At the same time as the Navaratri celebrations are taking place, there is also a concurrent celebration for Vedanta Desika, a famous Vaishnava saint and philosopher who was born and who grew up in Kanchipuram. He has a temple in the big Vishnu temple across the street and each day the small murti is taken out around the temple, being carried by 32 men on the palanquin. The announce the time they are leaving the temple with a big cannon blast…people all up and down the street throw water in the road to cool the feet of the carriers, and the procession stops at each house who wants a quick puja and blessing.
Our pujas start early and everything is so nicely decorated with new fresh malas and flowers. As the daily yagya is performed, the work continues on the assembly of all the ingredients for the final Chandi Havan. There are 108 ingredients for the second part of the yagya, plus offerings that are made at the end of each chapter of the Chandi Path text, plus special offerings that are made for each section within the text where a different individual speaks. Chandi Path is essentially a conversation between Markendeya rishi, the goddess, a King and a merchant. So each time the word “Uvacha” appears in the text, it means that a different speaker is speaking and an offering of cloth, sandal, a comb, kumkum, etc is placed in the fire.
After the Rudra Abishekam, the pundits embarked on a very extensive invocation (called avahanam) for each of the Nava Durga (9 forms of Durga). A sweet lime was offered as part of each puja.
And as usual, while they are chanting, the pundits are creating some really nice flower arrangements, that last for just a few minutes before the flowers are used in the puja.
After a break, it is time to begin the Chandi havan. All is ready on the roof…
And as a measure of how hot is was, the way they melt ghee is simply to leave it in the sun and it melts in just a few minutes.
Ready to begin….
I noticed that while everyone had the text of Chandi Path with them, it was hardly necessary. They recited the text without hesitation and it seemed like it was only there for the occasional reminder of where they were after they took a break, or had to pause for some reason.
As the event progressed, the number of offerings in the fire started to mount and so did the smoke!
The entire yagya took several hours to complete, but the sense of energy and light was unmistakable. It was all too soon that the final offering (poornadhuti) was ready to be made. It was all wrapped up in a pure silk cloth with all sorts of fruits, spices, sandalwood, and wood.
The final offering….first of ghee and then the silk wrapped offerings.
Me and Seetharam after the final puja. Done! It was a phenomenal event and all 9 days were a genuine pleasure to attend.
