Memories of Vishnupuram Grammam
I woke up quite early in the morning today. I had lots of plans to spend the day, mostly to dig in and explore Flex. However, I could do that only since afternoon. One of my uncles came by the visit us in the morning. His son, my cousin is getting married and he had come over the invite us. Any family member visits us, we are sure to talk about our native place. It is called Vishnupuram grammam, although most people also call the place VanathanKulam.
VananthanKulam, means a pond meant for washer men, in Tamil. Probably, it was actually that in olden days. I happen to visit the village every year and each year I get to know lots of new stories and intresting facts. Very close to the Indian ocean (5Kms to be precise), my village has wonderful climate. There is cool breeze always, 365 days of the year. It is in a picture perfect location with fields all over. Just 12 to 15 houses surrounded by green fields, it is a wonderful and relaxing place. A pond now filled with lotuses lies at a distance that can be traversed by foot. I have lovely memories of bathing in the pond as a child. At some distance from it lies another pond, but people of this village hardly visit that one. There is a strange history that revolves around these two. Apparently, in the early days, one of these ponds was exclusive for Brahmins. There is a small room constructed on its sides, which is meant exclusively for Brahmin women to change their clothes. People of other castes never used it. Now, of course all those unnecessary traditions have changed, and the pond is being used commonly.
We have a small temple, inside the village. It is on both sides of this temple, that the houses are built. The main deity of this temple is Lord Krishna, and every day prayers and pujas are performed with utmost devotion. There is also a temple of Lord Ayappa (Vishnupuram Boosaastha) at some distance. Every year, some where in the month of march or April, a grand puja is performed at these two temples. It is at this time, that this village sparkles to light, music and devotion. My family, makes sure we visit the place at this time of the year. There are many mystifying and amazing mythological stories about this festival. I shall talk about them in coming posts.
Overall, the very mention of the village takes us, to many memories. Before I conclude this post, I would like to congratulate my cousin, Ganesh on his wedding. I wish him all the best for his married life.
my grandma used to say that v r the native of vishunpuram. I was trying to reach this place.some people told that this on way to mayavaram and kumbakonam. am at lost. is this the same vishnupuram. i was also told that there is a temple devoted to Lord Baalaji. pl confirm. Is it that u have only two temples of Krishna and Ayyappa????
Rgds
VVI
my grandma used to say that v r the native of vishnupuram. I was trying to reach this place. Some people told that is on way to mayavaram from kumbakonam. am at loss. Is this the same vishnupuram. I was also told that there is a temple dedicated to Lord Balaji. Pl confirm. Is it that u have only two temples of Krishna and Ayyappa???
Rgds
VVI
(the earlier one may be treated as cancelled)
The place you are talking about seems different. The vishnupuram described in my blog is in Kanyakumari district, quite close to suchindram and nagercoil. There are many other temples surrounding the place, but these two are most famous. There is another temple dedicated to parvathi (Amman to be specific)..
thanks. As said by you, the vishnupuram am talking is different. anyway, nice to c ur reply.
rgds
Hi,
just
that is a wonderful post on the deity of the Vishnupuram.
i just visited that place the day before yesterday….
and it so happens that the Boo Sasta temple is our main diety of worship and our family is closely associated with the temple..
the day before yesterday, when i had visited the temple, i had taken a couple of snaps of the deity and also the location of the temple
so if you are interested i can send it across..
pls use my email id for further communication as i may not be able to visit this website again
Hi;
I am kishore and my dad is from vishnupuram. Well years back during 1999 i have visited this beautiful village and i remember him taking me to an old Sastha temple located in between the rice fields. It was simply an awesome experience for me. Well i enjoyed a lot taking bath in ponds and i also went to the vishnu temple where i had a delicious lunch, the taste of the mouth watering aravana payasam served still can’t be forgotten. Well this was all during the Mandala pooja. During the night i was afraid a bit when my dad took me near boothathan and madaswami(it was two persons who treat them self as like the versions of lord iyyappan due to some psychic changes) for obtaining the blessings. I was afraid because i was too small to understand and that too they were jumping and dancing with a sword in hand. We cannot say this as like superstitious believes but i could feel those moments still as lively as it was. The lord Boosastha(IYAPPAN) in “vannathamkulam ” is very very powerful and if u get a chance of visiting nagercoil then just go and have a peaceful time. It is about 6 kms (i hope) from Sushindram temple (a famous temple in nagercoil).
Hi Kishore,
Its nice to hear from you. My native place is Vannathamkulam, and the Saastha temple you are talking about, I visit atleast once year, almost every summer. My parents belong to that village and my grandmother still lives there. Perhaps your dad may know my parents. SuryaNaryana Iyer is my grandfather’s name and my dad is fondly known as Ambi (Hariharan is his actual name). May be your father knows them.
Regards,
Sudha.
Hello Sudha;
Thanks for replying.. Well you are doing great maintaining such a blog. My dad’s is Mr.H.Sridharan and i am grand grand son of Mr.Ganapathy Iyer. Well i asked my dad whether he knows your dad or your grandpa but he told there are a lot of people in the same name so its obviously difficult to judge the correct personality.
Well i went through your profile and you sound simply great. Then to tell about me i am a S.Kishore (Kitchu Mr.Iyer) and i have completed my PG in physics and i am looking forward to do my M.Tech in Nanotechnology. I would love to be your friend and and i am impressed with your manthras that you follow. So it’ll be great being your friend and i even can learn a lot from you. If you find time then mail me @ kishoresurya2@gmail.com.
With regards;
S.Kishore
Hi Kishore,
Thank you for your comments. I think my dad knows your dad well. Does your father live in Coimbatore in any case? My Grandfather, Suryanaryana Iyer lived just next door to Ganapathy Iyer. My dad was very happy to know that you posted your comments on my blog.
Well, about me you must have gathered from my blog.I finished my Engineering and now am working for SAP Labs in Bangalore.
Do stay in touch,
Regards,
Sudha.
Hello Sudha;
Well yes your dad is correct. We are settled in Coimbatore and even my dad also knows about your dad and he is too very happy to hear this from you. Well in his guess your dad is doing business and you are all settled in Hyderabad right. Well he is very eager to speak to his pal and they both did their graduation from PKC college, nagercoil. My dad’s mobile no is 9443936036. Hey my dad says that you have come to my home in Coimbatore and do you remember that..? Oh god this is really great and thanks again for your blog. Do take care and reply me as soon as possible.
With Regards;
S.Kishore.
Hi Kishore,
… apparently the two were best buddies…my dad said he will call on the number..u could also mail him directly on hariharan56@gmail.com…he would be online..so may be your dad can catch him on gtalk…
This is wonderful..I just spoke to my dad and he is really happy to know this..and I feel proud that my blog made two old friends meet
Yes I remember coming to your house in Coimbatore..and I remember your parents very well..
Take care
Regards,
Sudha.
Hi sudha;
Well i also remember one more thing in nagercoil. Hey we were all present in the upanayanam function of “Prasad” (Narayanan mama’s son). I and my bro were sitting along with my cousin sisters and one singer (i mean the one who was engaging all of us with his songs - hope u understood what i meant) was just kidding me. Hope you remember me from that. Then i hope your bro too is doing great as like you… Ok think you might be busy so do take care.
BYE…
with regards;
S.Kishore
Hi Kishore,
Yes I did attend Prasad’s upanayanam…and yes I remember the Singer(!!) as well…but I still am not able to recollect you…i have a bad memory sorry about that…
My brother is in his 12th standard now…getting ready to join engineering soon.
I just came back from a trip to Germany so I am little caught up in a few presentations and stuff. I shall send u a long mail within a day or two. If you could give your number..may be i could call u as well.
Do take care
Regards,
Sudha.
[...] By the way, Vishnupuram is my native place, situated right at the tip of India in Kanyakumari district.You can find more on what i had to say about this lovely village here. [...]
Hi Sudha;
Well my mobile no is 9843562793. I had a small prob with my broadband and that’s why late in replying you. Well just now i.e mailing you in here i saw your dad online and i started chatting with him but i didn’t get any reply from him. May be he might have been busy. Well i actually thought of making my dad chat with him through my Gmail id and he is weak in typing and he is not used with this. Anyways no probs do take care and yes as you said Vishnupuram has its web presence.
regards;
S.Kishore.
Hi Sudha:
It was pleasure reading about Boosastha. Our family also hails from this place. My grand father Mr. Sathyavageeswara iyer [ Principal of Hindu college ] hails from this place. Boosastha is our kulatheivam. Nice to read.
I Have edited [photoshop] photos of Lord. Let me know so that i can send the same.
Thanks for the blog !!