Bestowing grace from a cave
The entrance to the shrine...
THE ROAD branching off at Thudiyalur on the Coimbatore-Mettupalayam highway through Pannimadai to Varappalayam fills the mind of the traveller with sweet sensations.
The serpentine road and the calm, green and pastoral landscape through the two-kilometre stretch from Varappalayam surrounded by the imposing Western ghats is tranquil as a dreamless sleep.
Ponnoothamman ... Goddess who generated a spring.
Against this sylvan setting at a height of about 300 feet on the Sanjivi hill amid a hollow between a pair of huge rocks inside a cave is Parashakti Devi Ponnoothamman.
Facing south-east, She bestows Her grace beside a swayambhu.
Shrines of Ganesha, Siva, Subrahmanya and Anjaneya at the Ponnoothamman temple ... the consecration was performed recently.
A perennial spring from the right side of the idol flows around it to the left.
Three persons can sit inside the cave and worship the deity at a time.
An interesting story
Hearsay reports aver that five centuries ago, a small girl named Ponnamma woke up Velappa Naidu of theVarappalayam village from his sleep at the dead of night, seeking shelter. Velappa pitied the child and gave her some food. But it vanished when she touched it.
Next morning too, she declined the host's offer of food, pointed to Sanjivi hill, and saying that would be her abode, disappeared. When the locals pursued her, a rock suddenly burst and there arose a swayambhu.
Afraid of the deafening noise, the villagers ran helter-skelter from the scene. When they again went there after some time, a spring had come up there and they started worshipping the swayambhu anointing it with the holy water from the spring. The deity therefore came to be known as Ponnoothamman because of the spring. The descendants of Velappa Naidu continue to be the priests at the temple.
There is a shrine for Perumal near the Devi sannidhi. Pongal is a gala function at the temple with the women folk of the village worshipping the deity with Unaampoo flowers culled from the nearby forests. The temple is open from 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily.
Special pujas are performed on Amavasya day, every month.
It is believed that the idol of Ponnoothamman is guarded by a white cobra frequenting the shrine to partake of the milk given to it by the devotees. It is also believed that siddhapurushas had once been living in the rocky terrain of the shrine.
If childless couples offer their prayers here, they are believed to be blessed with progeny. Recently, a local devotee, Dr. Muthulakshmi Viswanathan, an ardent devotee of Kollur Mookambika was divinely directed in her dream to worship Ponnoothamman instead of making frequent trips to Kollur.
The couple have now undertaken the temple tiruppani, with the cooperation of the villagers. They cleared the rocky terrain to construct 108 steps besides installing separate shrines for Ganesa, Siva, Subrahmanya and Anjaneya.
The Samprokshanam was performed by Santhalinga Adigalar of Perur Adheenam recently. The temple can be reached from Thudiyalur via Pannimadai. Devotees have to trek a distance of two kilometres to reach the shrine.
Vehicle owners can go up to the shrine from Varappalayam. Mini buses also ply from Thudiyalur to Varappalayam frequently.
T. K. GANAPATHY
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