Summary of the day:
Distance Travelled during the day: 550 Km
Date of Travel: 22-Jul-2019
Time taken: Start time: 4:00 am at Bengaluru and reached Kanchipuram at 8:00 am
Left Kanchipuram at 2:00 pm reached home at 6:50 pm (got stuck in the traffic jam for an hour at Bengaluru)
Route taken: Bengaluru – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Vaniyambadi – Vellore – Kanchipuram & return same route to Bengaluru
Total toll paid: Rs470 (to and fro)
Places visited: Athi varadar temple, Kanchipuram
As per the legend, the Lord Athi Varadar is taken out of the temple pond once in 40 years and the devotees can have darshan of the Lord for approx. 45 days at the Vasantha Mandapam, Varadaraja Perumal temple premises. Athi means Fig and hence Athi Varadar is the idol carved out of wood from a fig tree. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and we felt blessed to have the darshan of the Lord before we start our journey to Delhi / Ladhak.
The darshan of Athi varadar was something which we were waiting to go, as it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The media telecast of the Athi Varadar darshan gave the devotees what to expect with regard to time of darshan. (Refer to the link for the story behind Athi Varadar
).
It was forecasted that daily 40K to 50K people are visiting Kanchipuram for the Athi varadar darshan. Looking into the humongous crowd, we decided for a one day trip from Bengaluru to Kanchipuram, anticipating a lack of accommodation facilities at Kanchipuram during this time. Our XUV 5OO had a full tank diesel when we left Bengaluru for our trip to Athi varadar, Kanchipuram.
We chose a Monday (especially to avoid large weekend crowds) and left Bengaluru at 4:00 am (after having a bath), waking up at Brahma Muhurtham (3:00 am). We packed some eats from home and drove along the Hosur road. An early start ensured we had an easy way out of Bengaluru towards Kanchipuram. We did not stop for breakfast anywhere and managed with what we carried from home thus saving time too.
We reached Kanchipuram at 8:00 am. As we entered Kanchipuram city, we were directed by several signboards to the Athi Varadar temple. After driving for a few km inside the Kanchipuram city, we were asked to park our vehicles at about 2.5 Km from the temple premises. We were lucky to get a convenient parking slot which was near to the start point of the walk towards the Athi varadar temple.
When enquired with the local policemen, they mentioned that during the first few days of the Athi Varadar darshan, the vehicles were allowed near the temple premises. However as the days went by, the crowd of devotees began to throng and they had to decide to stop all vehicles further away in order to manage the devotees.
As we entered the barricade, we started to walk towards the temple. Bravo to my septuagenarian mother-in-law (who was with us) walked with a walking stick, due to non-availability of any other mode of transport (bus, auto). As we walked a few meters, we stopped over for breakfast at a café and had idlis. We left behind our footwear in our car as we were advised by fellow devotees that there was no place to leave our footwear anywhere near the temple.
The weather at Kanchipuram that particular day was cloudy, with a slight drizzle that made our walk along much easier. We could only see a sea of people as we walked along. It was inspiring to see people with a handicap, aged people, children walking with such faith to have darshan of the Lord.
At 10:00 am we reached the main queue with a stanchion that organized the devotees into a 2-lines queue. The queue bifurcated to a normal and senior citizen queue as we entered the temple premises. The senior citizens queue was less dense and were provided with a wheelchair. As we pushed the wheelchair along the praharam of the temple, we were happy to be at close proximity of the Vasantha mandapam eagerly awaiting darshan.
The wheel chair queue was a separate one with a ramp leading to the darshan of the Lord Athi Varadar. However, we noticed that other devotees formed their own queue along with the wheelchair devotees causing congestion and delay. We waited patiently in the queue for over an hour for things to get sorted, eventually we fellow devotees decided to request the policemen, managing the queue to intervene. The good Samaritan policemen were kind enough to stop the queue of the standing devotees and made way for the wheel chair devotees.
The fire brigade personnel at the ramp and police who were appointed to help, were so kind and gentle with the senior citizens and helped in pushing the wheelchair up the ramp that was inclined at 45 deg angle. As we reached the Vasanta Mandapam, we cleansed our feet with tap water, and had darshan of the Lord who was in the “sayana tirukolam” (supine pose). The personnel also lifted a few wheelchairs of senior citizens who could not get up to give them a glance of the Lord.
The energy we felt after darshan was unbelievable. The whole wait the walk seemed all worth the effort to have a glimpse of the Lord for less than 30 seconds. We searched for the hundi to offer our kannikai but we were told there was no hundi kept.
We came down the ramp with Amma’s wheel chair, deposited the wheelchair and proceeded towards the exit queue, which was a merged queue of senior citizens and general. This was a tough game to manoeuvre. We again requested the policemen to make way for the aged and with a bit of being pushed managed to exit the temple. We finished our darshan by 12.30 pm, which was much quicker than what we anticipated.
We had sambar and curd rice at restaurant along the road and walked back (2.5 km) all the way to the place where the car was parked. We cleansed our feet off the slush gathered from the barefoot walk in the rain.
At 2:00 pm we drove back from Kanchipuram to Bengaluru and reached electronic city by 5.30pm, but being a Monday we were stuck in Hosur road traffic at Bengaluru and reached home by 6.50 pm.
Here are a few tips and pointer for those who wish to visit Kanchipuram during this period:
1. Be prepared to walk for 2 Km to 3 Km from the parking point to reach the temple. There are very few autos who could take you from the bye lanes (they would charge at will).
2. Getting a parking space for your car will also be a mammoth task. So have patience and be prepared accordingly to park at far off place.
3. The hotel tariff is hiked (even double). It is advisable to go for a day trip or stay outside Kanchipuram.
4. Facilities during this period are quite minimal (including Toilet facility, leaving footwears).
5. Senior Citizens can avail of a special queue, wheel chair/battery car only after reaching the temple premises or praharam.
6. One may need to walk barefoot from the parking space to the temple queue for almost 2.5 km, else one should be prepared to let go of their footwear.
7. Food facility is available throughout the walk of 2.5 Km. However, every restaurant is extremely crowded.
8. The last but not the least, Be prepared to wait in long queues and it might take between 3 hrs to 6 hrs to have darshan of the Lord. In case of weekends/holidays, the wait time might be longer.
Some of my other Travelogues
The Grandeur of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...elangana.html? (The Grandeur of Andhra & Telangana)
Rann of Kutch travelogue
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ous-kutch.html
108 Divya Desams: Vishnu Sthalams Travelogue
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ravelogue.html
Spiti Splendour - Delhi to Spiti in an XUV500
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ti-xuv500.html
Travelogue Delhi – Bangalore – Navagraha Sthalams – Ganapatipule – Delhi in XUV 5OO
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...apatipule.html
Travelogue to the Golden City, Jaisalmer
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...aisalmer.html? (To the Golden City, Jaisalmer)