In Croydon area of London, ‘Muthumari Amman’ Puja was held very well on the first Friday of Aipassi. Croydon is a town about 6 miles from Goldston. I was surprised to see that the devotees participated in the Aipasi special puja held at this thalam with great enthusiasm and were united in divine worship. Amidst my astonishment I also learned of references to the shrine.
Murthy, Thalam and Thirtham are three traditional features of the temple. Some temples are glorified by idols. Some of the temples are famous. There are also things that are remedial. There are also temples located together with these three. In general, except our country, temples in other worlds get the glory of idols.
Ancestry worship is very important in our tradition. Due to this, there is an opinion that many idols may be consecrated in the same temple. It is a common opinion that the reason why idols worshiped in the same temple like Vinayagar worship, Murugan worship, Amman worship, etc., is clan deity worship.
Just in front of Ambal, we can see the gracious deity Shakti Vinayagar on the right side of Ambal and the gracious Murugan on the left. In this temple, Mahamaragatalingeswarar is displayed as a magnificent idol. Next to Maragalingam we can visit Lord Nataraja seated in Sivakamasundari Sametha. The emerald Ilingeswar is 13 inches tall. Nagendra Sivaratnam, chairman of the board of trustees of this temple, said that we rarely see a lingam more than one foot high anywhere.
Emperuman Amirthalingeswar also appears in this temple along with Abirami Ambal. Opposite to Amirthalingeswarar is Nandi Devar. There is also an altar here. Nearby, you can see Sita Rama Ilakshamanan Bhakta Anja Neyar and the auspicious deities of Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durgaiyamman and Guruvayurappan. There is a separate Navagraha shrine in this Tiruthalam.
Also there are separate murtis for Gnanabhairava, Nalvar, Abhiramibhat, Ramalingaswamy, Arunagirinathar, Thirumurugakirupanandavariyar. It is not an exaggeration to say that this place is an example of the spiritual development, art and culture of the Saivite Tamil people living in London.
Arthanarisvara, who exemplifies the philosophy that the world belongs to man and woman, has been consecrated in this temple. The Lord who blessed the servant to worship Arthanarisvara in places like Tirunchengode and Vasudevanallur in Tamilnadu, has paved the way for him to be worshiped here as well. At this time of worshiping Ardhanariswarar, my friend Kajamukaideen, who is my office friend, repeatedly urged me and my friends to visit his hometown Vasudevanallur to worship Ardhanariswarar. I now remember that on his encouragement, office friends went to Sakhitam Vasudevanallur and visited Arthanariswara.
The special pooja of this temple was held from 10.00 am to 12.00 pm and the Gurus also performed archan services for the devotees. Prasadam was distributed to the devotees after the puja. This temple is one of the must visit places for visitors to UK. For more details mobile number 07956100646.
– Dinamalar reader S. Ponraj from London
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