meenaksheem pranathosmin

During my childhood....that was in early sixties of the last century, i used to sit back in our poooja room at Bandar,watching my grandfather performing his daily prayers,and staring at the portraits and little statues of deities...There used to be two photo frames of both kamakshi of kanchi and meenaakshi of madurai hanging to the walls of altar, only that i used to pronounce it as madhura(in telugu, even now it is generally written just like that),always mistaking it for krishna"s madhura.In fact until i was around 15 r 16 years of age, i laboured under this misconception.We used to be like that i suppose , people our generation....slow learners... not like today"s kids who tire of of their toys after playing for five minutes......we .... we played for hours together with just a plain round stone...gundu rayi tho ganta sepu.


Coming back to the topic,of the two photos, i found the meenakshi one was prettier.I could remember it vividly ...in a beautiful wheatish silk sari with a bottle green jari border, with resplendent vibhuthi and kumkum, a parrot on her right shoulder,she used to be so lovely.THAT could be called my first acquaintance with her...but it was just that.nothing more.Though mother goddess is worshipped by all of us hindus she could be reached everywhere locally,....as kanakadurga,at the local temple, as bhramarambika. Me on my part saw her in the form of holy mother of jillellamudi,was content with it.Also being a person with travel phobia i never even wanted to go anywhere else,much less to madurai.But ofcource there was a great reverence for her,having heard stories about her magnificence.

One, was used to be told by my uncle, who recounted an experience oh his ,when he went to Madurai, as a student on an excursion.He was standing in the queue,intending to perform pooja in his father"s name and time was running out for his departure.Then an old woman came near him ,asked what he wanted to do,took his basket of pooja material ,and as he kept seeing ,went directly into the sanctum sanctorum,passing the long queues and after a few minutes came back with the prasadam which she placed in his hands . Now ... there might be umpteen kinds of explanations for this ,and all of them might be true.but it was a pleasant experience no doubt.My uncle also told me ,that one day when he was in the gracious presence of the mother of jillellamudi somehow a topic on Madurai was being discussed, and she turned and looking at him said..."yes... i saw u at Madurai". no no no... i am not going into a discussion over this .i only say "i believe ".


Some years back ...may be in 95 or 96 ..my husband went to Madurai to attend a workshop that was being conducted regarding autonomous colleges(i don't know the details ofcource),and i asked him to get me a miniature statuette of parvathi from Madurai....i thought since it was a pilgrim centre it could be easily available.The reason being i had a sivalingam ,someone presented me with,(it has been 4 r 5 years since) i put him in with other gods of my gallery.....
not withstanding warnings some people gave me of women being tabooed to perform sivapooja etc.... and i wanted a partner for him(like a mother who wants a bride for her son i suppose).
So on return, my husband brought for me a beautiful statuette of meenakshi of brass,and ever since i kept it beside my siva though she is almost three times taller than him, and i always worry if she is going to topple him someday... I even started reciting meenakshi panchratnams every mondays and fridays....But still i was not an ardent devotee or any thing of that sort,never even entertained ideas about a pilgrimage.......very probably because of my journey phobia i suppose.......and was content to do my token pooja at home,.....did not even feel like visiting either.

But as they say, time moves mysteriously ...and it came about i was standing before the mother on that 17 th may morning..... there was "nt much of a rush...,not many people were about there...... the sanctum sanctorum was dimly lit with oil lamps......there were the hanging chain lamps,just like the photos,, attired in a parrot green silk sari with classic magenta border,stood the mother ,she was not tall,...around four feet or less..,.....her ornaments twinkling and flashing now and then.
Her image was not clearly visible from the queue lines,..so we bought special darshan tickets and were taken to an ante room almost up to the sanctum from where we could see her better as aarthi lighted up now ,her eyes , now ,her bejewelled ears,and her hands,.......we stood there for few minutes,.It was stuffy in there...fragrance of flowers ,sandal paste,aromatic kumkum,strong peppermint curiously mixed with scents of burning wicks and oil wafting across...the priests were offering teertham ,sathagopam,.....another one took off a thick woven mallimala around her crown and placed it in my hands........Then it was time to move on.......we made our final bows.....It took me forty seven years to come and present myself at her feet ,on this auspicious day in my life...... Coming out i thought it was very unlikely i could see her again in this lifetime again....victory to thee ,mother of universe