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SingavEL kunRam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Parthasarati Dileepan • August 23, 1995 


The hills that Thirumangai Azhvaar celebrates as
SingavEL kunRam is popularly known as aHObilam.  I
had the good fortune of visiting aHObilam with my
Chithappa during my recent trip to India.  Contrary to
what I had imagined it was a relatively easy trip.  The
hikes involved were not easy, but not very difficult
either.  In fact, with the crystal clear Bavanaasini water
flowing most of the way, the hike was simply
exhilarating for me.  One could almost picture Sri
SatakOpa jeer (founder of sri aHObila madam) walking
up these hills and Lord Narasimhar Himself appearing
before him as a sanyaasi.

There are two overnight buses from Madras for going to
aHObilam.  The 7:00 p.m. bus takes you all the way to
aHObilam, just a few yards from the Temple and right in
front of Sri aHObilamadam.  The second bus leaving
Madras at 8:00 p.m. passes through a town called
Allagadda, about 30 KM short of aHObilam.  We took
this bus because the ride was supposed to be smoother.  I
don't want to even think how the 7 O' clock bus would
have been :-).  From Allagadda we took a taxi to
aHObilam.  The taxi stayed with us the whole day and
took us back to Allegadda for the same "deluxe" bus
back to Madras.  Buses are also available from
Allagadda to aHObilam and back every 45 minutes.

If you are allergic to overnight bus rides you can take a
train from Madras to Kadappa and then take a 60 KM
bus ride to Allagadda.  You can reach Kadappa from
Thiruppathi as well, if you wish to combine Thiruppathi
and aHObilam into a single trip out of Madras.

The hills near aHObilam with nava nrusimHars is called
mElaHObilam.  That makes the town keezhaHObilam.
The nine shrines in the hills are:

jvaalaa aHObila maalOla krOdaa kaaraNYja baargava:
yOgaan^andha chathravata paavanO navamoorththaya:

In addition, we have Prahallaadha Varadhan at
keezhaHObilam and Ugra sthambam way up at the top
of one of the hills.  Counting these two we have 11
perumaaLs.  In addition, there is a second yOgaanandha
moorthi.  With this we have twelve.  Of all these shrines
Jvaalaa and Ugra are the most difficult and cannot be
reached without the help of aadhivaasi (senji tribe)
guides.  Legend has it that Thaayaar was born into the
senji tribe as Senji Lakshmi and married Narasimha
perumaaL in hunter form.  It seems during the annual
kalyaaNa uthsavam the senjees come with all kinds of
"seer" including meat.

Before I left for India I had an exchange about animal
sacrifice with a dear friend.  Thirumangai aazhvaar gives
us a hint about this subject in the following pasuram:

\bt
angkaNNYaalamanca angkOraaLariyaay avuNan
pongavaagamvaLLugiraal pOzhndhapunidhanidam,
paingaNaanaikkombukoNdu patthimaiyaal, adikkeezhch
chengaNaaLiyittiRainchum singkavELkunRamE.

                                   --  Periya thirumozhi 1.7.1
\et


angkaN NYaalam anca  :  Striking fear in the heart of everyone
angkOr aaL ariyaay   :  taking the shape of man-lion
avuNan ponga         :  angry Hiranyakasipu's
vaagam vaLLugiraal   :  body was ripped open with the sharp nails
  pOzhndha
punidhanidam         :  of the pure one!
paingaN aanaik kombu :  ivory from the elephants with cool eyes
koNdu                : are brought
patthimaiyaal        : with bhakthi
yittu iRainchum      :  and offered with prayer
adikkeezhch          :  at his divine feet
chengaN aaLi         :  by red eyed lion;
singkavELkunRamE     :  let us worship this Lion Lord of aHObilam.

According to its dharmam the angry lion kills the
innocent elephant.  From the carcass, the lion then offers
the most precious part, i.e. ivory, to the Lord.

If ones tradition involves meat eating, like that of the
noble senjees, don't they have the right to make ritual
offering of meat to our Lord?


-- Dileepan