Sree Seetharama Temple @ Ayodhya Nagar - Thiruvananthapuram

 There have been popular maps of India -  road map, river, density of population, States of India, climate, Railways, Flood, earthquake zone, annual rainfall, natural resources and the like.  The recent one that everyday people have started looking into is – Covid 19 map !!

With 48,661 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's Covid-19 tally climbed to 13,85,522 today, while the recoveries rose  to 8,85,576, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The country's death toll rose to 32,063 with 705 fatalities being recorded in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Going by the nos. affected – the top 5 are : Maharashtra (366368); Tamil Nadu (206737); Delhi (129531); Karnataka (90942); Andhra Pradesh (88671).  By the no. of deaths – it is : Maharashtra (13389); Delhi (3806); Tamil Nadu (3409), Gujarat (2300) and Karnataka (1796) .. .. these are pure statistics and would reveal the way you look at them – in terms of nos affected !; nos recovered; deaths – and there are varying parameters – the % of population as to the National population :  Uttar Pradesh 16.51%; Maharashtra 9.28%; Tamil Nadu 5.96%; Kerala 2.76% and Delhi 1.39%   ~ that way Uttar Pradesh cases of 63742 from population of 199,812,341 is 0.0319% - whereas Delhi’s 129531 of 16,787,941 is 0.772%

Yet the media had portrayed certain States to be bad, while a couple of States most notably Kerala and Delhi were appreciated by one and all, especially foreign media – led by BBC.   As soon as the Centre raised an alert against coronavirus in January, Kerala Health Department initiated a series of proactive measures like quarantining all persons who recently traveled to affected regions like China as well as those who came in close contact with them. Such measures were hailed in the Press.

Kerala state on Wednesday reported 1,038 Covid-19 cases, its first-ever single-day tally above 1,000, taking the total cases reported to 15,032 as chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government was seriously considering the option of going for another lockdown. With 12 wards in the capital city being declared as containment zones, police have closed many of the roads. Thampanoor, Poundkadavu, Chalai, Karamana, Thycaud, Kunnukuzhi, Kowdiar, Muttada, Pattom, Ulloor, Cheruvaikal and Kazhakootam are the new containment zones. The police have barricaded all roads leading to these wards.

Another perspective, till now there was a combined state, which is no split into Andhra Pradesh & Telengana and if you add their numbers, it is worrying.  In the last one week, Andhra Pradesh has contributed more number of novel Coronavirus cases than any other state in India, except Maharashtra. The state has added more than 40,000 new patients during this time, which is half of its entire caseload of about 81,000. The explosion of infections in Andhra Pradesh is rather curious. The state was always one of the front-runners in testing, and that means it would have been possible to identify and isolate the infected patients quite early on. In fact, till the end of last month, the state seemed to have a reasonable control over the epidemic.

It gives more peace of mind in not reading these media focused news and statistics and better not to open messages in social media dishing out daily tally, and remedies of chasing Corona.  .. .. strange are the ways of people.  Though lengthy, this is no post on Covid 19 or on the States handling it – it is of a small beautiful temple, where I was fortunate to have darshan in Dec 2018 at Thiruvananthapuram.

அந்தமில் புகழ் அனந்தபுர நகர் ஆதி தன்னை ~ என சுவாமி நம்மாழ்வாரால் புகழ்ப்பெற்ற திவ்யதேசம் மலைநாட்டு ஸ்தலமான 'திருவனந்தபுரம்’.

For   Srivaishnavaites, abodes of Sriman Narayana, more importantly those sung by Alwars, those temples visited by Acaryas, places where they lived, places associated with them are of utmost importance .. .. .. ‘  there are divyadesams which  impresses by their sheer big size and their association with yore.  One such divyadesam is the Thiruvananthapuram ~ the magnificent abode of Sri Padmanabha Swami, situate in modern day Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala.

The origin of the Temple of Sree Padmanabhaswamy is lost in antiquity. It is not possible to determine with any exactitude, from any reliable historical documents or other sources as to when and by whom the original idol of Sree Padmanabhaswamy was consecrated. The Temple has references in Epics and Puranas. Srimad Bhagavatha says that Balarama visited this Temple, bathed in Padmatheertham and made several offerings. Nammalwar, has sung  ten hymns in praise of Lord Padmanabha.  It inspires awe as one has darshan through the 3 doors of the Emperuman Sree Ananthapadmanabhan in reclining posture.  The divine  atmosphere can only be felt – cannot be brought out in words.  

At Thiruvananthapuram nearer this great temple is a temple of Sree Lakshmi Varaha Swami.  Just in front of this temple is a beautiful temple ‘Sree Seetharama Temple” popularly Ayodhya nagar temple.  Inside this temple, there are sannathies of Lord Seetha Rama with Lakshmana & Aanjaneya, Lord Ganesha, Radha Krishna, Rukmini sametha Panduranga.

The temple glorifies nama sankeerthanam – chanting Bhagwan Namam as the easiest means of reaching Him.  There are beautiful sculptures of Valmiki, Purandaradhasar,  Sree Krishna Chaitanyar, Thukaram, Sengalipuram Anantharama deekshithar, Poonthanam namboodiri, Maharaja Swati Thirunal, Carnatic Music trinity and others.  The divine presence of sathgurus who had dedicated their life in namapracharanam inspires visitors to chant Bhagwan namam.  This campus known as Ayodhya nagar has become a popular place of Nama sankeerthana satsangams.

Next time you visit Thiruvananthapuram, you can reach this place by auto from nearer the Ananthapadmanabaswami temple.   The Garudan installed at the street in front of  Varahaswami temple is mesmerizingly majestic.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

26.7.2020