Thiruvallikkeni Sri Azhagiya Singar thiruvadi ! ~ kuthirai vahanam 2019

For Srivaishnavaites, surrendering at the lotus feet of Emperuman is the purpose of life.  Today  is day 8 of Aani brahmothsavam .. ..   You are having darshan of Emperuman [Sri Azhagiyasingar] thiruvadi here !!

குதிரை- புராணங்களிலும், சங்க இலக்கியங்களிலும், மன்னர் காலத்திலும்,  சிறப்பாக கருதப்பட்டு வந்து  உள்ளது. இளவரசர்கள் யானை ஏற்றம், குதிரை ஏற்றம், ரதம் ஓட்டுதல் இவற்றில் தேர்ச்சி அடைந்தனர். பண்டைய அரசுகளின் படைகளில் குதிரைப்படை இன்றியமையாத ஒன்றாக இருந்துள்ளது.  குதிரைகள் மிக வேகமாக ஓட வல்லவை - அவற்றின் சக்தி பிரம்மிப்பூட்ட்ட வல்லது.  நமது  வைணவ திருக்கோவில்களில்  பிரம்மோத்சவத்தில் - குதிரை வாஹனம் சிறப்பானது.

Horses domesticated thousands of years ago, have been associated with man in many ways – right from farming to warfare.  The 18^th  through 20^th  centuries produced a flood of treatises on the organization and tactics of cavalry and on the training of cavalry horses and riders. Countless public reports and private diaries, regimental histories and personal memoirs, intensified the deluge, as did a steady stream of disciplinary histories, particularly in the latter half of that period. Many of these works relied not only on the military experience and expertise of their authors, but also on disinterested research and rigorous thinking.

Cavalry has been at the centrestage of warfare .. but horses have been associated with a difference significance after recent elections in Bengaluru.  The single majority party failed to prove its absolute majority on the floor – and now we have the bizarre party with lowest seats backed by another party in power and this too is called democracy. Negotiations are at the heart of all political deal-making of the sorts we are witnessing in Bengaluru in recent times.  More than the horse, it is the horse-trading !! 

On day 8 of Sri Azhagiyasingar Aani Brahmothsavam @ thiruvallikkeni  is ‘Aswa (kuthirai) vahanam’ [in fact two !] – Sri Thelliya Singar has purappadu on golden horse and comes Thirumangai mannan on his ‘aadalma’ (more on Kaliyan vaibhavam in a separate post !)

Our ancestors have not only established such grand fete  ‘Uthsavams’ but have taken care of the minutest details .. .. on the golden decorated horse, Emperuman cracks a whip, adorns a crown that generally is worn by horse-riders ~ and ever imagined how His legs would be adorned ?  - see the photos here

~adiyen dhasan – S. Sampathkumar                                                                   20^th June 2019.