Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Mylapore – Religious Practices
The
temple priests perform the pooja (rituals) during festivals and on a daily basis. Like
other Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the Shaivite community, a Brahmin sub-caste. The temple rituals
are performed six times a day; Ushathkalam at 6:00 a.m., Kalasanthi at
9:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 1:00 p.m., Sayarakshai at 5:00 p.m.,
Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. and Ardha Jamam at 9:00 p.m. There is a
separate calendar for the Rahu Abhishekam (sacred ablution): it is performed
twice in a day at 11:30 a.m and 5:30 p.m. and additionally twice at various
times in the day.
Each
ritual comprises four steps: abishekam (sacred bath), Alangaram (decoration), neivethanam (food
offering) and Deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Kapaleeshwarar
and Karpagambal. The worship is held amidst music with nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and tavil (percussion instrument), religious instructions in
the Vedas (sacred text) read by priests and prostration by
worshippers in front of the temple mast. There are weekly rituals like Somavaram
and Sukravaram, fortnightly rituals like Pradosham and monthly festivals like Ammavasai (new moon day), Kiruthigai, Pournami (full moon day) and Sathurthi.
During
Friday worship, the statue of the goddess Karpagambal is decorated with a Kasu
Malai, a garland made of gold coins. The famous Tamil hymns Karunai Deivame
Karpagame and Karpagavalli Nin Porpadhangal Pidithen were written by poets in
praise of the goddess Karpagambal. There is also a peacock and a peahen caged
inside the temple, to symbolize the tradition that Karpagambal had come in the
form of peahen to plead to Kapaleeshwarar.