Shastiapthapoorthi@thirukadayur

On 12-12-11 we celebrated my parents Shastiapthapoorthi (60tham kalyanam) in Thirukadayur Amirthakadeswarar temple.

When and Why

Amirthakadeswarar temple is famous all over India for performing the wedding when the groom (father) completes his 60 years and steps on to the 61st. The reason behind is not so clear to me but one thing I came to know while googling about this temple and Shastiapthapoorthi, Tamil calendar is divided in to 60 years cycle if you are born on 2011 i.e. கர வருடம் the next கர வருடம் comes when you complete 60 yrs i.e on 2071. It is almost considered like a new birth for them, the planetary position will be different from the one they had when they were born. By doing Shastiapthapoorthi on your star birthday you are starting this birth in a holy fashion. The rituals performed in the ceremony are considered to give health, wealth and prosperity to the couples and their children. It is the duty of the children of the family to conduct this ceremony. 

Where

Shastiapthapoorthi is a ceremony which consists of various homams and rituals which has to be performed by the couple, priests and the children of the family. These rituals and homans can be performed at any place of your convenience in home or in a near by temple or in Thirukadayur amirthakadeswara temple.  

Importance of Thirukadayur

Performing this in Amirthakadeswara temple is considered to be special since this is the place where siva did samharam of Yama and protected Markandeyan and gave him the boon to live ever 16.  Apart from Amirthakadeswarar the other deity in this temple is Kalasamharamoorthy, with his grace it is believed that people doing Shastiapthapoorthi will live a healthy life. Also the main deity Amirthakadeswarar i.e Amirtham + Kadam+ Eswarar, the lingam here is nothing but a pot filled with amirtham. When devas and asuras grinded the ocean (பார் கடல்)  and got amirtham out of it, they took the amirtham in a pot and decided to have it without worshiping lord vinayaga. So vinayagar stole the pot and hided it in this temple and the pot became a lingam. Later Devas worsiped Siva here and got the amirtham. Since the vinayagar here stole the amirtha kadam he is called as கள்ளபிள்ளையார். 

This temple is also famous for the goddess Abirami, this is the temple where abirami battar sang 'Abirami andhathi' praising the goddess Abirami to save him from death sentence given by the kind. 

 

How to reach Thirukadaiyur

Thirukadaiyur is a village in Nagapattinam district it is not a big in size but it is famous in this part of the state. From Chennai there are trains available to reach Sirkazhi (சிர்காழி) or Mayilathurai (மயிலாடுதுறை), from there you can take a cab or bus to Thirukadaiyur which is 10 - 15 Kms far. If you are coming from south as far as I know Thiruchendur express comes to these towns from there you can take a bus to Thirukadaiyur.

Where to stay

Though Thirukadaiyur is a village it has high-class lodging facilities at an affordable rate. They have rooms of multiple options, you can rent a room for a family of 2, 3, 6 or even for a group of 10, 20, 30. If you do not wish to stay there or coming there by morning train, there are also places where you can just freshen up and go to temple directly. For a 2 bedroom the prices vary from 350 Rs to 750 Rs. 

How to arrange the function in temple

If you are willing to perform this ceremony inside the temple then you need to go to the temple in person and pay 1250/- to reserve a place inside the temple on your star birth day. It is always better to reserve it a month before the date(at least). Then you need to find a priest who can do the homam on behalf of you. And you need to buy the things (flowers, fruits, ganga theertham, etc.) which are required for the homam and rituals.

There are many groups/contractors available in the village who arrange the whole package for us. They will book the place in temple, arrange for priest, cow for pooja, elephant, nathaswaram, if needed food for the guests etc. Cost varies from 6000 /- to a lakh depends on what package you select.

Our Experience

Since I was at onsite my father he himself arranged the whole function, (even if i was there in Chennai also I doubt any participation from me ;) ). He visited Thirukadaiyur a month before his star birth day and booked the ceremony for 6.5k. They gave a list of items which we need to bring while come for the ceremony listed some of those i remember,

Seven Coconuts

Ganga theertham

Banana and other fruits (apple / orange)

Choclates or கற்கண்டு 

2 மாலை

New dress sets for the couple

விபூதி, மஞ்சள் , கும்குமம், சந்தனம். 

Our ceremony is arranged to start by 10 AM so we booked 3 rooms in a hotel for a night stay so that we can get ready in the morning and go to the temple by 9. We did the booking in Hotel Abhirami via phone.

We had a small and simple ceremony, so only seven of us were in the function including the bridegroom (my parents). Me, my two sisters and brother-in-laws we took a Innova from chennai to thirukadaiyur directly. We started around 3.30 PM from our home in Vadapalani and reached the hotel in Thirukadaiyur at 10 PM. Since it was rainy season We took the Dhindivanam, Pondichery route instead of villupuram, vadalur route. And the cab we have taken is not All India Permit so we had put a permit for 300 Rs in TN & Pondicherry border. There are 3 toll gates you need to pass on the way. Till you cross Pondichery road is very good from Pondy to Cuddaloor and cuddaloor to Chidambaram road is not as good so it took 6 hour driver for us to reach there. 

The hotel we booked is decent though the rooms are very small but it was very neat and had all the facilities. Morning we got ready by 8 and had our breakfast in a near by restaurant. Restaurants are not good and its not bad. 

We went to the temple gopuram around 9 and arranged all the things in தாம்பாளம். There were lot of goats around the temple :) 

 

You can book photographers near the kovil gopuram, they charge 600 Rs for taking 35 photos, incl a CD, one album and courier charge. Though we had 2 cameras with us We hired a person, later we realized how useful it was to hire him. Since we all are children we all had to participate in the rituals so no time to take the camera out. Then the priest brought 2 garlands for my parents and tooks us inside the temple. First we did கோ (Cow) poojai in the first praharam. We are suppose to do a pooja for kovil elephant also but that day the elephant was taken to the rehabilitation camp in mudhumalai so we didn't get the chance to do that. 

Then the priest took a tour to all the main deities of the temple and dropped us in the Abhirami amman praharam where the place for our ceremony was booked. Since it was late in the morning it was not much crowed and only 2 or 3 marriages were happening on the praharam. In the morning 7O'clock batch around 15 couples got married. So we felt it is better to go in the second batch. 

In the abhirami praharam 2 other priest arranged all the things needed for pooja and homam. They started doing the homam in between they explained us what they are doing. Then we were asked to worship many gods when they were telling the mantra for each of those gods. The total homam took place just for an hour, but if you do the same homam in your home it will take a day to complete. Here they did it briefly. Then we showered the couples with the holy water in the kalasams kept in the poojai. After that they wore new dress and exchanged garland and then mangalaya dhanam. Many people who came for the temple and participated in the showering and took ashirvadam, it seems it is very good to even see the people who had done 60tham kalyanam here. 

After finishing the ceremony we are asked to visit the Markandeyar temple which is 2 -3 kms from this temple. We went there in car and came back. Then we had lunch in a restaurant and vacated the room. So over all it took 4 hrs for the ceremony.