There is an Amman temple in a nondescript village called Peravoor near Kumbakonam, my native place, which is very special for us.
(Not to be confused with the Peravoor in Kerala. The Peravoor mentioned here is a small village which I couldn't locate on the net, but I've been there.)
This temple is a personification of Advaita, which essentially says that it is the same all pervading Brahman that is all around us, and within us too. How?
My grandfather used to say, "Peravoora Kamakshi Mahamaayi Sharanam" pretty often. Kamakshi and Mahamaayi are names of Goddess Parvathi. While I used to think that he was referring to the Amman in the village called Peravoor, I often wondered why he uttered "Peravoora" instead of "Peravoor". I asked him this and here was his beautiful answer.
In Tamil, "Peru" means name and "Ooru" means place. Pera-Oora is a question asked, that is, does the Amman have a name or a place? She has neither of them. Call Her however you want to (Kamakshi, Mahamaayi, etc) but you are referring to the same power!
Note: Generally, Goddesses are usually called "Amman" in Tamilnadu and "Bhagavati" in Kerala.
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Even i hail from the same village. My grandfather lived there in his childhood. Now we are in Chennai.
ReplyDeleteI have a sloka book about peravoor kamakshi amman which says that she is the consort of Lord aadhitheswarar . Actually there has been a huge shiva vishnu temple there. Now the amman sannidhi is only known. Next time you go to peravoor, please do see the other shiva, vishnu shrines there. There are some 'suranga pathaigal' - 'underground tunnels' to various other temples from those shrines.
Please think about this also - there can't be a pond for an amman shrine alone. The pond marks the centre of the old temple...
Ah! It would be great if this temple of aadhitheswarar, sung by Navukkarasar in Dhevaram could be revived... :)