That was the prayer on our lips,... on the mid afternoon of a mid-summer day, as we stood looking up at the steep, sacred hill of palani , with two ten year old kids in our party.... We just then got out of the qualis, a bit shaken after having travelled down the precarious ghat section from kodai to Palani....
..The day was a hot one, but the breeze thankfully, was cool...The scene before us was pretty chaotic...There were huge pandals at the foot of left side of the hill, where literally, hundreds of people,were standing in queues.Those were supposed to be waiting for the rope way, the easier mode of travel to climb up the hill.Even with an optimistic estimate, it would take four hours before our turn came.
To out right was the threshold,...the entrance gates to the flight of stairs,that would lead us up to the shrine at the top...They were high,hewn out of rock.. .with intermittent archways lending shelter to the pilgrims,for every fifteen steps or so .Some more hundreds of people seemed to be milling around these gates.Some were coming down, some were climbing up., Others were busy lighting up balls of camphor on some steps,or plainly resting..... Families, loners, mendicants,old people,an old man with a walking stick, a man with an only leg, kids,women and young girls with their freshly washed hair let loose,and big kumkum and udhi on foreheads...,every one was busy doing their own thing...
We stood on the road for sometime, watching, and debating.We could not take the rope way... simply could not wait in those queues with kids for four hours in the sun....the pandals being no effective shelter...If we were to go by the stairs?...we did not know how many steps were there,or just how long it would take and if the kids could make it....There was no office or any devasthanam counter downstairs ,we could go enquiring to....All the information we could glean was from fellow pilgrims, or local people ..Some body said it would not take more than half an hour, some body else said that even if we went up,darshan would not be easy...might take up till nightfall...
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More than any thing, we were afraid for the two kids,....They might get sun struck,....they might not make the climb after all,....worse,....what if we were caught in the middle?...could not either go up or down?... They did not have any food after break fast and who knows how much time the darshan would take? ...I suggested that srinivas and family might go to a hotel and take rest while we three,made an attempt and see for ourselves....Srinivas and his wife vetoed the idea....At one point , we decided to beg pardon and call it off...we were not really on an oath to do this visit.Anyway srinivas and wife were not as keen as us....They admitted they never planned this ,but we could see they were too polite,...did not like to be seen as backing off....So to ease this situation, we said"let us make our bows and retreat"...Anasuya, who , i knew ,was very keen to visit palani, looked resigned,having realised the piquancy of the situation.but, strangely. the kids themselves would not hear of this...They wanted to go up...may be they thought it was going to be adventurous...
So, we found ourselves going up the hill,at 1"o" clock in the afternoon, on naked feet(slippers are tabooed on palani)which otherwise would be a near fire walk. , .It surely WAS hot,..the climb WAS arduous,..specially for me, who led a sedentary life all through. but as i said before, the cool breeze was comforting. If we looked upwards the temple was looking temptingly near,yet just that far,,,the scene down ward was exciting too, as the town and it"s,bazaars, surrounding plains,fields, hills, lakes came in to view gradually.....It was an enchanting view....
It took 25 to 30 minutes for us to reach the top, and the scene that unfolded there was pretty chaotic too..... Hundreds of people were bustling about,...Some were sitting in groups,eating or just lolling on the floor,...Some were actually sleeping wherever they can...,...The queues were so lengthy,that any thought of a quick darshan looked remote.But as usual, the special darshan tickets were available,and within fifteen to twenty minutes we were ushered into the main hall before the sanctum sanctorum.....we had few moments of darshan and were able to see the lord.,who was said to be made of NAVAPASHANAMS,....For just a moment of whose darshan,...hundreds would wait,.. come from all parts of the world, and prostrate before his feet ....The darshan was was much better than at Thiruchendur....
In about fifteen minutes after this we were again at the stairs,..this time descending,...Legs slightly shaking with exertion,the downward momentum sometime taking our feet pretty near the burning camphor balls,...When we stopped at the foot gates and looked back up at the hill ,,,there was a slightly weird .,incredulous feeling...Did we really go there?.. Did we really see the lord?.. Was it all over?..It all looked like a conjuror"s trick.
There is a lovely picture of palanimalai before dawn,..in one of these links, which is a must see.
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India
http://www.pbase.com/oochappan/palani
Try this link for an interesting insight on the moola vigraham of palani
http://www.murugan.org/research/saravanan.htm
This link shows a delightful slide show en route pazhani
http://www.imagestation.com/album/slideshow.html?id=2118317036/South/Tamil_Nadu/Palani/
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