Chennai: Every Monday evening or during the Pournami, people going in the Mada streets would have noticed a group of people chanting namavalis and going around the streets. They belong to a group called Mylai Kailai Bhakthi Valam and like the Girivalam done in Tiruvannamalai, they go around the Kapaleeswarar Temple.
News Today reached the group to know more about their activities. Radhakrishnan, who organises the Bhakthi Valam says, “It has been said that in the past, many siddhars lived around Mylapore and during Pournami they would go around the Mada street after taking a bath in the tank. However, it began with Lakshmi Narasimhan, a resident of Mylapore, who during the year 2013, got a dream in which the Ambal herself asked him to start a valam like Thiruvannamalai around the Kapaleeswarar Temple. He then said that to me and we started it after the Chitra Pournami. There were only five people at first. Lakshmi Narasimhan then asked me to take it over and since then we are continuing to do it,” he says.
What started out with five members has now become a big group with more than 500 members in it who take part in the activity everytime. “We the members of the group once after assembling in the temple in the evening start the Bhakthi Valam by 6.45 pm and go around the temple inside its premises once and then we go once around the Mada streets chanting the namavali. After reaching back, we will do kootu prartanai and then distribute the prasadams,” said Uma Maheshwari, one of the co-ordinators of the group.
Not only in Mylapore, the group has expanded currently.There are groups in nearly seven temples around the State where Pournami Bhakti Valam happens. Speaking about this she adds, says, “After it started, for three years initially the activity happened only in Kapaleeswarar Temple but we wanted this activity to take place in all the temples and once went to Thiruvallur Poondi village for voluntary service and when we were in Agnipureeswarar temple they came to know about the Bhakti Valam. The priest of the temple immediately asked us to start it in their temple as well and now Bhakthi Valam happens in that temple besides Sundara Mahalinga Swamy Temple, Kiliyur, Kasi Viswanathar Temple,Virudhunagar, Komaleeswarar Temple, Komaleeswaranpettai, Marundeeswarar temple, Thiruvanmiyur and Sri Thyagaraja Swamy temple in Thiruvottriyur.”
Apart from that Siddhar Valam too happens at the Kulandaivel and Muthiah Swami temple during the janmanatchathiram of the siddhar and Ammavasai Valam happens in Sri Adhi Kesava Perumal temple. The group also does social activities like temple cleaning around the locality, helping underprivileged children in many villages. “Also during all the festivals in Kapaleeswarar Temple, our volunteers will be there to do the service,” adds Uma Maheshwari.
“The kootu prarthanai we do after the valam has been very successful as it is solving the problems of the people. In our experience, we have seen a divorced couple rejoin, health ailments vanishing and many other miracles. Recently we also conducted a kootu prarthanai for rain and it rained immediately afterwards,says Radhakrishnan. The next Pournami Valam will be the 77th one organised by the group.”
For more details contact Radhakrishnan at 98843 96963.