Temple tour - A matter of belief

Belief is that visitors at Vekkaliamman temple would have their wishes fulfilled,if they make a written submission. Requisition sheets are available at the counter,at Rs.10 a sheet. They also give a yellow thread to roll-and-tie the sheet to a wooden frame at the sannadhi. The thick cluster of rolled up yellow sheets, like a flowering tree in full bloom, stands testimony to the multitude visiting the temple and the firmness of their belief.

I may not be a religious person, but I respect others belief; and particularly appreciate Prabhakaran's sentiments. He was our neighbour in Coonoor. As a cab-owner,he visits various places. During a Tiruchi visit Mr Prabhakaran made it a point to go to Vekkaliammankoil and tie a wish requesition slip on our behalf, with a prayer that we be blessed with a grand-child. This was four years ago. We have since had two grandsons.Siddarth,three years, and Nikhil, one plus.

A view from the road, as no photogrphy is allowed inside the temple. The Amman idol is lit up by natural daylight, for the presiding deity here is placed under open sky, right in the middle of the built-up area of the temple.
Baby and Raghu joined us from Mysore; and Chitra(my wife's youngest sister), from Salem, on our thanks-giving visit to Vekkaliamman.
The three Sulur sisters stayed at Gajapriya hotel to be able to do the temples around Tiruchi. Two days were too little time for them (all hardcore temple-goers) to do justice even to the core temples in Srirangam, Samayapuram, and Vayalur.
Legend has it that Vekkaliamman showed up at Uraiyur during the reign of Paraandhaga Chozhan. Kumudan Bhakti Special(Apl.15, 2005) carries an engaging article by Priya Kalyanaraman (image at the top of this post).
The article speaks of a grievance of a sage, who found flowers stolen from his nandavanam on a daily basis. He made a plea to the king, only to source the stolen flowers back to the palace. The king had deployed a flower-thief to rob the garden of its flowers before the saint could get there daily to pluck flowers for offering to his god. The Chozha king had the flowers stolen for his pregnant wife Bhuvanadevi. When the sage took up the issue with his deity, an enraged Shiva set off a sandstorm at Uraiyur, and set the Cauvery in spate. People fled the town. The king left his palace with his expectant wife.Queen Bhuvanadevi, as the story goes, fell off her horse and was swept away in the flooded Cauvery.
This was when Vekkaliamman showed up to save the queen from drowning. She soon gave birth to Karikala Chozhan.