The coastal state of Pondicherry is replete with tourist attractions. There are several ancient temples in the region, and in the capital, also called Pondicherry, there is a beautiful temple dedicated to Lord Ganapathi called the Manarkula Vinayakar temple.

Pondicherry is Puducherry in Tamil, but before that it used to be called Vedapuri. This was for two reasons. One, there used to be an ancient temple of Vedapureeswar there. Second, a number of Vedic scholars used to live there. The Vedapureeswarar temple was destroyed, and so was the Arya Vaisya temple. The Manarkula Vinayakar temple too was destroyed by the French rulers of Pondicherry, it is said, but the idol was so powerful that the temple rose again like a phoenix. Another legend says that the idol of Lord Vinayaka was thrown into the sea, but miraculously reappeared.

The temple is 300 years old and its early history is marked by trouble, with the French ruling that the annual festival around the streets of Pondicherry should not take place. This caused unrest among the people, and 15,000 of them gathered to set off towards Chennai. As they were all workers at a textile factory, the authorities revoked their decision, fearing that work would be affected. This type of incident kept happening again and again till, strangely, Dupleix, the great French leader, himself developed an affection for the idol. Such are the winning ways of Lord Vinayaka!

The temple is now commonly called Manakkula Vinayaka, which is a corruption of the original Manarkula Vinayakar. The latter transcribes to the "Vinayaka who lives in a region bounded by sand". To the Eastern side of the temple lie the sea and the sands. Inside the temple, there is a small pond, which the priest will show to the devotee with the help of lit camphor. Though the pond is close to the sea, the water is clear. It is believed that anything put into the pond will turn black in colour.

Many poets have sung in praise of this temple and its deity. For many years, the temple did not have an Utsavar idol. This was installed and a grand kumbabhishekam took place in 1966 with the Kanchi Sankaracharya present. The pujas are conducted in accordance with the Rig Veda. On Karthigai Deepam day, the Lord is taken in procession in a golden chariot. The temple itself is lovely, with the area around the main shrine having pictorial depictions of the different forms of Vinayaka.

And so ends this series, called "Travels with Vinayaka". Beginning with the five-headed Vinayaka of Tiruvotriyur in Chennai, it ends with the Manarkula Vinayaka of Pondicherry after having traversed many states and many temples.

Ambujam Anantharaman

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