Trichy Ayyappan Temple

   For people who belong to Trichy this blog may not provide any new information but for people who have not been to Ayyappan Temple in Trichy this blog may be informative. This temple is pride of Trichy and is a great testimony for the city. “Silence” and “Cleanliness” are two things that make this temple an unique experience for devotees. There is always bunch of volunteers roaming around in the temple to make sure silence is maintained throughout the premise, if a toddler runs around suddenly you will see a volunteer rushing towards you asking to take care of the kid. Cleanliness is something which is very hard to enforce in India with the sort of population we have but people can come here and do a case study on how to keep the premise clean. This temple hosts so many plants and it is wonderful to see so much of greenery in a Temple. Now let me walk you through the temple…As soon as you enter there are volunteers who take care of slippers; Outside India it is very natural to have people volunteer in Temple in different areas like Kitchen, Religious activity, Logistics etc., but in India norm is people sponsor money and there are always laborers to take care of different departments. But this is one temple that breaks the conventional wisdom and have common people volunteer in different departments. Temple does not have Undiyal, no money for priests, Archanai is done in the name of the lord, there is absolutely no commercial activity in the premise. On behalf of your company even if you want to make a huge sponsor they will not entertain to advertise your business whatsoever. Dress code is something they strictly follow and they will stop you right there if they find your dress inappropriate. People make fun of Indian standard time but temple’s punctuality is something similar to military standards.

Here are some of the features of the temple:

(1)    Temple donates Buttermilk for common citizens from March 1 to May 31st of every year since that is peak summer

(2)    Balar School: Temple enrolls young kids and teaches so many religious stuff, wonderful sight to see kids in white uniform on Sundays

(3)    Devaram-Thiruvasagam classes happen on Saturdays

(4)    Every 2^nd and 4^th Sunday Blood camps happen and this has won so many accreditation in the state

(5)    Educational assistance to those who secured good marks but economically backward

(6)    There are so many Herbal plants in the temple premise – 356 herbal plants, plants for all 27 nakshatras, 368 trees etc., A walk around the temple looking into all these plants can be refreshing

(7)    There are Yoga classes, Hindi classes, Religious yatras, Eye/Organ Donation awareness camps etc., which happen at regular intervals

 One of the thing which I really love about the Temple is the writings all over. They have so many granite stones and you will come across beautiful phrases which may enlighten you. For regular visitors ‘Moral story’ written on the wall every week next to book stall is something you will look forward to. There is one spot in the temple where the famous song from Mannan “amma vendrazhaikkadha uyirillaye” is written on the wall and you could also play it. So many people come and pay respects to their moms by doing a sashtang namaskaram in front of the lyrics. There is also one spot in the temple near the big dyana mandapam a place where they have instilled 1574 holy stones from many different temples. Temple management also has one post box just back of Ayyappan sannidhi where one can write a letter requesting lord to help. Every month during Lord Ayyappa’s nakshatram day (Uthiram) they present the letters under the feet of lord Ayyappa and priest does archanai for “Genuine” requests to be fulfilled. Then they discard the letters using paper shredding machine.

   Temple attracts 20000, 30000 or even more devotees on English new year, Tamil new year etc., Anyone organization who wants to know how to deal with massive crowd but at the same time ensure the purpose of each one’s visit is duly met then they got to visit this temple on those days. On Tamil new year day I went around 8.30 – 9 am and they said we already crossed more than 8000. There is so much of planning which is fully backed by wonderful execution by volunteers. There are no major barricades, savukku kambu or big sticks involved in crowd management but just a plain simple white thread is what it takes. Temple is just at the heart of the city but the way crowd is handled is something that is absolutely amazing. If you have not visited the temple I would highly recommend you to visit Ayyappan Temple, Trichy and get lord’s blessings. Give yourself enough time to be in the temple for you to experience the divinity and make sure you check Temple timings and plan your trip accordingly.