monday, the 22nd ,may

this morning, we, ..meaning me and my husband got up early and went out for a morning walk,( an unusual custom for me,) around yasoda"s house....just a street or two,...enjoying and savouring the scenes and scents of a madurai morning....and soaking in the atmosphere..i always found roaming in a new place a very delightful expierience...
we were in a pretty relaxed mood that day, nursing our still sore feet, and sympathising with each other.. our trip has almost come to an end,..only two places near madurai were to be covered now...both srujana and jyotsna unequivocally stated they were not going on visits any longer.,they said, they preffered to stay with their aunt.so we called for an ambassdor from the car rentals,and leisurely started for thiruppurankundram(the name itself is difficult to write.i still dont know if this is correct spelling) after breakfast.


it was not far..., infact , it could be called a part or suburb of madurai.the temple looked like it had been carved out of a small hill.or to say plainly, a big rock. the mukha mantapams and entry halls were wide, huge and cool,... beautiful sculptures adorning the walls.. the actual sanctum was on a higher plane.and was kind of unusual...three figures, murugan, parvathi and ganesh , the mother in the middle....were carved out of a wall of rock...all the three were of same size and not regular idols....i mean, in this place, the swami seemed to be sharing the dais, so to speak,not being an exclusive deity.

downstairs there were the two divine consorts too , and some other gods. as we the came out of the temple ,we saw ,in the mukhamantapam, to a side of the low roof was a carved figure of godess kali and a man stood nearby selling tiny balls of butter.it seemed there was this funny custom of making a wish and throwing a butter ball up at the godess on the roof. if it stuck it meant your wish was fulfilled. if it did"nt, it meant otherwise... anasuya, made her father buy one for her and threw the ball. it stuck.,but she would not tell us what she wished for.