Rangasamudram – a few years ago….
More than a travelogue….this is an informative blog about places that we visited.
This is quite some time ago…and so I don’t remember all details about the travel itself… but I did make a note of the places that we visited. So I am trying to put that down …. I hope my memory is good enough..
Amma figured out that Venkatachalapathi had always been our kula deivam…however, Tirupathi was not our ancestral place of worship….it was Rangasamudram….a small village in Tamilnadu.
So we decided to make a trip to this place and do some pooja there. We figured out with great difficulty about the temple at this place and left Bangalore to get there.
Rangasamudram is a small village near Ambasamudram….
We had to go to Madurai from Bangalore (by train). Then take a taxi and go to Rangasamudram via thirunalveli and ambasamudram.
Ambasamudram is one of the greenest places I have seen….let me come to that.
Since the ‘via’ route was filled with temples….we visited quite a few of them..
We visited pillayarpatti first….a Ganesha temple…with a nice sized Ganesha…temple was not very crowded… I also remember lighting some lamps there.
You can find more details http://www.karaikudi.com/pillayarpatti.htm
http://www.templenet.com/Tamilnadu/karppill.html
next visit was supposed to be kunnakudi…but the driver said it would be too crowded there due to the pangunni uttaram festival…so we skipped that.
We headed to bhairavapatti…don’t remember much about this temple…
We came back to Madurai and visited the Madurai meenakshi amman
I have written a lot about this temple at http://www.allyouwannaknow.net/aroundtheworld/2009/08/30/madurai-memory-pieces-from-a-long-time-ago/
Next was thirupurakundram visit. More details about this temple and its history is at http://www.blogcatalog.com/search.frame.php?term=thiruparankundram+temple&id=4f3688e8691da0bc333fea7ca722f966
Next day I guess….we went to Thirunalveli…to the nellaiappar temple….this temple I remember vividly. A huge temple…maintained very neatly…except for the smelly bats….really really huge temple with no crowd. Felt really peaceful. But we could not spend too much time there.
We then headed to Rangasamudram….crossing the Tamarabarani river. on the way was Ambasamudram. This is another town. a town full of lush greenery. We have been there once when appa had to go there officially…many many years ago…but i dont relaly remember much….this time we just got to pass trough the place and it was amazing. farmland everywhere. if anyone knows the tamil movie dum dum dum…..it was shot in Ambasamudram. we proceeded to Rangasamudram
Rangasamudram is a small village (which we almost missed) wth hardly any people living there anymore. The temple priest and his family were there however….we met them…got the pooja done…they seemed to know my grandfather ….(not sure if they really knew whom they were talking about)…
They were telling us how things used to happen in olden days…it was a typical agraharam….
Nice place…
We left the place after the pooja and lunch and headed back to Madurai and then back to Bangalore..
After this amma and appa have visited this place a couple of times….it is a calm place…and we get to see God very close…not like Tirupathi…where we need to push and pull for one glimpse.
Also feels good to see the priest and his family….they live only with the money given to them for performing the poojas.
Nothing can beat the serenity of the place….I feel good to have discovered that we don’t have to go to Thirupathi anymore:)….we can actually feel peace when we see God instead of all the shoving and pushing……
Hi
Nice to read your blog. Our kula deivam kovil is Rangasamudram too. My granddad lived there too and then we moved to Chennai. Maybe your parents might know them if they have lived there for sometime. Anyhow, we are also planning to go there this year. I was searching in web for places we plan to visit this year and came across your blog.
Krish
I am K ANANTHA NARAYANAN Son of Shri A.Krishna Iyer and Grandson of Shri Pichumani Sarma of Rangasamudram. From 1947 upto 1975 I lived in Rangasamudram and after that I visit there every now and then. I am retired Bank Executive living in Madurai. Nice to see the photos of Shri Venkatachalapathy (Moolavar and Utsavar along with consorts) May God Bless you. Asirwads.
Dear Sir
I am Subramanian Iyer ged 59 and during a Google search, I happened to see your reply in a blog.
I am searching for the temple of my kuladeivam for the past one year. To my knowledge my father never visited the temple and he died at his 88th year. He told me that his father is from Brahmadesam a village near Ambasamundram and he also mentioned a very small village named Pandy which he said is about 3 km from Tenkasi.
When I consulted various Astrologers they unanimously said that our kuladeivam is “Bhadrakali”. One Astrologer said the the temple is our own family temole and the deity’s leg will be below the ground and cannot be seen. Another Astrologer said that the village name will have a connection with Vishnu – Perumal and the deity “Bhadrakali” will be in the Pariharam.
During the search I find Rangasamudram village is very near to Brhamadesam and have you ever seen such a temple or is there any deity n the Perumal temple.
A line in reply is most appreciated. Any smal guidance also will go in a long way. For your additional information, I may mention here, we belongto Shadamarshna Gothram.
With regqrds
S. Subramanian i
Sir,
I am sorry. I have no information regarding the temple that you are looking for. In case i come across any such information I shall surely pass it on to you.
Regards,
Vidhya
Our kula theivam is Lord Vekatachalapathy of Rangasamudram. We make it a point to visit this temple whenever we visit Tirunelveli or our native village Kallidaikurichi. Presently it is possible to hire autos from Kallidaikurichi or Ambasamudram direct to the temple. But the road leading to the temple is poorly maintained. The auto driver revealed that the road is deliberately left to rot so that very few people access it. The main reason behind this, as per the driver, is to facilitate stealing of sand from the nearby areas unnoticed.
I should definitely mention here about the Archakar Sri Srinivasa Venkatrama Iyengar who religiously does pooja/archana for our family members who are presently living in Coimbatore, Mumbai and Kolkata. He is now equipped with a mobile phone and can be contacted before planning a visit to the temple which is rather small but well maintained. Last time (in May 2009) we had the opportunity to taste Puliotharai (or Pulyogare) prasadam offered at the temple. It was really Yummy…
We generally stay at Tirunalveli or madurai and travel to rangasamudram…so I did not know about the auto availability. Thanks for that info. And of course…the archakar there is very nice. We have performed pujas there quite often. Sometimes we go there…sometimes we call up and ask him to perform it and send us the prasadam. We have not found any problems and it has always been done to our satisfaction.
Good to know this.
Even I was in Rengasamudram last week and Srinivasa Perumal is our Kula Deivam too.
It is really to good to know that this beautiful village is showing up in google searches.
I will post a blog on this place soon.
Ram
Nice to read the write up.
I am the 3rd son of Sri.R.K.Venkatapathy (Ambi Sir). He was manager/HM of the only school at Rengasamudram, RL Kulathooraiyar Elementary School. He had given up the management to the Ashram on his retirement.
I am in Bangalore, I happened to meet Rengasamudram origin people at different places. They recall my Father/Frand Father. Most of the elders will know my Dad and/or my grandfather Kulathooran sir as their teacher. I feel happy when they share their child hood days.
REgards,
Subramanian
We got investment opportunity at Rangasamudram. When I google searched I got this web page. Is anyone know is it a good place to inves?. Will there any development take place in 3 to 4 yrears. One of our friend advice us to invest there. Your reply will be very valuable as v r thinking of investing here.
I am sorry. I have no clue about investment opportunities at this place.
dear sir, i am anbukannan who live in malaysia, i am looking for my kuladeivam.if some know about our kuladeivam pls . let me know. This is story about our grand grand pa from india is told to me before my grangpa pass away. my grand pa name is Doraisamy , he come to malaya in 1940 after geading married in india. my grand ma name is mannikam from vanambadi. Acording to his story , we are vannier kouder. and my grand grand pa name is ponnusamy. he dont know our village name,
but he said in vellore. evend he not remember my grand grand ma name. my grand grand pa pass away some ware 1950’s . base on his strory i am at 4th generation. ii am very great full if some can help me to find my grand grand pa relative in india
I am sorry… i have no information
hi vidhya.
thank you for your replay . is that any way i can find my kuladeivam , by seen ollai shuvadi or naddi thossiyam