Temple tour-4: Samayapuram

We happened to visit the temple during the festival rush. All along the way, we found groups of devotees, all ages, footing it to the shrine from town and villages scores of miles away. Walking it to the temple for darshan during festivel time is part of their commitment to Marriamman, in whom millions have unshakeable faith.

The deity is believed to have powers to cure chicken pox; and devotees bring their dear ones to the temple, where they are blessed with the theertham that cures them of the ailment. It is said that during off-festival times the temple management provides space for the stay of ailing devotees in a hall close to the temple. For the clinical-minded the temple environs may not look hygienic enough, but then the hygiene-conscious would take their ailing folk to a nursing home, rather than the shrine of Mariamman. However, most of the devotees in Trichy and its neighbourhood bring their folk to the temple after the cure, as a thanks-giving gesture.

There is , however, a crying need for maintaining public hygiene in the vicinity of the shrines. And absolve the temple management , and local authorities cannot absolve their responsiblity for proper upkeep of this place. A wikipedia entry says Samayapuram, in terms of cash offerings, is the second wealthiest shrine in Tamilnadu, next only to Palani.

On way to the temple (seen at the end of this lane) you confront hawkers flogging items for offerring to the deity. Further down this lane, closer to the temple we had to walk through, barefoot, over a water spill leaking from a public bath for the pilgrims.
Close to the temple entrance is a clutter of shops. This was where we ran into a 'guide' (or rather, he buttonholed us) who offered to take us straight to the sannidhi through a short-cut. His price : Rs.600 for the five of us . This was way too high, even for the most devoted temple-goers who wouldn't leave any temple without darshan, even if it meant tipping someone to have their way. The temple 'guides' are mind-readers .

As we argued over his rate, Raghu looked around and spotted the Rs.25 counter. We moved on, leaving the 'guide' high and dry, for a change. The chap's undoing was the he was much too greedy; and thought we were utterly gullible. Besides, he bluffed us about the entry ticket - Rs.100 per person. That was when Raghu started to look around, and found the Rs.25 counter.
As it turned out, our passage through the 25-rupee-queue was fairly smooth, and we were out of the temple within some 20 minutes.
The temple exit, where Raghu took our group photograph.