Kanchipuram is sometimes called the city of 1000 temples. Obviously there are the well known, major temples like the Kamakshi and Ekambeshwara temples, but most of those thousand temples are in the surrounding area and are smaller, often a bit neglected, but which sometimes have amazing histories.
Maintaining temples and performing proper pujas is a time consuming and expensive proposition made more difficult by the sheer number of temples to be cared for. One of the goals of the puja.net yagya program is to help a little bit with the upkeep and at least have a nice elegant puja performed with lots of milk, big fresh flower garlands, and a new silk dhoti.
The June Shiva puja was performed at a beautiful small temple in the countryside.
Once inside the effect is like walking back in time and you can’t help but wonder what it was like when the temple was new. What celebrations must have taken place and how happy people must have been to have the temple there. But with the very passage of hundreds and hundreds of year, people move on to other things. Still the majestic Shiva lingam is there and somehow the pujas continue year after year.
After a puja like this the lingam is so beautifully dressed and looks renewed. When you are there in person, the atmosphere feel rejuvenated and refreshed, like some dormant aspect of the divine has been awakened.
