Masi Magam [mahamaham] at Thiruvallikkeni Bay of Bengal 2016

This is not a photo taken by me – shows Sri Parthasarathi Perumal entering the Bay of Bengal for theerthavari on Masi Magam day 2016.

Bay of Bengal, the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Roughly triangular, it is bordered mostly by India and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the east.  Number of rivers flow into it and that includes the holy Ganges, the Brahmaputra, Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna and Cauvery.  Alongside the bay of Bengal is the famed sandy  Marina beach, running from Fort St George to Besant Nagar.

To the early morning visitor, Marine offers tranquillity and more. While we celebrate it as a pleasant sea, UNHCR’s latest report reveals it to be “three times more deadly” than the Mediterranean. The report states that refugees and migrants crossing the seas of Southeast Asia died at a rate three times higher than those in the Mediterranean last year ! The UNHCR report states that those movements had been refugees and migrants often employ the same routes, modes of transport, and networks, and their movements are commonly referred to as “mixed movements.” …. migrants of various nationalities had taken to smugglers' boats, including 32,600 in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, where the bulk of the passengers had been Rohingya and Bangladeshi, according to the report.

Softening its earlier stand, India has decided to conclude a low-ambition free trade agreement with the seven-nation grouping Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, or Bimstec. Negotiations for a deal in September failed to reach a consensus, after India’s proposal to revise tariff cuts decided a decade ago was opposed by other members, especially Thailand.

Blissfully away from all this were the happenings on 22^nd Feb 2016 ~ Masi Magam, a very special one at that ‘Maha Maham’ occurring once in 12 years. At 0530 in the morning  Sri Parthasarathi  adorning beautiful  ornaments and green silk vasthram  had purappadu atop Garuda Vahanam and reached Bay of Bengal for theerthavari.

I have never seen so many Perumals at Bay of Bengal and so too were thousands who had gathered on that special occasion to take bath in the sea.  The sea was overbearing with joy welcoming Emperuman and embracing the devotees.

Sri Peyawlar has sung about Thiruvallikkeni temple in his ‘Moondram Thiruvanthati’ – describing  Thiruvallikkeni waves as being  white as milk and there are red pavazham and white pearls at the time of twilight and at that sandhya time he has the darshan of the Lord at Thiruvalllikeni

வந்துதைத்த வெண்டிரைகள் செம்பவள வெண்முத்தம்*

அந்தி விளக்கும் அணிவிளக்காம், - எந்தை*

ஒருவல்லித் தாமரையாள் ஒன்றியசீர் மார்வன்,*

திருவல்லிக்கேணி  யான் சென்று.

கடற்கரையில் வெள்ளை அலைகள்வந்து உதைக்க சிவப்பான பவளம், வெண்மையான முத்துக்கள், அந்தி நேரத்தில் அழகான மங்கள விளக்குகள்  என விளங்கும்  திருவல்லிக்கேணி!

Here are some photos taken by me  at the beach when Sri Parthasarathi visited the sandy shores.

Adiyen Srinivasa dhasan.