We had practically nothing to start with, not even an Ayyappan photo, no Ayyappan song / bhajan book, and no pooja book or even a namavali bookĪll that we had was a Venue for the Pooja – Shiva Mandir. KHS & RN met, without a fixed agenda, and reckoned as below – With this combination, we decided we could organize a great pooja. RN has also some experience coordinating Kids' Sasthapreethis as a teenager, which follows the regular village Sasthapreethi.Īs a long-time veteran of Texmaco Group of Companies, Indonesia, KHS was confident of ensuring the participation and involvement of a good number of expatriates as well as local Tamil Indonesians. RN hails from Nurani Village, Palakkad, which has a 350-year old history of Sastha (Ayyappan) worship. That 'Friday the 13th', essentially marked the beginning of JAKARTA AYYAPPAN POOJA !
Next day, RN phoned KHS and talked about this for a while, and they met on the subsequent Friday to discuss the matter. On 8 September 1991, they met again at another gathering, when KHS, with his usual sincerity said, 'we must do Ayyappan Pooja here I am serious'. RN reacted positively but left it at that. At the Upaakarmam (Avani Avittam) gathering at Shiva Mandir on 25 August 1991, Siva (KHS) suggested to Ranga (RN): "We must do Ayyappan Pooja in Jakarta". It was just Divine Will that brought together Siva & Ranga (another name for Lord Vishnu) to start Ayyappan Pooja in Jakarta. It will not be tough to perform Sankalpam and Ashtothram in Tamil.Lord Siva and Lord Vishnu gave Sri Ayyappan to the world. We are already using the Tamil verse of Pasurams (from the 4,000 Divya Prabandham composed by 12 Alwars) in the temple. On devotees request, we were performing Tamil archanai. We were provided a booklet which had Tamil versions of Sankalpam, and Sahasranamam.
Sharing his experience, Sundar Bhattar, one of the senior priests of the temple, said, “A decade ago, Tamil archanai was introduced in all temples. Instead of Sanskrit words ‘Namaha and Shri,’ we will use Tamil words like ‘Potri and Thiru’ along with deity names.” Following that, Potri’s will be done in Tamil. This ‘Sankalpam’ or Yedhirparppu consists of the reason for the prayer and details like name, zodiac sign and Gothra of the devotee. In the next two weeks, I will train myself in the Tamil Sankalpam. But, for the ‘Sankalpams,’ which we say during the archanai, are new to me. All of us are well trained in the ‘Pasurams,’ which are in Tamil. This will be my first time doing archanai in Tamil. At present, three priests, including myself, have been appointed to perform it. Once relaxations for Covid restriction are announced, devotees will be able to choose the language for archanai.”Įxplaining the procedure, Kalyani said that on arrival to the temple, people can contact the mentioned priests and inform them of their wish to do Tamil archanai, which will be specially done for them.Speaking to TNIE, R Narasimha Bhattar, a priest from Ranganathaswamy temple, said, “Tamil archanai was performed about a decade ago. We have appointed priests in each temple who are trained with ‘Tamil Potris’ and aaradhanas, whose contact number may be found on the banners. Kalyani, Joint Commissioner of Samayapuram Mariamman Temple and in-charge of the district, said, “About 100 temples, including Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple, Sri Jambukeswarar Akilandeswari Temple, Thiruvanaikovil, Arulmigu Samayapuram Mariamman Temple, Samayapuram and Rockfort Sri Thayumanaswamy Temple in the district are chosen to have Tamil archanai. Banners are being placed outside major temples, which mention this and carry contact numbers of the priest who would be doing it.It may be noted that HR&CE Minister PK Seker Babu recently initiated the scheme of allowing devotees to have an option of choosing the language for archanai.The scheme has been launched in all temples which are under the department’s control in the State. TIRUCHY: Following a policy decision by the DMK government, about 100 temples in Tiruchy are gearing up to perform archanai in Tamil.