Temple Town - T Narasipura

 

Temple town of Tirumakudalu Narasipura

This temple city in the state of Karnataka is unique and draws a parallel to Prayagraj in the north. Both these places have a Triveni Sangam and host Kumbh Mela.

While the Sangam in Prayagraj is a confluence of three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical underground Saraswati, at T Narasipura it is the confluence of rivers Cauvery, Kabini and Mythical Spatika Sarovara. Also known as Dhakshina Kashi, T Narasipura is a sacred pilgrimage center and hosts Kumbh Mela, once every three years.

The two temples Gunja Narasimhaswamy and Agastyeshwara are significant, being more than 450 years old and finds a mention in Skanda Purana. This sacred town was patronaged by Vijayanagar and Mysore Kings. The name of the village – Tiru stands for ‘three’, Kudalu means ‘Sangama’ and Narasimhapura means the place of Lord Narasimha.

While we had visited this holy town almost a decade ago, we hadn’t paid much attention to the temple history. This time on 7^th December 2025, we were invited to join for the 10^th year annual ritual of my father-in-law’s younger brother. My brother-in-law suggested that we join him on the 3 hours’ drive and we did! This time we reached a bit early and found ample time to spend some quality time at the two temples and learn about its origins and history.

Getting to learn about some finer aspects from Priests themselves is extremely interesting. Later, reading about it in Google is like joining the pieces of a big puzzle and it all adds up to recreate history in our minds. Documenting it makes an interesting read not just to ourselves, but also for the generations to come.

Gunja seed is an ancient medicine, toxic because of the presence of Abrin, a protein similar to ricin and viper snake venom. Its botanical name is Abrus Precatorius and its also called Rosary Pea. This is used as beads in a percussion instrument and each seed weighs less than 0.15 gram. This plant is a perennial climber, slender and twines around trees, shrubs and hedges.

I wonder how many people know that Gunja seed is the determining factor in deciding which kshetra was more sacred – Kashi or T Narasipura.

As the legend goes, a washerman used to come to this Triveni Sangam to wash clothes daily. One night Lord Narasimha appeared in his dream and guided him to an anthill which had a Vigraha of the Lord himself embedded deep within. Next morning the washerman went to the same anthill and poured water on it and unbelievably found a beautiful Vigraha reveal itself as the mud slipped away. Having found the Vigraha, the washerman deemed it fit to build a temple at the same place. For this he would require financial resources and he had none! The Lord himself appeared in his dream again and guided him to his washing stone, and lying beneath this stone was treasure – enough to help the washerman build a magnificent temple. The Lord was mighty pleased with the washerman’s devotion and commitment and wanted to bless him. Lord Narasimha said “Ask and you shall be given”! The washerman wished that he get an opportunity to travel to Kashi, take a holy dip in the Ganges to rid himself of all sins and attain moksha. Lord Narasimha replied that there was no need to travel to Kashi as this place was more sacred than Kashi. To prove his point the Lord put Kashi and Narasipura on the two sides of a balance (measuring) scale. Narasipura was heavier by weight equal to one Gunja seed. To this day Lord Narasimhaswamy holds a gulaganji in his hand. There is more similarity between the two sacred places – In Kashi Lord Shiva is worshipped as Visveshwara and here he is worshipped as Agastyeshwara. In Kashi one can have darshana of Vata-Vrikshsa and here it is Brahma Ashwatha Vriksha.

This Brahma Ashwatha Vriksha is adjacent to the Agastyeshwara temple, yet another place of worship in T Narasipura. This temple is built on a slender strip of land that guides the two rivers Cauvery and Kabini to a meeting point. As the legends goes, Agastya muni while traversing the Dandakaranya forest decided to halt at T Narasipura and offer his prayers to Lord Shiva. He directed Lord Hanuman to get him a Linga from Kashi but didn’t have the patience to wait for his return. Even the auspicious time for doing the Prana Pratishtapana was fast approaching. He then decided to make a Linga out of the river sand on the banks and performed the Prana-Pratishtapana of this Linga. When Lord Hanuman returned with a Linga from Kashi, he was surprised to see that Agastya muni had already completed his installation, Prana Pratishtapana and worship of the idol. He was visibly upset and in a fit of rage, he dealt a severe blow atop the newly made Linga. But since the Prana Pratishtapana was already done, this had turned into a living idol and couldn’t be destroyed. The rear of the Linga remained intact and it is so to this day. But the front portion developed a slit giving passage to Ganga to trickle from the opening. To this day water trickles from this slit and is offered as tirtha prasada by the purohit. While the purohit was telling us this story that probably dates back to the ancient times, we listened with absolute awe and seeing the surprise, he went to the Linga and scooped up 5 to 6 Udharne of this holy water and gave it to us as prasada.

We then proceeded to partake in the annual rituals and offered our respects to the departed soul. It is considered good to conduct these rituals in a tirtha kshetra and this town has a sizable population of priests who conduct them. The arrangements were extremely good and so was the food – homemade!

What came as a pleasant surprise was the pot hole free roads all the way to the town. Living in Bangalore city which has only pot holes and virtually no road, this came as a BIG surprise to all of us. On the return journey however, there was an accident and the traffic was diverted through a single lane mud track. Some anxious moments before we hit the main highway once again and the return journey was event free. We must thank Google for mapping all the narrow lanes as well – such a detour is important in case of an emergency.

We stopped enroute at a restaurant for a cup of coffee and it was pretty good and perhaps a tad better than what is dished out in Bangalore restaurants/Darshini’s these days.

Memories November 29 and 30, 2025

Memories…keeping them alive with a few words of Appreciation.

November 29^th and 30^th have been milestone days in our life and we thank all our family members and Sambandhis for have graced the special occasion and for having been there for us.

Indeed it was very eventful the last two days and not forgetting the month long run-up and preparations that went towards planning, coordinating with all the stakeholders, who worked towards making the event a success. 

It is easy to conclude that the program went off very well and all the invitees enjoyed themselves during the get together. But what we do not give much credit is to the small group that combined so very well to pay very close attention to all the details to make it a success. The five... Uma, Rohit, Lavanya, Rahul and Sanjana deserve a very *Special* pat on the back, to have planned and managed the events so very beautifully to make it a resounding success!! 

The remaining two, Tanay and I also deserve some applause for staying out of the way, not interfering and not getting under their skins by giving unsolicited advice...

We tried out a different caterer this time and he prepared our choice of recipe to the entire satisfaction of each and every guest on both days. His set of people were extremely polite and checked with all for a second or third helping - almost the way we look after our guests when they come home to share a meal with us. He deserves a round of applause...what finally matters to the invitees is whether the food was tasty and was it tastefully served...it remains etched in their memories for a long time to come and brings a smile when asked, how was the function? 

Narendra, our family Purohit has evolved to become a proficient one and all that he learned under his grandfather's tutelage is being put to good use and with no compromise in the rituals or Vedic mantras. Honestly, he is the one-person instrumental in making this event take shape. On a chance meeting almost a year or year and half back, he mentioned to Uma and I, that he had  dreamt performing Shashtipoorthi. That set our minds in motion...why not convert his dream into our reality. Uma was to complete her sixtieth year on 18/Feb/2026 and it is auspicious to perform Ganahoma, Ayushyahoma, Rudrahoma, Dhanavanatarihoma, Navagraha puje during the course of sixtieth year. All these homas were to be done after Udaka Shanti. We put it back into Narendra's court asking him to fix a good day/date and reserve himself for those days to personally conduct the event. He committed himself to it and conducted the events extremely well.

Udaka Shanti is a Hindu ritual involving sacred water to invoke peace, purify a space, and remove obstacles. The name combines "Udaka" (water) and "Shanti" (peace), and the ceremony uses Vedic mantras chanted over a pot of water to bless it. This holy water is then sprinkled around the home or new business to purify the environment and protect from negative energy.

Key aspects of Udaka Shanti:

Purpose: To bring peace and harmony, remove negative influences, and ensure a spiritually clean environment for auspicious events. It is often performed before major life events such as weddings, housewarmings, or childbirth.

Ritual: Priests perform the ceremony by chanting Vedic mantras, particularly from the Yajurveda, while invoking deities and blessing a pot of water.

Purification: The water is considered sacred and is used to purify the home, property, or individuals by being sprinkled or consumed.

Benefits: The ritual is believed to remove obstacles, foster positive energy, and create a harmonious atmosphere. It can also be performed annually to maintain a positive environment.

Significance of water: Water is a central element, representing purity and the life-giving force. The ritual uses the purifying properties of water to cleanse the space and the minds of those involved. 

On hindsight, it was a good spur of the moment decision. We hear more about the head of the family going through these set of rituals when they approach sixty but we hear less of such an event for the wives...it was an occasion to respect the better half for having reached a milestone in her life. Added to that was the completion of our 40 years of togetherness that made the celebration that much more special!! 

With the Almighty's grace the two day event was successfully completed and we thank all the members of our family for combining so very well to provide such a wonderful experience not just to us, the immediate family but to all those folks who came for the events...everyone looked very happy...they all joyfully took part in the events, stayed with us for the whole event and blessed our family as they said their good-byes. 

A cyclone was brewing in the Bay of Bengal but thankfully it did not dampen our spirits or stop us from doing all that we did in those two days. 

As I conclude my narration, I must thank each and every one of you for gracing the occasion and being present for the entire duration of the program.

Between Then and Now!!

Date: 21^st November 2025

Between Then and Now!!

Covid – a tiny invisible virus had made the world realize the uncertainty of human existence. Many had lost their lives out of complications and secondary infections, not mentioning the wrong medications prescribed by the medical fraternity the world over. The lurking unknown fear had made everybody realize how fragile each one of us were.

All of us pressed the re-set button and started all over again but this time with a desire to not go back to the rat race of the yester years, but savour the days ahead at a pace we were comfortable with. Little did we think that a year down the line post recovery, we would pick up speed and start running faster as if there was no tomorrow!

We seem to have forgotten the wows each of us personally took to lead a better life post covid by pacing ourselves appropriately and keep our priorities simple and doable.

In the midst of the covid confusion, we the 1981 batch from REC Trichy decided not to meet in 2021 marking 40^th year of graduation. Instead, we met in 2024 at Ooty and called it the 42^nd Year Re-Union, although numerically it was 43^rd Year. It was primarily managed by our own Start-Up champion B V Ramanan, ably supported by a few other batchmates. The dates – 4^th to 7^th January 2024 and venue Ootacamund. Since it is within 6 to 7 hours of driving distance from Bengaluru, my wife and I decided to take our Honda Amaze. It was nice that another batchmate, V Kannan settled in the US decided to join us on the drive from Bengaluru. We started at 6 AM, picked up Kannan from Konanakunte Cross and then proceeded to Ooty via Mysuru. We reached the venue, Sterling Resorts around 11:30 AM and straightaway joined the others gathered in a hall doing the introductions. The three-day program was a resounding success and all of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. While a large number of our folks were in favour of the 45^th Year Re-Union, our hitherto Champion Lead was firm on handing the baton to the next volunteer. Also, the popular demand was to move away from the Southern cities which had become a bit of a tradition. Mohanty, a prominent businessman in Bhubaneshwar offered to Lead the Re-Union with support from other members who had been associated in the past Re-Unions.

It was collectively decided to hold the 45^th Re-Union at Puri – abode of Lord Jagannath. Dates were fixed and so was the organizing committee. So, here we are just a month and half away from the event unfolding at Sterling Resorts, Puri with its property adjacent to Lord Jagannath’s home.

This note of mine wasn’t about recalling the Re-Union 42 or giving glimpses of Re-Union 45. It is about the changes that each of us have seen in the last 2 years. It is about taking stock of what drastic changes we would have gone through in our personal lives and talk about it, or should I say write?

Sometime back, I had proposed that all those attending can send a write-up of their 45 years of professional and personal growth and that would make a very interesting read and it would give our subsequent generations an insight about who we are! But somewhere down the days and months the initial enthusiasm of acceptance turned into a ‘may-be’ and later we seem to have given it a miss! Some were not wanting to make an attempt at writing and some felt it was far too long a story to write in a condensed format. It doesn’t have to be a ball-by-ball account…think of it as a 2-hour Harry Potter movie captured from J K Rowling’s book of 500 or so pages. An attempt to pick a few major turning points in our life and piecing them together would have come out as an excellent read! Just, my thoughts…you may certainly wish to differ. May I take the liberty to extol our organizers to urge all batchmates to collect all the write-ups add a “Then & Now” photograph (1981 and 2025) and publish it as an online souvenir?

Honestly for all of us the last 2 years would have brought serious changes both professionally and at a personal level when compared to the last 42 years. Number of retired people would have significantly gone up and so should have been the elevation to grandparents’ status. From being engaged at work 24/7 to not being employed 24/7 is a sea change indeed! Losing a parent or a sibling would have been an earth-shattering change leaving us sad with a feeling of loneliness and nostalgia.

For me retiring from active work life happened very early in the year 2011. But I was urged by my CEO to remain associated with the organization till December 2018. Since then, I have chosen to be a handy man at home and I have enjoyed this status although it may have irked my sons and daughters-in-law at times. I have said this with a lot of pride that we are a joint family – all seven of us living under one roof. The change happened because my grandson had to be shifted to a different school in the next academic year. Both my son and daughter-in-law weren't in favour of travel to school by auto or school bus. They hence took a call to move to a different house within walking distance of my grandson’s school. It took us all a while to accept the new normal, but each of us took extra care to keep the relationship intact. What we do miss is the presence of our grandchild at home!

Things remained steady until I suddenly was down with an upset tummy that eventually turned out to be a heart attack in disguise in the month of February 2025. I have written a blog on the condition and how all my folks took it on themselves to get me back on my feet! There was one 100% block in the main artery and a stent had to be placed after angioplasty. I got a new lease of life in this process but with a lot of food restrictions. There was a blanket ban on whatever I liked and the only concession was I could indulge on those restricted foods just once a month. It was tough, but habits can be changed once the mind gets tough.

Covid in the year 2020/21 had brought in a new learning. It was Jabby Ramesh who called and asked if I would like to learn Shree Rudram and I immediately pounced at the opportunity. Four of us, Tram, Bala, Senthil and myself enrolled and learnt all the basic shlokas before embarking on the journey to learn Shree Rudram. Ramesh is a fine teacher and he had the patience to make sure that we pronounced the Sanskrit words correctly. In 2024 July when Geetha Parivar opened an online session for learning Bhagwad Geetha, both Ramesh and Tram urged me to enrol and I did. It took a year and half to learn all the 18 chapters. I officially completed the session in mid-October 2025. I have been reciting 4 chapters a day and once a cycle is completed, I start all over again. Geetha Parivar also commenced online teaching of Vishnu Sahsranamam and it took just under two months to complete. I continue to recite Vishnu Sahsranamam every evening. I owe a big thanks to both Ramesh for initiating me into learning the Vedas, although we have just skimmed the surface and to Tram for pushing me to join Vishnu Sahsranamam class. Now it is up to us to expand our horizons into this vast subject.

I also discovered that I was good at making wooden toys. It was an ask from my grandson to make a bridge and a tunnel to begin with. I made it for him to make his toy cars, typically the Hot Wheels variety to go on the bridge and through the tunnel. To make it educational I named the bridge as Bogibheel Bridge and the Tunnel as Jojhila Tunnel, since both these were making headlines those days. I graduated to making finer wooden toys namely a car, a low bed truck, Wind Mill, Bucket excavator and all of them are working models as desired by my grandson. Wooden toys with wheels make a lot of rickety noise on the floor. To make it softer, I used an old rubber tube of a cycle to wrap it around the wheels and stick it with araldite. For the axles I used either a cycle spoke or a motorbike spoke. More recently I’ve made a variety of planes for him. The most recent one is a propeller craft also called a Bi-Plane. You will find these on Captain W E Johns “Biggles” series of books. Just a few days back I started on PSLV Model. It is taking time as it involves a lot of grinding work. It got more complex just yesterday when my grandson suggested that each part should be separatable like the real one does when in flight.

Finally, 15^th November 2025 was a special day for my wife and myself as we completed 40 years of togetherness. It was my wife’s idea that all seven of us should spend a couple of days in a resort and spend time in each other’s company. It was indeed brilliant…we travelled to a home stay “The Coffee Bean in Chikkamagalur. It is a 100-acre coffee plantation farm run and managed by the 6^th generation of a family. With just 12 rooms, it was personalized hospitality with excellent home cooked food. With a pool neatly tucked between the building both my sons and grandson had a whale of time in the pool. What was additionally attractive were the 4 dachshund dogs, two coffee brown and two jet black. This breed of dogs is extremely friendly, have short legs and seldom bark. They love to be petted, especially the belly rub. There was a Doberman too and contrary to what I thought this dog too was friendly and kept coming to us to be petted. Perhaps they’ve got used to the guests coming and petting them. Nothing spectacular about the food, but it was tastefully prepared and served very well. I loved the large spacious room with a huge balcony overseeing the plantation and the forests beyond. What made it special was the decision of our grandson to sleep over in our room. 

We even got some time to go on a jungle safari near Bhadra reserve forests. We didn’t spot any of the rare species, but got to see the deer, bison and giant lizard (understand it is called monitor lizard) in its natural surroundings. There were a wide variety of birds. There is a sunset point and one can go to that position by a 4-wheel drive Willy’s jeep only. We made it to that point exactly at 5:30 PM to see the natural phenomenon in its complete glory.

 We look forward to catching up in the first week of 2026 and only wish more of our batchmates had joined to make it one large family get together. We will never get to know what stopped a few from enrolling. Was it the timing or was it the choice of venue or was it purely on health grounds? But if you ask me, I don’t think we will get such an opportunity…5 years from this get together, we will be in our 7^th decade…but let’s hope we do meet and boost each other on a life well lived!