Sri Azhagiya Singar Garuda Sevai 2026

 

Sri Azhagiya Singar Garuda Sevai 2026

 

In the grand Brahmothsavam, each Vahanam, every purappadu has its  own charm, yet, if one were to ask the most majestic and most crowd-pulling ones,  it would be Thiruther and Garuda vahanam. !!  .. .. ..  The Brahminy kite  is considered to be the contemporary representations of Garuda; Indonesia adopts a more stylistic approach depicting a Javanese eagle (being much larger than a kite).  Well,  Eagle is far different than the Brahminy Kite !! 

Moving away,  Mexico’s main national symbol is the coat of arms: a golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus, with a snake in its beak and talon. It appears in the center of the national flag, which is one of Mexico’s other key national symbols. 

The Aztec were a Nahuatl-speaking Mesoamerican people who built a powerful empire in central Mexico before the Spanish conquest. More precisely, many of them called themselves the Mexica, and “Aztec” is the later broader label used for their civilization. Tenochtitlan was their great capital city, founded around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco. It became one of the largest and most impressive cities in the Americas, with canals, causeways, temples, and a huge population, and its ruins now lie beneath modern Mexico City. 

The Brahminy kite and the Aztec eagle are both powerful bird symbols, but they come from very different cultural worlds. The Brahminy kite is an actual bird in South and Southeast Asia, often linked in Hindu tradition with Garuda and auspicious presence, while the Aztec eagle is primarily a mythic-national symbol tied to the Mexica founding legend and war identity.   The Brahminy kite is a real raptor species, scientifically Haliastur indus, and it is widely recognized in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and nearby regions. The Aztec eagle is not a specific zoological species in the same way; it is a symbolic eagle image central to Aztec iconography and later Mexican identity.

In Hindu and related regional traditions, the Brahminy kite is often treated as an earthly reflection of Garuda, the divine bird and Sriman Narayanan’s vehicle, and it can carry auspicious or sacred associations. In Aztec mythology, the eagle is associated with divine destiny, sovereignty, and the founding sign of Tenochtitlan, where the eagle became a state symbol rather than a bird linked to a single avian species.  The Tenochtitlan founding legend says the Mexica were told to keep traveling until they saw a eagle perched on a cactus, often shown devouring a serpent, and that spot would be their new city. That omen was said to appear on an island in Lake Texcoco, where they founded Tenochtitlan in 1325, the city that later became Mexico City.  

The eagle was a divine signal from Huitzilopochtli, the Mexica god of sun and war, confirming they had reached the destined place. In later Mexican symbolism, the image came to stand for national origin, identity, and continuity from the Aztec past. For the Aztec, Tenochtitlan was not just a capital; it was the sacred center of their world. The founding legend of the eagle sign helped make the city’s origin story powerful and enduring, and that imagery still appears in Mexico’s national symbols today.

எம்பெருமானுக்கு எப்போதும் கைங்கர்யம் செய்யும் கருடாழ்வார் பெரிய திருவடி என சிறப்பிக்கப்படுகிறார்.  அழகான பட்டு உடுத்திய கருடனின் மீது பெருமாள் எழுந்து அருளும் கருட சேவை மிக அழகும் கம்பீரமும் நிறைந்தது.   கருடன், காச்யபர் என்கிற மகரிஷிக்கும் வினதைக்கும் பிறந்தவர்.  'வினதை சிறுவன்' என பெரியாழ்வார் மங்களாசாசனம்.  வினதையின் மற்றொரு புதல்வன் அருணன், சூரியனுக்கு தேரோட்டி.   

கஸ்யபருக்கும் வினைதைக்கும்  கருடன் மிக்க பலசாலியாகவும்  , தன் விருப்பப்படியே நினைத்த உருவெடுக்க வல்லவனும், நினைத்த இடத்திற்குச் செல்ல தகுந்தவனும், நினைத்த அளவிற்கு சக்தியைப் பெருக்கிக் கொள்ளத் தக்கவனும், காந்தி மிக்கவனும்,  நெருப்புக் குவியல் போன்ற ஒளியுடன் பிரகாசமாக பிறந்தான்.  மின்னலைப் போன்ற பார்வையுடனும், யுக முடிவின் நெருப்புக்கு ஒத்த காந்தியுடனும், இருந்த அந்தப் பறவையானவன் (கருடன்), பிறந்தவுடனேயே வேகமாக வளர்ந்து, உருவத்தைப் பெருக்கிக் கொண்டு வானத்தில் பறந்தான்.  

In the ongoing Aani Brahmothsavam for Sri Azhagiya Singar  at Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam today  27^th June 2026     is the third day – a very important day ~ it is  Garuda Vahanam for Sri Thelliyasinga  Perumal.  Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong person, has a white face, wings,  prominent beak, wears a crown – massive, strong – and more than anything else – ever devoted to Sriman Narayanan, carrying Him on his shoulders all the time. His devotion and being close to Emperuman all the time – Garuda, is admired as ‘PeriyaThiruvadi’.  

Brahmothsavam is a grand festivity – each day it is different Vahanam, and Perumal has classy alankarams … on Garuda vahanam day, thousands gather early in the morning to catch glimpse of the Lord as he comes out of the gate (Gopura vassal darsanam). (around 5.30 am)   On Garuda Sevai day, people from far and away come to the temple, offer vasthram (new clothes), place before Lord cocoanut, fruits & other offerings and have darshan of Lord in Garuda vahanam.  It is a day of masses ~ teeming crowds, chanting the name of Lord SrimanNarayana, offering him everything including hundreds of vasthrams – all roads would read Madaveethis as people rush to have darshan of Lord on Garuda and enjoy the aesal and other festivities.  

The streaming bakthas had the pleasure of His darshan and here are some photos of Garuda Sevai purappadu.      At 05.30 am, people waited to have the glimpse of Lord coming out of western Gopuravasal, then there was grand aesal – and after halt at   Gangaikondan mandapam,  purappadu resumed by 8 am and concluded around 10.15 am.  

adiyenSrinivasadhasan 
Mamandur Veeragalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar