The Navabashanam Temple – Devipattinam

The Temple In The Sea-Navagraha Worship(Nine Planets): Deities : The nine planets – Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus,Saturn, Dragon's head dragon's tail. Installation by : Sri Rama Speciality : In the midst of sea Epic : The Ramayana Holy spring : Agni theertham and Ramar theertham Place: Devipattinam Scriptural name : Devipur Other name : Devipuram District : Ramanathapuram Devipattinam (Tamil Nadu), July 21 : A large number of devotees visit Tamil Nadu's ancient Thilakeshwar Temple, popularly known as Navagraha Temple at Devipattinam, a coastal village located 70 kilometers from Rameshwaram Dhaam. Legend has it that prince Rama in-exile had prayed to Navagrahas (nine planets) at Devipattinam before embarking on his journey to Lanka (the present day Sri Lanka), the then kingdom of demon King Ravana, who had abducted Rama's wife Sita. Rama placed nine stones as symbols of Navagrahas or nine planets, at Devipattanam. Those stones can still be watched partly submerged in the water close to the beach near a bathing place (Ghat) of the Thilakeshwar Temple or the Navagraha Temple. It is said that Rama performed the ritual so that the nine planets would shed their auspicious light on him in his battle with Ravana to rescue Sita. As per Hindu mythology, the planetary conditions have a major effect on humans' lives and thus by worshipping them their impact can be reduced. "This has been constructed under the sea by Lord Rama. While Lord Rama was worshipping here, he was disturbed by waves. He prayed to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu stopped the waves so as to help Rama perform his Puja (prayers)," said Renganathan Iyengar, a temple priest. Since that time Devipattinam drew popularity for being a place to get relief from all kinds of adverse planetary conditions by performing the suggested rituals. Devipattinam or, the place of Goddess is also described as the place where the Goddess killed the demon Mahishasura at this spot. As per Hindu mythology, nine planets control the life of human beings. People face good or bad phases in their personal lives, depending upon their Karmas or, deeds performed in their previous births. People from across the country and abroad, therefore, visit this temple devoted to the nine planets to seek divine blessings and a relief from planets' adverse impact and suffering caused by them.. Devotees at the temple offer nine varieties of grains including paddy, wheat, pulses and other things to the Gods and Goddesses. They go around the deities and worship the `Navagrahas' or, the nine planets seeking peace and prosperity in their lives and a divine blessing to relieve them of all their sufferings. "We are coming here from Singapore. It is said that if you come here and pray, it proves a blessing for the entire family. We believe in it. So we came here to worship," said Thenmozhli, a devotee from Singapore. The Thilakeshwar Temple is dedicated to Shiva and Parvathi (Durga). Shiva here is known as Thilakeswarar and the Goddess is known as Soundaryanayaki. The shrine has a beautiful image of an eight-armed Durga with weapons. Details II: For relief from the sins accompanying each man and woman from the past birth, to offer prayers for the salvation of the departed ancestors and perform Srardha for them, devotees visit this shrine from corners of the country. People also seek boons for children, marriage, education, longevity and prosperity. Prayer commitments: Devotees offer nine varieties of grains, paddy, wheat, dal varieties, pulses, Dil (Ellu) etc. They go round the deities and perform pujas to the Navagrahas – nine planets. Reputation: Humans are conducted by the nine planets and are subjected to rejoicing or sufferings based on their deeds in the previous birth. Therefore, devotees come here to worship them and get relieved of the suffering. Sri Rama and the Planets: According to the scriptures, pujas should be performed to Lord Vinayaka and the Navagrahas. Following this rule, Sri Rama, after completing the Vinayaka Puja in Uppur, wanted to perform the Navagraha puja in Devipattinam. He took handful of sand personifying them as a planet. As the tides of the sea rose high, he lifted his hand to calm them down. Sri Rama installed the Navagrahas this way in Devipattinam. The place is also known as Navabashana spot (Bashana – Stones). The nine stones represent the planets. The Navabashana Navagrahas are installed in the midst of calm sea and are noted for its divinity ensuring total bliss. The Navabashana temple has the added pride of their installation by the hands of Sri Rama and is choice holy place to perform Tarpan for the ancestors. The devotees perform the worship and pujas themselves. This is also the place where Rama Himself was relieved of Saturn effects. He was blessed by Lord Shiva and Parvathi here. The Easwara here is known as Thilakeswarar and the Goddess Soundaryanayaki. A very visit to this holy soil of Sethu would relieve the devotee from all his sins. This Navagraha temple in the midst of the sea is a divine wonder since the Puranic days. Devipattinam is 77 Kms from Rameswaram, 15 from Ramanathapuram, 115 from Madurai and 47 from Sivaganga. Lodging facilities are available in Rameswaram and Ramanathapuram. Charges in the range of Rs. 200 to Rs. 600. Considering the religious importance of Devipattinam Navagraha temple, Ramanathapuram and Rameswaram are linked by rail routes. Adequate bus facilities are available from important centres of Tamilnadu. Nearest airport is Madurai. Festivals: Adi Amavasya festival is observed for 10 days during the month of July-August when the devotee crowd would be over a lakh. So on the Thai Amavasya (January-February) too. History: Sri Rama took a march towards Lanka to free Sita from Ravana's captivity. Before undertaking the journey, as prescribed in the scriptures, he performed the Vinayaka Puja in Uppur and the Navagraha puja in Devipattinam by installing them each with a handful of sand and calmed the high tides by raising his hand. The Navagrahas installed by Sri Rama are the Nava Bashanas ((stones) gracing the devotees in Devipattinam.

Seed In Madurai

Project Description Seed believes in bringing out the potential of each child by individual care and attention. So many children from among the urban poor drop out because of lack of support at home and in school. Seed provides the critical support necessary for the children to realize their potential and succeed - compete on par with children from more advantaged classes. Seed has about 40 children supported by partners in the United States. Children who are eager to learn and have already shown the potential by working against several odds are part of this support program. The number is currently limited to enable Seed coordinators and volunteers to give individual attention to each child. Each partner financially (and with moral support) supports one or more children. Correspondence between the partner and the child is encouraged. The children typically are in the local government schools to begin with; with the support of the study center, their learning vastly improves, and depending on their interest and potential they are moved to private or govt. aided schools (which are perceived as better). In some sense the goal is to do what a middle class parent would do - send their child to the best school they can afford and which is accessible and which the child can do well in. The study centers at Karumbalai provide a place for children to come and study on evenings and weekends. Apart from the simple advantages of electric lights (not available in every home), it provides a space for volunteers (many of whom also come from disadvantaged backgrounds) to teach. In addition the study center is the is the hub of all activities Seed is involved in. It has a library, recently added some computers, and has several active clubs. The journalism club, the 'En' club (En means 'Why' in Tamil, is the name of the Science club), the drama club, the debate club all thrive with the activities of the eager children. Various workshops related to these clubs are conducted throughout the year exposing the children to whole range of activities including tasks like organizing an event. The structure and activities of Seed enables the potential of each child to be realized. Some are great organizers, some are excellent debaters, some are budding scientists. Seed celebrates local festivals in all religions and cultures (that are relevant to Karumbalai). They learn about the history and background of each festival and the reason for the celebration. Many educational tours have been conducted to nearby places - to historic temples, museums, forests which provide a source of learning not often available to children in India. One of their long tours was to Kerala. These tours really open a child's mind. The children for the most part had rarely been able to travel out of Madurai before. The study center and is activities is open to any interested child in Karumbalai (support for educational expenses like fees, uniforms and books is limited to the 40 children as mentioned above). Purpose / Goals The goal of the project is to encourage and financially support the education of children. It began in the slum of Karumbalai and might slow spread to other slums in Madurai as others are encouraged by the successes of Seed. Organization Description Seed was started in 2000 when a set of events came together. Karthik Bharathi of Karumbalai (the area where Seed works), on encouragement from Dr. Taj of nearby K.K.Nagar had been taking up some activities in the slum of Karumbalai. Dr. Ted Adams decided to move to Madurai from the US, and had come across Karthi's and Dr. Taj's work. He decided to provide the funding support (personal support and funds raised from friends and family in the US), and the coming together of Ted and Karthi formed Seed. The name "Seed" refers to their belief that every child has immense hidden potential which the child can live up to when encouraged and supported, just as a healthy plant grows when watered and nourished with care. seedplan@dataone.in Project Type: Tuition Centers (description) Primary Focus: children from slums (description) Secondary Focus: creating resources Area: Urban

10 flights to Madurai

The Madurai airport is slowly gaining in stature. The increase in number of flights to Madurai were slow and unnoticed. Still a long way to go, but now, 10 flights arrive and depart at Madurai. Of these 9 of them either goes to Chennai or fly via Chennai. On last count, the operators are… 4 flights – Paramount (3 Chennai, 1 Bangalore via Chennai) 3 flights – Air Deccan (2 Chennai & 1 Bangalore direct) 2 flights – Jet Airways (Chennai) 1 flight – Indian (Mumbai via Chennai) Get the latest flight schedules here. Srilankan airlines is said to be keen on operating a flight to Madurai. But space for immigration check etc were woefully inadequate. Madurai Chamber of Commerce campaigns to open a central institute for pilot training, touting Madurai as a 'fog free' airport. 'Fog free' is indeed a different view of this sun-drenched city.

TN Govt Promote 4 New SEZs

In an effort at equitable economic growth across the state, the Tamil Nadu government is encouraging industrial and IT investments in areas other than Chennai and its suburbs, said Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan here Thursday. Presenting the budget for 2008-09, he announced four special economic zones (SEZ) for (a) transport engineering goods at Gangaikondan, Tirunelveli district on 255-acre; (b) automobile and auto spare parts at Cheyyar, Tiruvanamalai district on 255-acre; (c) 263-acre engineering goods at Perunthurai, Erode; and (d) leather sector in 260 acres at Ranipet. According to him, so far 32 SEZs have been approved in Tamil Nadu and 29 of them have been notified by the central government. "Efforts are being taken to establish multi-product SEZs at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district, Krishnagiri, Perambalur and Ennore," he said. Anbazhagan also declared that the state government would pay careful attention to the livelihood security of farmers when establishing the SEZs. He said the state would offer the same tax concessions enjoyed by industrial units investing Rs.3.5 billion ($86.6 million) in Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts to those setting up industries in other places at an outlay of Rs.2.5 billion. The government is also promoting tier II cities as the destination of IT companies. IT parks are being set up in Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Tirunelveli and Salem. Companies establishing IT parks have been allotted land and SEZ status has been obtained for them. "A new IT park will be set up in Vellore by ELCOT (Electronic Corp of Tamil Nadu) in partnership with the private sector in the coming financial year," Anbazhagan said. He added that Tamil Nadu Cements Corp would double its capacity at an outlay of Rs.820 million. Source: thaindian - a news portal for indians in thailand