakshi is a pure vegetarian. Due
to the differences, he moved away to the nearby hill. However, he did not abjure
is duty from guarding his sister’s temple and the village. Around the temple
complex’s there are many small sanctums for many gods and goddesses, like said
before there are no idols and doors in these small sanctums just the name
plate.
There is a reason
as why the idols are not kept inside the sacred sanctums. The worshipping of
door in this temple came in to practice after a tiff between the priest and the
king. To express priest’s dissatisfaction, he locked the sacred sanctum and
went home and never returned. The locked sanctum was never opened again, and
all the prayers were offered to the door instead. She is in ‘chest’ form. The
temple tower is replaced with a dome made out of hays called Nana Pull. When
the temple sanctum was closed down, the goddess again appeared in her devotees’
dreams to watch out for her, she gave all the instructions as well. Like
before, she again arrived in a chest form. This time the chest was stopped by
the ‘Naananpull’ a type of grass. People weaved a hut using these hays. This
replaced the usual sacred tower. Raja Kumbalathar are the ones who manage and
maintain this temple.
An elderly male
(above 60) from Raja Kumbalathar Nayakanmar family changes the hay roof by
weaving a new one. There are certain rituals that need to be followed before
weaving a new roof. They have to fast for 48 days, should collect all the
materials required from Murugamalai, a dense forest. When all the materials are
gathered the elder person should climb upstairs blind folded from the backside
of the sacred sanctum to the terrace and weaves it without looking in to it.
Until they are done they are not supposed to leave and women are prohibited
from entering the temple, till the weaving work is finished. Once it is
completed, abishekam is done to the door.
Sairaksha Pooja is
done every evening. The prayers are carried out with blowing of conch, and
beating of sekandi (kind of percussion instrument). After this pooja pin-drop
silence is maintained at the temple. It is believed that Goddess kamakshi is
still alive and meditates every evening. This is a temple that says idols are
not the only way to come closer to god, one can still connect to the
God/creator without having to worship idol. God is everywhere and it us who
needs to realize this absolute truth!
Sthalavaralaru
Mayasura an evil
demon was killed by Goddess Parvathi and in order to cool herself she came and
did penance here. Since the goddess is doing penance the temple remains calm.
A shepherd saw his
cow feeding a young girl and was not able to believe it as the cow had not yet
given birth. This sight turned the shepherd blind and he could see once again
only after worshipping the goddess.
A night the Goddess
appeared in the local Zamindar’s dream and stated that Manjal Aru will be
flooded soon and she will save them. Likewise Manjal Aru flooded and as the
waters approached their village bamboo shoots which came in the floods formed a
dam like structure which prevented the village from being flooded. The
villagers believed that Ambal came as bamboo shoots and saved them. Hence they
place the naivedhana products as natural as possible to this goddess. The
pusaris of this temple is known as Manradiyars and due to conflicts which they
had with Zamindars, the Manradiyars asked the doors of the sanctum sanctorum to
be closed forever and they left the village. Hence the temple’s sanctum
sanctorum is even closed today.
Geographical position
Kamakshi Amman
Temple in Batlagundu is located at 10°10'10.6"N 77°38'57.2"E or
10.169596, 77.649213.