"Suklam bharadaram vishnum sasivarnam chathurbhujam 
Prasanna vadam dhyayeth sarva vignoba shanthaye"

This invocation to Lord Vinayaka, the remover of obstacles, is the first verse of the Vishnu Sahasranama. The thousand names of Lord Vishnu were uttered by Bhishma while lying on his bed of arrows, at the request of Lord Krishna himself. We pray to Vinayaka or Ganapathi before beginning any auspicious venture. As Veeramani Dasan says in one of his songs, he is the easiest of deities to please. He wants no costly offerings or rich vestments, sincere prayer is enough. He alone of all Gods can be worshipped in any form - whether as a lump of clay or a cone of turmeric paste. 

In this article, we visit a beautiful shrine of Lord Ganapathi in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. The place is called Thiruvalanchuzhi and the name can, in fact, be taken to represent the letter "Om". The idol here is known as "Vellai vinayakar" or "white vinayakar" as it is believed to have originated from the foam of the sea. There is a beautiful legend associated with the shrine: The Asuras and Devas embarked on the task of churning the ocean to get "Amritham" or ambrosia. They wanted this nectar which confers immortality. There are many stories associated with this episode, but this little known one tells us that before they began the churning, they forgot to pray to Lord Vigneswara, the Remover of Obstacles. This resulted in the ocean spilling out poison. The Devas and Asuras, realising their error, made a small vigraha of Vinayaka using foam. They prayed to him and started the churning again. The rest of the legend is well known.

It is said in the Puranas that when Indra came to the earth, he brought along with him this idol. The one foot tall idol is never given the customary ablutions, because it is made of foam. The only offering is "pachai kalpooram" or edible camphor. It now looks to be made of white stone. The trunk is turned to the right, which indicates spirituality. The name also derives from this. The ancient temple also houses the shrines of "Kapardeesar" (Siva) and his consort, Periyanayagi Ambal. There are several other shrines, including that of Erandamunivar, who sacrificed his life to save the temple from floods. The River Cauvery is said to have skirted the temple in the shape of an arc curving to the right.

This temple is best approached via Swamimalai, which is about 15 km from Kumbakonam. Swamimalai is well known in the area as one of the Arupadai Veedus of Lord Muruga. Swamimalai to Thiruvalanchuzhi is another five kilometres. There are a few garland sellers outside the temple and the best hours to make a visit are either early morning or evening. Since many people do not know the name "Thiruvalanchuzhi", it is best to ask for the "Vellai Vinayakar kovil". The temple is immensely peaceful and lovely, and prayers to Lord Ganapathy can never go without reward.

Ambujam Anantharaman

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